Happy Easter

We had a great Easter weekend. It has been busy, which I will blog about later this week. I hope you all were able to celebrate with family today. I am tankful that Jesus is ALIVE!

a day full of great things

Easter morning! They were thrilled to have their picture made with their Easter baskets.

Our sweet toothless girl!

A family photo.

I love these two so much!

The dessert desk.

Our yummy Easter lunch!

I love that the whole family comes for Easter. (It might have something to do with the fact that Hunter's birthday is close to Easter.)

Luke and Jacqulin are always nice and help Hannah and Hunter dye eggs.

Super Hero eggs. We were keeping with Hunter's party theme.

All done, hopefully it will be warmer and sunny one day this week and we can hide them.

I love that God gives us such beautiful reminders of His greatness!

The kids wanted to decorate an egg cookie after dinner.

I think Gypsy was glad that it was a little calmer in the house so she could stay in and rest.

Easter Egg Hunt

We had a great time at the Easter Egg Hunt. The kids were really fast at finding the eggs or I was really slow at taking a picture. I am glad the ran held off. It was a little cool, but that did not stop the kids from having a great time. Thanks Glenn's for having us all over.

Hunter filled his bucket up really quick.

Hannah did not waste any time filling her bucket either.

Hunter said, "Look at this cute little egg!"

They stopped long enough for me to take one picture of them together.

Wow! That is a lot of kids!

I had to take a picture of Hannah with her sister.

getting ready

 Carrot silverware for Easter lunch!

 Easter cookies!

Hannah decorated this bag for Hunter's gift from her.

girl time

Hannah and I went to have a little girl time after swim team. We enjoyed a nice manicure and pedicure. I should have taken a picture of the finished product.

our day

 We started the day with a trip to the doctor. Hunter has been telling us this throat hurt for a couple of days. He has also had a cough and runny nose. He had a temp of 99.4 last night. I do not want him to be sick for his party this week and Easter so we went on the to doctor to get him checked out. The rapid strep was negative, so she said it just a really bad cold. We came home to rest and drink plenty of liquids.

 He made this card Sunday and I found it on my desk. I asked him what it said and he said, "Thank you Jesus oh my soul. Matthew 8:99" It was all I could do not to laugh.

 We are making progress on the kids bathroom. The tub was installed yesterday and the all the plumbing was fixed/run. Now if Derrick can have a few days off we will hopefully see even more progress. I will keep you posted.

 We made enough eggs for two trees. I think they are so cute!!!! I think I will leave them up for the whole month of April.

Derrick and I stayed up way to late last night making these cookies for Hunter's party. They are party favors and I think they turned out great. I am so glad Derrick can draw spider webs. I did the red and white icing and he did all the black icing. I hope the kids will like them.

We had family movie night tonight since there was no church this week. It was nice to spend time together to end our every productive and busy day.

another day of fun

Yes, it is March 26 and there is snow on the ground!

 Today we painted the eggs we made yesterday.

 While they were drying she made these flowers for the table. She said, "These are the best flowers because they will never die." I love that she loves arts and crafts.

 We did a little reading. She finished a chapter book she had started on the way back from SC.

We went to the Y for swim team. I know the pictures look like we spent all day in our pj's but we did not. We were very productive today. Our egg project is almost complete.

let's do something fun

 Hannah will tell you that Dad is the fun parent and I am not. I am trying to change her mind this week. Hunter went to school and Derrick had to work so we had the whole day to do fun things and spend time together. We made salt dough eggs. This is our project for the week. Hannah helped mix the dough and then cut them out and made the holes.

I did have to clean the house, which she helped with. She volunteered to dust, emptied the trash cans and made the beds. While I finished cleaning the bathrooms she wrote a song about Easter. The fireplace is her stage. I will try to upload the video of her song.

the Easter bunny

Yesterday we went to the mall and Hunter saw the Easter bunny. He wanted his picture made with it, but it was $21 and you could not take pictures of your own. Hannah never wanted her picture made with the Easter bunny so I never thought to take Hunter. It is a good thing he tells us what he wants. We let him talk to the bunny, and of course, Hannah wanted to talk to him too. We told him we would take him to Bass Pro to get his picture made because you get a free 4x6 and can take pictures with your own camera. He reminded of the rest of the day to take him. We promised him we would go after church tomorrow, which was not really soon enough for him, but he said ok.

 Look at those sweet, happy faces.

 Hunter saw markers and wanted to color and write a letter. He may not know a lot of letters but at least he is leaning to write some of them. I can't remember what he said it said. There are a few real words in there.

 We walked around a little before leaving and Hunter found the hats and guns, two of his favorite things at this time. They are a mess and make me laugh so hard at times. I would not trade them for anything.

just what I needed

I am loving being on spring break. The kids and I got home from SC yesterday afternoon. We had a lazy morning and I was able to start my day reading my bible. I read it on the iPad and when I clicked on the bible app this was the verse of the day: No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11. I immediately thought about the kids. I feel like some days all I do is discipline them and then we have days like today when they are so good and kind to each other. I really understand now that my parents were telling me the truth when  they said, "This hurts me more than it hurts you." I am a better person because they disciplined me and I pray I am making the kids better people by disciplining them.

This was our verse a couple of months ago in Preschool Worship, aka Skippy. Hunter has learned it and every time he hears the word joyful he has to say it. I love that he is already memorizing scripture.

now he is ready

Hunter was so excited that Papa took him to get cleats today. He had to put them on as soon as we got back to Mike and Nene's and try them out. They are already dirty! I can't wait to see him in his whole soccer uniform.

time with friends

 Hunter and I played soccer for a little while this afternoon. He is so excited that he is going to be on a soccer team and play "soccer ball" on a team withe Aniyah. He can kick pretty good.

He stopped playing and went to pick me this flower. He melts my heart!

 Derrick had to leave and go to Atlanta a few days early. Mike took him and drove our car back. Hunter was so excited to ride in the middle of Mike's truck for the afternoon. He did ask me as I was putting him in why I was driving this big boy truck.

 Donna came and picked Hannah up to go with her to pick up the girls. Hannah was so excited. She got to spend the whole afternoon with them. Hunter and I came later and we stayed and had dinner with them.

 Chance was enjoying his watermelon and giving out lots of smiles, even tough he will not let me hold him.

 Hunter and Chance decided to stay with us and let the girls play in the playroom.

 The girls put on a show for us. It was very entertaining. Sophia was nice and let Hannah play her guitar. I guess next time we will have to pack Hannah's. 

Thanks Hayes' for having us over. We had a great time as always. 

All of the videos I took are to long, I will have to try to edit them down so everyone can enjoy the show we were given.