Easter 2017

We had a special Easter weekend. My mom has Easter egg cake pans that she uses for Easter every year. This year, Nathan requested some special Mommy and Nathan time to bake and decorate them. I was happy to spend some one on one time with my boy doing one of my favorite things! We had a fun afternoon, and he did a great job decorating the cakes.

Later that afternoon the kids and I baked some Resurrection Rolls for dessert that night. It's a fun (and yummy) illustration of the Resurrection. The kids loved how the marshmallow disappeared (even though Samuel might have told his Sunday School teachers that Jesus melted in the tomb. Oops :)).

They've all been asking to make them again.

Afterward we all sat down as a family and read through the Easter story and opened our Resurrection eggs.

Sunday morning, the kids woke up and opened their Easter baskets.

 We dressed the kids in their Easter best and then took a few pictures before we headed to church.

 I LOVE how much those three love each other. Watching them love each other is one of my greatest joys of motherhood.

Matt and I worked with the three year olds Easter morning.

Elisabeth is in a different class, but once Ainsley and Sarah show up, there's no way we can get her to go to her class, so she usually hangs out with us while we teach.

After church we went to my parents' house for Easter lunch and an Easter egg hunt.

It was rainy, so the kids hunted eggs inside. Nathan was thrilled to find the golden egg with money inside!

We stayed for the afternoon and visited and played and napped. It was a fantastic weekend celebrating our Risen Savior!

A Day in the Life

I thought I'd share a little bit of a day in our life this Spring. Thursdays are a busy fun day for us this year!

6:00am- I wake up and hop on the treadmill. I haven't been as consistent with running since I've been pregnant (especially in the first trimester when I was so nauseous and tired), but I've been trying to run at least 2-3 days a week now that I'm feeling better.

6:45- I finish running and get ready for the day. Love my little 16 week bump!

7:30- I'm ready for the day and all the kids are awake and watching a show. We get busy with breakfast. Samuel and Elisabeth have cinnamon toast (Samuel likes to help!)

Nathan likes to multitask in the mornings- breakfast, kindle time and putting together a puzzle.

7:45- After the kids have their breakfasts, I make Nathan's lunch, unload the dishwasher, and eat my own breakfast.

8:15- The kids are finished eating and playing. We all head upstairs to get dressed for the day

8:45- Kids are dressed, hair and teeth are brushed, and faces are washed. We get packed up and ready to leave

8:55- We load up to drop off Nathan at school
9:05- Samuel, Elisabeth and I head up to our church
9:30- Our MOMS group is making pizza at our next meeting, so the steering team spent the morning assembling and dividing up all the ingredients.

Samuel and Elisabeth hung out with us for a few minutes before Samuel's gymnastics class started.

10:30- Samuel is ready for gymnastics. My mom came to watch his class and was nice enough to keep an eye on Elisabeth in the gym while she played with her Little Friend Brynn during his class, so I could keep working in the kitchen.

11:30- Everything is ready for our MOMS meeting and Samuel's gymnastics is over, so we head home for lunch. We all eat. The kids get to watch a show during lunch and then play in the living room after they finish eating.

1:00- Nap time!

Samuel was acting really tired, so I make him rest for a bit. Thursdays are busy for him. He ends up not sleeping and just plays in his room

1:30- While they nap, I lie down and doze for a little while too. I've noticed that I'm a lot more tired on the days that I get up early to run, so I enjoy a little break and nap with the kids.

2:45- I get up and try and get a few things done. I work a little on finding some fun restaurants for our DC trip next month.

3:00- Elisabeth wakes up and I send her and Samuel outside to play. They have been playing so well together outside. I love how much they enjoy playing together!

3:15- While the kids are outside playing, I go ahead and get a head start on dinner and clean up the kitchen. We have to eat super early on Thursdays to make it to soccer practice, so it's always pretty rushed.

3:50- We load up in the van and head to the car line to pick up Nathan at school

4:00- There's our boy! We head home.

4:05- I send everyone back outside (and I join them this time). Nathan wants to color and Samuel and Elisabeth want to play bubbles.

4:30= I head inside to serve dinner

4:45- I call the kids in and we eat quickly. Sloppy Joes are on the menu.

5:05- The kids wash up from dinner and get ready for soccer practice.

5:15- Matt pulls in as we are loading up the van to head to practice. We're all excited to see him!

5:30- Soccer practice! The boys practice while Elisabeth and Daddy run up and down the hill for an hour.

6:45- We're home from soccer. Matt eats dinner while I bathe the kids.

7:15- Samuel and Elisabeth watch a night, night show, and Nathan and I do his homework.

7:45- We all head upstairs to brush teeth and read books. Nathan reads a book to everyone each night. His reading is improving so much! I'm sure proud of him. We also read an Easter book to prepare our hearts for the weekend ahead.

8:15- Bedtime! I tuck in all the kids and pray with them. Matt heads downstairs to investigate a refrigerator problem (ugh!)

Elisabeth insists on helping me tuck in Samuel.

8:30- Matt is defrosting our refrigerator fan with my hair dryer. Seems a little crazy, but it fixes the problem. Woo hoo! I order groceries from Walmart while he's working.

9:00- Matt and I head to bed to fall asleep watching a show. We both fall asleep before 10.