Cole's 4th Birthday Party

Thank you everyone for helping Cole feel special on his special day. He felt so happy and loved that we even went to the ER and got his staples removed without much conflict. (oh by the way, Cole had 2 staples put in his head on Easter morning after a fall outside. Bummer huh?! Not the ideal way to spend Easter) We had games, played outside at the park, had cake and a few snacks and drinks and just had a great time.


Cole and his transformer cake. He REALLY wanted a transformer cake. He loved it. And if you don't look too closely, it didn't turn out half bad. :)


Cole's friends and cousins. Lily wouldn't get in the picture and I think Jayden and Jenecy were off playing.




I love these two pictures and the differences between boys and girls. I also love how Cole is watching Liam go at that doughnut. I think Liam rocked the doughnut game. hehe



Thank you GG and Pops for the transformer blanket. It gets used daily!! He loves it.




I even had someone take a picture of me and one of my best buddies Amanda. I love it! Have a happy and beautiful day. Think positive thoughts. :)

cousins

We love babysitting our cousins and have had a fun few days with Austin, Meredith and Grant! I decided to share some photos of these cute kiddos. Austin was my big helper Tuesday. He really had fun with the vaccuum. Meredith and Grant made the library/ park just that much more fun! We are so blessed to be close to family!

haircut

Emery does not like having to comb her hair in the morning. My usual threat is that if you don't comb your hair, mom will cut it off. Well, she took me up on my threat. She said she wanted it cut, so after asking about a million times " are you sure?" I cut it. It's cute and she is much happier! Funny Girl!

M & J's family easter

Our yard has become so beautiful, thanks to the storms lately. The lighting was amazing in this photo. It was about an hour before a storm. The green makes me think of a fairy land. It's wonderful to have such a beautiful view!

This will be a long one! We had a great easter! We easter egg hunted and are all candied out. On Sunday our Branch President gave a great sharing time and spent some good time with the kids in Primary. We felt so strongly the Holy Ghost testifying of the divinity of our Saviour and his Sacrifice and the joy of knowing that we have a fullness of the gospel. I felt such grattitude for the Savior and the gift he gave to us. It was really neat. We talked about those people who witnessed the resurrection of the Savior and how we too can be a witness for the Savior. It was great!





On Saturday, we went easter egg hunting at the park and spent some good time with our friends the Dawsons. It was chilly out, so we scooted for home with the promise of a playdate on Wednesday. We dyed eggs at home





and then spent a relaxing evening doing nothing. (We rented Igor and watched it, not a great film.) Sunday, we went to church and had a great morning, got home and went over to wish our neighbors a happy easter and show off Colin.



They invited us back over to have an easter egg hunt and play for a while. We ended up spending the whole day with them.

We ended a wonderful Easter with a yummy family dinner by JoAnna ( homemade bread and all! mmmmmm!) and an easter egg hunt there. I love watching the cousins interact and wish we were closer to Aiden and Laila to build those relationships. They love each other so much and love to play together. It's wonderful to see the friendships and comraderie that is growing within the family. I love it! The kids were so wiped/sugared out by the time we got home. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed spending the day all about.

This is a random photo moment. Emery came down to read with Liam's glasses on. Too cute. These kids sure do love their big brother!

Birmingham Zoo Trip

Happy Monday everyone. I have a ton of pictures from our weekend get away so here are a few. On the way down to Birmingham from Nashville we stopped at a rest stop that has a rocket. Like an actual rocket that went up into outerspace. I think that is pretty cool. Nic would be disappointed that that is all I know (he read every sign), but someone has to keep an eye on two little boys who are just so excited to be out of the car. We got others in front of the rocket, but here is one of most of it. Pretty cool.


This is my favorite picture from the trip. I love how you can see the boys and their reflection looking into the lion's cage. Plus you can see the lion. This zoo was awesome because they had lots of different animals with indoor and out door cages, so no matter where the animal was, you could find it. They had a hippo (which was my favorite), 2 rhinos, zebras, giraffes, a silver backed gorilla, orangatangs, flamingos, tons of birds and reptiles, kangaroos, and tons more animals that are not coming to mind right now. Plus they have a choo choo train that takes you around half the zoo and the back part of the property. The boys LOVED the train. It was the highlight.







We drove down Friday night, stayed in a cheap hotel, brought along sandwich makings for lunch at the zoo, got into the zoo for free, spent all day and drove home in the afternoon. This cost less than 100 dollars my friends. Totally worth it! We had a great time together as a family. I was going to talk about how ghetto the hotel was, but the kids didn't seem to mind at all (they LOVE hotels) so I won't dwell on it. But lets just say that the next time we decide to do this, and there will be a next time because good family time is worth it, I will be bringing with me some sort of sleep aid so I can fall asleep quickly and not lay there listening to something that I can only imagine is illegal going on in the next room or think about what/and or who has slept in the bed I am laying in previous to me. :)

Have a great week. Stay tuned for a "Jackson really loves the goats in the petting zoo-montage" coming soon.

Our Zoo Preview

I will write tomorrow about our trip to the Birmingham Zoo this weekend. We spontaneously drove down on Friday night, spent the night in a hotel (which I will tell you more about tomorrow), woke up and spent the morning and afternoon at the Birmingham zoo. It was SO much fun. Here are pictures of the boys eating ice cream on the way home Saturday. They loved that ice cream. Loves!

mom moment

THe other day ago, Isa was telling me that I had made her feel unloved by the tone of voice I was using. It was a great wake-up call. When was the last time I spent some good happy mom time with her. I apologized and determined to do something special with her. Together, we put together a matching outfit for her Sunflower bear and Isa. I think they turned out really cute! Isa helped me sew on the buttons and helped pick out the fabric. It's good to get those little reminders to be better. Though they prick our pride, they help us grow! I enjoyed the project and think I will try a few more, like maybe an easter dress for both girls. We'll see!

April Fools Cupcakes

We decided to do an April Fool's Dinner. We made meatloaf cupcakes and frosted them with colored mashed potatoes. It's was a huge hit and the cupcakes were the perfect serving size for my kids.

I'm not a huge meatloaf fan, but this recipe seriously rocks!

2 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 c chopped onion
1/2 c celery
2 tsp garlic
1/2 c minced italian parsley
saute till soft not brown and place in seperate bowl
add to bowl, 1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 3/4 tsp chili powder
1 1/4 tsp cumin
3/4 c salsa
2 eggs
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
3/4 c bread crumbs
mix with your hands untill all ingredients are well mixed.

Put 1/2 of mixture into loaf pan or in this case muffin pan, place cheese slices on top and cover with more meat. cover top with another layer of cheese.
Bake 75-80 minutes if using loaf pan and 20-25 minutes if using muffin pan. Top with mashed potatoes if going for the cupcake look or serve mashed potatoes on the side. The salsa will give the meat a reddish look, so double check your centers to make sure that the loaf pan is done all the way through. Serve with a salad or green veggie and enjoy!

This meal freezes well minus the potatoes. cool, label and freeze. thaw it out overnight in the fidge and bake in a covered pan at 400 for 20-30 minutes or until done in the center.