Category Archives: grandma gina

the children’s museum of richmond

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Back around Thanksgiving, we spent the day at the Children’s Museum of Richmond! We met up with Jeff, Lelia, cousin Bryce, and Grandma Gina late in the morning and spent nearly the entire day there. It was our first time going, and it definitely didn’t disappoint!

We were surprised to see a real fire engine and a full-size bus inside the building. Nella immediately wanted to climb up and drive!There were so many fun things to do, and Kaya ran up to me over and over again to tell me to come see all the amazing places you could go. Daddy and the girls went to a little retro diner where another little girl served them some pizza and steak.I got some Lelia time (and Evie got some Auntie Lelia cuddles)!Grandma Gina always asks Nella, “Are you my cuddlebug?”, and she certainly was that day. Nella played with Grandma almost the entire time we were there, and even snuggled with her on the pirate ship.Kaya and Kaelyn climbed the rock wall about 100 times (and Bryce had some crackers)!There was also this very cool apple tree that would use air pressure to move the balls (“apples”) you put in the tubes. Kaya loved it.We left for some lunch and rest. My mom got off work a little early, so we decided to go back for her to enjoy some time playing with girls. I’m so glad we did. She really loved watching them have so much fun.Kaya gave us all a bus ride!Nella was the backseat driver… and Michael was terrified. Ha!Kaelyn and Grandma Debbie got their workout in!And Kaya climbed the wall some more.Kaelyn rode the scooter around for a while!And we ended up back at the diner. No matter how real those juke boxes look, don’t try to put a quarter in the slot. Don’t ask how I know!Kaya ended her day playing in the veterinary hospital. I just love this picture because it’s so her: wearing her cat shirt, donning cat scrubs on top of it, and holding a cat while pretending to take care of animals. That’s my girl.Nella and Kaelyn ended the day in the little “sandbox”. Nella was also completely soaked because she played at the water station for a long time just before this!It was such a great day with family! I’d definitely love to go back sometime (and I’m sure the girls would, too)!

five on friday (12/28)

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Happy Friday!!! The very LAST one of the year! I can’t even believe that another 365 days have come and gone, but here we are. I’m happy to sneak in one last “Five on Friday” before we ring in 2019!

ONE. We’ve had a lot going on over here lately… but our biggest adventure was taking a trip to SPAIN at the beginning of December! I have a whole lot to share about our travels, but for now, I’ll just leave this photo of one of my very favorite places on the Costa Brava! It was so refreshing to leave home and do something completely new, although I definitely missed my kids (minus Eve, who was lucky enough to tag along). TWO. After we got home from our trip, I was ready to do all the Christmas things, since we had already missed about half of the pre-holiday festivities. We baked and delivered cookies, watched several Christmas movies (which is definitely a good activity when you’re dealing with jet lag), and went out looking at Christmas lights. I missed these munchkins so much, so I was extra grateful for the special time we’ve had together. I can’t believe Christmas Day has already come and gone, but we’re still looking forward to some family time between now and the New Year.THREE. Grandma Gina and Grandpa Skip came up to visit for a couple of days this week! The girls enjoyed snuggling, watching Shaun the Sheep (as they always do with Grandpa), and showing off their Christmas presents. (Also, 3 out of 4 kid smiles is as good as we could get with this picture… Nella has a 1-minute tolerance level for picture-taking these days!)We also enjoyed some Sweet Frog! This might be the girls’ favorite place ever. Even Nella knows what the sign looks like now. She gets excited before we even go in!FOUR. Oh, these sisters. They’re always playing “babies”, and I just think it’s the funniest thing when they pretend to be pregnant and walk around with these fake baby bumps. My mama heart just loves these pictures, and I hope that one day, in 20 years or so, they can recreate this for me for REAL! Besties.FIVE. Nella. She’s as crazy as ever, but this flaxen-haired beauty got her first haircut a couple weeks ago!Because she’s so energetic and doesn’t want to sit still for a photo, the best picture I could get of her new ‘do was when she was lying down. It was so hard for me to cut it (I was obsessed with her absolutely wild curls), but she was eating her hair and having some digestive troubles, so it had to be done. Her tummy seems to be a lot better, and we think her hair-eating habit is broken. Don’t worry, her new hair can be completely unruly, too!SIX. Just because there needs to be a little more Evie in this post… 😉

Happy Friday!!!

kaya’s 6th birthday (a unicorn party)!

