Easter 2016

We started the weekend with plans to meet up with my sister who was staying on the island for a little Spring Break getaway. There is a lot of construction going on in our little town not only widening of the main road through town but lots of land clearing, a new school & community, new restaurants & stores & a ton of utility work. So needless to say, we got stuck in traffic on our way to meet-up for an Easter Egg drop saturday morning. My sister & her family were already there & it was already time for the egg drop when we crossed onto the island so we decided to head downtown for an easter egg hunt there figuring they would be done quickly & would meet us there. Well the drop ran WAY behind, we could have totally made it there but we ended up downtown where the boys got their faces painted, hunted Easter Eggs & ate cotton candy.

The weather forecast for the whole weekend was bad! Thunderstorm warnings & 100% chance of rain all weekend. The night before a loud crack of thunder woke all 3 boys scaring them badly, I've never heard all 3 of them scream like that simultaneously before. Well it shook Kellan up enough that every grey cloud had him nervous. We ended up heading home without ever seeing my sister.

We decorated Easter Eggs Saturday afternoon. The boys LOVE pretty much anything crafty or artistic lately so this was right up their alley. I picked out a kit that included little tiny mini paint rollers. They made for some very interesting, well coated eggs.

Kellan & Caden

Garren

G, K, C

The Easter bunny made his drop shortly after the boys went to bed. We don't go crazy with holiday gifts outside of Christmas & Birthdays but the boys did get a little candy, some Minion Surprise Eggs, and some mini Avenger/Batman boxes with art supplies.

It was our year for hosting Easter dinner. My mom & bonus dad, Sister & her family & a close friend & her daughter came for the day. We spent the morning getting a few things ready for our early Easter dinner/ lunch.

We had a great visit & meal! We followed that up with our own Easter Egg hunt. While my bonus dad & brother in law spread out & stashed eggs we attempted a group photo of the 6 kids...

This is honestly the best group shot, typical for this time in our lives.

Looks painful to have all these cousins, lol...

Finally! The Easter Egg Hunt!

front to back:

Kellan, Chandler, Canan, Garren, Caden, & Nadia

Eggs everywhere!!!

It was a super fun weekend & the kids all had a great time. I love having everyone for a holiday meal, especially one as simple as Easter. Hope you all had a great Easter too!

St Patrick's Day 2016

This is pretty much how any request for a photo goes these days...

Garren, Kellan, & Caden

The boys' school had their Easter party on St Patricks Day since the kids would be on Spring Break the week of Easter. The boys loved it! They told me they had an easter egg hunt & that Christopher found the golden egg. They weren't allowed to open their eggs though, the plastic eggs were sealed shut with a sticker which I thought was pretty genius since the boys are usually distracted by what is in the first egg they find instead of continuing their hunt for more eggs. We may try this at home!

The day before they decorated buckets with cotton balls & made them into bunnies. 

A couple days before the party their teacher told me they forgot to hang a sign up sheet for Easter Basket fillers in addition to the party food sign up they did hang. I told her I had some stuff stocked up for such occasions, so I donated plastic eggs, candy, trinkets, peeps, & a small dollar spot gift for the Easter Baskets. The boys and I also made 'peep rice crispy treats' & a fruit salad for the party.

Easter 2015

It's been a hell of a couple months for Donna at work. All the nasty winter weather across the midwest & northeast affected them getting their planes & backed up the company as a whole. This all, of course resulted in working many 6 day weeks & turned already long days into even longer days.

We've been trying to get down to Central FL to see the parents for the past couple months but every week, she comes home saying she has to go in Saturday, even Easter weekend :(

So we had a pretty low key Easter. I sucked at the whole Easter Basket thing this year! I saw a great project online & made each of the boys one, got them half filled & needed a couple more items but I dropped the ball & never made it back to the store for said items. Nana hooked them up last week though so they did get something :)

Easter day we went to a cookout with some friends in the afternoon. The kids all swam in the ice cold pool, blew bubbles, got their faces painted & after we all ate they hunted Easter Eggs.

Garren & Kellan

Caden with his Easter Bunny face

I thought the next few photos were funny, the kids were so excited to hunt for eggs but had to wait for the last couple of people to get there before they could go, the anticipation  was too much for some of them & they became giddy & hilarious, cracking up at each other. Silly kids :)

Kellan

Caden & Garren

Garren found these 2 & was content with just them, lol

Kellan, Garren & Caden

Easter Fun at the Mall

My mom, my sister, myself & all the kiddos got together yesterday at the mall for a little Easter fun.

It was very similar to our annual Santa visit but with the Easter Bunny this time who Caden & Kellan were not too fond of, lol... When they saw him walking around, they hid behind me & when it was time to take a photo with him Kellan proclaimed "NO thank you!" I tried bribing him with large Easter Bunny Easter Eggs, Caden was ok with it, Kellan still not so much.

Garren, Chandler, Nadia, Caden & Kellan

Once we saw the bunny it was time to play. We headed to the mall playground to let the kids burn some energy followed by mechanical rides & then a ride around the mall on the train. 

Garren, Kellan & Caden... thats Nana on the other side of/behind them

Caden & Kellan

Garren & Caden

Kellan

Nadia & Chandler

Chandler giving the Easter Bunny a high five

Garren's turn

Nadia excited to ride the train

It will be Autumn's turn to ride with the kids at Christmas!

We finished our fun outing with lunch at a sit down restaurant with 5 kids, 4 & under. That restaurant loves us! They sat us at the same table in the back corner as they did at Christmas time, lol... The kids can be a little noisey but they were good overall, they even ate ALL their lunch which they are usually to distracted to do when we eat out.

