Easter 2016

The Easter festivities started on Thursday with Cambry's school egg hunt and party. I had signed up to help with the party along with another mom. We had the kids make edible Easter gardens - pudding, dirt (crushed Oreos), grass (green coconut flakes), robins eggs, and gummy worms. We did gardens because that's where things come to life, and we are celebrating Jesus coming to life! Then the kids made cute bunny hats. I love seeing Cambry at school interacting with her classmates. It is sweet how they are like a little family almost.

Friday evening we dyed eggs. At what age does this become non-stressful? Just kidding, it was in the backyard so it was fine. But still, there was Lainey + lots of colored paint + cups filled with water + eggs. They turned out very pretty and everyone had fun. Well, except for Colton who was napping during this event.

Saturday I went to a baby sprinkle brunch while Greg took the kids to the park. In the afternoon we made resurrection rolls.

Sunday morning the girls got their Easter baskets and then we got ready and headed to church. BTW, Sorry Colton. According to Instagram you are the only baby that didn't get a basket. Maybe next year, buddy.. Pastor Gregg gave a great message at church and I loved seeing all the kids in their Easter best. 

Greg's head got a little cut off in this picture but it was the best we could do with the self timer on the camera and people getting cranky and bit by mosquitoes.

My parents came over in the afternoon and we hung out, cooked the meal, and had an egg hunt. 

Cutest boy ever.

Lainey was too busy eating all her candy to smile for a picture.

I am thankful for a wonderful weekend with amazing weather, surrounded by sweet family to celebrate our risen Savior!

Colton 5 Months

Size: You weigh 16 lbs.9oz (58%). You wear 3-6 or 6 month clothes and size 2 diaper.

Eat: You eat about every 3 hours during the day and usually twice at night...sometimes 3 times (eek!). I am trying to make you go longer stretches but sometimes it is just easier to feed you than to try over and over to rock you back to sleep or let you cry. You also have reflux. You usually spit up 3-4 times over about a 30 minute period after eating. I hope it gets better soon because I know it bothers you.

Sleep: It hasn't been a great month of sleep but not the worst either. I feel like things are starting to improve a little. And even though I am pretty tired most days, I really can't complain. I know it is just a stage and I don't want this stage to pass quickly. I just love babies. In the middle of the night I am like AAHHH NOT AGAIN I AM SO EXHAUSTED, but during the day I'm like I'm not even sure what happened last night but coffee is my BFF and he's so cute so who cares. 

Likes/Dislikes: You like being held. Like, ALL THE TIME. It started when you were sick a couple weeks ago. Yep, you had your first sickness this month which I'm pretty sure was roseola. So understandably you were fussy and wanted to be held. But then it continued past the sickness. It has gotten better but sometimes you still don't like to be put down. But you are scrumptious so I forgive you. You still like baths, chewing on toys, grabbing everything (hair, ouch), and sucking on your hands and toes.

Skills: You grab everything and put it in your mouth. You don't roll over much, but you can. You make funny sounds like you are trying to talk to us. 

You just recently fell into somewhat of a schedule. You usually wake up around 7am and take 3 naps a day. The first one is around 9am, then maybe 12:30pm or 1pm, then around 4:30pm. The first two naps are anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The last one is usually only 30 minutes right before dinner time. Bedtime is 7:30pm. We didn't do too much this past week during spring break so I think being home a lot helped with the schedule. So we'll see how things go with normal activities this week. School drop off/pick up always makes it harder. 

Well little buddy, you are such a joy. I can't get enough of your huge smile, and your little rolls. Your hair is filling in and getting longer. I give you a million kisses a day. Your sisters love you but especially Lainey. She can't get enough of you. She is instantly drawn to you and hugs you over and over again. I'm not quite sure you appreciate so much close love, especially when her hugs look more like head locks. But she thinks you are the cutest thing ever. And so do we!

Cooking, Shopping, and Partying

Egg Hunting

This past week our small group got together for a family night instead of our usual mid week Bible study. We did an egg hunt for the kids like we have done the past couple of years and Kristen did the resurrection eggs with the kids. Our group has 17 kids now. SEVENTEEN. Ages 0-5 years. And there is one more coming in a couple months. I really can't believe that only a few short years ago none of us had any kids. And now we are almost up to 20. Whoa. If you are wondering what it's like when we all get together...it's chaos. Kids everywhere. But lots of fun.

