The littles in live action!

Lil' peanut was eating some of his snacks that his foster mom sent the other day and it made me think how much she'd probably enjoy to see a video of him.  So, here are a couple that I took that day.

Easter weekend

Although the circumstances that brought us back to KS again were sad, we enjoyed visiting with our extended families over the Easter weekend.  I didn't take many pictures...just being "present" was important and took precedence over capturing memories.  My husband was quite close to his grandfather so I know laying him to rest was tough for him.  And the kids kept us busy, that's always the case! :)  Baby is at that age where he's into everything so you can't ever relax in a new/unfamiliar setting.  And lil' peanut had several moments of just being overwhelmed with everything different and all the attention.  Big C was pretty easy peasy this trip.  I'm so glad he was feeling well while we were gone, but the day we traveled back he spiked a fever again and hasn't kicked this new virus yet!  I sure hope he's feeling well again soon and that he's able to go back to school for his last week at Bay Area.  

Onto the pictures while I have a minute.  The plumber will be here soon.  Oh yes, the hot water heater was leaking all over the floor this morning.  One week before we pack up and head out of here.  And who's idea was this dity move again?!  (Mine.  It was mine.  Trust me, hubby will never let me forget that moving ourselves was my idea.)  Lol!  Onward!

Dyeing eggs at Nana and Papa's...

And hunting eggs at Nana and Papa's...

He couldn't wait to dig into his candy, eating it on the go!  That is so him. :)

We did an egg hunt with hubby's family too.

Look who we ran into. :)

Hanging out before heading to the airport on Tuesday and the kids found a new friend.  Ack!

Our flight home was delayed an hour so we had lots of time to kill at the airport.  Thankfully not many people like those late flights because we pretty much had the run of the place.  And we ended up with the whole back of the plan to ourselves!  C loved sitting in his own row.  Such a big kid!

Easter Sunday 2015

One of my sweetest memories from Easter weekend was sitting with lil' peanut at bedtime on Saturday evening.  "Can I tell you the story of Easter?"  "Yes," he shouted and he stared at me wide eyed while I recounted Jesus' death and resurrection.  Every once in awhile he would jump in to tell part of the story that he remembered hearing about at church or in the previous weeks at home leading up to Easter.  "The tomb was empty!  Jesus wasn't there."  "Because Jesus is AWIIIIIIIIVE!" And he jumped up and down shouting it over and over again.  He was so excited!  A sweet, sweet moment.  

Anxiously waiting for their Easter baskets.

Love my little goofballs!

All gussied up for Easter Sunday service.  Boy, I'm a lucky lady, surrounded by all those handsome guys. :)

going away

This past Saturday we had a little going away get together.  Yes, I threw myself a party.  Ha.  We just invited our friends and family down here to come out and play so we could see them all one more time before we move.  I'd say over half the people we invited didn't come, but even at that, we still had a good turnout and I think everyone who came had a good time.

Back in the fall we had planned to have a big combined birthday party for all three boys but it ended up getting rained out so we just had little family celebrations.  So, our goodbye party was the perfect opportunity to go ahead and rent that big bounce house.  And boy did we get our money's worth.  The place we got it from lets you have it for 2 days normally, but the pick-up guy kept having things come up so we ended up getting 4 days of bouncey house fun!  We loved it! (well everyone except for pumpkin baby, he's terrified of the thing).

On to the pictures...

Having some family play time before our friends arrive.

Brenna (my cousin's wife) getting her baby snuggles in.

The kids convinced some of the grown-ups to get in the bounce house.

C was so excited his buddy from school came.  They had the best time together.

Gah!  Those baby blues!!!

C looks so grown up in this picture!  It's that hair!!!  I see teenagers walking around with hair like that.  I love these little people so much!  I wish all three of my boys were in this photo, but that third little was hiding. ;)

Family selfie time in the bounce house!

"It ate my entire family!"  Haha!  Poor, sad baby.  Don't worry, I didn't stay in too long.

What a fun day it was!  Enjoying our beautiful back yard made me pretty sad to leave it.  But, new adventures await us.  The move is creeping up quickly.  We are actually headed up to KS again this weekend.  Hubby's grandfather passed away last week so we're heading up for his services.  I'm hoping I can get a lot done tomorrow because we're not ready to go at all.  Got a call from C's school today that he was in the office with a sore throat and fever.  Took him to urgent care after I picked him up and he's got strep. :(  Poor guy.  He was not feeling well at all, and it takes a lot to slow him down.  I'm hoping that first dose of antibiotics and a good night's rest will have him feeling better in the morning.  Well, the baby just woke up crying so time to get out from this pile of laundry I'm sitting in (at least it's clean!) and maybe get some packing done.

