Emmett's Baby Blessing

Today, we hosted most of my family in honor of our sweet, baby Emmett who was blessed at church.  It was a beautiful, Spring morning and Emmett looked so adorable in his white, blessing outfit that I had purchased in New Orleans wrapped in the baby blanket that I had bought in Bethlehem.  Almost everyone from my family came out for the blessing including Brent and Kelsey from Missoula.  We were only missing Susie, Spencer, and Sarah who had to stay behind in Montana for work and a track meet.  It was so nice to have almost my entire family together.  Ron did such a nice job giving the blessing and Emmett stayed quiet the entire time.  In fact, he kept on distracting Ron during the blessing because he kept on smiling at his dad from inside the circle.  Afterwards, Emmett took a nap in my arms during the rest of sacrament meeting and I couldn't stop looking down and smiling at him and just being overwhelmed with love for this precious baby that finally came to join our family.
After church, we met outside for a family photo which is always as easy as herding cats.  We then all caravanned back to our house for a luncheon that I had prepared before we left for church.  We enjoyed a delicious meal of French Dip sandwiches with all of the fixings and then plenty of outside cousin-play time in the beautiful afternoon.  I was seriously sad to see everyone go by 4 p.m.   I just wanted to hop in my parents' car and go home with them and Brent.  I am so grateful for a loving and supportive family and, most especially, for this wonderful baby who made it safely to our family 3.5 months ago.

I managed to take a few pictures of Emmett in his baby blessing outfit laying on top of the Bethlehem, baby blanket that has been used for all four of our children on their blessing day.

I was able to get a few photos of him smiling.  He is such a smiley baby these days (when he is fed and rested).

A side shot of my baby boy.

A close-up of his face.

Another one of him holding his hands across his chest.

And one more for good measure!

Our first attempt at a group, family photo after the blessing was over.

After looking at the picture and deciding that it was "too splotchy" from all of the shadows from the tree, we moved into the shade and took this one.

Brent kindly agreed to take a few family photos of us.

The Hartland Fam.

And one more with our newest addition.

And, lastly, one of just mama and baby.  I have had so few pictures taken of me with this baby since I am normally the one behind the camera.

Our luncheon spread before everyone served up.

One group eating at the kitchen table.

Another group eating at the folding table.

Silly Bryce and Trenton opted to eat out on the side deck.

I joined Natalee, Rebecca, and Brent in the dining room to eat in some peace and quiet.

After lunch, most of the kids and adults ventured outside for some sunshine and play time.  Here are Ella, Lia, and Logan on the swings.

The three brothers with Kelsey and Brynn on the sports court.

Kelsey and Ella.

My two, grown-up nieces with baby Emmett after he woke up from a long, afternoon nap.

Several of the kids went out on to the street to do some skateboarding.  Here are Lia and Riley cruising on their longboards.

Lia striking a pose.

The two cousins cruising down the hill!

Lia's First Pinewood Derby

Awhile ago, the other counselor in our primary presidency suggested that the girls have a chance to participate in a Pinewood Derby.  Since this is a long-standing tradition with the Boy Scouts in our church, I was all for the girls getting to compete in one of their own!  Luckily, our current Activity Day leader agreed to this and the date was set and the Pinewood Derby kits were sent home.  Since Lia does not have any older brothers and has never had the chance to attend one of these races, she was pretty unenthused about the entire thing.  However, knowing that she would love participating in one, I pushed her to go ahead with it and made sure that Ron and her scheduled in enough time over the Easter weekend to make her car.  Since Ron didn't have the opportunity to grow up as a Boy Scout, this was also a new experience for him, too.  However, it didn't take him much time to do some research on YouTube (which plays the role of his "dad" that he never had) and figured out a plan for Lia's car.  After a few hours in the shop last Saturday, Ron produced a shiny, red race car complete with an American Girl Doll, star sticker on top which was very fittig for Lia.  Tonight was the actual event at the church.  Ron arrived early with Lia, Logan, and Ella for the "weighing in of the cars" while I arrived a few minutes later after feeding Emmett.  We then spent a funfilled evening watching everyone's cars make multiple trips down the track.  Although Lia's did not come to close to winning, she had a great time participating and is already wishing that she could participate next year.  Sadly, she will be too old and on to bigger and better things in the Young Women's program, but you better believe that Logan is already foaming at the mouth to have his chance to race his pirate-themed Pinewood Derby car!  And, yes, the two, miniature pirate ships have already been ordered off of ebay and are on their way from China!  I think that this poor boy is going to die of impatience in the mean time. :-)

Lia getting ready to place her car on the race track before one of her heats.