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We celebrated Kaya’s birthday at the end of September (postponed by a week due to the uncertainty of hurricane Florence’s effect on our region), but I’m so excited to be catching up and sharing some of her special day.Kaya is perhaps the most birthday-enthused person in our family (which is saying A LOT, because I’m pretty into birthdays myself), so it’s always a little extra fun to surprise her and make her wishes come true. Ever since her 5th birthday, she’d been counting on having a unicorn-themed party for her 6th. She wanted her cake to be rainbow (for the 3rd year!), so I obliged, but switched things up a little with some rainbow rosettes. My attempt at a fondant unicorn fell flat (literally) late the night before the party, so I ended up printing a unicorn, laminating it, and attaching it to a popsicle stick. I was worried she’d be disappointed, but when she saw the finished cake, she unexpectedly threw her arms around me, squeezed me tight and said, “You did so GREAT!” It was my favorite moment of such a wonderful day.We had unicorn headbands for our three oldest girls (although Nella napped through the entire gig).Have you ever seen anyone happier on her birthday?We let her blow out the candle six times. Why not? Whenever we take these birthday pictures of just the birthday girl and us parents, I can’t help but remember the first picture we ever took with her. It seems like yesterday and forever ago all at the same time. Chocolate cake! Not to brag, but I think this was the best-tasting cake I’ve made so far. It was moist and rich, and the frosting was the creamiest. It had chilled in the refrigerator, so the coolness of the cake was delectable. Uncle Jeff, Auntie Lelia, and Cousin Bryce got to come up and celebrate with us! We were so happy to have them here.Grandma Debbie was here for the party, too!She’s already getting to that age where she asks for more expensive items… so that means she had just a few things to open. I liked the simplicity of it. Hatchimals from Grandma Debbie! She has been talking about these for over a year and was so excited to finally have her own!Kaya had already guessed what this one from us would be…“ROBOTIC PONY!!!”And some money for her 529 from Uncle Jeff, Auntie Lelia and Bryce! It was so funny to hear her read her card aloud as soon as she opened it.Grandma Gina and Grandpa Skip arrived close to dinnertime, so Kaya got to enjoy a second round of presents. A book light!And slippers!We waited until the next day to open her Hatchimals, since we knew it could take a while for them to actually come out, and we were all pretty exhausted by the end of her party. Kaya had so much fun tilting and rubbing the egg, and when they finally broke through, it was pretty exciting. She named her new babies “Flappy” and “Cuddly” and has loved taking care of them.

It was so wonderful to celebrate our girl and have so much of our family here to do it with us. These birthday weekends are some of my favorite memories.

Happy 6th Birthday Kaya!

five favorites (09/18)

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I always intend to get these posts done on Friday, but with how jam-packed life has been ever since we had Eve, it seems like it takes me a few extra days to actually finish them. Oops! I guess it doesn’t really matter what day I get them done, because regardless, I know that I’ll love looking back on these in a few years.

