Egg Hunt

When we got home from church Sunday, I noticed there were no kids at the park across the street from our house. So I took advantage of that and had Theo go hide the eggs and let the kids find them. It was so fun to watch them. Olivia didn't know quite what to make of it and mainly found one or two eggs and ate the candy out of them. Carter, on the otherhand, racked up and when it was all over told his sister "Livie, you lose, I win!!"

This little guy hung out in the swing as usual

Olivia was able to wear her dress from last year. Omaw got this dress for her either before she was born or shortly afterward and I'm so excited she's gotten to wear it for two years. I have a feeling that unless she gets put on oral steroids again, she might get to wear it next year too!!

Can you tell who had which Easter basket?

We are two proud parents! We are so blessed to celebrate Easter with our three favorite kids in the world. It was a great day. More importantly, I'm so thankful we serve a risen Savior!!

Easter Fun

This year was the first year we've gotten to celebrate Easter at our home with Theo's parents. It made for a very special day. The weather could not have been better (contrasted with last year's awful nasty weather). We all attended mass as a family and the kids did so well considering how hot and crowded the church was.

Before church the kids "opened" their baskets. We don't really do the Easter bunny but we do get the kids some things.

The baskets were the same ones from last year I had made. And the paint pen most certainly wasn't permanent but the kids didn't seem to care!! Carter got a water balloon launcher, lots of water balloons for daddy to fill up :), a Cat in the Hat movie, bubbles, and a VeggieTales garden pail that included sunflower seeds. Olivia got lots of little Dora and princess stuff (including a lip gloss watch in which she proceeded to rub the gloss all over her lips and body yesterday),  and rainbow goldfish. Isaiah didn't get a whole lot. He got one little toy, yogurt melts and a book. They each got a "Jesus" chocolate fish which I thought was the coolest thing ever.

Our family pictures from church:

We hope you all had a blessed Easter. We sure did. I am so proud to be a part of this family. I am truly and richly blessed!

Happy Easter!

From our family to yours!!

Our weekend

Despite having a very cranky, whiny, and needy Olivia, we have had a great weekend! Friday night Theo and I had an official date. We were planning on going to see Hunger Games but it was sold out. So we went to the little tea/coffee house right next to the movie theater and hung out there for a while instead. This is us before our date (from my cell phone camera). I love having such a handsome husband!

This is us at the coffee house (again from my phone camera...not the greatest quality!). I'm pretty sure we were some of the oldest people there but we felt hip anyway :)

Saturday, we all spent the day in Manitou Springs. The weather was gorgeous and there were a ton of people out. We shopped, ate, shopped some more, took the kids to the park. We had an all around great time. We were all exhausted when we got back home.

We ate lunch at the Heart of Jerusalem Cafe (thanks to a groupon I had!) The food was delicious. Isaiah particularly loved the bright yellow rice and being held by Pop Pops almost the whole time.

My three favorite fellas in the whole world!

Family photos

Hope you all had as much fun and family time as we did this weekend!

Reunited and it feels so good!

Monday night, Theo got home! And he brought his mom and dad. This was Pop Pops (Theo's dad) first time to meet Isaiah. After the initial couple of minutes of Isaiah being completely overwhelmed, he was smitten with his Pop Pops and vice versa! It is so sweet to see him interact with his other set of grandparents. Carter and Olivia were pretty excited to see daddy too but unfortunately, Olivia has been pretty sick all week. Other than that, she is back to her old role as daddy's girl.

I spent several days cleaning and preparing for the family to arrive. I'm glad that's over with and now the house is back to total disarray. But as a friend of mine posted on pinterest "A well kept house is a sign of a misspent life!" Couldn't agree more. Carter also wanted to have a "party" for daddy's homecoming. Of course, it was just us but he insisted the party would not be complete with a banner,balloons and a cake.

I made the Southern Living recipe for carrot cake (one of Theo's favorite kinds of cake) and it was delicious if I do say so myself. I of course forgot to take any pictures of it before I shoveled it into my mouth took a bite. Oh well, next time.

Carter also got his daddy a "card" (sharpie marker on paper towel...as a sidenote, I did discover that Mr. Clean magic eraser works wonders on getting red permanent marker off of corian countertops....) Anyway, I love this! I love how Carter spelled excited :) Made this momma's heart proud.

I am so happy to have my husband, my partner in crime and life, my best friend home finally! I know there are longer separations in our near future with his new job but I am thanking God for all the moments we have together right now.

Wednesday night we were able to get away for an hour, even if it was only to go to Target to get Olivia's antibiotics.

She was supposed to have her second bronchoscopy this week but she has an awful cough and ran fever for two days. So we're postponing it to next week. Please pray for her. She seems to be doing better today but is still coughing and throwing up a LOT! I'm thankful that at least Theo and his parents are here to help me now.

So that's all I know. Theo went straight back to work but hopefully will be able to take some time off after Easter. The grandparents are doing a good job of keepin the kids entertained so I'm able to relax a tiny bit :) Hopefully Theo and I will get a real date night this weekend if Olivia is feeling better. I am enjoying the free babysitting known as grandparents!! Have a great rest of the week!

Play Day

As I was burning pictures to a CD this past week, I realized I haven't hardly taken any pictures this year! Shame on me. My life has been all consumed by motherhood since Theo left. The weather here has been fabulous. We have been to the park almost every single day for two weeks but this weekend, Carter asked if we could just stay home! :) I knew he must be worn out if he declined my suggestion to go to the park. I think he probably missed playing with his toys.  So today, I busted out the camera and took pictures of my kids playing. Not very exciting to anyone other than me and maybe the grandparents :)

Olivia as a future McDonald's employee

Carter cheesing it up for the camera

Yes, I let my kids throw balls inside the house.

Isaiah was thrilled at himself for figuring out how to dump the entire container of tinker toys out. I love the expression on his face.

Olivia at her happiest

Carter waiting patiently on Olivia to roll the car across the table to him. She plays by much different rules!

This little guy has been pretty cranky this week. If you zoom in on this picture, you can see the large amount of drool hanging from his chin. I'm sure he's getting ready to cut some more teeth. At least I hope that's all his crankiness is about!

 More race car zooming. Isaiah is such a big boy these days! And I love that Carter is such a great big brother!!

The best part of our day: One more sleep until daddy gets home!

He was originally supposed to get home Tuesday but graduated from his school a day early. So Theo and his parents are on their way home and should be here tomorrow. I'm so exhausted. I've been cleaning for three days! And still have more to do tomorrow. I can't keep up with all the messes my kids make. I'll have to do a whole separate post on that soon. You wouldn't believe it if I didn't have pictures to prove it! Ha! So glad I'll have some help tomorrow for a while. Hope you all had a good weekend!!

7 more sleeps

(as Carter would say) until daddy gets home! I couldn't be more excited. I have a newfound respect for all of my close friends whose husbands have deployed overseas recently. I don't know how they did it. I tell you what, these past 10 weeks have been some of the hardest of my life! But I see a light at the end of the tunnel and the kids and I can't wait to see daddy! And he's bringing grandma and poppops with him. I plan on taking full advantage of some free babysitting! :)