Easter 2014

Since Karson was born, four years ago, we haven't had a "normal" Easter.  Karson was only a few weeks old, had his days and nights mixed up, and Molly had just had her knee replaced in 2010.  We didn't leave the house, but my Mom brought Easter dinner over.  In 2011, Kars had a 103 degree fever, and we spent the day in the rocking chair.  In 2012, I was in labor with Ellary.  Last year, the whole family was sick.  I didn't have high hopes this year, but thankfully no one was sick, and we had a fun family filled day!

 

I have learned that you don't get good pictures of kids on holidays.  We dressed up the kids a few days before, and snapped a few pictures.  Just incase we didn't get any on Easter.

 

The dress Ellary was wearing, my Grandma got for me when I was her age. 

 

 

The Saturday before Easter, we colored eggs.  The kids had so much fun.  And Mommy, Daddy, and Nana laughed really hard watching them. 



We may not have had the prettiest eggs, but their faces every time they pulled their eggs out of the dye were priceless!

They each colored a dozen eggs.  When they were done, they colored them all again.  We had a lot of brown-ish eggs. :) 

Easter morning, two very excited kids woke up to see what the Easter Bunny brought.  He hid all of their Easter eggs too.  They loved running around finding them all!

 

In order to make it somewhat fair, and to make the fun last longer, we made the rule that you could bring ONE egg at a time back to the basket.  Our little rule follower never brought more than one, and constantly reminded Ellary she couldn't have more than one in her hands at a time. :)

After they found all the eggs, we opened all the ones with "special treats" inside.  When Ella was finding the eggs, she would sake them.  If it was a real egg with nothing inside, she would put it back and find one she knew had candy in it. :)

After opening all their "special treat eggs," we headed to church and then to Grandma & Grandpa Smedley's for an Easter Egg hunt with the Smedley cousins.

After a quick visit with the Smedleys, we headed to Nana & Bumpa's for Easter dinner and another egg hunt.  It was beautiful out, and Ella had another Easter dress of mine that fit.  It was a good excuse to change her. :)

Egg hunt at Nana's.

It was nice to have our first "real" day of Easter celebrations.  We spent the rest of the day playing outside at Nana's house, and enjoying the first really warm day this Spring!

Fall Pictures

We walked in the house from Church on Sunday, and I realized the kids matched, were clean, and the leaves outside have almost all fallen.  I quickly told DJ to head back out, and grabbed my camera.

 

I am not sure who gave him permission to grow up.

He says the funniest things.

All day long.

His little engineer brain never stops turning.

Or this one.

My Sweet girl, wearing her Mama's dress.

With a pretty in her hair.

Always the pretty in her hair.

What I always know when I look at pictures, but no one else realizes, those big smiles are from their Daddy.

Who is jumping around like a crazy person behind me.

Always.

He gets the best smiles.

If jumping around like a crazy person doesn't work, throwing leaves at them does.

Happy Fall.

Karson :: 3 1/2

Ellary :: 1 1/2

Homeschool

We have decided to start out Homeschooling our kids.  We have talked about it occasionally since Karson was teeny tiny.  Last year, Michigan passed a law that schools would loose funding if they didn't provide all day, everyday, kindergarten.  Decision made.  While all day, every day, may be right for some families, we do not believe that it is right for ours.  As of right now, or plan is to Homeschool for Preschool and Kindergarten.  Beyond that, I don't know.  We will reevaluate every year, and decide then. 

While we never had plans of sending Karson to preschool, I decided I needed a "practice" year.  Basically, I wanted to makes sure I knew what I was doing before we hit Kindergarten.  I wanted to make sure that homeschooling was going to work for us.  Karson is eager to learn, he loves doing activities at the table.  He is constantly asking how things work.  Constantly.  All.day.long.  Thankfully Daddy is an engineer.  "Honey, please come over here and explain to Karson how {insert any random object} is made." is yelled often in our house.  Did you know how they make a Pyrex lid?  I do now. :)

I did purchase a 3's preschool curriculum.  Karson loves it!  He asks to do "preschool at home", all day long.  The first day, he did every worksheet for that week.  We are also using Zoo Phonics.  I have been doing Zoo Phonics with Karson for a few years, but never consistently.  A few weeks ago, I started going through the Zoo Phonics with the kids every morning at breakfast.  I was amazed at how quickly they were both picking it up. 

This week, I printed off the capital "A" and little "a" from Zoo Phonics and taped them to the wall.  Ellary walks over to Ally Alligater all day and says the sound and motions.  Yesterday at dinner, Karson looked at Nana's shirt and pointed out an "A" "Look Nanny!  You have a big 'A' on your shirt.  That is where Ally Alligater lives!!"

While I knew Ellary would pick up on some of the things Karson was doing, I didn't realize how much.  Last night, we were reading books before bed, and Karson was picking out every "a" he could find.   When DJ gets home from work, Karson runs to him and tells him everything he learned. 

Today, I threw all our Zoo Phonics cards on my bed, and started folding laundry on the floor.  The kids played with the cards for a half hour.  They would each bring me the cards, and show me the signs and sounds the animal made.  In that half hour, watching them play together, watching big brother teaching little sister, validated our decision.  Right now, this is what is right for our family. 

Ellary's 1st Birthday {April 9th}

Waaaay back on April 9th, my sweet girl turned 1. 

Ellary's birthday started out like birthdays always start out around here. 

 With chocolate chip pancakes.

She was eating very little food still, but chocolate chip pancakes definitely were a hit. :)

Daddy either takes a half day, or takes the whole day off on the kids' birthdays.  The whole day is about celebrating them, and I love it.  Daddy came home not long after breakfast (a half day for Daddy is at 10:00 because he goes in so early!).  DJ carried on the tradition of giving Ellary 1 rose for her 1st Birthday, just like my Dad did with me.

We went out for lunch at Hudsonville Grille.  They have really good french fries.  One thing we knew Ellary liked was french fries, so Hudsonville Grille it was.  Birthdays are about celebrating...not nutrition after all. :)

Next stop was Fredrick Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies.

It was a cold rainy day, so we had to come up with something fun and special to do inside.

Karson walked around with the guide and called it his "map" the whole time, trying to match butterflies.  

Too cute!

After dinner, we opened presents.

 

Karson was very excited for Birthday cake.

Some kids smash their cake.  Some do not.  Mine do not. Although, they do pick at the frosting.  

A few days later, we had her Princess Party.

 

Opening Gifts.

We made two cakes for her party.  

I was worried that if she smashed one, no one would have any cake to eat.  

This is how she reacted to being sung to, poor girl tried to hide. 

Big brother took care of blowing out her candle.

And again, she wasn't too thrilled about smashing her cake.  We had lots of cake left over!

 Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!