ONE. We’ve been trying to get outside when the weather has been nice enough, and we definitely snuck in some playground time before the tail end of Hurricane Florence’s rain came here. Nella has been insisting on only riding the big kid swing, and she also went down the slide all on her own for the very first time!We love it when Daddy meets us there on the way home from work!
 TWO. I had a doctor appointment this week, and fortunately, Daddy was able to take the girls so that I could go alone. They went on a little walk and had the best time seeing some farm animals! Kaya and Kaelyn named this horse “Beautiful”! THREE. A few weeks ago, Michael really hurt his ankle playing volleyball. We thought it was just sprained, but after about ten days of him walking around in an ACE bandage and not seeing any improvement, he ended up getting an x-ray at the local urgent care clinic. The radiologist told him it was an avulsion fracture, and he was put in a boot!He wore the boot for about a week before he was able to get an appointment with an orthopedist, who told him that he and his colleague had meticulously looked over his x-ray and had no idea what the radiologist had seen. It wasn’t broken after all! Crazy. Michael took a little while to adjust back to the biomechanics of non-boot life, but he’s on the mend now.

Even with a messed up ankle, he’s still been doing house projects. He got the stairwell painted, which is something I’ve been eager to get done for forever!FOUR. On Wednesday, my Dad-in-law sent me a picture of him and Mom having breakfast at Cracker Barrel… so I asked them where they were, and they told me they were in the next town over! They were driving home from their trip out west and completely surprised us by spending the morning here. These little girls were so happy (and of course requested to watch Shaun the Sheep with Grandpa… it’s kind of their thing now)!Grandma got some Evie snuggles!FIVE. We got to go to a Hokie volleyball game last week! I had never been to one, and it was a first for the girls, too. It was really fun to be back on campus and feel the sense of school pride and community that any of my fellow Hokies know! I just had to get a picture of the girls with the largest Hokie Bird statue I know of!Happy Tuesday!

eve’s first day

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Evie is 9 weeks old, and I’m still catching up over here. In a way, though, it’s felt extra special to go through my photos now and be able to relive those sacred first moments we spent together (and also be surprised by some of the shots I’d forgotten I took).
The atmosphere of the hospital room changes drastically in just moments. Intensity, and sometimes chaos, right before the birth, and the greatest feeling of peace and calm in the moments following. I looked forward to and truly cherished the sweet serenity and rest that followed Eve’s delivery.Eve nursed almost immediately after she was born, for a whole hour. I was feeling really grateful that she was born in the morning, at a time when the hospital was still serving breakfast, since we were famished. We ate while she ate! Afterward, she was very sleepy and enjoyed some rest. Flexible little feet! It’s so crazy to think that these little heels were poking me in the ribs just hours before this.I was still feeling very excited from the birth, so it was hard for me to sleep, but I tried to let Michael nap as long as possible. He was such amazing support for me throughout the entire night, so he definitely deserved this. Baby snuggles after waking up. After we rested and washed up, Grandma Gina brought our three princesses to meet the fourth! They came in smiling, with balloons and cards as gifts for their new little sister.This was the moment they had waited for for what seemed like so long.
Kaelyn always talked about Eve arriving right after her 4th birthday, just like Nella had arrived right after Kaya’s 4th birthday. With Eve’s birth being the only one Kaelyn remembers, it was almost as if meeting Eve was a special belated gift for her.Nella was very unsure of everything that day. She was having some tummy troubles and wasn’t really interested in Eve at all. We’re so thankful for Grandma and everything she did for us while she stayed.Evie found her thumb right away! She always had her hands up by her face at our ultrasounds, so this was no surprise.I wanted a picture with all of my girls, but Nella just didn’t want to. Oh well.She did get some Daddy cuddles before they all headed home, though. Kaya cried when they left and truly didn’t want to go. Kaelyn just told me over and over how much she missed us.After they left, Eve was able to have her first bath (there’s a new rule at our birth center that prohibits bathing for the first 8 hours after birth). She was not a fan!She did like getting her hair washed, though. We all tried to get some sleep that night, although Eve was a little more interested in nursing every hour instead of sleeping. Finally, around 2 am, we asked Nurse Julie if Eve could go to the nursery for a little while so we could try to rest. I felt a little guilty at the time, because we’d never sent any of our babies to the nursery before. We ended up sleeping until about 6:15 am, though, which we very much needed, so it turned out to be good for everyone.We woke up to these beautiful, shining eyes, hoping we’d be able to go home that same day.I can’t get enough of these baby toes.Seriously.It was a busy morning while we saw the pediatrician, my OB, and the hearing test administrator. She passed all her blood tests and weight check, so we were cleared to leave when she was just 27 hours old.Daddy buckled her in!No one ever likes the car seat.It’s always so bittersweet to leave. Of course, we’re happy to go home, be with our kids, and rest in our own familiar space, but this is the place where we overcame the challenges of birth, felt some of the most intense physical pain, and also experienced our greatest joy. This little room is a special place for me.One of the nurses walked us out, and we loaded Evie into the car. She slept through her entire first ride.It was a Sunday morning, so we arrived home to an empty house.We couldn’t wait to surprise the girls when they got out of church! They ran to us as soon as they saw that we were home, and then, of course, there were some disputes as to who got to hold the baby.And so began life as a family of SIX!!!

