Lifesong

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend with JonJon and Missy in town, and lots of fun activities.

We started off the weekend with an Easter egg hunt at our church.

It was the coldest Easter weekend I can recall, at least in awhile. After the egg hunt, we came home and dyed eggs.

In the last photo, JonJon was trying to wrap a rubber band around the egg to give it stripes while dying it, but instead the egg exploded. It made us all laugh!

We all enjoyed a yummy meal that evening and enjoyed hanging out. The kids went on a bike ride with JonJon, and played and played. We made Resurrection Rolls Sunday morning and had the yummy leftovers for lunch after church.

We enjoyed a beautiful and family filled Easter weekend!

Love Day

ETA: Just so you know, the Unbutton Your Jeans that I refer to below is because you've eaten too much chocolate, so you have to unbutton your jeans so they fit better. You know how you do that? It is not referring to anything other than that, as some people (who shall remain nameless) have suggested.

It's no surprise. I love holidays.

Valentine's Day is no exception.

The night before, I made some cookies for the kids to take to their Valentine Party today.

This morning, I made our tradition of chocolate filled heart sandwiches.

Interesting to note, my kids love this. Wait that's not the interesting part. That's the obvious part. But they look forward to this every year, and know it's coming. But the baby? She wanted nothing to do with it. Refused to eat it, pushed it away, saying "ewww, yucky." So, sadly, she did not get to experience the deliciousness that is the chocolate filled heart sandwich.

Maybe next year.

But these two didn't mind. They ate hers up, no problem.

Then we got ready to head out to our Valentine Party. My kids have been very excited about this. (I started a little Homeschool Group last month, and this was our February meeting. As homeschoolers we have such flexibility, so I have often wondered why we don't get together more. So I asked some other Mamas if they wanted to meet once a month for a little support and encouragement, and they were like wow, that is the best idea EVER. You totally rock. Except they didn't really say that, but they did agree to go along with my idea. I'm thankful I have friends in my life who support my crazy ideas. So this is the February meeting, that we purposely merged with Valentine's Day. I feel like I'm saying Valentine's Day too much, but what else can I call it? Love Day? Chocolate Day? National Unbutton Your Jeans Day?)

I was very sad that we've made it all of two weeks in good health. Avery came down with a cold, so I dropped her off at my Mom's so we could still go. My kids would have been so bummed if we weren't able to go!

Beth hosted it this month, and it was so cute. The kids got to decorate bags, and then the kids delivered their valentines. Here they are going through all of them. So cute!

Then we all enjoyed heart shaped pizza and valentine cupcakes.

And of course after stuffing our kids and filling them up on sugar, we sent them upstairs to entertain themselves so we could chat.

We chatted. And laughed. A LOT.

Then we picked up Avery and headed back home. It was Avery's naptime, so I put her down shortly after we got home. (She is doing SO GREAT in her big girl bed. She sleeps all night, just like she did in her crib, and naps like a pro, same as usual. She has really made a fantastic transition!)

Mimi picked up the older kids to take them to karate while Avery was napping. That doesn't really have anything to do with Valentine's Day, but I figured as long as I was documenting my day I might as well document the whole thing.

After Avery woke up, she kept telling me "Mama, pain nell! Pain nell!" And I would say, ummmm I'm not sure. And she would say PAIN NELL! PAIN NELL! As if saying it louder would make me understand it better. So I told her to show me, and she pointed to her little toddler toes and made a little painting motion.

Well okay then. We will paint your nails. You have never seen a toddler sit so still. And as everyone starting arriving home, first Mimi, Ansley and Christian and then John, she would yell LOOOOOK! And point to her "pitty toes."

John picked up some take out on his way home from Ansley's favorite restaurant, because nothing says lovin' like a night off from cooking!

After dinner we did our Scavenger Hunt tradition. The kids always love this too. Avery's was just a few clues, and she was a little confused, but interested. She got two new puzzles. (She loves puzzles.) Ansley and Christian's hunt was a lot longer, and they were running all over the house, giggling and discussing. In the end, Ansley got an actual tea set (like to use, not for pretend play) and Christian got some Legos and a drawing book.

(John and I went out to dinner at a super fancy restaurant when Mark and Ashley were here, and we decided that would be our valentine's present. Which was totally fine with me, because I'm not about spending just to spend because of a holiday.)

(Unless there's a purse involved. Or some boots. Or a new book.)

