Easter Day

I had some of the most fun (ok anxiety) trying to create Easter baskets for Elizabeth, Anna Kate, Candace and Gillian.  Red Grandma helped a ton with Candace and Gillian and White Grandma helped out with Lizzy andAnna Kate, cause oh my goodness, Easter baskets can get expensive to create!!! Just like Christmas stockings I think I'm going to start stockpiling little gifts for just for these occasions.

I love PEZ and think Easter is a great time to slip a new dispenser into their hands.  I think Lizzy is a little excited about it also.

Ralphie picked up these super neat egg flowers pots.  You crack off the top of the egg and just add water.  So cute and fun for the girls.

Some were just a little tired and not quite into the festivities of the basket yet.  It's hard being 2 and a half.

Egg hunt time!!

Again, Anna Kate's just going through the motions she stopped and opened every single egg just to see what was inside.  Because of mrs. slowpoke here we had to put a cap on how many each girl could get otherwise they would only have left her three to find.

I think one of my favorite moments is always the organization and inventory of treats and toys.

Candace had an edge on all the girls and could have dominated this little egg hunt, but she hung back and let everyone have a chance.

Poor Anna Kate, just not really into yet.  I could just give those lips kisses all day long.

Maybe next year she'll be more into it.  I do just love the egg in the door handle to the left of her head.

The 44th Annual Easter Beach Run

The Saturday before Easter the City of Daytona Beach hosts a race that takes place on the beach.  It always draws a really huge crowd and is actually 4 miles instead of a 5k.  So it's a little harder being longer and on the beach.  Mandy has run this race every year for I don't know how long...a really long time and about four years ago I started doing it, Elizabeth started at 11 months old.  It is becoming quite the family tradition and more and more family members are joining in. 

This picture has everyone who ran, including my very good friend Angelika who happened to finish 3rd in her age group which is a major accomplishment when you run against people that run 4 miles in 26 minutes.

Please notice Elizabeth's grumpy puss attitude, we ignored her and it went away, ha.

My mom did the 4 mile race with Lewis, Ralph, Angelika and me, Lewis Sr. and Candace did the 2 mile fun run and the younger girls all ran small dash races.  David and Mandy are not pictured, they walked the 4 mile race because Mandy is having some knee issues.

While we run for half an hour the girls must find entertainment

The girls really loved the Chik fil A cow and the Bubba Gump shrimp walking around.  Since this is the sponsored by Bubba Gump shrimp, Forrest Gump is here and walks around vising and officially starts the race.  The girls have no idea who he is.

We had the surprise of a lifetime, Lewis' dad won 1st place in his age division for the 2 mile "fun run" race...of course he was the only one in his division but that just adds to the fun.  We're glad someone walked away with an award.

Family photo of race runners, minus my mom.

  

We like to mark what order we come in since we run so many races together.  For the longest time I was always number 2, I seemed to have slipped down to number 3 along the way.

The little girls (Elizabeth and Anna Kate) ran the 50 yard dash, Gillian ran the 100 yard dash and Candace did the 2 mile run with Grandpa, we are all super proud of them.

Until next year this race is out of my mind.  I'm ok with a 5k but amp it up to 4 miles and I'm a mess!! never mind Lew is running a half marathon in October.   I'm going back to my safe fun 5k's for a bit.

Happy Easter Basket #1

Have I mentioned before how blessed my kids are to have so many people in their lives that truly just love them and shower them with such sweet treats and treasures?

Aunt Cindy sent down another super fun box full of Easter joy and this is a video of the girls getting into all the fun!

Anna Kate absolutely loves the slinky

Elizabeth learned about a new but old candy treat...wax coke bottles with syrup inside !!! haha, so funny to watch the video and see her figure out how to enjoy this treat.

Chapstick is a very big favorite among these two :)

There will be lots of Easter pictures going up this week because we have had a lot of activity going on...I might just curl up in bed for a week or so to recover.  Much love to Aunt Cindy for the sweet baskets, we are counting the days till our visit in May. XOXO

The very merry 5th unbirthday party

This is the reason for the last two weeks I've been going slightly crazy, had several nightmares and ignored most of my normal responsibilities.  Well my planning has been going on for a few months but I only got a little nuts lately.  Elizabeth listed several themes for her 5th birthday party that she wanted and I latched onto Alice in Wonderland like a crafting psycho.