Putting her car on the track.

Waiting for Angela to send the cars down!

The primary provided little, race flags for all of the children to hold.  Logan managed to get Emmett to hold his flag for a minute or two which we all thought was the cutest thing!

Lia and her friend, Isabel, proudly showing off their cars.

Lia and the other girls her age (Isabel, Suzette, and Eve) who she has gone to church and participated in Activity Days with for many years.

A close-up of Lia and her car next to the "stop light" photo backdrop.

Easter 2019

We just wrapped up a busy and fun Easter weekend.  After a very wet week, the rain stopped and the sun even came out both Saturday and Sunday afternoons.  We enjoyed spending time with out own little family and also with my side of the family.  It was a wonderful weekend and so fun to share it with baby Emmett for the first time!  Here is a quick rundown of our holiday weekend.

Saturday morning, we dashed out to Tacoma after the children's 9 a.m. swim lessons to meet Natalee and pick up Logan who had spent the night in Port Orchard after attending Trenton's birthday party the day before.  We then cruised over to the Park and Rec Center to attend their annual egg hunt.  Here are all three kids ready to go!

I decided to skip the 4 to 7 year old egg hunt at 11 a.m. and just put Logan and Ella in Lia's egg hunt for the 8 to 12 year olds that started at 11:30.  This turned out to be no big deal for Logan as he did just fine hunting along side the older kids.  As for Ella, this was a bit of a mistake.  Here are the kids lined up on the line ready to run after the person in charge yelled, "Go!"

The group of kids running out onto the field.  Please notice poor, little Ella running as fast as she could behind the pack of kids.  When she got out there, it was too hard to compete with the older, bigger, and faster children in finding the candy and eggs.  As a result, by the time I rolled Emmett's stroller out to the field, this is what I found...

A very sad and crying Ella.  The poor, little thing.  We should have gotten there earlier to put her in the 11 o'clock hunt.  Oh well.  Consider it a lesson learned.

After helping Ella pick up several pieces of candy, she perked up and started picking up some herself.

On the other hand, we didn't see Logan until the hunt was over.  He appeared with a huge, triumphant smile on his face with the most candy in his bucket between the three of them.  Oh, that boy...

The kids posing at the end of the hunt.

We then headed to the playground for a few minutes before going to into the Rec Center to enjoy the cute, Easter carnival that they host each year.  Here is Logan showing off his crazy skills of skipping one monkey at a time.

Ella looking cute on the bridge.

My three big kiddos playing together.

Lia swinging away.  Look at those long legs!  She has almost outgrown this playground.  Sniff.

Apparently, we made the mistake of visiting the playground before the carnival as they were shutting it down right as we walked in a little before noon.  We had no idea that it ended so early.  Woops.  We did manage to get a picture with the Easter bunny before crashing a few booths before they got put away.

After a dinner, we gathered around the table on Saturday evening to dye Easter eggs.  Everyone had a great time while Emmett chilled in his bouncy chair.  Next year, he will probably be all over this and into everything.  Here is cute Ella showing off the drawing on her egg that she drew with permanent pens.

Lia working on her egg.

This was the best I could get out of Logan as he was not in the mood to have his picture taken.  Apparently, serious artists do NOT like to be interrupted.

Baby Emmett and mama looking on.  Isn't he so cute?!