We all had a good time, I can't wait to do it again at Christmas with a 5 year old, three 4 year olds &  a 2 year old! I hope Santa is resting up this Summer ;)

Easter

Easter is a bit of a nostalgic holiday for me, especially when it falls in late April like it did 3 years ago. Easter of 2011 I was in the ante-partum ward of Forsyth Medical Center going on my 3rd week of hospital bed rest & trying to keep the boys cooking on the inside for as long as I could. Little did I know that after celbrating my birthday the next day, 3 short days later, I'd be meeting our precious boys in person!

It's so hard to believe that was 3 years ago, sometimes it feels like it was yesterday, yet sometimes it feels like an eternity ago. It's even harder to believe that in just one week we will have three 3 year olds!!!

Onto this Easter...

Like the past 2 Easters, we spent the day with my mom & bonus dad at their house. The weather here has been cold & rainy for the past few days including yesterday, so hunting Easter eggs outside was pretty much out of the question. It didn't keep us from doing other fun Easter things though like coloring Easter eggs. This was the boys first time coloring eggs & I wasn't sure what to expect? They loved it! They couldn't dye the eggs enough & ended up coloring already colored eggs over & over again... We ended up with some very interesting colored eggs, lol. They didn't make as much of a mess as I had expected but Garren did like to drop his eggs in the dye from about 8" above the cup, so we had some splashes & some dribbles when transferring the eggs but no spills :)

Garren, Grandma, Kellan, Mom Mom, & Caden

Grandma looks like she may be reconsidering that this was a good idea, lol...

Not too awful for being dyed multiples times in random colors :)

My mom cooked up a delicious feist of ham, devil end eggs, au gratin potatoes, cauliflower salad (like potato salad but with cauliflower, it's super yummy!) baked beans, rolls & of course a couple of pies. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore & then, we had desert! The boys actually ate really well this year, ham has been kind of hit & miss among the boys but Garren & Caden ate a bunch of it this year (Kellan still doesn't eat much meat at all) they all ate olives & deviled eggs, the veggies were hit & miss amongst each of them but we were able to get them to try a bite of each (veggies aren't an issue for them, they just prefer green veggies) Everything was amazingly good & my mom sent us home with enough food for the week!

Papa, Grandma & Bella, their new puppy

I took a ton of pictures, I even remembered my camera for once but for some unfortunate reason nothing saved & when I went to upload the photos I just got solid black files :( I did happen to take a few photos of the boys coloring Easter eggs with my phone thankfully & one photo of just my parents (the boys couldn't sit still for a photo with grandma & grandpa) but that was it :(

I'm hoping I just need a new SD card & not a whole new camera, although I wouldn't complain about a new one since my DSLR is 7-ish years old now & pretty outdated.

I hope you all had a fabulous Easter too with your loved ones! 

Flash Back Friday

Easter 2012

Easter 2013

We started our Easter weekend with a visit from friends & fellow triplet family from Winston-Salem. (where we moved from last year) Their boys were still in the NICU when we moved so it was the first time we got to meet them in person. It was a brief visit over brunch as they were on their way to Orlando but it was really great to see them.

Friday afternoon we took the boys to get their hair cut. They were long overdue & honestly I was holding off until I thought they had enough hair for a clipper cut, a "standard boys cut" as their barber called it :) Lucky for me they finally had enough hair, not that it was even a question for Garren but Caden & Kellan were still pretty thin on top at their first haircut. I absolutely LOVE their new haircuts!!!

Saturday we took the boys to the "Easter Egg Stroll" on Jekyll Island. Last year they slept through our Easter Egg hunt so this was the boys first go at it. I was surprised at well they actually did, we just showed them a couple times to pick up the eggs & put them in the baskets. They were quick to pick them up but just wanted to hang onto the one they had & play with it but they all caught on & had baskets full quickly. When they got bored with putting them in their baskets they started playing other games with the eggs. Caden would pick up an egg, hold it straight up in the air, drop it behind his back & clap, lol. Kellan just started tossing them :)
We walked around the historic area for a little while enjoying the perfect 70 degree weather. I had hoped to get the boys picture taken with the Easter Bunny but the line wrapped around a deck ramp & we were certain the boys would not have stood in line so we skipped it.

Caden

Garren

Garren & Caden (Kellan in the background)

Kellan

Today we went out to my parents, my sister & her family were also there for the weekend. My mom made a super yummy Easter dinner & the boys ate a variety of food including ham, potatoes, macaroni salad, deviled eggs, baked beans & cauliflower salad. Kellan though everything tasted better from Uncle Stevens plate & Caden thought the serving bowl made a good serving size for him as he stuck his spoon directly in the bowl for a bite.
The boys didn't care too much about hunting eggs today but they were eager to run through the yard. Garren was sure to hug & kiss my parents dog, Buddy, & then he moved on to "mowing" the lawn. The boys crack me up with toy lawn mowers!
After they ran around for a while we decided to try to get some pictures of the boys & my nephew, Chandler. We got a few really cute ones.

Chandler, Caden, Kellan & Garren

Caden, Kellan, Garren

The Easter Bunny did make a delivery for the boys, they each got a VTech phone & a shirt, along with Easter eggs, jelly beans, chocolate eggs.

Nana & Papa also got the boys these adorable bunnies.

We had a fantastic weekend packed full of fun & family!!! We hope you had a great Easter too!!!