five on friday (07/27)

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What’s this? A Five on Friday post?! I haven’t written one since Eve was born! I’ve been trying to keep up with only the most essential tasks these days, so blogging has taken a bit of a back seat to real life, but I’m back, for today at least, and that feels good. This is going to be one giant catch-up post, so I might end up with more than five things…

ONE. Michael was given official paternity leave this time around, and so we enjoyed a full 2.5 weeks of having him home with us. It was really amazing to have that time to bond as a new family of 6 (!!!), and also to have the extra help while I recovered from delivery. I’m so grateful that he could take care of the older girls while I only had to tend to the baby. Those early weeks of just baby snuggles were blissful. He’s back to work, now, although he has been taking it slow in the mornings and going in a little later than usual.

I’d say we’ve been doing really well on our own- the day feels full and life is busy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. On our first “official” day without Daddy, Nella ended up with an upset stomach and threw up for an hour and a half… I felt just awful for her, but the fact that we had such chaos as soon as we were on our own was almost laughable. Almost.TWO. We’ve had a lot of fun with grandparents this past month! Grandma Gina selflessly came up to stay with us while we awaited Eve’s arrival. We tried to have some fun outings (since Eve took a little more time than we all expected), and one of those days, we went to the mall to play at the indoor playground.This little bunny is always Kaya’s favorite!Nella is getting a little too good at climbing…This week, Grandma and Grandpa were able to come back for a day visit! Of course, there had to be a family date to Sweet Frog (Kaya and Kaelyn’s current favorite place). I stayed home with Eve, but Michael brought some back for me (covered in Nutella)!Grandma Debbie also came up for a few days this past weekend! We enjoyed her homemade spaghetti sauce, some long walks, and time at the playground!And a million baby cuddles, of course.THREE. With all of Michael’s time off, he tried to get some projects done around the house. The tasks have ranged from small things like hanging photos and new ceiling fans, to ripping up the entire attic floor so we could have some guys come and seal it (that way, we’ll hopefully lose less heat/AC and be a little more energy efficient).

We were able to borrow a laser level to help with our photo gallery, which made things so much easier!Ta-da! I still need another large frame on the end for a photo of Eve, but I’m really happy with how this turned out. (And I took this before Michael replaced the ceiling fan!)My brother-in-law, Jeff, custom-made the wooden Virginia sign for me. I love it! I also got those watercolor printables from this Etsy shop.Michael has installed three ceiling fans so far. I really love how much brighter the rooms seem with these white fans and light fixtures. We have a few more to replace before the whole house is done, but these little things add up fast, so we’re just doing a little at a time.FOUR. We’ve been blessed with great neighbors and a wonderful church family who have brought us meals and gifts for the baby these past couple of weeks. We are so so grateful for everyone’s generosity.