This is the pretty tea party table.  You can kind of see the flowers hanging down that Kate and I crafted the night before.

Elizabeth surrounded by friends and cousins.  Julie on the left, Anna Kate is the Red Queen below, Elizabeth is "Alice" in the middle, Gillian is the White Queen on the Right top, and Candance is, as she told me. just too old to be dressing up for birthday parties...

White Grandma graciously spent many many hours sewing the Alice dress together.  It was a long battle but she won and despite White Grandma saying "she'll never wear it, it's too itchy" Elizabeth never took the dress off till that night for her shower.

The best "make a funny face" photo!!

Our activity for the party was to "paint the roses red"  Lewis put together about an 18 foot long wall of plywood along the backyard and we covered it in paper.  Red Grandma was smart enough to draw some roses on the wall the night before so the kids went straight to those and filled them in.

I think they actually did a pretty good job and enjoyed the painting.  I cut out some good spots that were pretty for memories .

The kids actually sat down and ate some food which was good because there was no lack of sugar and they ate lots and lots of sugar.

Elizabeth had good reason to smile.  Her cake was AMAZING!!!! Our good friend is a talented artist in the cake arena and she was able to make this super cool cake.

Anna Kate and her Red Queen outfit, I stenciled her shirt and made the tutu.

A good picture with all the decorations and paper flowers we made

Oh look...they love each other!!!

Some "flower cupcakes" made with Easter candy corn and jelly beans

All in all we had a great time, Aunt Kate drove all the way down from Georgia, the cousins made it over from Tampa and Lizzy was surrounded by people that love her.  It was a great party and I'm glad to go to all the effort (although I need prescribed drugs to keep me calm)

I leave you with three pictures worth a thousand words.

To be fair, we had lots of things that said "Drink Me" and "Eat Me" in the style of Alice in Wonderland, I was just having fun.

Our pretty little Alice

My little project

So this is the progress I've made on my little project.  I'm not much of a sewer but I wanted to make a quilt.  This is very very small...but I thougth the girls could use it as a baby doll blanket when I'm done.

So it started like this...sewed together all the charm squares only to cut them up again and get...

this!!! So now I just need to finish it up.  I'm hoping in the month of May I'll get a Tuesday to myself and go to the quilt shop for a UFO class (Unfinished Object) haha!  I just need a backing and binding and I'm scared to death.  I've come this far, I just need to put on my big girl panties and finish it up...ugly or not.

Ethan's party

Our very good friends had a birthday party this weekend for their oldest son, Ethan.  He is also know as our future son in law or Elizabeth's boyfriend.  Sadly they look more like each other than they look like their respective siblings (Liam and Anna Kate), who coincidentally look like siblings also and are also pre-determined to be soul mates.

Anna Kate continues to make us laugh with her fierce independence.  She put on her helmet and would not let us take it off, it earned her the nickname of special child.  The helmet was so heavy it would on occastion make her lose her balance and topple to the side.

Yes, all the moms thought this is super funny.  But she was just as proud to have not have anyone touch her helmet.

The party of was a Mario Kart theme and all the kids went on a bike parade.  It was super fun and the kids really enjoyed it.  Such a different idea for a party.  Please note Anna Kate on the right side on her tricycle.

Being on the outside was not good enough for Anna Kate, she moved up into the middle of the pack, creeping around the kids (now on the right in the back)

Anna Kate starting to cause a bottle neck..

Anna Kate being left behind because alas she could not peddle the tricycle and I wasn't going to bend over and push for a 1/2 mile.  I did indulge her and take her up and down the street for a bit.

Elizabeth and the red balloon.  Am I the only person who remembers the movie of the french kid that is in black and white except for the red balloon he keeps trying to catch?  I always remember it from music class at Tomoka Elementary.

This is the best picture I could come up with of Ethan.  He is the blondie in the green shirt looking at his super awesome cake.  Like a good brother, Liam is on his right beside him waiting for cake.

Elizabeth learning how to climb a tree in a dress...oh dear, we screamed, we yelled, and yes we all saw hello kitty panties.