So this Easter outfit reminded me of another great Easter outfit...

This great Easter egg hunt outfit worn by Ava:

Reminded me for some reason of another great Easter egg hunt outfit worn by her big sister Katrena at the age of 4.

Easter April 8, 2012

Easter was just plain fabulous all the way around this year, I don't think I've ever enjoyed the day and time with my little family more. Every thing just made me happy!

We started off the festivities with pizza and egg coloring on saturday night.
On Sunday morning I was awoken by a complete scream of delight as Ava realized it was Easter! I thought for sure she had already broken the rules and had gone to the kitchen table, but she had not she just remembered and screamed and shouted "Its Easter!" She then asked me where the bunny poop was and I had to explain that the house didn't get vacuumed yesterday and the Easter Bunny thought it was probably best not to leave any jelly bean poop around this year. Ava then quickly ran to wake her sister so that we could go see their Easter baskets. I made a mistake and used the camera instead of the video camera and I should have recorded it because Ava's comments were hilarious the whole day!

Here is their loot


Ava screamed and got excited over everything and I loved it, the hits were the spinbrush toothbrush and rainboots and gum! With everything she picked up she'd scream shout what it was and then say "I noticed it, I noticed it!" Trena was excited but slightly sad that hers wasn't funner. Although they cost about the same and its hard as your kids grow up. She was very excited about the 10th book in her favorite series though.


Gum, who knew right?
Next while we waited for our yummy baked french toast with apples and cranberries to finish bake the girls and I watched some beautiful videos put out by our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on YouTube about Easter. I explained the videos to the girls as it went along and answered any questions and Ava had a lot. I loved how when we got to church Ava was as excited to tell her teacher about the videos of Christ we watched as she was about the goodies in her basket. After we got home from church Ava had a few questions for Trena about death while they were playing outside and she didn't like her sisters answers because she came inside crying that she didn't want to die and didn't want her family to die. She kept this up off and on the rest of the night. She would just out of the blue say she didn't want to die or she didn't want me to die. Its hard to reassure your 3 year old you are not going to die when we have no idea when we will die.

After breakfast and videos we all got ready for church and I have to say I am just giddy over how cute my girls looked! There were so beautiful and radiant and I just love how these photos turned out!

I had to leave this cheesey one of Ava in and I love that I forgot to cut her tag in the first few photos.



And together! The first shot was a total keeper, that never happens!
My beautiful grown up Katrena



Then we were off to Church and my friends baby was blessed on this beautiful Easter Sunday. When we got home we all grabbed something to hold us over until our yummy Easter dinner of ham, funeral potatoes, broccoli salad, and carrots was done. While everything was finishing up cooking we headed outside for a backyard Easter egg hunt. Dad is very good at hiding those eggs, this year they had 32 to find.

The polk a dot wonder woman


Every time Ava would find an egg she'd wave it in the air and yell "Yeah," and then she'd say "I found a ______ one, yeah, a _______ one, yeah" inserting the color of the egg found. It was slightly snotty but super funny.





The great count showed 17 for Trena and 15 for Ava!
of course they then made dad hide them all again and the next time they tied with 16.

An Easter picture with my girls

When we got back inside Ava was very disappointed that I had not done my messages in the eggs asking them questions about Easter and having them do different things like sing their favorite primary song and then telling them to go look somewhere for something special from mom and dad. Mom was just a little bit of a slacker this year and we'll blame it on pregnancy. I felt really bad though because she remembered. So I took 3 eggs out and put places for them to go look and there was a prize for each of them and one for them together. I then hid the three eggs in the family room and had them go find it. They both got a soccer ball and a net to share.


They also had received cards in the mail from Grammy Ann and my mom as well as a package from Brent's mom so they opened those up and got those prizes as well. I think that all in all they had a pretty awesome Easter!

Baseball

Last Tuesday April 3rd just for fun while playing in the backyard the girls and dad decided to play baseball. All we have for "equipment" is a splash bat and a big (well it was big once upon a time, so a shrunken big) ball.

This was Ava's first time playing and she had so much fun! Here are some photos of Brent pitching her the ball. I absolutely love the joy on her face every time she makes contact with the ball.


Sister took over pitching and Dad gave her some pointers:

And then Trena pitched to dad:


And dad pitched to Trena, I didn't get many pics of Trena at bat because A) she would hit the ball and it was gone faster than I could take the picture and B) the kid was way too serious:


And then Ava started to pout that it was too hard:

So sister pitched, daddy took over with the camera and mom assisted:

It was such a fun 45 minutes and I found myself wondering why we don't take more opportunities to enjoy these simple but unforgetable moments!

