Easter photo shoot

Today my little girl is 9 months old.  I always do her update on the 12th of every month, but I am going to have to admit I am behind this month!  I've kept up every month until now, so I'd say that's an accomplishment!  I am taking her 9 month pictures this weekend and I'll do her update then.  I have so much to share!  But for now.. on to more Easter fun!

We stopped to have Easter dinner with Ga Ga and Papa on the way home from Craig's parents house.  Andrew found some surprises right away!

And he got to do another Easter egg hunt!  He just can't get enough of egg hunting!

I did a mini photo shoot of them, even though Kerigan was really not in the mood.  But I persisted!  Normally she's so smiley, but she got mad when I put her in the grass!

I just love my kids Easter baskets.  My mom got Andrew his for his first Easter, and we just got this one for Kerigan.  I still need to get a new liner for Andrew's because his name can't be embroidered on the one that came with it.  I just haven't seen one I love yet!  I love having special baskets for them to use every year and sitting them out the night before Easter for the bunny to fill.

She was fascinated with the grass!  I put her in Andrew's lap to see if that would help but she still just kept looking at it!  Ha!

My little man- when did he grow up??

Sitting on Ga Ga's front step was much better!

And a pretty egg to play with!

I just fell in love with this hat when I saw it.  I think she looks like a little southern belle!

More photos... this one cracks me up because it looks like she is straightening her dress!

And this is how most of the photo shoot went!  This is their true colors!  Ha!

And this is really what she did most of the time, even though you can't really tell in the pictures!  I just had to show what it was really like!  Ha!  She was not happy about the grass and just did not want to sit still!  She is a little drama queen!

Attempt at a family photo- this was the only one out of about 100 where we were all looking, even though Craig looks thoroughly annoyed (which he was by this point!) and Kerigan is still not happy and Andrew was being goofy.  Ha!  Craig is the one who has to come out and try to make Kerigan smile most of the time, so I always need him for my photo shoots!  He says I just need to enjoy the moments and not take so many pictures... but seriously?  My kids are only coordinated like this on rare occasions.  I can't not do a photo shoot!  You'd think he'd be used to it by now!  I told him that's one thing about me that's not about to change!  Ha!  I am obsessed with taking pictures of my kids.  And I don't think I'll ever regret it!

Oh my sweet boy...he was so handsome!

We finally went inside for a delicious meal my mom made... all my favorites- Ham, baked beans, mashed potatoes, rolls... mmmm.  I could eat that meal every day forever.  I love it!

She was digging right in to her Easter basket from Ga Ga

Do you see this DVD Andrew is staring at?  It is the sweetest little movie.  It's called the Water Horse, and it is based on the Loch Ness myth.  It is so cute because Andrew saw this movie when he spent the night at Ga Ga's one night, and he kept trying to tell me what it was and has talked about it ever since.  My mom couldn't remember what it was, and we just forgot about it (it had been several months ago).  The other day he saw it at Toys R Us and went running up to it and told me that was the movie he saw with Ga Ga!  He was beyond excited.  I had never even heard about it, but he is obsessed with it.  Ga Ga had to get it for him for his Easter basket.  It is a really cute movie.

Then I remembered I had this book at school.  It has always been one of my favorites- I used to use it to compare fiction and nonfiction books with the life cycle of a frog.  But I knew I had to bring it home from school and show it to Andrew.  I asked him if the cover reminded him of something, and right away he made the connection to the Water Horse!  Both are about this monster from Loch Ness who grows at a very fast rate.  Now he is also obsessed with this book too!  (And I'm enjoying teaching him about making connections and comparing and contrasting literature!  Ha!)  It's a teacher thing!

My mom got this sweet little bunny cake for the kids and displayed it on the table.  It was so yummy!

I love this picture.  Absolutely love it.

I read this quote from Beth Moore's James study on another blog today and had to share it.  It describes Easter perfectly.

"The power of the resurrection means that nothing but the tomb is meant to be empty."

I hope all of your Easter and every day is filled with family, friends and most of all, God's love!

Easter fun!

Have I mentioned I love Andrew's day care?  Well, I do.  And here's one of the many reasons why...

