Easter Sunday

A quick shot of the family before heading into church on Easter Sunday:

Don't our boys look so handsome?!

After our church services were over we drove around and admired some of the beautiful blossoms that were everywhere...on trees, cacti, bushes, etc. Springtime really is beautiful here in the desert. Here's a common cactus with it's beautiful yellow blossoms...

And we took a few pictures of Noah by some flowers too. Not only did he look sharp in his new Easter outfit, but he knew it. He said that he loved wearing something "fancy".


I know that someday I'll look back and say how little that Noah looks here, but right now I just can't believe how grown up he is looking!

Later that afternoon the Easter Bunny visited our house and left baskets and Easter eggs. Thank goodness since the boys didn't have enough candy or chances to hung for eggs, right? (sarcasm) It was still so much fun to watch them though. Here's a clip of them finding their baskets. I love that it quickly captures the little thing Noah does with his thumb & forefinger on his chin when he's thinking (while figuring out where Linc's basket is). They're both such cute boys. Having them young and excited about this stuff is so much fun...


Here are 3 more short clips of the boys looking for eggs. We found it funny that Lincoln kept saying, "Are you kidding?"...and also that both boys kept dropping the plastic eggs. Over & over. It really was uncanny. Every minute or two they either dropped one out of their hand or their basket.







One last picture after we were all done outside and the boys were headed in with their baskets and eggs. Right as I snapped this picture Lincoln dropped and broke open several more eggs on the ground. The boys just stood there for a second and gawked like, "really?"...and I think that was what we were all thinking at that point. It was pretty funny.

What I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of was the lovely Easter dinner that Mark made for us. I was feeling pretty yucky that afternoon - I thought that maybe I was just sleep deprived (Allison & I talked until really late) and also warn out from all the activity and sun the day before (2 egg hunts & afternoon at the lake). However, that was just the first day of me starting to feel really crummy again - instead of "ignorably nauseous" as I'd been calling it the previous several weeks. That was 6 weeks ago and, although I'm not as sick as I was the first half of my pregnancy, things have been pretty rough in the nauseous department. Anyhow, I digress! Mark made the boys, Allison and I a delicious dinner of Braciole (your best yet, babe!) and even had the table looking beautiful.

That night we had to drop Allison back off at the airport *sniff, sniff* but we were so glad to have had her for such a fun, whirlwind weekend. And I have to thank Mark for everything he did all weekend to make things nice for everyone...including cooking, cleaning, packing coolers for our adventures, and happily taking care of the boys so Allison and I could go get pedicures! Thanks, babe! You're the best.

The Lake

We had everything loaded in our minivan to leave straight from Easter egg hunts to enjoy the rest of the day at the lake! Mark's aunt MarJan & cousin Camille invited us to join them for their annual Easter festivities at Camille's in-law's lakeside home. So, we made a nice little mini road-trip to their place and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon out on the water. The boys were in heaven. It didn't take any coaxing to get them into the water...

Noah delved right into his make-believe-land and became a crocodile...


And Lincoln immediately began chasing & splashing cute girls. Luckily this one knew how to defend herself:

And then Linc moved on to splashing this older boy. Nice:


Lincoln didn't have any reservations with wandering off down the beach by himself or out into deep water, so we had to keep a very constant eye on him (as we always do around water though anyway)...

Allison happily took her turn rotating being "on-duty" with watching a designated boy too, so that was awesome.

I have to say that besides the awesome fringe benefit of having an extra set of eyes and hands for the boys (yes, we had them out-numbered)...I really loved having Allison around for those 3 quick days! We have been friends for 20 years now (exactly). We've been friends since the beginning of Jr. High School! We played soccer together, shared clothes and ran the neighbor's dogs together, fought and made up as teenage girls do, and cried over stupid boys together. We went through various hair-colors, piercings, and progressive genres of music together. She was there when I came home from Taiwan and from my mission in Germany. She was one of my bridesmaids when I got married, and her son Isaac & our Noah are little buddies (less than 4 months apart). And, she is one of only a few of my close friends that I can honestly say really know my husband (and all the details of our pre-marriage "courtship"). She pretty much feels like she's always been part of my life, I guess. Although the craziness of life can keep us from talking as often as we would like, it's never awkward to pick up where we left off when we do catch up...although, if given the chance, we'll probably talk all night (which we practically did while she was here). So here's to old friendships!...and to having Allison all to ourselves for a weekend!


