Easter at the lake

While I love this first picture with all my heart, I feel it's slightly misleading to post it. For it makes Matt's three boys appear little angles as he reads to them the Easter Story from the Bible on Easter morning. This is possibly the third time in our family history where all three have been able to settle down and focus in at one time. So it's a miracle in and of itself that I was there with camera in hand, ready for the historic and blessed moment.

Matt is actually reading from Caleb's new "Action Bible" that he got in his Easter Basket only moments before. It's spectacularly illustrated and packed with thrilling Bible tales of courage and God's mighty power. And it's all done in comic book format! Which may be the reason all three boys came in for that morning's read about Jesus' resurrection.

Here is Matt and his beard. He was outside watching Caleb run around the porch collecting his Easter eggs. We had to divide the boys' baskets and give them each their own turn hunting for treats. Caleb is like a tornado and collects them all in only a few crazy moments. While my two blonds love to find one, open it, maybe eat it, maybe save it for later, and then move on to the next. But here's Matt, early this Resurrection Day!

Old decorative water-skis are a perfectly marvelous

hiding place for Easter Eggs!

The day before Easter we received a knock at the door. The boys ran to see who might be coming for a visit and found a special delivery from their Nana and Papa. Three GLORIOUS Easter Baskets chalked full of peeps and pez, chocolate bunnies, bubble gum, bubbles, play dough, markers, crayons, and coloring books! O, the joy!

This picture below is of Caleb's basket, torn open just enough to get to the chocolate! Beside it are the eggs we had dyed the night before. Oh, and don't miss the left over donut holes I served for breakfast, not knowing that this sweet, sugary surprise was on it's way!

Caleb's basket included a doodle pad, so after shoving a few pieces of candy in his 7 year old mouth, he set to work on this beauty.

This was Asher's first Easter really getting into all the fun. The eggs, the candy, the crafts, resurrection eggs and resurrection buns... we had at least one craft, baking project, and Easter story every day all week long. And he loved every moment of it.

Easter it my favorite day of the year and I have every hope that they will inherit a passion for this marvelous day as well. And not just for the chocolate bunnies! "He is risen, indeed!"

date night with my big guy

A couple of weeks ago I had a date with my oldest son. He wanted to get skinny jeans and "a hat like Jacob wears at church." So we did. Then we went out for pancakes at IHOP. The next day he went to school in his uniform, but as soon as he got home from school (before he even did his homework) he put on his cool new duds. Precious. Love the picture of him doing his homework all dressed up.

my blondes

The Brew Crew

Caleb loves playing catcher, so he's usually smiling behind the mask. Here he is coming in from having just taken a hit in the shoulder straight out of the pitching machine. No tears though, Big Guy. He also got a super hit, way up over the head of the second baseman. I heard myself yelling, "Don't you dare catch my son's ball!" The Brewers had a great third game of the season. Lots of fun. And I even gave in to peer pressure and let the boys get a candy from the concession stand.

Go Brewers!

3

Asher anticipated his birthday with GUSTO!

He wanted three things:

1) a trip to Disneyland

2) a big bouncy ball

3) chocolate cake.

Asher continues to love all things athletic, he delights in making people laugh,

and loves his mom, dad, brothers, Grandmas and Grandpas, and of course his brothers!

And we love him right back!

DISNEYLAND as a Party of Five!

We finally braved the Happiest Place on Earth with our Party of Five!

The first two days we only spent a few hours as we ended up sloshing

through the rain. The last day, however, we had a crisp perfect day at

California Adventure! Thank you to all of our family who gave money

gifts at Christmas to make this trip possible! Mom, gave us a day and

Dad and Grandpa helped offset the cost of making it an annual pass

for the whole family! What fun. Let us know if you are planning a

trip and want our crew to join in on your Disney fun!

Our first day we played with our friends the Andersen's, but it was too

wet to get a camera out. It would have been fun to get a shot of us all

dripping wet in line at the Haunted Mansion.

Yesterday we had Aunt Samantha with us as well as my long time friend

Kerry and her son Korbyn. Too much fun with Mickey, Family, and Friends...

VALENTINE'S DAY 2011

Valentine's Day 2011 began with individual love-note placemats from Mom (that's me!) Caleb had a wonderful party day with friends at school and then in the evening we had two families over for a child friendly dinner party!