Kaya and Kaelyn have been pretty big helpers, too. They’ve been holding Eve, soothing her when she’s sad, and have even helped out with chores. Kaya is actually getting really good at mopping!Kaelyn is great at vacuuming the stairs!FIVE. The girls are great at coming up with their own games and ideas, which is really useful since we’ve been at home a whole lot lately. Kaya has been building blanket forts, which provide hours of entertainment for everyone.Even Nella likes hanging out in the fort!We’ve been playing on the deck (and practicing spelling, which both Kaya and Kaelyn think is a lot of fun)…… and spinning around and around in the office chair. We have plenty of entertainment around here!SIX. (Whoops, I knew I’d have more than five things!) Kaya and Kaelyn have been making so much beautiful art lately that I just had to share some here. I love how nearly everything Kaya does incorporates rainbows:“Our Family During the Daytime”:Kaelyn always draws me and her together. In this one, we were taking a walk! I love the giant hearts.And because there was just not enough baby sweetness in this post… Those chubby cheeks and pouty lips get me every time.Happy Friday!

Linking up here, here, and here today!

blueberry hill (2018)

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One of our very favorite summertime traditions is picking blueberries, so while we waited for little Evie to make her appearance, we passed one evening out at our local berry farm. I love supporting a local business and spending some time with my family out there as the sun sets.Kaya was so good at picking the very bluest berries on this trip. She and Kaelyn each had their own baskets to fill up as much as they could, and then we combined them all to make one gallon at the end.Kaelyn is our biggest blueberry lover. She talks about going picking all year long, and now that we have berries in the freezer, she’s excited to make muffins and jam.Daddy taught Nella how to carefully get the berries off the bush…She picked a lot of green ones, but she had fun wandering through the rows and grabbing what she could.Grandma Gina lead everyone to the biggest berries…When Kaya wasn’t picking, she was taking plenty of pictures and videos of our excursion. It’s so funny to watch her because I feel like I’m seeing a mini version of myself most of the time.I had to jump in one picture with all my girls (10 days before Eve was born)!Bump, blueberries, baby girls. So many of my favorite things.Nella eventually resorted to picking these little flowers and bringing them to me, one in each of her little clenched fists. Her sweetness is immeasurable. We ended up with a very full gallon, and the farm owner let each of the girls pick out a special surprise- a free book- for successfully filling the bottoms of their baskets. We had some very happy kids.Until next year, blueberries!

five favorites (07/02)

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Whew! Although I thought maybe we’d have a busy week because we’d have a baby… The littlest lady is still comfy-cozy in there, so we’ve been filling up our time with a lot of other fun activities. Here are my favorites from this past week and weekend!

ONE. We’ve had a few visitors this week! The girls were really looking forward to having both grandmas here, and they were counting down the days until their arrival. Grandma Debbie was able to spend the weekend with us for Kaelyn’s birthday party, and Grandma Gina has been here all week, waiting for baby!My mom cooked up a huge batch of homemade chicken nuggets for us to enjoy (instead of our usual fallbacks of sandwiches and cereal) because I haven’t been able to cook for most of this pregnancy, so we enjoyed those for a few days. She also spent a lot of time coloring with the girls and helped clean a bit.My Mom-in-law and I have cleaned/nested just about everywhere else in the house this week (so now it’s time for the baby to come, right?)! It’s been so nice not to be alone during the day, too. Not carrying Nella all around is also a big plus!Grandpa Skip came up just for this past weekend! Kaya and Kaelyn were so excited to see him. They snuggled a lot and watched some “Shaun the Sheep” together, which is something they look forward to doing every time they see Grandpa!Nella took a while to warm up to him this time, so I don’t have any snuggly pictures of them together, but I do have one of him wearing her hat… Who couldn’t love this goofy guy?TWO. Kaya had her first-ever piano lesson from Grandma! She wrote out all the notes to “Once There Was a Snowman” so Kaya could practice something fun that she recognizes. She’s not reading music yet, but I am impressed with how quickly she’s memorizing songs and picking up on everything.She practiced hard all week long so she could surprise Grandpa Skip when he arrived!
Of course, the little sisters like to have a turn, too.THREE. We took Kaelyn out for her special birthday dinner this week (not-so-coincidentally on the same day that Red Robin was handing out free milkshakes)! She was the happiest girl in the world when the waiters sang to her and she got her birthday sundae at the end. This is a genuine-Kaelyn smile!We might be the silliest people in Red Robin any time we go…Kaya hopped from one side of the table to the other to be in both pictures. Yay!FOUR. Kaya’s been saving her allowance from helping out around the house, and we told her that once she paid tithing at church, she could spend some of it on something she wanted. It took her a while to be willing to pay her tithing, but she finally made her own decision to do it last weekend.