Spring Break 2015 Wrap-up

We didn't have anything grand planned for C's last day of Spring Break, but it ended up being a pretty good day.  Baby has been needing new shoes for a bit, so after church on Sunday we headed to the mall.  When hubby pulled out $5 for one of those ridiculous fire truck strollers I was like "What are you doing?"  Um, the best thing ever.  Seriously, that thing was such a hit and it made our trip to the mall with our kids (something we generally avoid like the plague) actually enjoyable!  That husband of mine, he's a keeper.

We grabbed lunch at the food court and spent some time cruising in the fire truck while we waited for the shoe store to open.  They were loving it!

Just because we had the fire truck doesn't mean there wasn't some babywearing going on. :)

And preschooler wearing. ;)  This carrier was a gift for baby's 1st birthday and he is just now fitting into it nicely.  It's a toddler version so the weight limit is 50lbs (not that your back would appreciate you carrying 50lbs of child around for any length of time) but the option to carry lil' peanut has been nice.  He asks every once in awhile just for fun, or when he's having a rough time and just wants to be the baby again.  So, I'll put him up in it around the house.  These past few weeks as our move gets closer he's been in need of more snuggles so we've even used it a bit while out and about.  I asked him mid-meltdown if he wanted to go up and he immediately stopped crying.  After a 10 minute ride his love tank was all filled up and he was ready to get down and go again. :)

Seriously hubs, good call on that firetruck!

After nap time we set up the bouncer in the living room.  We split the cost of this with Grandma and Grandpa for C's 3rd birthday party.  I'd say we've definitely gotten our money's worth out of it.  I can't believe it hasn't gotten a hole yet!

Baby was not amused. 

Not. Amused.

We made an after dinner trip to Menchie's for some ice cream and Spring Break 2015 was a wrap!

Spring Break: Rodeo!

Apparently hubby has been wanting to go to the rodeo every year since we've been here (who knew he was such a cowboy at heart?!) and he decided on Friday to seize our last chance to check it out.  As we were driving up, I lamented the fact that I didn't have a pair of cowgirl boots to wear!  If ever there was a perfect occasion to sport a pair of Texas boots, it would've been to the rodeo.  The children in the family who HAD boots didn't even want to wear them!  For shame!  Ah well, we did alright with our sandals and tennis shoes.

The rodeo had never really been on my radar so I may not have had my happy face on when after our first fifteen minutes there we were dripping with sweat, had experienced one bloodied nose and multiple meltdowns...and we hadn't even made it from the parking lot to the entrance yet!  After getting our tickets and making our way to the giant Agriculture building our day took a 180 (the blue slushies may have helped) and hubby was able to take all the credit for a great adventure by the time we left. :)

They had a ton of animals to see ranging from your standard cows and goats to bees!  The boys all enjoyed that.  Lil' peanut was beside himself when we discovered the John Deere exhibit.  After a bit of a rocky start we really had a great time.  Baby was super chill being carried or cruising in his car and the big kids were both well behaved and just a lot of fun to be around.  

I uploaded the pictures from my phone so they're in random order...

Big brothers had the best time teaching this little guy the old "see food" trick.  All three of them were cracking up at each other!

Excited about their free tractor supply company gear!

Can you tell by his face he was in heaven?!

Petting rabbits.

We'll see if we can keep our sunflowers alive at least long enough to see them sprout. :)

Showing off their blue slushie tongues.

We for sure had the coolest mode of transportation there.  Kids kept trying to drive off with the car if we left it unoccupied for a minute.

What a great addition to our Spring Break agenda!  Houston Rodeo...check!

Spring Break Continued...Kemah Boardwalk!

The last time we went to the boardwalk we let the kids each pick one ride to go on.  And lil' peanut has been begging to go back ever since.  We knew it had to be on our bucket list of things to do before we move. The kids were pretty thrilled when we told them they could ride all the rides this time.  Those all day ride passes made for a pricey adventure, but it was definitely worth it seeing how much fun they had.

We picked something we could all go on for our first ride...the ferris wheel.  Ferris wheels freak me out a little bit and apparently that's something pumpkin baby and I have in common.  He was NOT happy.  The picture is right before it started moving.  After that, he was a sad, scared little baby.  He was quite content to be snuggled up in the carrier on my back for the rest of the day after that traumatic start.  The only other ride he got on was the train and he fell asleep on it.  Ha!

His post-train snooze.

Lil' peanut loving the carousel.

The splash pad was a huge hit (with all three of them!)  We waited until they were all done with rides before we went there because we knew they'd get soaking wet and we didn't have extra clothes.  Baby stayed pretty dry after his initial bravery got him squirted in the face.  He stuck to the perimeter after that.  But, the big kids rode home in their undies. :)

C's selfie with the shark.

Another box checked!  Now we need this rain to go away so we can keep working on our list and hit the beach!