Shopping

This weekend we hit up the Cypress outlet malls. The kids were pretty good overall. And as usual we had Charlie's Subs for lunch. They always get us with those delicious free samples. We try to walk away but it's impossible. They are probably so unhealthy but luckily we don't go to the outlets too often. I was looking for a dress to wear for Easter but didn't have any luck. I recently ordered a cute dress from ModCloth but had to send it back because it didn't fit and they were sold out of the size I need. Greg found a couple things at the outlets and I bought a couple gifts for people and a couple dresses for Cambry.

Cooking

I have been a little obsessed with recipes from SkinnyTaste lately. I have tried Mexican Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas, Beef Tomato and Pasta Soup, Balsamic Chicken and Roasted Vegetables, Chicken Taco Chili Stuffed Peppers, Breaded Pork Cutlets with Lime, and Petite Turkey Meatloaves. They have all been delicious and I will make them all again in the future. And this week's menu includes Crock Pot Asian Pork with Mushrooms, Grilled Lemon Dijon Chicken Skewers, and Black Bean Avocado Cucumber and Tomato Salad. A lot of these recipes are easy to prep ahead of time and then just stick in the oven. And a couple of them are slow cooker recipes which I sometimes prep at night after the kids are in bed and then I can just turn on my crock pot in the morning. Prior to this new SkinnyTaste kick, I was feeling like I was low on good recipes. It seems like I have tried out a lot of Pinterest Recipes that were not keepers. They weren't necessarily bad, but just kinda meh. Or they were too time consuming. So thank you Gina for all the good meals!

Celebrating

Last weekend we celebrated my Dad's birthday. My parents came over and Greg smoked some delicious ribs. They weather was great so we spent time outside while the kids played. We concluded the festivities with an apple pie from Flying Saucer and of course BlueBell on top. Happy Birthday Pa!

Around the House Vol. 6

Top Left: No idea. A booby trap of sorts?
Top Right: This baby doll was force fed a peanut butter jelly sandwich.
Bottom Left: What Lainey wants to do all the time.
Bottom Right: Colton's reaction to not being held. It's his new thing.

Weekend Fun

Last weekend after our traditional Saturday morning pancakes we packed up and headed to the Rodeo. We got there before 10am and it really was not crowded at all. Getting there early is the time to go! We saw mutton bustin', pig races, Cambry rode a couple carousels, Lainey hugged every animal in the petting zoo, we went through the farmland simulation, and briefly saw some animals in the livestock show area. By that time Cambry had fallen asleep in the stroller so we decided to wrap things up and head home. We didn't partake in any rodeo food but I did see cookie dough wrapped in bacon and deep fried butter. WHAT? I guess it must be good. I mean, anything that unhealthy must be delicious, right? Otherwise why?

That evening we had plans to celebrate our anniversary. 8 years of marriage! We had a babysitter come over at 8pm after we put the kids to bed. We didn't want a babysitter to have to do bedtime alone with 3 kids and Colton so young. I don't even like to do bed time alone. Well after the babysitter showed up but before we left Lainey threw up all over her crib. So we decided we didn't want to leave her and had to send the babysitter home. We ended up eating leftovers on the patio by candlelight. Luckily the weather was great and we had just bought new patio furniture.

(Greg had already changed clothes after cleaning throw up. True love)

Sunday we drove to Greg's uncle's ranch and met his parents there. We hung out for the day enjoying the nice weather. We did a little fishing, the guys did some shooting, and Colton took turns napping on people. We drove home around bedtime and everyone fell asleep and transferred to their beds YAY.

Little Texan

Cambry's school put on a cute program for the parents to come and watch the kids sing Texan/cowboy/western songs and have a chuck wagon lunch. It was adorable to see all the kids dressed up in their western clothes and sing and do the motions to the songs.

We didn't really have any western wear but Cambry was very anti-dressing-like-a-cowgirl anyway. It took a lot of convincing to wear the horse dress. But look how cute she is. This girl. She melts my heart. 

These are the girls in her class. They have 4 boys and 6 girls. The teacher gave bandanas to all the kids to wear but look who declined wearing one. Haha, not surprised.

I am continually thankful for how close her school is to our house. I can walk up there to drop her off, walk back a couple hours later to see the performance, and walk back again shortly afterward for pickup. It has been especially nice with the beautiful weather.

And here is my other cute little Texan girl.