APRIL MOMENTS

APRIL EXTRAS

I ended up with a few randoms this month that really ought to be shared.  At least I think so.  Why? Because I have the most darling children in the whole world! Obviously.

This is how grocery shopping looks most of the time these days, jammies and all!

That time you drew a giant bird (Kevin by name, the current favorite movie character) and when your daughter colors it you realize she actually has a pretty decent artistic eye!

This girl...

Flat Weston came to visit us!  We had such a fun time taking him around with us.  A few of the highlights: broken dog leg, OSU stadium, and the giant buckeye ball at the chocolate factory!

This girl has no problem entertaining herself.  I love finding her stuff all lined up all over the house!

Nothing like a relaxing day at the park.

When your toothbrush has a suction bottom, you put it wherever you want

Buddies even in their sleep

My sister sent us some rockin' new shirts in support of a family they know with a child fighting cancer.  There is a very soft place in my heart for all the amazingly strong children, and their mommies and daddies, putting up that fight.  Standing ovation from our little family!

SWIM CLASS

Well it's not quite summer yet... 

but spring has certainly sprung, and we can't help it if our minds have already started wandering in the direction of the Sunshine and Summertime type thoughts.  You know,

popsicles,

sandals,

picnics,

drinking hose water, 

park equipment that's way too hot to be any fun,

and swimming!

We decided to go ahead and get ready, so we put the girls in some swimming lessons, "swim class" as Mckenna calls it.  Brinlee had done some before, but Mckenna never had, and OSU offered some classes that would work for both of them.  No surprise, Brinlee loved it.  I'm pretty sure that girl is part fish.

What was pretty surprising though was how much McKenna loved it!
Last year she and the water didn't really get along very well.  She spent all summer keeping herself mostly in the ankle deep stuff and held on pretty tight if we took her anywhere more serious.  I didn't have super high hopes for the class.  But that little monkey was all over that swimming pool!  She did back floats, belly floats, blew bubbles, and kicked her legs and scooped her arms like it was going out of style!

Her true love though was jumping off the wall... man.  She goes crazy for that! No fear this year.  Look out summer!  Little Swimmer coming your way!

Our last class was Thursday and the girls wanted to take a little something for their teachers.   

"You are O-Fish-ally the best teacher, and we had bubbles of fun!"

Because who doesn't love Jones soda and Swedish fish?! 

I'm actually pretty excited for some water play this summer.  

It was so much fun watching them splash around that pool!

OUCHY

Up on campus theres this cool drum statue/artwork spot by the RPAC.  We had never noticed it before, but yesterday we had been up there doing some swimming (more to come on that later) and while we were waiting for daddy to go get the car we decided to check it out.  

 It turns out the statue gets really hot on sunshiny days, and poor little Brinlee figured that out for us.

She tried to climb up to one of those drums and in the few seconds it took for her to touch it and get away from it, she had blister-burned her poor hand, arm, and a spot on her neck!  It was so SO sad, and so confusing!  Mckenna and I had played a drum just fine....  Poor Binlee found the extra hot one I guess.  She was really hurting, it was heartbreaking.  She was a serious trooper though.  She had to suffer through the drive home and then I had to dig out my old nursing stash of stuff to get her feeling comfortable.  But she handled it like a champion!

Tim was all ready to write up a big letter to OSU.  Turns out there is a warning sign by the statue... oops.  Too bad Brinlee didn't have a literate, responsible adult with her to help her out...
Way to go mama!
She does however have lots of people who love her!  This morning our next door neighbors brought over some treats, and then her best little friend Alex showed up with a bag full of all kinds of treats and homemade "get well" cards.  It was so sweet, and Brinlee was so excited! She just kept saying "my friends love me so much!"

Bless her little heart.  Hopefully it's a fast recovery.

EASTER IS HERE

Welcome back Easter! 

I am so happy to see you!!!

Let's celebrate.

Thursday morning our good friend Wendy and her little girl Hadley hosted a little Easter egg hunt for the playgroup kiddos.  The girls were all over that!  They did not need told at all what to do, and they also could not have been happier.  I didn't know we had such enthusiastic egg hunters, but they came home with quit a haul.

Now this is the picture of happiness right here - sitting in the sunshine, checking out a basket of goody-filled eggs, with two suckers stuck in your mouth.  Bliss.

Brinlee was the oldest there.  When ALL of the friends are together that's not the case.  But when it is, Brinlee sure doesn't mind.  That little sweetie loves all the babies!

We are so grateful for all of our fun little friends! 

Hadley shared her tree swing, and it was probably the highlight of the party!

On Saturday morning the girls woke up to a visit from the Easter Bunny! Brinlee was most excited about the paints, but McKenna couldn't get her little mind wrapped around the whole idea.
"The Easter Bunnies brought new chalk? And new paints? She did?? OK!"  I love that for Mckenna, the Easter Bunny is not only plural, but a girl!  :) She is such a cute little talker.

Easter lovies with these two angels.

The Easter Bunnies had no idea how wise she was to bring these.  Hours of very quiet (and surprisingly not too messy!) entertainment!

Daddy was busy getting ready for a big test.  Bummer.  But us ladies still enjoyed a few festivities.  What's Easter without a little egg dyeing and decorating, right? And we only spilled once! I would call that a success.

This happened.

The meltdown was just irritating at first.  I mean honestly, we were coloring eggs!! Can't fun family time just be fun? I used my firm mommy voice, and snapped a few pictures....
and then felt really bad when the poor girl calmed down enough to tell me her ear was hurting.  Turns out she was running a pretty rough fever and had a little ear infection.  Whoops.

Brinlee on the other hand felt fine and was happy as a clam!

Doing Resurrection Rolls with these two never gets old.  Their little faces when they find the "tomb" empty are priceless and so sweet! (and might even bring a tear or two to this mama's eye)

Easter Sunday was perfect!  Mckenna and I actually missed church.  Her little ear ache and fever kept us home.  So her Easter dress this year was a very fancy combination of her favorite jammies.
But it was a beautiful day, and we did enjoy some sunshine.

Brinlee and daddy went to church though, and Brinlee looked darling in her new flower dress!

For dinner we did daddy's tradition favorite, creamed eggs on toast. Brinlee decorated us some Easter plates... and that (and the orange juice) was the only part of the meal the girls liked.

So creamed eggs on toast may not yet be a family favorite for all of us.

But these girls' hugs are definitely a favorite!

A little while ago I asked Brinlee what her favorite scripture story is, and she said "My favorite is when Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected after three days.  That's really special, know why mom? Because that means we can be a family forever. And that is so special! I just love Jesus so much!"

First of all, talk about melting my little heart into a complete puddle!

It turns out Brinlee's favorite scripture story is my very favorite too, and the most important message of all time.  Because of everything Jesus Christ is, I can become more than I am, and I can have these knuckleheads as mine forever.  And I love that! 

I love Jesus Christ, and am so grateful for his gift of love for all of us!

Happy Easter!