Easter Photo Shoot

After church we tried to get a picture of all the kids together. Since the weather was beautiful that day we decided to do it in the yard. We ended up with cute pictures of all the kids, just not of all of them at the same time! Here are our many attempts at a decent photo of all three kids!

I so wish Lauren had her eyes open in this picture. I still think it is my favorite from the day.

I think Jack started looking for bugs.

A handsome little Jack!

Again, she had her eyes closed!

A happy Lydia!

So there you have it. We took a whole lot of pictures but unfortunately, getting three kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time is not a talent of ours.

Easter in PA - Finally!

My computer got a nasty virus on it awhile ago and was out of commission for a bit so I have gotten very behind on my posts. So here is my attempt to make-up for the lost months!

Easter:

Our Easter was very low key. We colored eggs the day before Easter and the girls had fun. I have learned to just buy each girl their own set of dye's so they can each be doing their thing without all the waiting for colors.

Lydia coloring her eggs.

Lauren coloring her eggs.


Sunday morning they woke up and were excited to find all the eggs the Easter Bunny had left behind.

Lauren running from egg to egg.


Lauren checking out all the loot from her Easter Basket.

Lydia playing with the loot from her basket.

Enjoying a chocolate bunny for breakfast.

Jack finally woke up and joined in the festivities with us. He liked his basket of goodies too.

He definitely likes sucking his thumb with his fuzzy new bunny and he liked his new toy trucks too.

After church we had a traditional Easter Lunch of Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, rolls, and jello. We invited the Missionary's over to eat with us and it was fun to have them there to share Easter Dinner with us.

The Jackman

We haven't been up to anything special the last few weeks - just hanging out and waiting for the warmer weather to arrive. But here are a few photo's of the newest kid in our house to become mobile. And yes - he is loving his new found freedom. But I have to make sure I don't trip over him as he is now my little shadow!

Look at me Mom - I am very talented. I can show off my cleavage as well as drag this chair along with me while I crawl!

Whatcha lookin at Mom?

A new place to sit and think. Well, until Lydia finds me and thinks that it is a cool place to sit and think and then she will push me right out!

Helping unload the dishwasher. And of course - making sure there is no food left on the spoon.

Look at me - I can stand. Now I can reach even more of my favorite toys! And yes - my hair always stands up like that (much to my Mother's chagrin).

I see you down there - I am on my way.

Lauren's little party

The last couple of years, Lauren has had some big birthday parties. For her 5th birthday (and final birthday in Iowa right before we moved) we rented out a gymnastics studio and she got to invite a ton of little kids and have a really fun party. Last year she wanted to invite her entire primary class which is 13 kids and we had a fun party at our house. So this year, I said we were taking a break from big parties and she could invite 2 friends and we would do something fun with them. So she invited her two friends and we decided to go to Color Me Mine (a pottery store) and we painted pottery. It was perfect. We went on an afternoon when there was an early release from school and there was nobody else in the store. We walked around the store and each chose the item they really wanted to paint. Then they got to choose which colors they wanted to use and they got to work painting. It took each girl about an hour and they did great. I helped them paint if they needed help but they all did a really good job. Then we headed over to Maggie Moo's (just like Coldstone) where they each picked out an ice cream treat. And that was it. So simple and so uncrazy and so fun. Lauren had a smile on her face the whole time and the girls had fun doing their projects together and then skipping and holding hands as we went to the ice cream store.

Opening presents before we headed off to Color Me Mine

The cute girls, ready to go and get ice cream (Haley, Lauren, Evie)

Enjoying their ice cream at Maggie Moo's. Evie and Lauren both decided on Cotton Candy Ice Cream and they had very blue mouth's and faces afterwards.

My messy Lauren, eating her birthday ice cream

My Big 7 Year Old!

We had a birthday at our house last week and I am now the proud parent of a big 7 year old girl.

Here is Lauren's Birthday in Pictures.

Yes, that is snow. We woke up that morning to a couple of new inches of snow. But since Lauren is so lucky, that just meant there was a Delay Start for school and she got an extra two hours to open and play with presents!

More snow shots.

The Birthday girl eating her special birthday breakfast!

She got some cute new t-shirts but unfortunately, it has been too cold for the short sleeves. She is still patiently waiting to be able to wear them.

Her fun new Hangman game she got from Jack and Lydia. We have had a lot of fun playing it.

She was very excited to get a new DS Game from Grandma and Grandpa Hobbs

She also got another new DS Game from Grandma and Grandpa Folsom

Jack liked trying to eat all the wrappings

The happy girl playing one of her new DS games.

That night we all went out to dinner at Red Robin where she was sung to and got a big ice cream sundae. She loved all the attention. And I love this goofy smile in this picture.

Digging into her sundae.

Some of the party - Miss Lydia enjoying her Macaroni and Cheese.

And Mr. Jack enjoying his fingers for a little while.

When we got home we still had to have Birthday Cake. Lauren wanted an ice cream cake and the only angel food cake I could find was Sams Club so of course, it was huge. So - we had one huge birthday cake for just our little family (which is why over half of it is still in the freezer).

I got big sparkler candles and she had fun trying to blow them out. It took awhile as you can see from the pictures.

She was excited to finally get them all blown out (these are the tricky kind that keep sparking back to life).

So there you have it. She had a really fun day and she deserved it because she is such a sweet girl. I always felt bad that Lauren was born first because she always wanted someone to play with her. And then the poor girl had to wait for 4 1/2 years to finally get a sibling but she is the BEST Big Sister! She is so good to take care of Lydia and Jack and she loves playing with them even though they are so much younger and can't always do what she wants to do. She loves school and is always so happy to go. This morning I tried to talk her into playing hookey and staying home and playing with us instead and she said "Mom, I need to go to school and learn. But I will play with you guys on Sat. and Sunday, okay?" She is becoming such a good reader. She and I love to get chapter books and we love to snuggle in bed and read them together. She is the best helper to me and loves to help me clean the bathrooms (especially when I let her put her swim suit on and scrub out the tubs for me). I just can't imagine our lives without this beautiful little red head in it and I am thankful everyday that I get to be her Mom.

Happy Birthday Lauren!