The kids came and woke us up at 7 on Sunday morning which is actually earlier than Christmas morning or other Easters in the past.  Oh well, at least it wasn't 5 or 6 a.m.  After getting situated at the bottom of the stairs, we gave them the 'all clear.'  I just love this picture of all three kids coming down the stairs.  Lia looks so sweet carrying Emmett and I love the look of excitement on Ella's face!

Ella immediately picked up her new pair of fairy-themed, rain boots that she had been asking for!

Logan got an awesome pirate notebook (complete with a lock and key) to draw on and write in.

Ella playing with her new Pocahontas Barbie doll.

Logan posing with all of his Easter loot.

Lia holding one of her new AGD books and a stuffed mermaid that will go with her new room once we have her switch bedrooms with Logan this summer.

Ella posing with her Barbie and other Easter goodies.

After the children thoroughly inspected their Easter gifts, they hunted for their 12 eggs around the main floor.  Here is Logan finding one in the book shelf.

And Ella, too!

Logan finding another egg behind the pictures.

Ella walking away after finding one on the whiteboard tray.

Lia pulling one out of the play kitchen.

And finding another one inside the hutch in the foyer.

All three children looking for one last egg in the family room with papa's help.

The traditional, children pose on the living room step after the hunt was complete!

After an Easter breakfast of bacon and eggs, we got all dolled up and headed off to church.  Lia and Ella were able to wear their matching dresses that I found on clearance for a whoppin' $12!

Papa and the kiddos.

After church and lunch, we had the children complete a scavenger hunt that I had set up around the house.  They had to find ten clues that eventually took them downstairs to the "Harry Potter closet" (our closet under the stairs) where they found this scene:  a golden egg nestled among several, stuffed, Disney characters.

The kids were so excited to complete this scavenger hunt and were foaming at the mouth when I made them wait in the office while I hid the eggs with the clues inside.  Here they are ready to go!

Coming back from the play set after finding a clue out there.

Lia was able to read the clues to Logan and Ella every single time.  Here they are eagerly listening while the next clue was read.

Lia reading another clue after finding it in the china hutch.

The kids looking for another clue in Lia's American Girl dollhouse bathroom.

After the kids made it to the Harry Potter closet, they opened up the golden egg and found three smaller eggs inside.  They each were able to open up one and found Mickey shaped notes inside that said:

YOU ARE

GOING TO 

DISNEYWORLD!

After much screaming, they each opened up a gift bag waiting for them that had a new set of Mickey ears.  They were so excited!

They ran out of the closet and into the rec room where they jumped and screamed on the couch for a good minute or two.  It was so fun to watch!

Ella jumping with her beautiful pair of fairy-themed, Mickey ears on!

All three kids with their Mickey ears giving us a final pose.  I think we made their day!

A few hours later, we headed up to Issy to spend Easter evening with my parents and Chris and Eric and their families.  Here is one of our first family photos since Emmett was born in my parent's beautiful yard that they still maintain by themselves at 77 and 80 years old!  Yes, they are amazing.

A close-up of the Hartland fam.

After Easter dinner, we headed outside to participate in grandma's Easter egg hunt for all of the grandkids.  This has been a long-standing tradition.  Here is Ella showing off a candy she found.

Ella finding another one.

Logan putting a pack of fruit snacks into his Easter basket.

Logan thrilled about finding a bag of chocolate candies.

Lia up at the top of the yard looking in her designated area.

Finding a Twix in the bark.

Ella showing off the funny, squishy animal she found.

Mama and her four precious kiddos.

Logan playing with his bubble wand.

Ella mastering the art of the bubble wand.

Look at her go!  I just love this picture of my girl.

Papa and Lia.

For some funny reason, Bryce broke out grandpa's riding lawnmower and started driving it all over the yard (much to grandma's chagrin).  The little kids flocked to him like the pied piper.

The annual, cousin picture on the hill after the hunt was complete.  Since Bryce forgot his basket, he used grandpa's old brief case which was also hilarious.  Oh, teenagers.

After the hunt, we celebrated both grandma's and grandpa's birthdays that were earlier in April.  

Grandma blowing out her candles.

And grandpa, too!  I hope these two hang on for many more Easters to come!