Getting ready for Easter

April 1st we had a friend come over and dye eggs with us! The kiddos had so much fun! I don't know what I'm going to do when the older two start to be to big for the tub, it's getting close! I love that there's no mess to clean up.

Dyeing the eggs





Messy hands





Messy tub




Finished products!



That was Thursday and the next evening Daddy drove to Chicago to pick up Grandpa D!!! They didn't get home until late so the kids got to see him when they got up Saturday morning! Grandpa (Ryan's Dad) stayed here for just over a week. It was wonderful to have some family up here again! Saturday and Sunday (Easter) we spent most of the day listing to conference. It was so wonderful to be uplifted and hear latter day Prophet and apostles give us guidance. On Saturday we did an Easter egg hunt! Grandpa and Daddy begrudgingly participated (they wanted to work on the house!) but I think they were glad they did. The kiddos had so much fun! Kaitlyn wanted to do it over and over!

Lined up ready to go




Finding eggs












And the ONLY picture I got as proof that Grandpa was here! This was his idea, two bellies.



Grandpa was so good with his grand babies, usually when we go down to Texas the kids just run strait to Grandma so it was good for him to spend time with the kids!
He actually came to help Ryan with the house remodeling. He worked so hard and loved it, and we LOVED all the help! Thanks Dad!

And next time I'll put up Easter morning!

Easter Extravaganza

May 29th:
Our town does an Easter egg hunt every year. This year instead there was a ton of different Easter related activities. The kids had so much fun! I loved it!

Meeting the Easter Bunny: The kids were scared of him, so I had to go with them.



Decorating and eating Easter cookies






Coloring/Crafting





Eating


So pretty much all of my kids favorite things to do. Later that day we went to a friends house to have an actual egg hunt.

We had a blast!

Nauvoo and a little crafting

The end of March until now has been pretty busy, and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon!

March 19th-20th we went to Nauvoo. We got to go with a wonderful family in our branch. Our family got there Friday afternoon. We spent the day walking around and looking at the sites and the stores. We had a lot of nice family time. Here's us out and about. Kaitlyn is LOVING riding her bike right now!




Late that night the Johnston's arrived, but we were already in bed. The next morning we got up and Elizabeth watched our kids so Ryan and I could go to the Temple. It was WONDERFUL! And so needed! When we got back we watched the Johnston's kids and they got to go. It was nice because another friend from our branch let us borrow her grandparents house, and it was right next to the Temple! Friday night and Saturday morning it snowed, so I was glad we got there early on Friday and did the sight seeing then! Then we were back on our way home. It was a short trip, but so nice! On the way home we got Ice-cream cones!




The next week was 2 of Emily's friends birthday's. They were both born on the same day. I made shirts for them. This is the before:



And here's the after of one, the other was the same but with an A:



I made similar shirts for my girls and Logan for Easter. More on our Easter celebrations next time!

Also that following weekend we had a sheet rocking party!!! I don't know how fun it was for the men, but it sure was nice for me to come home to WALLS!!!! No more studs and rafters in my living room! Hallelujah! Thank you SO MUCH to all those who came and helped. I can't tell you how much it means to me. Thank you.

We are still a LONG way to being finished, but this was a HUGE step forward!

River Museum

One weekend we went to the River Museum in Dubuque. The kids loved it and we all had a great time!



I love Ryan's look. He's totally like, are you done taking pictures yet? And that was only the 2nd one I took. Hahaha.


lookin at the Otters



This is as little window that curves in and it looks like your inside the tank. Kaitlyn had been terrified of it since we moved here, but look at her now! Not to bad!





This thing was HUGE!!! So glad it was behind a glass wall! Kaitlyn and Em thought it was going to get them a few times. We spent a lot of time at this one, the kids loved it!



Aren't they adorable!

For this video I was just trying to take their picture and didn't realize I had it on video. This is what they look like when I try to take their picture! Hahaha.




Other random happinings:

I bought the girls matching shirts and they tried them on and insisted I took a picture of them.



When Jace was here he helped us tear down the wallpaper in the dinning room, mud, texture, and paint the walls. And I FINALLY got the curtains finished! It took forever for me to decide how I wanted it. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.




One of the curtain panels looks shorter than the rest, it isn't! I ran out of curtain holders (?-not sure of the name) and used a different set until I could run to the store and get more.
And yes my dinning room is purple. And yes I LOVE it!