And that was our Valentine's Day. I sure do love my husband, children, mom and friends that I am so blessed to have in my life! Happy Heart Day to you!

New Year's Eve: Family Style

I believe it was just a year ago that we apparently started a New Year's Eve tradition: making a yummy dinner, eating fruit pizza, playing games as a family, and you have to have the pop top kind of sparkling cider that sends the top clear across the room and everyone explodes into laughter.

So this year, the kids are extra excited to have Mimi join in our celebration!

We started out our evening by making homemade pizza.

The kids made a pepperoni pizza just for them. I don't know why we don't make it more often - pizza is really easy and fun! (Oh yeah, could be the whole healthy eating thing.)

And we made this one for the adults: pear and gorgonzola pizza. I first discovered this pizza years ago at the California Pizza Kitchen in Atlanta. It is my favorite pizza ever, so we thought we'd try and duplicate it. It was delicious!

Then we moved on to decorating the fruit pizza. The kids really enjoy that part - and Avery really enjoyed eating one, then decorating one.

But it looked really pretty in the end, and tasted yummy!

Mimi was REALLY excited about the fruit pizza! (Actually I can remember my Mom making this a lot when I was growing up, and then I forgot about it, and then remembered it again. So I'm bringing back the fruit pizza!)

After Avery went to bed, we enjoyed some family games with Blokus and Catan Junior.

There were some who didn't just love Catan Junior, but everyone loved Blokus, and I agree, it was very fun to play!

We had a little early ring in to the New Year, around ten, and opened our sparkling cider. John shook it to get the top to fly across the room, but we still laughed like it had happened all on its own. To the clink of glasses, we rang in 2013!

Christmas in Snapshots

Between Christmas, having family in town, and John off for over a week, it's really thrown me. Not in a bad way, I just haven't been keeping as up to date here as I usually would.

We had a wonderful Christmas celebrating with family. This was my Mom's first Christmas here, of course, and JonJon and Missy came in town as well. A fun-filled, thankful day celebrating the wonderful blessings of family. We played with Christmas gifts, played lots of games, did some baking and lots of laughing. Here are some snapshots from Christmas Day.

{Christian and Mimi playing games.}

{Legotime!}

{The Official Crazy Baby.}

{Hysterical!}

{JonJon fun. Avery thinks JonJon is quite funny!}

{Ansley and JonJon doing Mad Libs.}

We hope you all had a very Merry Christ-filled Christmas!

Thanksgiving in Pictures

We enjoyed a beautiful Thanksgiving Day with family!

We all enjoyed the Thanksgiving Day Parade together while cooking away. We had smoked turkey, sweet potato casserole, dressing, mac 'n cheese, jello salad, rolls and cranberry sauce. With pumpkin pie for dessert. It was yummy! We enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal on the screened in porch.

She's looking so grown up these days.

We spent a lot of time outside since it was so nice!

The kids did lots of running around, swinging, and playing in the leaves.

As the afternoon wore on, John started a fire and we all hung out around it. It started to get a little chilly, so the fire was perfect!

Avery REALLY liked the S'mores!

Then as it got dark and too chilly to stay out, we headed in for our turkey contest. Each person had to create the best turkey, and then we voted. From left to right: Avery, John, Megan, Ansley, Mimi, Christian. Ansley got the most votes - I think the turkeys hat really won it for her! Very clever. It was a really fun contest! I think one of my favorite new traditions.

Very blessed! We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Halloween

It's been a pretty crazy week leading up to Halloween, and it's proving to keep on keeping us on our toes.

I had big plans for this week: the kids fall festival at school, Ansley's Halloween dance performance, Halloween soup and pumpkin biscuits, pumpkin carving.

Do you want to guess how many of those worked out? None. Well, okay, maybe the fall festival.

Tuesday while at the fall festival, I felt the kidney stone pain coming back. And I know, from history, that I have to act fast, because this pain quickly moves from "Ooooh, my back is hurting" to Megan is no longer functioning. FAST.

So I left with Avery, my Mom stayed to get Ansley to class and then grabbed lunch and came home with Christian. John came home as well, and we headed to the ER, because I was at the "no longer functioning" state. I was in the hospital the majority of the day, getting blood work, urine tests, and a CAT Scan. They tried to get an IV started five times, and couldn't do it, so then they had to resort to pain shots in areas that I won't mention since this is a family blog. But they hurt! They learned I had a large stone blocking my ureter, and I would need surgery. I was SO praying for surgery that day, but it wasn't to be. They sent me home with pain and anti-nausea meds, and surgery scheduled for the next day at noon. I'm not going to sugar coat it: it was miserable. The pain is so intense, and there is nothing that makes it go away. The pain is so bad that it makes me throw up, and puke just makes everything worse.