She’s been asking for her own camera for a really long time, so I found a deal on this little Canon Powershot for her for $29. It’s definitely a decent starter camera! She’s been bringing it just about everywhere, making videos, and trying to take the sharpest photos she can. It’s been really cool to see life from her point of view, and it’s also fun to have another little photographer around.“Let’s take a picture of each other taking a picture!” It was all her idea.FIVE. It’s been hot outside, so Michael picked up a little sprinkler to surprise the girls with on Saturday night. They liked running through it for a few minutes, but ultimately, they really wanted to play with the kiddie pool and the slide.

And yeah, I’m married to a total goofball (but I love it)! They always make the funniest faces once they hit the water!Nella really wanted a turn, so Grandma helped her out. She kept saying “WHOA!” anytime someone splashed!These little girls with big smiles… melting my heart.Simple evenings are my favorites. I never wanted to go inside.

Happy Monday!

monument avenue 10k (2018)

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I can’t believe this was a whole month ago already… it actually feels like a lot longer than that! We put another Monument Avenue in the books, and this might have just been my favorite one yet.

We drove down to stay with my parents on Friday night, and I woke up at 4:30 am on race morning. We didn’t need to leave home until around 7 am, but I’m always a little too excited to sleep before a race, so I got up and started getting things ready. I was less nervous than I usually am for these types of events, but I definitely still had some pre-race jitters.

Kaya had been talking about “running a kid race” for months, so I had signed her up for the Virginia529 Kids Run, which started about an hour and twenty minutes before my wave. We drove into Richmond, pinned our bibs on, loaded the two littlest girls in the stroller, and hustled from the parking garage to the start line.

At the last possible moment, we decided to register Michael as a “companion runner” for Kaya, since there were so many more people than I had even imagined, and I didn’t feel comfortable sending her out on her own (despite the security measures they have in place). I’m so glad they did this together.

I wasn’t sure how long it would take her to finish, but Kaya shocked us all by running the mile in about 13 minutes, which I think is really great for a 5.5-year old! The look of pure joy (and the hug she gave her dad) as she crossed the finish line was so memorable and sweet. Her excitement was contagious, and actually brought me to tears because of how much joy and pride I felt seeing my baby want to do something that I love doing. I also love knowing that she likes running because she knows it keeps her body healthy and strong.She smiled all day long! Did I mention how proud I am?She now has her medal hanging from her bunk bed!We had three of the four grandparents at the race this year! My mom had never been before, so she rode down with us, but seeing my in-laws was a complete surprise. They met up with us right before Kaya started, and I am so grateful for all the support and love these three (plus my Dad, who stayed home to watch the dogs), give us.I had enough time before my wave started to sunscreen up, use the bathroom, put on my pregnancy support belt and find Lelia! Do you see us in the starting corral?We started off in a slower wave, because when we signed up (back in December), we had predicted that by this point in my pregnancy, I wouldn’t be moving so fast. Surprisingly, I haven’t been as slow as I thought I’d be, so we ended up passing a lot of people, but we really got into a great rhythm.

