Easter Eggs and Turkey

This year we celebrated Easter up in Ashburn with the grandparents and cousins. I love that our family lives so close!

Saturday morning we had an Easter egg hunt with Grandma and Grandpa Glenn, the Calderwoods, Amy, and Corinn. 

Little Austin is getting so big!

Excited about his first find. Cole has yet to truly embrace the hunt and is still content to find an egg, eat the candy, find another egg. 

Jude, on the other hand, takes the hunt very seriously.

This was Lily's first real experience and while it took her a bit to understand what we were doing, by the end she was hunting eggs with the best of them.

See what I mean about Cole?

Lance may need to start helping hide the eggs next year. It was way too easy for him and he came away with a basket full of eggs. 

Mason! He and Jude ran around together most of the time--which made it a bit of a fight when they had to decide who got the egg they "both found". 

Heading out to find the last few eggs:

Enjoying the spoils:

We attempted to get a picture with all seven cousins, but this was about the best we could do:

Grandma and Grandpa!

The rest of the day we spent celebrating Callie's 12th Birthday. Crazy. I can't believe she's 12!

Later that evening, I got to go with my mom and sisters out to dinner and watched the Women's Conference while the kiddos hung out with Daddy, Grandmom and Pop Pop.

Love it!


Sunday morning, the kids woke up to an Easter Bunny surprise!

Lance got these cute Pokemon nanoblock sets...

...and the tiniest cap gun I've ever seen!

Jude got a soccer ball and a nerf gun.

These kids also got a basket full of candy from Grandmom and Pop Pop. They each had a couple tiny, fuzzy chicks that the kids thought were super cute.

Attempting to put together one of his sets:

Bubbles! Thanks, Grandmom and Pop Pop!

The Easter Bunny also brings each kid a book.

Cole got a train book and a tiny toy train set that fits inside a little tin.

I think he may have finished his bubble tape in one sitting. He still has yet to realize he can chew the gum and not swallow.

Putting together his tiny train set:

Lily was the last one to wake up, but was just as excited as the other kids about her gifts:

Sidewalk chalk, play doh, and...

... a ring pop!

The kids spent the morning playing with their Easter spoils while we waited for the Scholz to come over.

Lance and Pop Pop took the orange cap off the end of his cap gun. Lance thought it was the coolest thing ever. As someone who LOVES realistic miniature things, I had to agree.

Callie and Bryce made it over later that morning and the Easter festivities continued.

Egg dying time!

Lily and Cole haven't mastered the spoon technique for dying eggs. Hands work just as well apparently.

The older kids all competed for the "ugliest egg contest".

Cole stuck with blue. No surprise there!

Yep, it's getting pretty ugly, Lance.

Look at my egg!

Prepping for Easter dinner:

It was a feast, as always! And afterwards we got to enjoy delicious food again at my mom's house.

Happy Easter!

March: undies, Birthdays, besties, and music

I can't believe how fast this year is going! March was another month full of, well, life.

Lily has been interested in potty training and asks to sit on the toilet at least once a day. She has yet to actually "go" while she's sitting, but at least she's interested.

To encourage her even more, we got her a pack of her very own special underwear. She was so excited to try them on.

All of them. 

At the same time.

I'm thinking the undies will be staying in her drawer for a few more months until I can find the energy to buckle down and train. Until then, we are still making our daily trip to the bathroom and finding ways for her to sit without falling in--quite a feat since her bum is so tiny!

On March 5th we drove up to Ashburn so I could attend the Temple for Mom's Birthday. Laura, Amy and Corin came too! We had a really nice time being together and rounded out the evening with dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.

Tyler gets the prize for watching ALL 6 kids, ages 6 and under, for the entire afternoon and evening. Glenn came over and helped for a bit, too. I'm sure Tyler appreciated the moral support!

Even though her Birthday was in February, we had to make this celebration official and had carrot cake after dinner. 

Happy 56th Birthday, Mom! We love you!

We love our neighborhood. It's small with a lot of little families and we've been lucky enough to have made some good friends this past year. It was warm one day, so we all went down to the park to play.

