Easter 2016

We spent Easter this year with Jason's family. Caitlin seemed to sort of understand the Easter Bunny and was excited to hunt eggs and get stuff in her basket. Once she realized the eggs were filled with candy, she was even more excited.

We spent some time dying Easter Eggs. Cooper still has a hard time not being too rough with the eggs, but enjoyed taking the first turn while Caitlin was napping.

I always hate the first few days after a haircut. It looks so short & makes him too grown up.

Jason and I managed to sneak away for a quick shopping trip and kid-free dinner. Caitlin finally made it to her eggs while we were away. Apparently, she lost interest after just a few eggs.

Saturday morning, we went to the park for a community Egg Hunt. The Easter Bunny made an appearance, but shockingly neither kid wanted to say hello.

After the egg hunt, the kids checked out their candy before spending a little time on the playground.

Easter morning arrived with a visit from the Easter Bunny.

The kids dressed for church and spent some time finding the hidden eggs.

As usual, Cooper hit it running!

What a great Easter weekend!

Final Christmas Celebrations 2015

The day after Christmas included a lot of family time. We started by having brunch with my family.

Cooper was quite excited to open his new Imaginext Power Rangers tower. He loves these toys and is a big fan of Power Rangers, though we never really let him watch the show.

Aunt Sassy bought Caitlin the box of Disney Princess Barbies. She immediately asked to open them.

The kids also both got new bikes to keep at Nana's house. They were both thrilled with them!

If only Caitlin could figure out how to ride her bike.

That evening, Jason's family came in and we celebrated again.

Caitlin got the cutest waffle maker for her kitchen! I'm pretty sure Cooper & I were more excited about it than she was.

Cooper got a set of Lincoln Logs and a table top baseball game that caused a lot of fights between him & his sister.

Christmas Day 2015

While the kids were very excited about Christmas, they did let us sleep past 7am. Cooper came running into our room to tell us that Santa had visited and let us know that he'd brought the Lego set he wanted & an Elsa toy for his sister.

Then, he went to her room to tell her what she'd gotten. I love how he is still as excited for her as he is for himself.

We managed to settle down with coffee while they checked out their gifts & stockings.

After breakfast, we stared to load the car for the rest of the day and realized that our freezer outside wasn't working. After trying a few thing, we decided to quickly unload the freezer and try to move everything into ice chests and the house. ((side note: if Mother Nature hadn't screwed up and given us an 80 degree Christmas, it wouldn't have been an issue)) We finally went on our way, stopping at the nursing home to visit my grandmother before making it to see the family.

Cooper & Caitlin now have 6 second cousins. They are all pretty close in age, ranging from seven to one and love spending time together. The kids loved getting gifts, but I'm sure that playing together ran a close second to the presents.

This was by far Caitlin's favorite gift. As soon as she opened it, she squealed and asked if she could ride it.

Aly spent the rest of the day singing. Except when Caitlin was singing.

I think Brodie thought someone was going to steal his sofa. He carried it around the rest of the day.

And Cooper carried his hockey table around.

Because I had so many Christmas outfits, I was determined that Caitlin would wear them all. So I had her changed after gifts. Her dress ended up in her bloomers and I could not stop laughing. We kept trying to fix it, but she was "Fine."

I'm not sure how it happened, but I have no photos of all of the kids together. I think maybe we realized they wouldn't cooperate? Either way, we finally headed home with two very tired kids. Cooper fell asleep halfway home and Caitlin watched her moobie. Of course, at home, they both wanted to do nothing other than open gifts and play!

Christmas Eve 2015

Christmas Eve is always my favorite day. I love seeing the reaction to Santa's visit, but overall I much prefer Christmas Eve.

This year, the weather put a bit of a damper on the Christmas Eve mood. It was hot & humid - hot enough that the kids were able to enjoy ice cream!

Last year, we realized that the earlier church service worked well with the kids. Since we had invited friends to join us for church & dinner, we decided to exchange gifts before church.

I bought this dress for Caitlin through a fundraiser and fully expected her to not wear it. Thankfully, she agreed at the last minute and ended up loving how it twirled around.

Cooper had been asked the week leading in to Christmas if he could start opening gifts. He was thrilled to finally be told yes!

Caitlin really seemed to understand the gift thing this year, however she had a hard time stopping with just her stuff and kept wanting to help everyone else.

Once we finally cleaned everything up, we headed to church. Our church decided to pass out glow sticks for the kids instead of candles this year, which was a huge hit. We had one mishap with a leaking glow stick (Cooper), but other than that the kids did really well.

After church, we came home for pizza and a lot of play time! Caitlin asked for her pjs and then started sweeping the floor, which meant it was time for bed.

We ended the night by feeding the reindeer and leaving out cookies for Santa.