Catching up

Hello. Anyone still around? I know it's been forever since I last posted anything. My excuses? Um...kids, colds,allergies, birthdays.....let's see, what else? Hmmm global warming--will you buy that one? Go ask Al Gore. He'll tell you all about it with fancy slides and all. But I'm not here to make excuses. I'm here to get caught up on this blog gone awry.

I haven't quite figured out how I'm gonna do this. My last post was in January and I do have some half written posts waiting in the wings and pictures hanging out unedited in iphoto just waiting to find their way to you. I'll just surprise you, okay? I bet you can't wait.

So let's get it on.....

April fool's day

No April fool's jokes here although Grace had fun "fooling" people. We had a lovely day at the Wildflower center amongst the bluebonnets. We have really been blessed the last couple of weeks with some great spring weather. Don't they look so sweet?
Too sweet.
Throwing pennies into the wishing well with Grandma. Lucas has recently gotten obsessed with money. Everytime he gets out of the car now he has to grab a coin out of the cupholder.
Such a sweet picture with Grandma and GreatGrandma. Look how well everyone matched. And no, it was not planned. I guess we all had bluebonnets on our minds.
Lucas's other new obsession is throwing things, anything into bodies of water. That's a little stream below him.
Checking out the stone windows.
Grace demanded a picture with this statue.
The perfect ending to a perfect day. Sometimes I am reminded how lucky I am to be able to stay at home with my kids. And today was one of those days. Not many people get to spend a beautiful day out with their kids at such a pretty place. Many thanks to my mom for inviting us.

Our funny April Fool's day story: Steve and I really pulled one over on Grace. She loves sweets and is always, always asking for dessert. So, after dinner we drove out to Dairy Queen to get some ice cream but we didn't tell her where we were going (we've never been there with her). When we got there, we convinced here that they sold brussel sprouts and green beans there. We even got her to agree to try the brussel sprouts---"they make them with just a little bit of butter and pepper". She had no clue. You should have seen her face. I'm just sorry I don't have a picture of it. She finally got her ice cream and that put a big smile on her face and made her laugh at our April Fool's joke. Silly girl.

Easter egg hunt

My parents had their annual easter egg hunt on a perfect spring day.

Here's Steve trying to keep the kids out of the jacuzzi. An almost impossible feat but he did a good job. No one got too wet.

Waiting with Grandpa for the hunt to begin. They close all the blinds in the house while the eggs are being hidden to discourage cheating.
This is the first year that Grace really got the whole idea of the egg hunt and that the goal is to find as many eggs as you can. She did a really good job.
Lucas is still working on his hunting skills. After finding this, his first egg, he gave it to me and said "Mommy, open please. Candy". I guess I should have said something other than let's go outside and find some candy. He spent most of the rest of the hunt eating what he'd found in that egg. He'll figure it out soon enough. More eggs=more candy.
All of her hard work paid off.
His too.
Happy hunting!
All the kids after the hunt. The key is to take the picture after the hunt that way you can bribe them to sit still with a piece of candy. We are some smart folks. I think getting them to all look at the camera at the same time is a different story.
A quick picture with the bunny pinata before it's beating. I'm not sure but I think it's got some fangs growing out of it's nose. A little creepy.
"Helping" Daddy with the pinata.
For whatever reason, Lucas wanted nothing to do with this pinata. Too cute? Too scary nose fangs? Who knows.
Grace had no problems hitting it. An action photo just to prove it.
Again, he didn't understand the concept of grabbing as much candy as he could but rather thought the point was to just eat it as he found it. Works for him.
Grace with her bag o' candy.
And because there was not enough sugar eaten that day, we ended the day with a cupcake.
It tastes better if you shove the whole thing in your mouth. And it's a must to open your mouth so wide that it makes your eyebrows raise up in approval, otherwise you're just wastin' time.