Spring Program

Like a lot of the country,

we've gotten some ugly weather.

After horrible winds and days of rain,

we woke up to this sight.

It's the field out our back...

I've always dreamed of living near water!

You can see that the little white truck can't get through!

Since a lot of land is under water,

guess our feathered friends are calling their friends...

GO THERE! THEY FEED DAILY!

The blue jays seem to have made a lot of calls!

Rain or shine,

Emily's spring program was a hit tonight!

Laney and cousin Madison...in awe of the show!


My girl, gasping when she finally found us in the audience.
(Our family took up a whole row!)


Emily was so proud to be narrator #17!

Her girlfriend, Morgan, is right behind her!

Henry had fun too...on the floor, playing with toys!

Emily and cousin Megan did such a great job!

(Laney made it her LITTLE SISTER job to give bunny ears!)

Happy Thursday!

Play, Please!

He tried me first.

Grabbed hold of my shirt and pulled me to the door.

"RAINING", I told him!

Then he went for Mr. Pushover...Daddy.

Grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him to the door.

"PLAY, PLEASE!"

That's all it took.

Daddy had Henry in his wellies and coat in a zip!

Lots of giggles...

wellies even flew off...

Everyone had a ball!

And a little drive to the ice cream stand made it a night.

Our Easter

Easter morning...

I was up way too early (excited), but waited for the girlies to run into our room...
To hear the excited words: THE EASTER BUNNY CAME!

After all three kiddos checked out their baskets,
Jon and I sent them on a little hunt...for our gift to them.

They ran from room to room, retrieving clue filled eggs.

Henry was moving and shaking right behind the girls!

All of their clues finally led them to a little gift.

VERY excited girlies!

(We all got a bit of sun the day before at our Easter Egg Hunt!)

My dear girls...sporting their new pillow pets and wellies!

(Emily' s allergies took center stage on Sunday...look at her eyes! Poor girl!)

Henry had other uses for his new wellies...

Guess he likes the STUFFED WELLIE look! We went to visit with Jon's extended family at a luncheon a bit later.

It's always nice spending time with family!

The kids were excited to get outside...play!

And my baby...playing near us.

We had a nice afternoon.

Henry napped,

the girls rode bikes,

Jon cleaned his truck ,

and I got in a bit of exercise!

AND...

We had some WONDERFUL Easter visitors!

Jon spotted a pileated woodpecker in our woods!

We were soooo excited!
They are around 19 inches, with a wingspan of about 30 inches!

This is only our 2nd spotting after 12 years in our woods!

They are shy birds and Jon just couldn't get a shot.

(Trust me, we were scrambling to get a great shot, too!)

(Source: Unknown)

*****

Then we noticed that our Gold Finches are back!

Love the burst of yellow in our woods!

(Source: Unknown)

****

Finally, this beauty visited!

If you've been reading for a while, then you might remember that I volunteered at a wildlife center before I had children.
I released many animals into our woods. (I had a permit.)
And I one spring/summer, I raised 4 baby raccoons that were brought into the center (momma had been killed.)
I had formula and meds from the center. (I also had a permit to have these dear animals.)
I released them into our woods at the end of the summer.
This is one that has come back for YEARS!
She knows me.
Soon, she will bring her babies...to show them off to me.

We hosted a VERY CASUAL Easter dinner for my parents and Jon's grandma.
We grilled out...had wonderful sides and our guests brought some AMAZING desserts!

******

We had a wonderful Easter.

Way too much candy...

way too many FAB gifts for the children!

We are so very blessed to have our family so close.

So many GREAT things in one day.

*****

And our Monday is turning out to be just as awesome as our weekend!

My sister sent a little package today!

Nothing better than some AMAZING FRESH sweets from this downtown Savannah chocolate shop! (Sis even overnights her goody gifts...yep, FRESH chocolate!)

Off to finish my visit with this gal...
She's back!
(I just went out and snapped a shot....bucket in 1 hand, camera in the other!)

Happy Monday!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

This afternoon...

the only sunny day after days of rain...

We hosted our annual ...

The winds were strong,

even knocking down our nice shady canopy tent...

and I was under it!

It went down our lane like a tumbleweed!

Thank goodness I was just setting up and nobody witnessed it!
We had to use Jon's truck to block the wind.

(And it didn't look nearly as pretty without our tent and Easter bunting)

First two to the party!

I'm loving cousin Megan's new glasses!

(Now all the girls want glasses!)

And here came cousin Madison...

riding to the shindig!

After everyone arrived...

look who we saw hopping down the road!!!

PETER COTTONTAIL!

All the kiddies oohhed and aawwed!

Our annual 2011 Easter photo!

(Yes, it looks like I was drug by my hair from the back of a truck...for days! EEK!)
The bunny with most of the children!

Oh, my sweet Henry just LOVED the bunny!

He kept hugging it, saying "Awwwwww"!!!!!

Henry's adorable friend Aspen...so chic!

We even had two new babies make their debut!

Lindsey's babe, Adelynn, is almost a few weeks old!
And Jenny's babe, Levi, is only 4 days old!

I made and stuffed one dozen personalized eggs for each child.

The little ones got some unmarked eggs, cookie tubes and balls!

Cousin Megan...checking out her loot!

First up...kiddie tug-o-war!

Then it was the annual couples 3 legged race!

We made the two new dads go together! Ha!

And hubs and yours truly....smoked the Vineys!
(We came in 2nd overall! We hear that the winners had pre-sack race tourney boot camp!)

The little people got a shot at it too!

They all had to "run" to Jon and back!

Then the mommas had to TP their kiddies!

Here's our winner, Shonda!

(Who also won the 3 legged race with her hubs...See? Boot camp, I say!)

Oh wait...

maybe the winner was wonderful Ms. Marathon runner, Lacey!
Not for sure who won...I couldn't see a darn thing!

Guess Jessica couldn't either...WINDY!

Kisha just had fun wrapping sweet Tate up! Love that her hubs, Tony, got it all on film!

It was soon time for DAD'S TARP DRAG...(drag your children)!

Oh goodness, the children...all of them...absolutely LOVED this!

Henry...his FAVE! He even rode on tarp with other families!

Other dads were pulling my son...and some didn't even know it!

****

The balloon sandwich race.

Emily and Evann.
Egg passing relay!

After all of the fun games,

everyone had refreshments...

and enjoyed the wonderful afternoon weather!

What a fantastic egg hunt.

We have such amazing friends and family!

New ideas are already swirling in my head for next year's hunt!

Now, off to plan a little morning hunt for my own little peeps!