Easter

Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter. We had a fun day filled with candy, brunch, candy, egg hunts, candy and more candy! They all think I am a mean, strict mom because I don't want them to now eat all that candy.

Sawyer found his easter basket on the side of the couch (actually Jonnie found it and couldn't hide his excitement).

So excited!
Jonnie found his in the pantry (actually Alaina did and couldn't hide her excitement).
Excited to have all that candy!
Alaina found hers in the basement (actually I had to straight out tell her where it was as she had no clue).
Very excited for the New Moon dvd!
Here they are sampling some of there candy before getting ready to go to Grandma Jeanne's for brunch and egg hunt.
Here at Grandma's and Liam was sooo in love with his new monkey friend. He just wanted to eat it-so funny!
Here's Nevie in her beautiful new Easter dress.
The boys having a jam sessions with harmonicas....
and kazoos.

Alain got some body wash-just what I, I mean, she needed.Two Gorts-Liam and daddy Shawn.

Here's the start of the egg hunt-they were all on a mission.
Sweet nevie so excited to find her eggs!

Alaina had trouble locating hers since they were all up high and she hates to try too hard (:
Allison had to help her out. Notice they are about the same height!
Cute brothers.
Cute husband and dad.
The seven grandkids that were there that day. Sawyer didn't want to cooperate with pictures, so we were just happy to have him stand in one spot.
Grandma and Grandpappy with the kids. I am hoping someone else got some clearer pictures. I do love Alaina's hair here, however (:
The Gorts.
The Swansons. Not the dream family picture I envisioned, but I'll take what I can get!

After the LeBon egg hunt we headed out to the Swanson's annual egg hunt. The kids were still raring to go and excited to get more candy! Here are the six of them right before the hunt.

Run Jonnie, Run!
Alaina taking her time.
"Look Tucker I have a gold shiny egg!"
Kate didn't want me to take her picture but she finally stopped long enough to make me happy.
A lot of Alaina's were up high again and she had to work for some of them. Jump Alaina, jump!
"Look Hunter, I found a gold, shiny egg!" Doesn't look like Hunter cares too much (:
I took the same picture in the same spot last year, so I guess that means it's a new tradition.


Keep running, Jonnie!
"Look dad, I found a gold, shiny egg!"
Jon x 2.
My boys!
Jon and his brother who act like boys.

"Look Uncle Tim, I found a shiny, golden egg!"

Levi awoke from his nap. Cutie pie!
And here is all seven-no tears out of anyone this year! They are waiting for Grandmas easter baskets.


They all got water guns, so of course Uncle Jon (daddy) had to start squirting the boys.
Then the boys took them outside to set up a battle...
They were all hiding waiting for Jonnie to come out so they could squirt him, but they weren't expecting Uncle Jon (daddy) to come around the corner!!
Sawyer was in his glory and never backed down for nothing-it was quite hysterical!
Jon getting Hunter and Hunter trying to get him back, but it is hard when your trying to run away at the same time! (: Sawyer is still squirting him.....


He never got a break from him!
Tucker's turn to get wet!

Great spot!
Nothing beats water guns.

A busy but fun day! Now where to stash all this extra candy?? We have dentist appts. coming up!

Easter Eve

The Gorts came over today for our annual egg dying. As you can see Aidan has new spectacles, Nevie is looking older and they have a new addition, Liam, joining us this year! It was fun as always having them over.

Here they are just starting out and figuring out which color to begin with. There was 10 colors, so no shortage there.

Sawyer and Nevie. Yeah, I didn't brush his hair today...I can't think of everything.
The three oldest...so serious in their eyeglasses.
And here's Liam. He's gotten so big! And still so adorable. I got to watch him for a little over an hour while Danielle ran to the store and he treated me like her (all snugly and wouldn't let anyone else hold him)-I LOVED IT! I still got the touch and had him napping in my arms shortly after she left. He was so cozy, I almost fell asleep rocking him.

