happy easter 2015!

The kids had so much family fun this Easter.  It was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone without having a long car ride here and back!

Aunt Zoe helped with the dying of the eggs.  

we just let Charlotte do her thing.

Here are my little bunnies all ready for the festivities.  I think they were mad at me here for taking away their jellybeans and making them pose for a picture.

This girl is so pretty.

After brunch, the egg hunt ensued.  I hid more eggs than I thought was even reasonable.  No challenge.  They had it cleaned up in a matter of minutes.

Teamwork!

 So proud of himself.

 Action shot!

Counting their bounties!

Look at these next two pictures and tell me these kids aren't related.

Me and my little man.

G decided I hadn't challenged them enough, so he went ahead and re-hid the eggs for Round II.

He had Colin literally climbing the trees for eggs.

Everyone got a little help from G. 

Shoulder rides are Aunt Zoe's forte, post back-ectomy.

And here's my little love bunny hop hop hopping for Easter

fun at the children's museum

We took these little nutters to the E'ville children's museum this weekend and let them run wild and mess up someone else's place for awhile.  

Charlotte manned the DQ station.

Immediately after this she stole all the ice cream scoops and filled her shopping cart with them.  Good thing they were the only kids there.

Doing a quick post-ice cream dental check on her dino.

Jaws.

Some weeks he swears he's going to be a fireman.  (this week it's weatherman, but he still enjoyed dressing up)

Oh, she won't eat real sandwiches... but fake sandwiches are apparently delightful.

We could not get our little gymnast off this balance beam!

It was no Indy museum, but they had so much fun!  Hard to believe we were hanging out just down the alley from where mom lived at their age ;)

he loves this roller coaster

Here's colin performing one of his recent favorite songs from school.

The other day he was sitting at the kitchen table teaching charlotte how to do it and she was doing it along with him -- not so much in this video.  Happy Thursday!

colin's first soccer game!

Colin had his long-awaited first soccer game this weekend.  He was beyond excited, even though we had to break it to him he was on the blue team and not orange.  He got over it... particularly when he realized his name was on his jersey.  This is the big time.  

Before the game they had a short "practice."  By the end of it, he was on the field chanting "Real soccer! Real soccer!"  Kid was ready to play.

The game itself was like a herd of cats wandering around.  But they tried!  Colin seems to have a natural defensive skill.. always getting in position to guard the goal.  What he does from there is another story.  But he has good instincts! 

Colin had a whole cheering section - mom and dad, Grandma Pat and Grandpa Ron, Grandma Kitty, and this one (who I can't believe didn't attempt to take the field).

Colin's team features a Colin, a Kellan, a Cohen, an Ella and a Bella.  

My little rookie star :)

st. patrick's day parade

This weekend we headed over to St. Louis for the big St. Patrick's Day Parade downtown.  The kids were ready to sport their shamrock wear! 

Colin was Aunt Zoe's buddy all day....

And the Irish Barnacle was mine.

The kids loved the parade!  Charlotte was dancing to all the bands and drum lines, and Colin caught lots and lots of beads!

Aunt Zoe hooked us up with a party tent, food and friends.

Colin quickly made himself the center of attention.

But this girl was just born to party on St. Paddy's day.  I think every tiny bit of Irish genes in us has distilled into this baby.  She was dancing, laughing, waving at the floats - just the life of the party.  And EVERYONE loved her hair!  We couldn't walk through the crowd without people commenting on it and how she just fit right in!  

All that partying added up though! 

shout!

I was gone all weekend traveling to Grandpa's funeral and back, and Mike was so good with the kids while I was gone (more pics to come).  He sent this video last night which made me laugh out loud and provided some much-needed entertainment from about Springfield to Litchfield :)   Enjoy!