Easter Monday

Today was our first day back at school after Spring Break.  Our day went pretty smoothly - aside from being a little tricky to wake up so early, everyone got off to a great start.  I was able to leave work shortly after my school day ended, and I got the kids early so we could come home and relax.  Hannah had her jammies on hours before bedtime, and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out!  Jack wasn't far behind.  We'll see how we do tomorrow, when the "newness" of being back at school has worn off.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some pictures from our Easter festivities.  Yesterday was a day packed with family and fun!

Hannah's Basket

Jack's Basket

This year the bunny left their baskets on the TV console instead of on our coffee table.  When the kiddos looked over the balcony first thing in the morning, there were no baskets to be found!  I had two crying little lovelies waking me up at 7:15 to exclaim that the Easter Bunny didn't come.  I don't think the bunny realized that he's always left the baskets elsewhere...luckily, I was able to dry their tears and show them that, in fact, the Easter Bunny did come!  Poor things...

Early morning light and an Easter egg hunt

Family photo - and yes, we matched on purpose :)

Uncle John, Dylan, and Aunt Ryan

Cousin Love

Dessert table

Family photo

Easter table - so lovely!

My carrots!  New recipe found here

My favorite holiday meal

We did an egg hunt for the cousins - one indoors with egg fillers and one outside without fillers.  How cute are these egg hunt signs I found at Target?

Everyone did a nice job of helping one another find their eggs!

And, of course, Hannah had plenty of time to love on Buddah-Bear!  Note: She shared her baby blanket with Buddah because she just loves him so much!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed the beautiful day outside!

One of the best.

Yesterday was such a good day.

Hannah came in bright and early to announce that it was her birthday - she was so excited.  After she told me, she rushed into the bathroom where Brad was taking a shower and told him she was four.

Then she chattered on about how she would be 4 tall on our measuring stick and how she could run faster.  Since she turned four.  And it was her birthday.

It was the cutest.  Normally, people ask you if you feel different on your birthday, and you never really do.  But Hannah?  Hannah was definitely feeling different, from the moment that she woke up.

We got up and made blueberry muffins for breakfast and cupcakes for her pizza party.

Then we ran some errands and picked up her birthday balloons.  We snuggled and took birthday selfies.

We spent the afternoon at the pool and Hannah perfected her "canyonballs".

And then we came home and got ready for a family celebration.  I set up a little birthday table, we ordered some pizza and salad, and we just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

{Yes, we had a Ninja Turtle themed party :)}

{She couldn't wait to wear her birthday badge!}

Both families came over and it just seemed like everyone had such a lovely time.  We watched Hannah open presents, and then sang Happy Birthday twice...once with a sparkler and once so Hannah could blow out a birthday candle, ever so important.

{Jack gave some of his Pokemon cards to Hannah and wrapped them all by himself.}

{Such balance!}

As the evening was winding down, we headed outside to play with one of Hannah's presents.  We bought her (and Jack, too) a light-up bow and arrow that we had seen while we were at the beach.  Everyone had so much fun shooting the arrows and chasing them down.  We even held a few contests, and I'm pretty sure both of my brother-in-laws ordered a set of their own after they left :)

Hannah was a sleepy peanut by the end of the night, but I know she had such a fun, happy day.

I will say that all of that fun, late-night excitement made for two grumpy, sleepy kiddos today.  It was a little rough, but we made sure to get them to bed at a decent time tonight so that everyone will be well-rested for Hannah's pool party tomorrow.

Turkey Day

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house.  Typically, we alternate between families.  Last year, we spent Thanksgiving with my family.  This year we'd planned on traveling to North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with Brad's family, but Brad's mom and dad have made several trips to North Carolina recently and the last time we traveled the day before Thanksgiving with the kids it was horrendous, so we decided to stay in town and have it at our house instead.

I love hosting events at our house, but I always forget just how much work it takes until those first moments when the party's over :)

I think everything turned out really well, but Brad wasn't too excited about the turkey he fried.  It was a tiny bit overdone, but he followed the directions on the proper cooking time, so I'm not really sure what happened.  We had a 17-pound turkey when we started, but when it came out, it looked more like an overcooked rotisserie chicken.  Oh well - we had plenty of side dishes and desserts, and no one left hungry!

The kids and I made turkey place cards

A perfect place-setting

Jack made a turkey out of balloons (See the eyes?)

I'm a sucker for a pretty table...

Brad made fun of my cooking get-up, but I started cooking as soon as breakfast was over and got cleaned up before dinner, don't you worry...

The first time I ever made Rice Krispie treats!

This is Brad's turkey-frying get-up, so maybe I win?

In goes the turkey!

Of course, I made everyone pose for an obligatory family dinner photo :)

Fruit cornucopias

So many desserts, so little room!

Cupcakes, Rice Krispie treats, and Tootsie Rolls, oh my!

Table details

Grandma and Grandpa brought Hannah and Jack a new Thanksgiving book, and they couldn't wait to hear it!

I made sure that we each took a moment to think about all that we are grateful for...here are our results.  Brad likes to get a rise out of me any way he can, as you can clearly see.

It was a good day filled with family and wonderful food and yummy desserts.  We hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving!