the rest of easter weekend

the friday before easter, we had stayed with my parents since we wouldn't be seeing them on easter. they had baskets for the kids and had plans to do a little easter egg hunt but the weather was rainy and cold so my mom scratched that idea. once it had stopped raining, i figured we could do a little one along the sidewalk, so i headed out and placed the eggs for fletcher to find them.

 we've got a peeker

adam and my parents came out with the kids and fletcher knew exactly what to do. brynlee looked cute holding her basket while her brother put the pink and purple eggs in for her. she attempted to get a couple eggs, but she ended up falling over. 

 and they're off

 what a good brother

 he found another egg

\

trying out the egg hunt thing

after fletcher checked out the loot, we loaded up and headed out.

sunday morning, i took my grandparents to church at 8am and adam stayed with the kids. when i arrived back to the house, i asked fletcher if the easter bunny had come. he wasn't quite sure, so i had to coax him into the kitchen to prove to him he had been there.

 i think he appreciated what was left...especially the cadbury creme eggs. the bubble gun was a close contender.  however, sister was NOT a fan of the bunny ears.

we were meeting the rest of the mick clan at 12:30 for lunch, so before we headed there, we stopped by my grandparents' house to visit with them a bit and so they could see the kids. my grandparents are such troopers. anything to make my kids smile.

grandma doesn't seem too amused 

when we got to benton place for lunch, everyone was there and was ready to eat. we loaded plates with all the yummy food and we sat in good company. it was pretty low-key, but it was relaxing and we were around family. fletcher sat with aunt jenni and before i could look over, he was asleep. he stayed that way until we left. brynlee on the other hand, was all over the place and made the rounds. 

aunt jenni was a good pillow

making faces with cousin jake

playing with cousin eli

rolling on the floor with pops

gg glo and uncle dave think i'm cute

that's it. a long, fun, eventful easter weekend filled with family. hope yours was just as fun. 

B gets baptized

a couple sundays ago, brynlee was baptized at our church. we invited the family up to witness the occassion and many of them came. it took place after mass so everyone could make it that had to drive. 

here's how everything happened...the tuesday before, i had emailed the priest to make sure we were still on and to make sure he had all the info he needed. on sunday, we walked in and went to our assigned seats (okay, not really assigned, but we sit in the same row every time we go.) we're sitting there and the deacon comes up to me and asks, "is this the baby that is getting baptized today?" thinking to myself that i already went over this five days ago with the priest, i answered him and then he asked if it was during or after mass. so adam comes up and sits down after dropping fletcher at the nursery and then deacan steve comes back and gives me a paper to fill out with all the info i've previously answered to the priest...i begin to think something is up since i haven't seen the priest yet. church starts and no priest walking to the alter. hmmm?!?! deacon steve does the opening prayer and then goes on to say that poor father dagit is in the hospital with kidney stones...poor boy. ok, now i know why all the mysterious questioning before mass. i think it would have been easier if this whole dilemma would have been explained when i was getting 20 questions from deacon steve. anyhow, things happened the way they were suppose to and all was good.

{many of the guests}

{getting blessed}

{little girl was gassy, and i was the only one who knew...it made me overly smiley}

{getting dunked}

{all this can make a baby tired}

{the fam and deacon steve}

{my sister-in-law and brother are the godparents}

{all the grandkids, minus the 3 oldest}

brynlee did great through the whole thing. fletcher and the nieces and nephews were well behaved. there were a few giggles between my sister and i, but that's nothing new. deacon steve did a fantastic job. after we left the church we had everyone over for lunch. it was yummy and the stress i put into cleaning my house and preparing food was well worth it. and thanks to those that brought something.

{the grub}

{such a pretty girl}

{happy baptism day baby girl}

{look close...camryn made brynlee a bracelet like hers}

easter doings

***prepare for picture overload***

last thursday was the start of our easter festivities. i loaded up the kids and headed to marshalltown to dye eggs with my friend angie and her daughter payton. we ate pizza, chatted, the kids played and we dyed the eggs. i think it was the fastest and messiest egg dying has ever been. fletcher sure enjoyed himself and payton did too. the poor eggs all ended up with some sort of crack because they were not dunked lightly.

 {let the fun begin}

 {so careful and so serious}

 {so excited!}

 {i think this one is done}

{payton and her colorful hands}

 friday night the kids and i headed to des moines to my parents' house. my dad's cousin and her husband were in town, so we decided to hang out for the weekend too. adam joined us for dinner that night, but then headed home to work on his car.
saturday was a fun day. the girls went shopping and the boys went to bass pro. my dad and bill took fletcher to see the easter bunny...NOT a good experience. the picture is one that ellen would show...it is that good...or bad. that evening, we went for mexican and then back to the house to dye eggs. this time we waited for fletcher to be in bed so they would turn out. brynlee joined in the fun and did her a pink egg to match her shirt. she may or may not have had help.

 {dying eggs}

{melinda and b after egg dying}

 sunday morning, we got up and dressed in our easter finest and headed to church. both kids were way better than i expected. service was over and we headed back to the house for baskets full of candy, a house full of littles and some grub on the table. the food was fantastic and the dessert was even better. my mom and melinda headed out to hide eggs for little boy to hunt. he did such a good job finding them. it was pretty much comedy. he would find an egg, shake it, and then giggle before putting it in his basket and heading off for the next. the kid seriously makes me laugh all the time.

 {little lady in her easter dress}

 {and he's off}

 {oh, an egg!}

{on a mission}

 {such a pro at this egg finding game}

 {chillin while her brother hunts for eggs}

{codi and chase not really enjoying their 1st easter}

 {not such a great family photo}

what blog?

apparently i've been slacking....again. i really don't have a reason to be absent. here's a little update from the past few weeks:
*Camryn's surgery went well. The surgeon was quite pleased with how everything went and got ALL of the tumor. Last week she finished up  her last round of chemo. Now they just wait for the stem cell transplant and then her radiation treatments after that. Hopefully she is completed with treatment by June-ish.

*We made our first road trip with Brynlee, down to Adam's Dad's. It went well, granted, it was a little less than 2 hours so we didn't really have to plan for any stops. The GG McD's got to meet the latest great grandchild and I'm pretty sure they love her to pieces.

*We've had the flu bug hit our house. Little boy woke us up one morning at 5a.m. with a nasty treat for momma. He got  over it and a few days later the daddy in our house had it. Luckily, the lovely ladies have avoided it. Lysol and bleach have been my friends lately.

*Two weeks ago, we made a quick road-trip to Chicago. Adam had to make a delivery for work and it was going to be fast, so the kids and I rode along. It was a nice get-a-way and a nice trip to see how traveling with two will go in the future.

*Last Thursday, Adam took the day off to attend the St. Patrick's Day Parade with the kids and myself. A friend and her crew joined as well. The weather was nice and the place was packed. We thought we had a great spot right at the beginning of the route, but right at the start, everyone crowded into the street and we could not see a thing. I wasn't about to take my littles where all the crazies were, so we enjoyed the big trucks we could see and little boy liked 'dancing' to the music.

*Saturday night we went to a baptism class for B. It was three hours of wasted time, but we have to do it. Yesterday was our first day back at our church since little lady was born. Hopefully we can continue making this a part of our Sunday morning routine.

*I've been thinking about little boy's birthday. Less than a month and I'm not very motivated. I have plans, but nothing set in stone. I should probably get in gear and send out invitations...maybe by the end of the week they'll be out.

wordless wednesday-twins baptism

it was a nice little ceremony with a few laughs. chase face cried when he got dunked and codi sue puked right before she got her white bib thing. nothing unpredictable for those two.

palm sunday...yum!

Being the good catholic girl I am, we went to Palm Sunday mass the other day. In small communities the priest travels to different parishes and since we have some of the holier of holy days coming up, mass time was changed. Thus, 10:30 mass was at 9:00a.m, screwing up morning naptime for Fletcher. When we walked in, I wasn't sure about the procedure that St. Patrick's does (we missed this particular mass last year, as I was extremely pregnant). We stood there watching others as they entered and walked to the sanctuary, so we followed...only to get up with the whole congregation to witness the blessing of the palms and reenter. During this time, Fletcher was being held by Adam, while pulling my hair, in between swats at the lady's head in very close reach (did you get all that?). Once in and seated, the little screeches, gurgles and grunts began. As I don't do well with little ones being loud because it bothers others and causes stares, Adam took him out...something that happens every weekend. So, mass went on and was soon over. We went home and began our day. But, with Fletcher's first palm, I had to make a cross out of it. This is what he thought of it...

As usual, anything that is new and different ends up in his mouth. I don't really think he cared for the taste too much. As I turned off the camera, he threw it to the ground. Now it resides on the shelf in his room.