Easter Sunday

Easter morning was a little chaotic this year.  With church being at 9:00, we are usually pretty rushed in the morning to get ready and get out the door.  Add in the excitement of Easter, and it was even more rushed.  But, I love how much Miley is really getting into holidays now.  Landon still has a couple years to really get everything, but Miley was very into her basket this year and finding eggs.

We came downstairs around 7:00, and Miley immediately started finding eggs that the "bunny" had hidden.  She didn't notice her basket at first, but once she did, she ran over and started looking through her goodies (and Landon's, too!).  She kept running around saying, "Mom, I LOVE Easter!"

Cameron had made some monkey bread, so after a breakfast of that and eggs, we hurried up to get ready for church and out the door.  We were running a little late, but still managed to snap a couple of pictures of the kids in their Easter finest.

After church we came home and started making dinner.  This is the first holiday dinner Cameron and I have ever really made on our own.  We have always been lucky enough to either go to family or friend's for the holidays, so this was our first time making a huge meal like this.  We invited some friends over, and had ham, rolls, cheesy potatoes, green beans, Jello-o, and angel food cake with strawberries for dessert.  After dinner, Miley even persuaded all the guys to play Go Fish with her.  A very successful day in her eyes.  :)

It was a great way to spend our Easter, and while we were sad to not have any family around, it was fun to make our own holiday dinner and try our hand at it.  We are so lucky to have great friends up here that make up for not having family!

Easter Egg Hunt

Last week, we were able to do an Easter egg hunt with some friends for the third year in a row.

And for the third year in a row, in true Minnesota fashion, the weather was terrible.

We have been having beautiful, springy weather for a while now, so I was sure that this year would be our year for the Easter egg hunt.  No coats, some sunshine, you know....

Boy was I wrong.  Mother Nature didn't let us down.  She decided to deliver wind, cool temperatures, an overcast sky, and drizzling rain for the day.

We bundled up anyway, because we didn't want our kids to miss it.  After huddling around for a while, the dads finally hid the eggs, and we set the kids loose to find some eggs.  Miley loved it, and quickly found her allotted 12 eggs.  Landon needed a little help from dad, but managed to get a few eggs for himself.

Then, once we were done, a whole whopping 45 minutes later, we decided we had had enough and jumped in the car to hurry home, freezing, but happy with our treats.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  I mean, we do live in Minnesota after all.  And Miley still had a good time (Landon is still up for debate).  However, I am still holding out hope that some year we can have a pleasant, warm Easter egg hunt.  Maybe we should move to Florida or Arizona??

Summer Job

Dog-Walker in Training.  

Will work for food.  

Any takers?

Who Needs Water Anyway?

I don't think you ever realize how much you use water, until you don't have it.  I mean, sure, you know you drink it, and use it to rinse dishes or whatever.  But I didn't know I could miss it so much.  Until we didn't have it for 22 hours.

Yup.

Long story short, our water line broke.  And it happened last Thursday evening, so unfortunately, no one could come and fix it till the next day.  We are talking 22 hours of no water for dishes, showers, baths, cleaning up spilled cereal (seriously, the only time Miley has spilled a full bowl of cereal.  Ever. On the day we don't have water), no flushing toilets, all of that glamorous stuff.

The excavators came out the next morning and dug a 10-ft. deep hole in our front yard.  The good news?  Our water is working again.  The bad news?  We now have a rather large spot in our front yard with no grass.  Someone is supposed to come fix it in a couple weeks though, thank goodness.

I don't think I ever want to go that long without water again.  And on that note, I am off to go get myself a big, tall glass of...yup.  You guessed it.  Ice water.  And sit and look at how beautiful our front yard is right now.  Not.  Who needs grass anyway, right?

St. Patty's Day Par-tay!

One  of our neighbors hosted a little get together for St. Patrick's Day this year.  It fell on one of the nicest days of the year so far, so we were able to set up outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.

The kids all had a ball playing together (seriously, we are so blessed to have such great neighbors...all of our kids get along so well and have so much fun together!), while the parents got to visit and enjoy each other's company.  There was a fabulous spread of pizza, sandwiches, dips, fruit, veggies, and desserts to munch on all evening.  It was great to be able to spend time with good friends.

Once everyone put kids to bed, a few of us still hung out and had a fire pit in one of our neighbor's driveway (yet another perk of having such good friends as neighbors!).  We had so much fun talking and laughing and stayed up till 1:00 am...way later than any of us are used to!  We loved having something fun to do to celebrate, and loved feeling young again...even though we suffered the next day for staying up so late!  :)

Where Did Winter Go??

From the last couple of posts, you may think that we have been freezing up here in Minnesota.  Well, that snow from the last couple of posts was the most we got all winter.  And since then, we have had nothing but spring weather, and even some summery feeling days in there.

We are loving all the time outside, as it usually isn't this warm till at least April.  Our kids have been spending lots of nights playing hide and seek, riding scooters, playing baseball, and just running around outside with their neighborhood friends.  We have also been whipping out the warm weather treats, like smoothies and ice cream cones (and apparently Landon is confused as to why we don't need the snow shovels anymore...).

I can't believe that we went from the pictures in my last posts to these, snowsuits to shorts, hot chocolate to ice cream, and sleds to scooters in just a matter of days.  I just hope that this isn't a nice little break before some cold weather comes back....after this taste of spring I am ready for winter to go away for the year.  :)

Long Time No Blog

Well, I did again.  I fell off the blogging bandwagon for almost a month this time.

This month has been busy, but not busy like you would think.  Busy as in we have been spending most of our free time playing outside in this crazy warm spring weather.

But I am back and ready to blog about what has been going on this month.  Starting with the trip I took at the beginning of the month to visit my sister and her brand new twins!

I don't have any pictures from when I was there (I will have to steal some from my sister when she gets around to posting them, in all her free time right now!).  It was so much fun though.  It was great to be able to help my sister with her babies, as I haven't gotten to do that before.  In the past, we have been on the same time table with our kids, and haven't really been able to that.  And it's always great to have an excuse to visit family!

Luckily for me, I got to make this trip sans kiddos.  This was the first time I have ever left Miley or Landon, and it was a little weird, but also kind of rejuvenating!  Of course, I knew they were in the best hands, as Cameron took some time off to be able to stay home with them.  They loved having time with Dad, and weren't even all that excited to have me back!  :)

While I was gone, Cameron took advantage of our recent snowstorm and spent some time building a snowman and some snow chairs with them.  They also got to go swimming, eat at a couple fast food places, etc.  You know, all that kind of fun stuff.

I really missed my family, and was so excited to come home to them.  But it was so great to be able to go help Gelsey and meet my sweet new nephews, Flynn and Brecken!