Mud. . . friends. . . mostly mud.

I love when my children have fun. I love that most of their clothes this year are either old or from DI because I learned from last year. They may never look like those kids I see at the grocery store with the perfectly coordinated outfit, exquisitely coiffed hair and darling hair accessories, but at least I know they are having a good time!

No inhibitions. And just so you know, most of the stain actually did come out!

We love the Mabey's back yard! And the friends who love the mud as much as we do!

They could do this for hours. I'm not kidding. If nap time didn't interrupt, I would have a whole day to do whatever I wanted!

She must have needed a mud bath.

A little brother. . .

There are occasionally times when I feel bad that I am not having a boy. Although Matthew is great about me having a girl (he tells me he loves her already) I can sometimes tell he would DIE for a little brother. These times usually come when we get to have my little nephew Gabe over. Matthew adores and fawns over him. Usually he refuses to play with friends until Gabe leaves. The other day he had Gabe snuggle him on the couch to watch a movie but I thought this was the cutest - that he wanted to read him a story! And he took it so seriously! Matthew is always telling me (and Gabe's parents) that he is Gabe's favorite. If he keeps up like this, he may one day be!

Knights and Princesses

Once again, we LOVE our costume box. Here we have two Hawaiian-princesses and one hansome knight. You can tell by Matthew's facial expressions that he takes his role as the knight very seriously. I am glad he is developing some sense of chivalry! This is what I got when I said "Do something that knights and princesses do."

Fun in the Sun

We took the kids on a trip. . . finally. It may be the only time we ever take them! Just kidding! They had a ton of fun and it was so cute to see them enjoy themselves!

A little tired.

Getting Excited

"Mom, can we please keep one?"

Thank you, Jen and Brad, for sharing! They're ADORABLE!

Easter Morning

You'll notice the Easter Bunny tried to include little pictures of Jesus in the Easter baskets to remind my children of the true meaning of Easter. Fat chance. They were promptly set aside. There was also a little picture of the resurrected Savior in the trail of candy that lead to their baskets. That got stepped on during the rush to stuff every little piece of candy in the candy trail into their greedy little mouths. I think I'll ask the Easter bunny to come on Saturday next year. I think Nicole had a death grip on that chocolate bunny.

Oh, the Easter dress and tie, which, by the way, was only chosen because I happened to mention that it was a "power" tie.

The Hunt

Don't you just love Easter? I told Woodson the other day that it was one of the "major" holidays and he immediately said "No, it's not! You don't even get work off for it!" That's when I had to remind him that Easter is always on a Sunday! I still don't think he has the same fondness for it that I do but it's either growing on him or he just knows me well because he hid eggs for me to find without me even asking this year! I will admit I HAVE to have the "who can hide the eggs better" contest with him each year! (P.S., I am UNSTOPPABLE! I consider myself the winner every year!)

I also love all the hoopla for the kids! The day before Easter we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Dean's neighborhood for their neighborhood Easter egg hunt. It has always been and continues to be a hit! Here it is:

Waiting with Grandpa Dean.

A little hot chocolate to get Matthew revved up for the running!

Empty baskets. . .

When is it going to start?

Confident in his abilities to collect a TON of eggs! He told me afterwards that he had been "wise" in his hunting and not "foolish" with reference to the fact that he chose lots of eggs that had "monies" (nickels) in them! I don't know how he knew this before he opened them. . .maybe he was out there shaking the eggs before he decided they were worthy of his basket!

And they're off!

Smart girl. Have dad hold your basket while you run gather eggs, deposit them, and go back for more. Someone else to do the heavy lifting.

Happy kids.

Doughnuts afterwards. Can you have too much sugar?

Posing with Grandpa and Dad.

Examining the loot.