Lelia and I are great running partners- we just match each other so well as far as pace and stride. Look how synced up we are here! This race was a little extra special, because at Christmastime, I told Lelia we were pregnant by saying that we’d have another “Monument baby” (Nella and Bryce both did this in utero!), and she was instantly willing to run with me. I was super grateful to have her as a buddy/bodyguard.I knew the miles with Lelia would just fly right on by, and they did! It was a gorgeous day, but a little warmer than I’m used to running as of late, so I definitely appreciated all the water stops, and Lelia pouring the rest of her drink down my back at one point. I started to feel tired around halfway through, but I honestly couldn’t believe the splits we were getting, so I didn’t want to slow down. We finished with an official time of 59:52, which put us at a 9:38 min/mile average. My goal going into this was an average pace between 10-10:15, so I was ecstatic!Sweaty hugs all around! We did it! I think I cry every time I see the finish line in a race.Finishers with our “Monument babies”! I can’t believe two years ago I ran this with Nella in my belly, last year Lelia did it with Bryce, and now our newest princess has done it, too. I hope they’ll all look back on these pictures one day and think it’s as cool as I do.27-week bump!When Lelia did this last year at 30 weeks pregnant, she had said she wished she had a sign on her back so that people wouldn’t get too close (this is a busy race, and some people are absolutely crazy when trying to pass you)! I printed out this little sign, laminated it, and brought it to wear on race day. I was so glad I did, because I felt like I had a little extra security with this on.Another one done!Of course, there had to be donuts afterward! We headed to “The Treat Shop” in Richmond for these.And because Kaelyn was at the race, but didn’t want to be in any pictures, here’s one of how she eats a donut. Frosting first!Adorable even when she’s a total mess…I’m so thankful for all the family time we got to have that weekend, as well as the love and support I feel from all of them. Completing a race wouldn’t mean half as much to me without having family waiting at the finish (or running alongside me)! This is it as far as racing goes until after the baby comes, but I’m already looking forward to a postpartum comeback!

easter 2018

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A month later, and I’m finally blogging about Easter! We kept it super simple this year, partly because of how nauseous I’ve still been, and partly because I really wanted to keep Easter focused on Christ.

We put together our own little Easter egg hunt on Saturday. I usually try to support community events and go to the town egg hunt, but it was a little chilly that morning, and I thought that our kids might have more fun if we just did one in the backyard. The weather turned out to be absolutely beautiful by mid-afternoon.Egg hunting is serious business!We filled 61 (mostly miniature) eggs, each with just a few jelly beans, Cadbury eggs, or marshmallows. We dutifully counted at the end to be sure none were forgotten.Kaya and Kaelyn were so excited, and had the best time gathering them all up. I scattered most of the eggs in the grass instead of actually finding hiding places, because I didn’t want it to be too difficult for them. Turns out, they were so much better at spotting the eggs than I expected, so I think I’ll have to make it harder next year!Each girl had one “special” egg with a baby Calico Critter in it. They were completely shocked when they opened these! A hedgehog for Kaya, and a puppy for Kaelyn.I just love these genuine smiles.Our littlest bunny napped all through the egg hunt, so when she woke up, I just had to take a few photos of her with the silly ears on.Cutest Easter bunny! Seriously. She makes my heart burst. My little marshmallow fanatic wasted no time finding out that there were some hidden inside the eggs…Michael’s parents had come up to stay with us for the weekend, so on Sunday morning, Mom Irwin made cinnamon rolls! Mmmmmm.Nella and Dad cuddled up on the couch……while the older girls got busy making their Peeps birdhouses. We did these a couple years ago, and they always ask to do them again. There is so much sugar involved in this process… but they love it so much, so I think we might do this forever now.I think the houses become more elaborate every year! Ta-da! Kaelyn even made a folding door on hers! We had a wonderful time visiting with family (don’t let Kaya’s face fool you here), relaxing, and listening to General Conference. This is what dream weekends are made of!