So, the next day we have to be there at ten. I pray hard that I will get a super amazing nurse that will get the IV in on the first try. Well, I did! I explained to him how people always have problems, and they go to digging around in my veins which makes me lose it. He listened very calmly, told me we wouldn't have any issues, and got it in on the first time. I was so relieved! You seriously can't know how much it stresses me to have people poking and digging around on me, and it always leaves me with bruises. So, finally, the surgery, the stone is removed, and I wake up feeling great!

But it's so late in the day that we've missed getting Ansley to her dance performance. She was bummed, and so was I. I wasn't home to make my soup, and being in the hospital two days kinda ruins any pumpkin carving experiences. But I made it home to trick or treat, and we had a great time! The kids were happy that I was feeling good, and I had the energy to walk around the block with them.

I guess I shouldn't have titled this Halloween since it hasn't really been about Halloween yet. But here we go! On to the pictures.

Oh, how I love this! This sums up my kids so perfectly - especially Avery. This is just SO her. She is crazy, have I mentioned? But she's super sweet and we love her so!

When we were at Epcot, Ansley fell in love with the Japanese kimono. We thought it'd be great for her Halloween costume, so we agreed to get it for her.

Christian still loves Star Wars, and he was happy to be Anakin Skywalker. He's an awfully handsome Anakin!

My sweet yet sassy butterfly. It was iffy if she was even going to put this on, because for the past few weeks she'd scream and say 'NO!' when I'd pull it out. But she was happy to put it on this evening.

This is the first house we went to, our next door neighbors. Avery wasn't sure at first, but once she caught on to this run up to the house, get candy concept, she was all in.

Our neighborhood is crazy slammed with kids everywhere. Avery was happy to ride in the wagon from house to house. And also, I have to point out my slackerness - I didn't even get my poor baby a pumpkin to carry around! Mimi grabbed her a paper bag and decorated it with a pumpkin so she'd have something to carry around. So sad, I know. I have since ordered her her own pumpkin for next year, so she won't be the neglected third.

Going door to door. It was hard for Avery to keep up with the big kids, but don't worry, her Daddy stayed right with her.

Ansley and her sweet friend, Avery. It's fun having friends who are neighbors, too!

It was a fun Halloween! Our kids always love getting dressed up and socializing around the neighborhood, of course. Avery laughed at a lot of the costumes, which was cute.

So last night and even this morning, I was feeling like a new woman. Then this afternoon, I started having pretty intense pain again. My doctor upped my pain dosage and wanted me to go to the ER if it didn't improve. Thankfully, it feels better at the moment.

I am so thankful for the wonderful friends and family that I am blessed with. John has taken such good care of me this past week, my Mom has taken wonderful care of the kids while we have been at the hospital, many friends have called and texted or sent notes, I've received wonderful food, sweet gifts, and two bouquets of flowers! It really makes a girl feel loved.

We were supposed to leave for Alabama tomorrow for John's Mom's early Thanksgiving celebration, but we aren't going to be able to make it now. Also, Avery has spiked a high fever this evening. Mimi has taken Ansley and Christian for the night, and we are now relaxing at home. I'm praying that I will be feeling much better tomorrow!

And there's always next Halloween for carving, soup and pumpkin biscuits, right?

Easter Blessings

We had a fun-filled and busy Easter weekend! JonJon and Missy came in town, so it was a full weekend with activities and fun. My kids just love when they visit!

On Saturday we went to our church's Easter egg hunt. It was Avery's first one, which was really cute. I had a ton of pictures, so I just put together a little collage of the Easter egg hunting part.

Don't look too closely because I don't know how to make collages. I'm sure there is a way to be precise in Photoshop Elements, but I don't know it. Anyway, Avery is wearing Ansley's dress from her second Easter. Oh so nostalgic! She got the hang of putting the eggs in her basket. Christian went racing off when it was his turn (they were divided by age groups, and we had a child in each group), and Ansley enjoyed collecting hers with friends. She did get the most, though. Christian enjoyed the view from JonJon's shoulders. Avery now waves and says "hi!" to everyone she sees - that's what she's doing in this picture. So cute! JonJon putting his sunglasses on her - I love it! After dinner that evening, we did another egg hunt in our backyard. This is Christian going through his eggs, and then Ansley searching for eggs.