Trena's gift to her brother...

Trena is so excited for her little brother to arrive and wanted to make something for him, specifically a blanket. So together we decided to do a one sided flannel receiving blanket. It gets pretty hot here in the summer and with the baby being born in April I wanted to have a few light weight baby blankets on hand. First we washed and then ironed the fabric, she then cut the fabric to square it up.

Next she would roll up the edges 1/2" and then iron the sides to give it a crease and then rolled another 1/2" pinned it and ironed it again.

She then cut and mitered the corners so they wouldn't be so thick. And sewed the edges.

She sewed this all on her own and I was so proud of her. She did a great job for her first project and I know that she and her brother will treasure this blanket always.

monkey fabric:

Trena I am so proud of your hard work, you did a great job!

PAW 2012 (3/3/12)

Last year and this year Trena was able to take place in a 6 week Performance Arts Workshop put on by the local highschool singing performing group. Each Saturday practice lasted 4 hours and they learned multiple songs and simple dance moves. This years theme was Its a Small World.

Trena's hair is in a braid with a white flower holding her bangs back.

They started off with a chant about being anything you want to be.

Next up was Africa with Waka Waka by Shakira.

Next was an Irish song by the littlest kids and then Trena's group performed a Japanese song, followed by another song by the oldest group of kids.

Next the whole group did a Bollywood song

Followed by We are The Children, were Trena had a solo. Then its a small world with the conclusion being our National Anthem.

Here is a video of the night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkPnlc4nhcQ&hd=1

It was a fun night and we were so glad we could all go and watch Trena perform, she did a great job!

I also want it to be made known that while I did record the national anthem I had my right hand over my heart and filmed with my left hand. I am making note of this because I feel that it is so important that we stand allegiance during this song and for our flag.

Baby Shower 3/3/12...

My sweet friend Mal gave me a baby shower yesterday, she went all out on food and decorations, it was adorable and fun and we had a great time just chatting as friends.

Ashley, me, Tonja, Rebecca, and Malarie with baby Harlee

Ava with Josie (Ashleys daughter) in Siena's room. Siena had gone to her cousins with her dad, mom decided she could only have one daughter there and be the hostess. Can't say I blame her.

The cute food table! We didn't get a photo until after we'd started eating but the frames had what each item was (and it was all delicious). There was veggies and dip, mini fruit pizzas sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting and diced strawberries, kiwi's and blueberries, then there was 7 layer bean dip individual cups with chips and an adorable cupcake stand with cupcakes in a jar with blue and green frosting.

Mal made this cute garland and subway art for the shower. The fabric used is actually the fabric that I am doing his "corner" in.

The subway art is a list of rock bands including two of his dads favorites: RUSH and Dream Theater.

Mal also made this ADORABLE bunting for me (again the fabric his "corner" is being done in), the ends are burp cloths, then there is a crinkle tag toy, bib and a onesie with a guitar appliqued on the front. LOVE IT! She also gave me another burp cloth, and a blanket and sleeper with guitar fabric as well.

Tissue paper pom poms out of the colors

Opening presents! Ava was my little helper, she was so excited and made me tell everyone how excited she was to have a little brother.

Funny side note, that morning as I was getting ready I told her I was going to go get in the shower and she asked why because I was going to be showering at Malaries house. I LOVE it.

Our fun goodies! My friend Ashley gave us one of those soft blanket stuffed animals that is a monkey. Totally fun because Trena gave one of those to Ava at the hospital when she was born too.

Me and my girls, I love this picture. Trena was my great photographer for the day, so she wasn't in any of the other photos.

I also forgot to mention Brent dropped by to check out all the fun, but I hadn't gotten the camera out yet. But I still want to remember how much it meant to me that he stopped by after his work meeting.

Crazy Ava, when we arrived at the shower she had a headband in her hair, a jean skirt on over her leggings and a purple, pink and white striped sweater. You can obviously tell how comfortable she is at Mal's house.

Another funny side note: we haven't officially picked out a name, but the one we are leaning towards is not Ava's first choice. So the other day I asked Ava what she wanted to name her baby brother. Ava looked at me and said well, Harlee is a girls name so I think we should name him Harlot!!! So there you have it folks According to the three year old our baby should be Harlot North!