Jude especially is loving the friends. Well, one friend in particular. This cute little girl named Sage lives just up the road from us and is in Jude's Kindergarten class. Jude tells me they are "best friends".

Sure seems that way! They play together all the time and beg to go to each other's houses after school. It's very, very cute.

I'm thinking there may be a little more to the relationship, though.

Just an hunch.

Lily's hair is finally, finally long enough for a barrette! Yay! Although this one stayed in her hair about 10 minutes before falling out, I count it a success. Lily wanted to see it in the mirror and was very excited to wear it to Church.

On March 21st I turned 33! Crazy! To celebrate, my good friend Heather Kasik rounded up several of my local friends and invited them over to her house for ice cream. I felt so special.

(From top left: Holly Gray, Melissa Elmer, Heather Kasik, Tara Lenox, me, Melissa Dunn, Lizza Nelson. Bottom row, left: Laura Farnsworth, Anoush Anderson, and Sara Knight)

To further celebrate, I got a haircut! Nothing fancy, just about 6 inches off the bottom. I hadn't had one in about a year, so it was time.

This was also my first attempt at a "selfie". Clearly I need some practice.

Cole continues to be obsessed with trains, so when we went to Wild Wings Cafe next to the train station for dinner one night, he could hardly keep his seat while we ate because he wanted to see the tracks so badly. After dinner, we spent about 15 minutes walking up and down next to the rails.

And on them. 

Yeah, this probably wasn't the safest idea.

Cole was busy trying to run down to the signal while Jude and Lily practiced balancing. It is harder than it looks!

On March 30th we got to see Jude in a musical performance the Kindergarten classes put on about Spring. It was very cute.

Jude even got to be one of the students that played drums during one of the songs!

It was obvious he took this job very seriously.

It must be Spring. Baby lambs!

We were invited one morning over to a friend's house who just got a couple baby lambs! Jude and Lance were in school, so I took Cole and Lily to see the animals.

They also had a young pig. Lily spent a lot of time hanging out with "Bacon". I didn't have the heart to tell her this piggy is for eating. :(

The lambs, however, are purely pets and it's obvious they love their family. They were like little puppies--they'd come over and sniff you and follow the kids around the yard. They were so cute: almost made me want a lamb of my own!

Sweet babies. These lambs have hair and not wool, so they won't have to be sheared.

Cole LOVED them! He followed the lambs around and tried to get them to sit with him all morning. 

These lambs were very patient with the love.

Buddies.

These lambs are still being bottle-fed. Cole and Lily got to help feed one.

This family is getting a few more lambs in the next month and some baby goats. We'll probably be back!

New Orleans funk: Galactic in concert

On March 17th, George and I got to attend the Galactic concert on the Downtown Mall. George has been to three of their concerts, I believe, and was excited to share his love of the band with me.

Amy drove in to watch the kiddos for us. It was so nice of her! The kids had a great time, too!

We had dinner at Mas, one of our favorite restaurants in town, and then it was on to the concert! I was a bit uncomfortable (I had hurt my back the day before at the gym doing squats--I think I slipped my SI joint), but still had a great time. We decided to sit on the balcony instead of standing on the floor and while I think we missed out on some of the fun, we had an awesome view of the band.

These guys are seriously so talented. I have a hard time explaining what style they play, so from their Wikipedia page:
Over the years, the band's sound has evolved from organic New Orleans funk to a more modern style, incorporating elements of hip hop, electronica, fusion, and jazz. This change has been largely characterized by the increased use of electronic effects on guitar, bass, saxophone, and drums. Drummer Stanton Moore uses phrase samplers to sample a rhythm which he can then play over, producing intricate and layered drum sounds. Ben Ellman, saxophonist and harmonica player, often distorts his instruments to the degree that they sound similar to an electric guitar.

I wasn't sure if I'd be that into the music, but I really, really enjoyed it!

I love that George and I were able to spend this time together. With his crazy work schedule and me at home with the four kids, each date is priceless!