Whew that saved me posting like five million pictures. Now there will just be two million more to get us through the rest of the weekend.

After the egg hunt at church, we came home and dyed eggs while the Baby napped. She was one worn out baby!

We dyed two dozen eggs, and everyone joined in on it! It was fun to see the creative ways each person decorated their eggs.

Here are some of them that we decorated.

Then we enjoyed our Easter dinner on the deck. It was a beautiful evening!

Prime rib, green beans, seven layer salad, and an ice cream roll up cake for dessert. It was yummy!

Then like I mentioned we did another egg hunt for the kids. Here's another picture that didn't make it in the collage.

We enjoyed lots of playing outside since the weather was so beautiful.

JonJon and Avery swinging together.

Avery was really taken with JonJon. She would go to him without any issue and laugh and laugh at his antics! It was adorable.

Oops. I forgot one that I thought was really cute. I took a LOT of pictures this weekend! This was at the egg hunt, after it was all done. We helped with the event, so we were there early and then left a little bit after it was over. Avery had all the chalk to herself, and she just walked right over to it and got busy. It was cute! You may have noticed that she is pretty much walking everywhere now. She is still a little unstable, but she's finally discovered that walking is pretty fun!

After church today, we got some family pictures while waiting for Mimi, JonJon and Missy to come over for lunch.

When you have a little one, one year changes so much. I can clearly remember our Easter picture last year with our little newborn baby!

So thankful for the blessing of family. I love spending time with my family! It was such a fun weekend with everyone here, enjoying each other's company and celebrating our Savior. Very thankful!

A Little Love

I love Valentine's Day. Let's face it, I love celebrating, and holidays and traditions.

I can't remember when or how our Valentine traditions started, but the kids talk about them each year and are so excited.

The night before John and the kids surprised me with several goodies, including a Siri! It was a fun surprise, and the kids were all giggly and whispery waiting for me to put the baby down and come downstairs.

We started the day with our traditional breakfast: chocolate filled hearts. Ansley and Christian LOVE them. Avery was too young this year, but she will be able to join in next year!

My super thoughtful husband picked up some things for Mimi for Valentine's Day, so we headed over to Mimi's to surprise her with some fun things. The kids love surprising Mimi!

Since it was Tuesday, Ansley had her co-op so we dropped her off with valentines for her friends and teachers.

Later that afternoon, Mimi came over to help with the baby so I could make a valentine's meal for John. Avery was pretty grumpy - I think I will continue to blame it on her teeth that haven't come in yet, but I'm sure will be any day now.

I made prime rib, mashed potatoes and green beans with brownies and ice cream for dessert.

After dinner we had the much anticipated event: the scavenger hunt! They both were really excited about this!

Ansley would read the clues and then they would think about it and go running off!

Christian got two Ed Emberley books. He has not stopped drawing.

He and Mimi enjoyed drawing for awhile.

Ansley got a Smashbook with a bunch of pictures to put in it, and some letter stickers. (She has been talking about scrapbooking lately, and if you haven't heard of Smashbooks they are the new scrapbook-type thing.) She was absolutely crazy-excited over this, and she hasn't stopped working on her Smashbook for days!

A fabulous Valentine's Day! I so love my sweet family!

2:26 pm {Monday}

{Ansley's valentines for her teachers and classmates, since her co-op was on Valentine's Day.}

A Merry Little Christmas

I can't seem to find the time to post now that my baby is crawling. Even though John has been off work for like twelve days now.

Mimi, JonJon and Missy came over for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we headed to Market Square for ice skating. It's a tradition!

We also enjoyed lunch down there, and gelato afterwards. Avery really enjoyed this part! Is it me or do you no longer see a baby?

It's pretty down here, so we enjoyed walking around and enjoying the atmosphere. There was a guy doing some magic, and the kids were drawn in so we watched his show. Okay, the adults were drawn in too. He was pretty good!

That evening the kids got to open their pajamas (another tradition). We also sang karoke from an elf microphone that was rather funny, and played a trivia game.

The kids also opened a new game (another tradition) that we all played after Avery went to bed. It was Uno Roboto, and we all thought it was pretty fun!

The kids got a Wii this year, and Ansley got some Calico Critters things and Christian got Legos. Avery got some cute baby toys.

A memorable Christmas with family. Lots of love. Lots of laughter. We are thankful!