Easter 2023

Although we have been blessed with many warm and sunny Easter Sundays in years past, this was not the case this year.  We have been in the midst of an unbelievably cold and rainy Spring season, so sadly, our Easter celebrations were all done indoor this year.  Since we no longer have a free weekday evening anymore with how busy our family is, we didn't have time to die Easter eggs until last night.  All six of us enjoyed gathering around our kitchen table and coloring and dyeing away.  On Sunday morning, we opted to go to a later sacrament service so that we could enjoy a slow morning together.  The kids came running downstairs to check out the goodies and toys in their Easter baskets before eating breakfast in the dining room and hunting for eggs in our house.  After church and a well-needed nap, we packed up our food and drove to the grandparent's house in Issaquah where we spent the evening.  Since Chris and his family were on a cruise for Spring Break, it was a smaller group this year.  Luckily, Bryce and Vivian had just flown home for the week off between semesters at college and were able to join us in addition to Eric and Rebecca.  We enjoyed eating a delicious Easter dinner before the kids hunted for all of grandma's goodies that we hid in designated rooms in the basement.  Although it wasn't as fun as running around their large yard on a beautiful, spring day, it still was nice to be able to get together as a family to celebrate this important holiday.

April 8th:

Lia showing off her freshly-dyed egg.

Logan drawing on his egg with a Sharpie pen.

Ella and mama.

Emmy and daddy.

April 9th:

Emmett's Easter basket with a new beach towel and spring outfits

Logan's Easter basket with several new swimsuits and swim shirts

Ella's basket and the beautiful, blue gown that she is going to wear for the formal night on our cruise this summer

Lia's basket with the signed and framed 101 Dalmatians poster I won in a silent auction at her children's theatre last weekend

The children racing down the stairs to find their Easter baskets.

Last, but not least, our teenager slowly following the group downstairs.

Emmett picking up a pull-toy car.

Logan examining his miniature cannon.

Lia holding up the new "Stranger Things" shirt she got.

Ella showing off her fidget cube toy.

Emmett holding the can of spray confetti he found in his basket.

Logan showing off his tiny cannon.

Logan and Emmett watching Ella reach for one of her eggs in the family room during their hunt.

Emmett holding up his basket as he searches for eggs.

Ella in her beautiful gown finding another egg.

Lia spotting one near the vase.

Emmett searching for more goodies in the family room at the grandparent's house.

Ella hunting away in the apartment bedroom.

Logan had the hardest time finding all of his treats in the storage room thanks to Uncle Eric hiding them in so many tricky places.

Lia hunting with the second phase of kids (with Bryce and Vivi) in the apartment living room.

The annual, Easter photo with all the cousins.  

We normally get a picture of all of the cousins sitting on grandpa's beautiful lawn in the front yard, but this year, the family room had to do!  Here's hoping for a warmer Easter next year!

Logan's 11-Year Photos

Since we did not go out of town for Spring Break this year, I made appointments to take all three of my older children into the photo studio for their annual photos.  Since Lia had play practice and Ella had gymnastics, I decided to take Logan in alone this morning to get his pictures taken.  He did a great job and totally cooperated and produced a plethora of great pictures to choose from.  I just can't get over how tall and grown-up my boy is getting these days. I know that his teenage years are just around the corner, so I am trying to soak up as much as I can of Logan while he still just a boy.  Sigh.

That's My Logan!

I have loved Logan's quirky sense of humor for years as he has kept our family laughing time and time again.  This school year, he has an overachiever, 5th grade teacher who writes the most elaborate, Friday newsletter that I have ever encountered in my ten years of being a parent of elementary school students.  Each week, she includes funny stories about her students in her newsletter and, this week, Logan was featured.  And here is the funny story that she told...

 

Celebrating Ella's 9th Birthday

Since Ella's birthday fell on the second weekend of Lia's 101 Dalmatians performances, I had to figure out a way to still celebrate her birthday while getting her older sister to and from all four shows.  We decided to celebrate her friend party on Saturday, April 1st, and her family party on Sunday, April 2nd, so that Lia could be there after her final matinee show had finished earlier that day.  Luckily, Ella was okay with all of this shuffling around as I think she enjoyed having her birthday celebrations span over three days.  We did a little celebrating on her birthday morning and then she joined me to go see Lia again in her play that night after Ella learned that she was going to be home with "just the boys" on her actual birthday evening.  After hosting her friend party on Saturday, we celebrated as a family last night with my parents.  As always, we ate a dinner of Ella's choice in the dining room that included ham, homemade mac 'n cheese, deviled eggs, strawberries, carrots, and rolls.  After opening up gifts, we finished off the evening with some homemade, chocolate cream pie after singing "Happy Birthday" to Ella.  Overall, I think that she was thoroughly pleased with all of her birthday celebrations.  Ella loved all of the attention and love that was given to her and was so happy with her birthday gifts that included many additions to her Julie and Samantha AGD collections.  Ella is such a spunky, fun-loving, attention-seeking, burst of energy in our family.  I am so grateful that she came crashing into this world nine years ago after I had just checked into the delivery room in the hospital.  Life has just never been the same since she arrived.  Love you to the moon and back, Ella! 

March 31st:

Ella got to choose one birthday gift to open up on the morning of her actual birthday as she waited patiently for two more days to open up the rest of the presents.  Here is Emmett joining her in the gift opening.

Ella then had our traditional, birthday breakfast of waffles, strawberries, whipped cream, and sprinkles for breakfast.

Ella then brought a batch of homemade brownies to share with all of her classmates at school.

After convincing me to buy her a ticket several weeks after I bought tickets for my family, Ella was able to join my parents, Eric and Rebecca, and me to see Lia in 101 Dalmatians for the second time!

April 2nd:

After hosting Ella's friend party on April 1st, we celebrated with my parents on Sunday.  Here is Ella and the family ready to start eating her dinner-of-choice.

Ella and Emmett posing in front of Ella's gifts before she started opening them.

Ella opening up her first gift--two vintage outfits for her Julie doll.

Ella showing off one of the darling dresses she received for her Samantha doll.

Ella holding up the new shirt from grandma and grandpa.

Ella wearing the new custom, gymnastics hoodie that I had my friend, Heather, make for her.

Ella posing with two of her favorite people, grandma and grandpa.

Ella setting up her new china tea set on the new wicker table and chairs that she received from us for her AG Dolls.

Ella dancing away while we sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

Blowing out another batch of nine candles.

A family photo surrounding our newly-turned, nine-year old girl!

Happy Birthday, Ella!