The Easter Center

Today was our ward Easter Egg Hunt. Explanation for the title? I don’t know where he got the idea but Aidan kept calling the Easter egg hunt the Easter center. I don’t get it. There was no school for Aidan today so I wanted to make it a fun filled morning before the Easter egg hunt at 1:00. Woke up this morning to a house in complete shambles because I’ve been a wee bit out of commission…long, embarrassing story short, I sprained my ankle during Zumba on Tuesday. Who does that? Me! It’s the same ankle that I injured badly a little over a year ago but luckily this time there are no torn ligaments, just a sprain. Anyway, I’ve been trying to take care of it by resting and icing it so my house has suffered. Back to my story…the house was in shambles and I had so much to do to prepare for our fun day. I fed and bathed the kids, packed a lunch did the girls’ hair and made myself look presentable in a matter of a couple of hours. That’s a lot of work!!! By the time I got the kids loaded into the car I was completely frazzled. I was shaking from the frustration of the kids not making it easy on me but we were gonna have a good day darn it! We finally made it to the park where we had a little picnic (totally into picnics lately) and the kids played with a bunch of friends that showed up unexpectedly! It was totally worth the stress of the morning.

From the park we went to the Easter egg hunt at the church. It was a gorgeous day!

80% of the eggs were gone and Aidan still only had 1 egg in his basket. Once he realized all of the eggs were empty he was pretty annoyed. After I told him he got to keep the eggs he went wild hunting his little heart out for eggs:)

“What the heck! This egg is empty!”

Just double checking to make sure there are no hidden treasures.

Arabella was having a crazy hair day. I just can’t believe how LONG it has gotten!

 

Finally, after they completed their hunt for eggs they did one final sit down to trade eggs.

The day started out stressful but we ended up having a really great time. I love this time of year!

This And That

I realize sometimes that I get caught up blogging about the “big” things we’ve been up to. I’m worried that I might be missing out on documenting the little, everyday things that melt my heart. I had a melt my heart moment a couple days ago. After Aidan brushes his teeth he knows that I’m gonna want to see how he did. He proudly runs to me showing me his sparkling teeth every single time. So, a couple of days ago he ran to me after brushing his teeth. I quickly inspected them and said, “Beautiful!”, to which he responded, “No mom, YOU’RE beautiful!” I could just squeeze him to pieces at that moment! Love my boy!

2 weeks ago Aidan was the star of the week. I took in a few pics and Aidan & Miss. Michelle made a poster which was hung in the front window of his class room.

Such cute fun facts about Aidan. You can’t see it because of the glare but his favorite food is salmon and rice. His favorite colors are actually turquoise and brown. He switched them on me after I filled out the info page. Everything else is accurate:)

Maya

I have so enjoyed having my girl time every day. My girls and I go to the park, Target, TJ Maxx, the gym and some days we just chill at home. Maya makes me smile. She says such cute things. She loves the moon. If we are outside and the moon is out she is sure to spot it. You know how some times the moon is out during the day? Well, day or night, Maya will spot it. When she see’s it she says, “I love the moon!” Maybe she will be an astronaut?

You know what else I love about Maya? She is so hoppy! Or should I say poppy. She loves to do what she calls “pop”. What she is actually doing is hopping but she thinks that the word is pop so when she jumps over something she says, “Pop!”

Arabella

What more is there to say? I think this picture says it all:) She is a little spitfire! So much sweetness and attitude in such a teeny tiny little thing! I love her. I love this little munchkin to pieces! Just a few things about her right now at the ripe old age of 2 years and 3 months: She is a sugarholic. We have a hard time getting her to eat any food but I’m convinced she could down a dozen cinnamon rolls if I let her. Her favorite color is purple. Ask her, she’ll tell you. Loves oatmeal for breakfast. Has the cutest run I’ve EVER seen. I need to video it. When we are out and about she HAS to hold my hand.

I love my babies and I love watching them grow. They are my happiness.

Ranking

It came. Finally, the list came! What list? The list of Air Force bases with available positions. We are officially in the process of RANKING! Do I sound excited? I know I must sound excited but I’m going to be honest, I’m freaking out! How scary is it to put your future in someone else’s hands?!?! I’ll tell you how scary it is, it’s REALLY SCARY! I do have to say though, our list of options is amazing. Pretty much every base we wanted is on the list. So, here it is:

Where will we end up? I can’t wait to find out!!!

Sanibel

Rich had a 4 day weekend so we took advantage of his time off and went on a little vacation to Sanibel Island. Heard of it? It is the #1 best place for shelling in the U.S.  As far as shells go, I must say, it did not disappoint.

We drove up on Thursday afternoon and went straight to the beach. Maya didn’t waste any time. She tried to shove ever single shell she saw into her bucket! That’s A LOT of shells!

Aidan wasn’t too into the shells but he did what he does best…run!

 

Arabella. Oh Arabella. So cute and yet such a stinker! She has been going through this crazy phase where she HAS to be holding somebody’s hand. Yeah, that got old. So we let her cry it out until she flipped a switch and started having fun.

Here she is happy as a clam because she’s holding daddy’s hand.

Then, heaven forbid, he let go!

Flipped a switch:D

 

That was fun.

Then we headed over to a restaurant called The Bubble Room. Food was yummy but what I loved best was how cute and colorful the restaurant was.

 

The next day we got up early to make it to the beach in time for low tide. It’s the best time to find cool shells. Of course we didn’t make it as early as we had hoped but there were still good shells. I thought it was gonna be a bit chilly so I dressed the kids a little warm…I was wrong. The kids didn’t waste any time running into the water, even in their pants!

See Rich in the back?

 

These two are seriously BEST FRIENDS! I think Aidan kind of drives Maya crazy a lot of the time but he absolutely ADORES her! Makes me feel bad for Arabella.

Speaking of Arabella, where is she, you ask? Why isn’t she in any of these pictures enjoying the beautiful beach at sunrise? Well, it’s because she was right next to me screaming bloody murder the whole time! Oh, that sweet girl made me crazy!

 

Regardless, we loved the beach during the wee hours of the morning. Everybody around us might not have enjoyed it much thanks to the powerful vocal cords of our little 2 year old. Hard to believe her vocal cords were ever paralyzed!

A few more pics from our morning:

The shell on the right is the one he is going to give to his teacher, Miss. Michelle.

 

What a treat it has been living in South Florida! Sanibel was an experience we won’t soon forget and hope to repeat:)

A Date With Nature

This weekend we thought we would take a little trip to the nature center.

Give them a view of mud and water and they are good.

The crab was the hit of the day.

When we got to the end of the trail we had a little picnic.

 

I am so excited, Rich has Thursday and Friday off this week so we are going to Sanibel! The kids are gonna have a blast collecting shells!