Still at it. I love Nevie's face here.
Counting all his eggs.

Eggs were then turned into monsters. They turned out pretty cute.
A close up and also a close up of one tired boy. After the Gort's left, he just sat in my arms for over an hour-he was exhausted!
He had a little trouble falling asleep tonight because he was scared the Easter bunny was going to be walking around the house and maybe coming into his room. I told him not to worry and that it really wasn't a bunny coming into his home. So then he asks if it is just a costume and honestly, that is creepier than a real bunny coming in. What a weird tradition we have created for our children. I am all for traditions and making holidays fun, but not at the expense of the kids' fears. I didn't feel right telling him a made up story to make him feel better and I couldn't come up with one that wouldn't sound weird, so I said mommy and daddy dress up like the Easter bunny and bring you candy. He smiled and hugged me, then rolled over and went to sleep. All was better in his world.

Happy Easter everyone. Hope everyone has a great day!

Stripes be gone.....

Well, I finally did it! I finally got the boys room painted after talking about doing it for a number of years. Alaina was home "sick" that day and she ended up helping me paint, which helped a lot and she is a pretty good painter. I will have to keep that in mind when painting other rooms.

The colors we chose are cream, greenish brown, and..
orange. I love the orange accent wall and it ties all the colors of the bedding and curtains together.


We used to have a ton of books on the shelf, but I refuse to put them back up there. So, we are in search of a bookshelf for the corner. I also ordered some more storage bins (like the orange one) to put more of their stuff in. I am also in search of some wall art.
The boys wanted army bedding, so I was excited when I found this set. They are reversible and the other side looks like the curtains. I am not sure they will ever want to reverse them though...
They both LOVE their bunk beds. Sawyer loved his until the first night when he realized it is pretty dark under there and the hall light didn't reach him. After that first night though he loves it and he even sleeps in his bed all night (well, some nights). So that is a step in the right direction!



And now Alaina wants her room redone. Maybe if I start talking about it now, I will do it in the next couple years.

Back to the 50's

Today Jonnie was invited to a sock hop by the aforementioned Ingrid. It was her 9th Birthday party. 50's attire required. This was the best I could do. I would have loved to have had a letter jacket or sweater for him to wear, but I think this was just fine for the occasion. We even ran to the store to see if they still sell candy cigarettes to roll in his sleeve but they didn't have any. Oh well, Jonnie was very excited to go dancing (:

Here he is with his friend Zach. I laughed because the boys that were there all had on jeans and white t-shirts. I guess all us parents thought alike on this one!

Here are the party goers dancing and hula hooping to the oldies. I wanted to stay so bad and join in the fun! What a great party idea. I am in love with this girl Ingrid-she loves reading and dancing-my kind of girl. We bought her a book for her birthday and she told Jonnie it was her favorite gift (:
She's the one in the blue poodle skirt.
I watched them dance a little before I left and no one was embarrassed at all...still carefree in their youth and danced and ran around-so fun!

Looking into the future....

Ever wonder what your kids will look like when they're older? Well, just whip on a cool mustache and you'll soon see.

I wonder if these boys will be future policemen.....

One thing for sure, they will be manly!

Spring Fever

One of us has Spring Fever.

Real bad.

Songfest

Jonnie had a special part at his songfest this year. He was closing out the show with a dance and the best part (his words) is he gets to dance with his girlfriend Ingrid. Yes, the boy has a girlfriend. It is adorable. She is adorable. They even sat together in the bleachers when singing and they were talking and laughing together the whole time. I guess that means they haven't reached the age where having a girlfriend means you no longer talk to her. The days when we called it "going together." Ahhhh, young love. I may have it bad with this one-he loves the ladies and they have been loving him since kindergarten!!

Here they are and in order to get the lighting to work out I had to use the nighttime setting on my camera and for some reason that meant blurry pictures. It's the best I could do.

And here is my first attempt to put on a video. Even though it is only about 3 seconds it gives you a better picture of it. Enjoy!