Easter Celebrations

Last weekend we had our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  My friend Gretchen and I organized it this year, and we were so happy to have such a great turn out.  Over 40 kids!  We had 3 age groups with 3 golden egg winners.  Afterwards we enjoyed the beautiful weather while the kids played on the playground.

Elizabeth rode her scooter home while I drove beside her.

This sad little bunny did NOT like me documenting her tears:(

We dyed Easter eggs on Easter Eve.

The girls had forgotten that the Easter bunny brings little gifts so they were extra thrilled to find their baskets full on Easter morning.

new bathing suits, devotionals, sunglasses, books, wet brushes, ear phones, bubbles, and flip flops... wow, what a super bunny! 

Our service on Resurrection Sunday was wonderful.  So much emotion and hope!

We had lunch with friends.  It was the most beautiful, relaxing, and enjoyable day!

Yes, I ate every bit of that! Yum!!

We finished our Easter off with another hunt.  It was a great end to our Easter celebrations, and a great beginning of spring break.

March Madness

This month has been crazy busy but so much fun.

Wednesday night church

That night these sweet kids helped pack 25,000 meals to Stop Hunger Now!

My friend and neighbor, Julie, turned 38 this month.  For her birthday she had a "School Reunion" party.  We all dressed up like we were in high school and brought our senior yearbooks and other high school memories to share.  It was so very fun especially since there is a 16 year variation among our graduation dates!
After snooping through everybody's high school memories.  We played a game of "Name that Tune and Artist"... girls vs. boys.  Then we played a game of charades where we pretended to be one of our friends, but their high school self.  Others guessed who we were.  It was hilarious!

For our March run we ran the Silver Comet 10K.  It was a great run.  Bert and I both finished with our best times yet.

Elizabeth got a random stomach bug and threw up all night a few Saturday nights ago.  Thankfully no one else caught it and it was over in 12 hours.  The next day was so beautiful and she wanted to go outside so bad. So I laid out a blanket for her to lay on.  Poor girl.  She loves being outside.

I took the girls to see our school musical, "Legally Blonde."  All the racy parts went right over their heads.  The were in awe of the singing and dancing.  It was an incredible show!

My little bunnies!

Elizabeth's soccer pictures are taken on a green screen.  Caroline felt left out so I took her photo afterwards.

letting our manicures dry:-)

My whole world in this king size bed

On Tuesday, Elizabeth and Caroline ate apples after dinner for a treat.  Afterwards, Elizabeth discovered she had a loose tooth.  She was so excited she could barely fall asleep that night.

On Thursday, March 26th, she came home from school looking like this!  She was so excited to lose it at school because she got to go to the nurse who gave her a tooth shaped necklace to wear with her tooth in it.  She felt so special!

In true Elizabeth fashion, she was very concerned as to what the toothfairy actually did with her tooth.  Why did she want it?  We discussed the possibilities for a while.  

Last week it was rainy at soccer

This week it was sunny and freezing

Caroline loves to jump in puddles

She loves the wind and sun on her face even more!

I was doing yard work last weekend, and these sweet girls drew flowers on our driveway to show my flowers how to grow.  

Wednesday night Bert cashed in his Christmas present and took me to see Fleetwood Mac.  I was worried about staying up late on a school night, but was turned out to be a much needed date with my hubby.  We even had a drink afterwards to avoid the traffic... rebels!

Finally

These pictures have absolutely nothing to do with this post.  I just didn't want to leave them on my phone, but still wanted to share that Caroline is FINALLY potty trained!!!  

Everyone assured me that it would just click when she was ready.  And guess what? That's exactly what I think happened because she went from no progress at all to full on potty-trained!

Two weeks ago (when we had Melissa and Reese over for brunch) Reese sat down to use Caroline's froggy potty as Caroline watched in amazement.  I guess she was impressed because she sat down right after her and peed on her own!  That was a huge success.  It surprised the heck out of me.  Then she asked me to let her wear big girl panties (she usually begs for  a diaper) so we let her.  She went the rest of the day without an accident and went to the froggy potty every single time   She was still petrified of the big toilet and wouldn't go poo, but this was progress!

After two days of not going #2, we told her she was going to have to wear a diaper again if she didn't.  This actually seemed to motivate her for the very first time.  She wanted to keep wearing big girl panties so bad.  On Monday, Bert sent me a picture (not posted here) of her first poo in the froggy potty. I was so excited!  From that point on she's been 100% in big girl panties.  Even at night time.  She went from full on diaper to full on potty-trained.  The only thing we did right was wait for her to be ready!

After a week of success with the froggy potty we went out to dinner with the Hills.  Halfway through dinner Reese said she had to use the bathroom and Caroline followed suit.  I really didn't think she would go since she was still deathly afraid of sitting on the real toilet.  But she sat right down on that toilet and did her business!  After that she started using the real toilets at home too.  No more froggy potty!  So I guess we should really thank Reese for potty training our baby girl!!

It's been two weeks since she first pee peed on that froggy potty.  I love that we have turned this big corner.  But part of me misses that cushioned little diaper butt!

Potty trained or not, these two will always be my babies!!

And my little ballerina princesses!

Snow Days

Before the snow (or threat of snow) came our way, we had a fun brunch at our house with Reese and Melissa.  It was great girl time!  The little ones got to play and the mamas got to chat.  Perfect start to our Saturday!

Reese gave Elizabeth and sand box that Elizabeth loved playing with at her house.  She has played with it every day since.  I found this video on my phone.  She had recorded herself without me knowing.  That sweet girl....

Alissa and I were asked to wear Kendra Scott jewelry for our Greyhound Nation Celebration (our foundation's fundraiser for school) in order to auction off.  Here we are wearing a couple of pieces.  We took a picture to post to their facebook page.  This will be a fun event!

Elizabeth had her 6-year check up with our new pediatrician, Dr. Cooper.  We love her and her practice!  It was time to make the switch and I'm so happy to be in a smaller practice where our doctor actually knows my children (her husband is Elizabeth's soccer coach). Elizabeth is very healthy.  She weights 45 lbs (50th percentile) and  46.5 inches tall (75% percentile).  

Last week they cancelled school on Saturday for the threat of snow on Monday.  Then we were out on Tuesday too.  We never got any snow!  Then this week there was actually ice and snow on the ground, and they waited until the very last minute (7:00 am) to delay school.  An hour later they cancelled it.  The whole thing was quite comical.  There were many upset teachers and parents, but I was just happy to spend some extra time with my kiddos!

On Wednesday they cancelled school because the ice was suppose to move in around lunch and they were scared that we would have a repeat of last year.   A lot of parents on our street still had to work (even if from home).  Nichole and I offered to take care of all the kids at my house.  We had 10 kids from age 10 months to 10 years, and somehow it was really smooth.  They ate, played games, watched movies, and made lots of memories. And I had a great excuse not to do anything productive on my day off!!

The girls and I did find time to complete our Lent Chart.  In our Sunday School class we are reading this book that talks about helping our kids look outward to others through our windows instead of looking at ourselves in the mirror.  So we came up with 40 things we could do each day to make sure we are looking outward.  It took us a few days just to complete the chart, so I'm hoping that we are able to actually complete them all!