Happy Easter

For Easter we enjoyed Church in the morning and friends and family in the afternoon.

Not only did we celebrate Easter we had a birthday cake for Jacob's birthday. Errin did a great job making him a Blazer cake.

The girls and I before Church


The Big Easter Egg Hunt with all of the neighbor friends. We block off the cul-de-sac with 2 big trucks and let the kids have full reign of all the yards! It is so much fun. All the Dads hide the eggs and then the kids find about 2 buckets each full of eggs. Our neighbor Randy always goes to the pond in our neighborhood the night before and finds a real frog to put in an egg. It is always the goal to find the egg with the real frog in it! :)

After the Neighbor Egg Hunt all of our families came over for Easter Dinner and another egg hunt for the 3 younger ones.

Maddie, Konnor, and Peyton
Konnor's first Egg Hunt


Finding Eggs....high and low.
Maddie
We always have fun...her is one of the many crazy pictures. We were laughing so hard!

Every family gathering Cait wants a sister pic. So here it is.

I feel like I did not get too many pictures of everyone else... or at least ones that were good enough to post. The ones Ryan took will not download to Blogger. But, it was good to have everyone together and we had a good time, like always.

Weekend Before Easter Fun

We took the girls on a surprise little outing the weekend before Easter. We went to see the movie HOP and then to see the Easter Bunny. The movie was just OK...not as good as I thought it would be and did not keep Peyton's attention very well. She was up and down and moving around the entire movie. O-well, guess you don't know unless you try. Maddie thought it was great. She is a great age to take to movies!

I do feel we made huge gains in the Easter Bunny department. Last year we could not get Peyton to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap. She cried and wanted nothing to do with the big rabbit. This year, it took a little convincing, and she did sit there (nervously) with Maddie. The girls LOVED their chick masks that the Easter Bunny gave to them. It reminded them of one of the characters from the movie HOP, so they were "evil chicks".

It was pretty cute!

Quick Trip To The Coast

We went to the coast for a quick weekend trip. It is always fun to get away, and Bry had his "Kelly Day" (which is a forced vacation day) that fell on a Friday. This made it the perfect opportunity to go and check out our favorite home away from home. We knew the weather was not going to be too great. It is still Spring and the beach is not always the warmest or driest place, even in the Summer. We were pleasantly surprised that it was wind free and no rain on Saturday! PERFECT! We went down to the rock to explore the tide pools, walked into town and enjoyed lunch, browsed the shops, and played at the local playground. Sunday was POURING and the wind was really strong. We were able to do some cleaning and fixing of a couple of things before heading home. It was a great little get away!

Name Writing....In All The Wrong Places

Peyton has been practicing her name writing skills. She always wants to practice by tracing the letters of her name and now has the letter "P" down pat on her own. Well... one morning I found a pen on her floor with the lid off. I also found that she had been practicing her name writing on her bookshelf. YIKES! I asked her why she drew on her bookshelf. Her answer...."because I couldn't find any paper." Well, what can I say to that? Besides, next time ask Mommy for paper.

I was reminded by my Mom, that if anything were to happen to her that bookshelf with the writing would be the most prized piece of furniture I have. Which is so true. It could be worse.

Look at the proud look on her little face.

Happy Birthday.... To Me

My birthday was a wonderful one! Thank you to all of my family and friends for the birthday cards, phone calls, and birthday wishes! You all made me feel special!

When I got home from work I had some beautiful flowers that had been delivered. They were from my sis Cait....I love the bright happy colors. Thanks Caitie! Tulips were also waiting for me from my parents.

I love tulips! They are my favorite flower! Bruce and Jan took us out for a yummy dinner at a restaurant called

The Truffle Hunter in Gresham. Here is Maddie with Grandpa. It was a great birthday. Bry and I were able to go out on our own on Friday Night. We had dinner at the Claim Jumper and then saw the movie Lincoln Lawyer. It was nice to have a grown up night out. :) Everyone made me feel so special. Thank you!

March...Where Did It Go?

Wow...I can't believe that March has come and gone! Where did time go? My last post was over a month ago.... so sorry for all of you that keep checking back. I am posting A LOT today so, keep reading, you may even have to go into the "older posts" to read them all.

March came in like a lion an went out like a lion....no lamb in sight. It has been a very busy month with activities every day.

Besides all of the posts here is some of what has been happening this busy month of March:

* We have Life Group every Wednesday (like Bible Study)

*Madison had a daily Spring Break Camp at Church. Bry and I volunteered at this fun event.

*I had report cards to do... they always take forever!

*I had conferences too....work until 8PM...also long days.

*Peyton had another play date with her little friend Grace.

*The girls both had Dentist appointments.

*We stayed at the Paramount, a hotel downtown, the night of Tracy and Dale's Wedding.

I stayed 2 nights (last girl time day before Wedding).

*Bry took the girls to a fun indoor play area with tunnels and slides and a 3 level climbing structure called Play Date PDX. I was doing wedding stuff, it sounds like they had a lot of fun.

*We celebrated our friend Dales Birthday with a big party at Rock Bottom Brewery.

Looking back I am surprised there were enough days to do all we did....

it was mostly all fun stuff !

Enjoy all my catch up posts and March in review!

100 Days Of School

Maddie celebrated the 100th day of school with this fun hat and fruit loop necklace!

She was proud to show them off!

Ashley

Our cat, Ashley, who I had for 18 years, had to be put down on March 24th. She was a wonderful, loving, and patient cat who lived a long healthy life. She was especially loved by her little girl Peyton and will be greatly missed by our family. It was a very hard day.

We love you Ashley and you will always be in our hearts.

Tracy's Getting Married!

My good friend Tracy is getting married at the end of March (to Dale who is also a great friend). I have been busy helping her get invites addressed, shopping for the perfect dress, and getting all the little details put together. I am in the wedding and had the opportunity to throw her a shower and bachelorette party to celebrate! We had so much fun.... a great time with the girls!Shower with all the guest, minus Caitie, who was taking the pic. We had appetizers then went to dinner at Hayden's.

Tracy's Favorite flower, Gerber daisy, helped to add color to the table.We made her a fun shirt to wear. She had to put it on when we got to Bushwackers for a little dancin'!

Can't let her go without a boa and tiara!

Crazy girls.... just want to have fun! And we did! :)

Wedding Bells!

Our good friends Dale and Tracy were married on March 25, 2011! It was such a wonderful wedding with friends and family. I am so happy for both of them and wish them only the best!

Tracy, Caitie, and I.

Our Family

Eric, Heather, and Emma came in from Texas.The MacKender Clan

Beautiful Flowers....To Eat!!

Madison and Peyton stayed the night with Grandma and Grandpa MacKender on Friday. They made some BEAUTIFUL flower cupcakes and did a wonderful job.... almost too pretty to eat!

Puppy Sitting!

We are puppy sitting Fin this week while our neighbors are on vacation. He is very busy, funny, cute, and ALL puppy Labradoodle! He likes to run crazy around the yard and house and has so much energy. The girls have really enjoyed helping to take care of him. Madison feeds him every morning and evening. We have been taking walks, when it is not poring rain. We are thinking about getting a puppy ourselves this summer. Time will tell....Fin has been a good reminder on what it takes to care for a puppy. Some moments I think yes, a puppy would be fun. Other moments I think, so much work. Here are some pictures of out little visitor. He is pretty cute!