When we walked in on Friday morning, this is what we saw.  The kids had set out "bunny food" the day before.  They were all just going crazy when they saw this.  It was one of the most enjoyable drop offs I've ever had!

Andrew and his little friends were so excited, running up and down the halls, following the bunny prints and chocolate chips poop.  What a fun morning!  The kids had an Easter party and colored eggs and had an Easter egg hunt.

That afternoon when I picked Andrew up, we made a birthday cake for grandpa.

Andrew was so excited to set out his basket and leave a picture he colored for the Easter bunny before bed.  He wanted to leave some carrots out, too (since he learned at day care that the bunny comes for carrots!  Ha!)  Silly mama, I neglected to buy carrots on my last shopping trip with a list already a mile long.  So he settled for jelly beans instead.  I guess he thought the bunny wouldn't mind eating his own poop?  (Reference: see the movie "Hop")

EB left Andrew a very nice note in the morning, explaining the true meaning of Easter.  He also told him to have fun finding his basket and to help Kerigan with hers since she's still so little.  After quite the hunt, we found his basket in the dryer!  That silly EB!  Andrew laughed and was so excited!

Yay!  Hop!

Kerigan got Andrew's old ball popper that I dusted off from the basement a brand new ball popper!

EB put puffs in her Easter eggs.  He must have known she was too little for jelly beans!

We got dressed and went out to hunt for the eggs EB hid in the backyard.

He hid a few other surprises too!  The new Alvin movie Andrew had been wanting!  How does EB know this stuff?

After all the Easter bunny fun, we packed up and headed north to Craig's parents house to celebrate Easter.

Kerigan with her Great Grandma (she has 3!  Isn't that amazing?)  I just love both of Craig's grandmas.  They are so sweet and they come to so many family gatherings, even though it isn't easy for them to get around all the time.  They are such good sports!

Grandma set up the best Easter egg coloring spot!  And tons of eggs!  All the kids went crazy!

Andrew was so funny with his full container of eggs.  He'd just dump one in, leave it in for about 2 seconds and then fish it out with his fingers.  I told him he had "Hulk" fingers!  I wondered if the dye would ever come out of them!

We had lots of fun playing outside.  The kids favorite thing to do is play on grandpa's rock pile!  I swear, they are entertained with this for hours!  They slide down it like a slide!  Perhaps this explains the reason for Andrew's first hole in his jeans?  The kids come in nice and filthy and full of dust.  Daddy said that's what kids do for entertainment on the farm!  Andrew definitely has a blast!

Of course, getting to play with these two boosts up the fun factor quite a bit!  Andrew just adores all of his cousins.

I love this.  She seriously is on cloud nine every time she is with her daddy.  She was squealing and laughing here!

She kinda likes me too!  Ha!

And just because she's cute from behind... someday you'll appreciate that, Kerigan!  Ha!

The boys had fun playing hide and seek behind grandpa's tractors!

Kerigan and Grandpa

The kids all took turns riding grandpa's gator.

This was too funny not to blog about.  This is Craig and 2 of his brothers.  Do you think they had a little too much fun playing outside?  Ha!

It was grandpa's birthday on Saturday so we all enjoyed the cake Andrew had helped me make.  The kids enjoyed singing happy birthday and helping grandpa blow out the candles!  (I had to laugh- Craig in the background hiding behind Kerigan because I wanted all the grandkids in the picture!  Ha!)  This is 5 of the 8 grandchildren.

On Sunday morning, the Easter bunny had come to grandma's too! (He gets around!) 

He hid Easter eggs in the garage and the kids had so much fun counting their money and eating their jelly beans.  Then they learned there was round 2 in the basement!  More eggs!  They were so thrilled and had so much fun finding eggs together.  Just a sweet story about my boy- his cousin Jayden was upset because he wasn't finding many eggs.  Andrew ran over to him and said "Here Jayden, I'll share!" and gave him 2 of his eggs.  Proud mom moment!

Andrew checking out his stash with daddy!

We had a great time with Craig's family.  After a yummy brunch (Craig's mom always fixes amazing food!) we all went to church together.  Then we headed back home and stopped at my mom's for Easter dinner.  Part 2 coming soon!