Easter Recap

Outfit number 2 for Lyla, she loved wearing her little dress for Easter, the hat however, she was not overly impressed with!

This is the best I got for a sibling picture, I didn't even try for a family one!

Both boys enjoyed another Easter egg hunt at "Grandma" Della and "Papa" Rob's house! You may notice that both boys are wearing Halloween socks, their choice certainly not mine! I also really wanted Max to wear his blue polo shirt, however, he strongly refused and insisted on his airplane shirt. I really, really, really, hope my daughter doesn't tell me in two years that she will not wear a dress!!










We had a great Easter and hope you did too!

Happy Easter!

The Easter egg hunt was as entertaining as always this morning! This was the first year that Max was really into it and he found a few on his own. I told Owen before we went downstairs that he needed to let Max find some too, to my surprise, Owen would find one and give it to Max. Then together they opened all the eggs and shared the loot!


I managed to get a sibling picture this morning, although no one is looking at the camera. Hopefully, I will be able to get one with them all in their Easter outfits later today!

And one last photo of the Easter bunny having her morning carrot, I mean Lyla having her morning bottle!!

More later on the Easter egg hunt at Rob and Della's and hopefully a picture when they are not in their pajamas!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Here is the latest cake I made. I ran out of frosting and had to make my own for the pink part of the bunny, but I think it turned out pretty well. Hopefully the kids will enjoy eating it tomorrow!

This is not Lyla's Easter outfit, but I thought it was fitting for the Easter weekend! I thought it was adorable on her.

Max wanted in on this photoshoot, as well, although he really wasn't cooperating for a nice picture. I think this picture is just hilarious though. They seem to have the exact same expression on their faces!!

Hope everyone has a great Easter tomorrow!

So Proud

Owen and I have been making a weekly trip to the Library for the last few months. He likes to pick out DVD's and they are only allowed out for one week, so we are forced to go on a weekly basis. Anyway, in the middle of March I noticed a sign advertising a reading incentive program for ages 4-12. If a child read 5 books they would receive a free hamburger or cheeseburger from In-n-Out. Well, Owen is 4 and loves In-n-Out so I got him a card and had him help me pick out 5 books. We took it home and he and Grandma Sue read all the books. The next week we got 5 more, and 5 more after that.

We turned in the card last week and this past weekend we cashed in one of the certificates. Before we left we snapped this picture, he couldn't be prouder of this gift certificate! When the lady at In-n-Out asked him if he wanted a hamburger or cheeseburger he replied, "I want a hamburger with cheese!"

Happy Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day I thought I would list the things that we do or have done in our household to help our planet.

1. Recycle
2. Use Energy Efficient Light Bulbs
3. Drink out of reuseable water bottles
4. Use ceiling fans so that the air conditioning doesn't have to be so high
5. Purchased window coverings that are energy efficient
6. Gavin carpools to work
7. Get carwashes at the carwash where they reuse the water, instead of washing it in our driveway.
8. Use reuseable grocery bags
9. Purchased energy efficient appliances
10. Reuse our sandwhich baggies, instead of throwing them away daily

Those are things we do, take a moment and think about things you do. Consider starting a new earth friendly habit today.

Really?

Gavin and I went to lunch yesterday at Red Robbin. I had been craving a burger from there for weeks and we had the day to ourselves with Lyla, since they boys were at preschool.

We walk into the restaurant and the host asks, "just 2?" Gavin lifts up the baby carrier and says, "well, 3 if you count her." The host continues and asks if we want a sling for the carrier or if we just want to slide her into the booth. We ask for the booth. He turns to get the menus and mumbles to himself that he will give us a children's menu just incase. As he turns to lead us to our table, I can't refrain from smiling, in response to him giving us a kid's menu.

We get to the table, Gavin slides Lyla into the booth, she is clearly visable to the host, who looked at her, laid the kid's menu on the table, and said, "I'll leave this in case you want to get her anything!"

Apparently this young male host, has not been around children much, I laughed outloud when he left our table!

We are Blessed

Tomorrow at midnight I will officially be done with my Master's classes. My degree will not be official until May 21st, but as far as I am concerned I am done.

Lately, I have been thinking about all that Gavin and I have accomplished/been through the past three years while Lesley has been a part of our lives.

~Gavin started his 22 month Master's program when Owen was 14 months old. He attended an entire weekend of classes once a month, leaving me home to tend to Owen. Owen at the time was a very demanding toddler and after just two months of Gavin starting his Master's program I became pregnant with Max, making staying home with a toddler all weekend long with no help even more exhausting.
~I started my 22 month Master's program in August of 2009, when Max was 5 months old. Gavin was not going to be finished until December 2009, so we spent 5 months with Gavin being gone one weekend for class and me another. During this time frame we were also working on selling our first home.
~At the start of the 2010-2011 school year, Gavin enrolled in 32 credits in order to go over two columns on the payscale, while I was still working on my last 16 credits of my Master's.
~In October we had an opportunity to purchase a new home, that needed a lot of work. Gavin spent every spare moment for 8 weeks fixing up the house, while I took care of the kids, again pregnant.
~We moved into our new home two weeks before Christmas.
~Lyla arrived two weeks early on Valentine's day.
~Now, I am finishing my Master's and gavin will be done with 16 of 32 credits next weekend.

In just five short years of marriage we have lived in six different apartments/houses, moved over 2000 miles away from our parents, become parents ourselves to three beautiful babies, stressed over our finances, and earned two Master's degrees. We have juggled all of this and I can still only count on one hand the number of major arguments we have had. Sure we have done our fair share of bickering, but arguing not so much.

We make a great team. We are both hard workers, who have the same vision for what we want out of life. We encourage each other; when one of us feels like we are drowning in obligations the other lends a hand. We make sure we always take time after the kids go to bed at night to regroup. And now more than ever we make sure that we go out at least once a month on a date night.

I know that no matter what life hands us we will tackle it together. I am proud of our accomplishments and of our relationship. They say that having a child, building/buying/selling a house, or working fulltime and going to school, are all things that can put stress on a marriage. We have done all of these things simultaneously and have not only survived but have strengthened our relationship.

I am not going to stress over whatever else life has in store for us, like the current proposal to not pay teachers for Master's Degrees. I know that together we will find a way to survive, because each night when I tuck my babies into bed, and hear them tell me they love me, I am reminded that we are blessed.