Noah and Lincoln weren't bored for one minute. They played together, with other kids, and even by themselves - and had lots of fun the whole time.

Here's an example to contrast the differences in their types of play though. Linc was all about splashing in the water and playing in the mud...



Noah was especially interested in make-believe, especially if there were props...like this "pirate boat" (Noah & Jocelyn):

Lincoln enjoyed being around some older kids that could put up with (and dish back out) his active, playful side...and I think Noah enjoyed being around some younger kids that he could kind of hand out roles to act out what he wanted to play ("You are ___ and I'll be ___"). Somehow everyone managed to have fun together though! Here the kids are enjoying just pulling each other around in this inflatable raft:

Noah docking his pirate ship....er, raft.

We all brought boiled eggs to color, which was fun. I thought doing it outside, and where the kids would also be jumping back into the lake, was ingenious. No stress about mess/spills.

Lincoln's face in this one cracks me up (pun recognized)...

And then it was time for the boys to take their first ride in a real boat! Here's Linc after just climbing into the boat off the dock...

Mark & Lincoln.

Noah, Mark, Lincoln.

I was surprised that neither of the boys chickened out on the tube ride at the last minute - they can each be unpredictable that way, but they were really excited!

And we were off! They were a little unsure about things at first, but soon realized that it was safe and FUN!


Behind the tube here is Camille's in-law's home in the background, and the beach area that we were playing on...

They started things out pretty mellow (as seen in this short clip), and then got a bit more adventurous with bouncing around on some wakes.


After a while Lincoln said he was done and got back into the boat with me. So just Noah & Daddy went out on the tube...and we sped things up a bit:


Later Mark was able to take Noah out on a jet ski. Here's a short clip of them slowing down to wave "hi to Mom"!:


This quick clip is of Noah after riding the jet ski (really fast) with Mark. He's trying to verbalize that at first he was scared, but then realized that it was fun:

I have to add that when Noah saw the previous video clip he was particularly embarrassed that he was wearing a Barbie life jacket. Sorry, buddy, that's just what was available. I just find it amusing that he's getting old enough to recognize and care about stuff like that.

And I had to end this post with this cute little picture of the boys enjoying some cold sodas. Noah's expression cracks me up every time I look at this photo. All on his own he turned the can so I could see the name of the soda, and actually held that pose...
What a fun, fun day!

Easter Egg Hunts

The day before Easter (April 23rd) we were able to take the boys to attend a couple of fun Easter egg hunts! The first one was put on by our church early that morning. Plus we were lucky enough to have my good friend Allison staying with us for the weekend, so she came too! Here are the boys ready and waiting for the hunt to start (I love how Linc comes up and holds Noah's hand):



I love these boys. And I don't think there is anything that I love more than when they are sweet/kind with each other...

And the hunt begins! Here is Noah finding an egg...

We were able to get Lincoln to glance at the camera for a quick shot mid-hunt...

A clip of Lincoln finding an egg:


Noah has always been more laid back about just finding an egg or two and then calling it quits to enjoy his goodies (he does the same thing with piñatas). Although he still wasn't at all frantic about collecting as many eggs as possible, he seemed to be more "into it" this year. No problem getting him to stop for a picture though:

This clip is of Allison and me with the boys after we were all done with the egg hunt. It's nothing spectacular, but I realized that I think it's the only video clip at all that we have of me with my pregnant belly (30 weeks here)...so I'm throwing it in for documentation's sake:


Noah assessing his treasures...

After the egg hunt we enjoyed a yummy breakfast with everyone. Here is Noah with an orange peel in his mouth:

Next (right after our church's egg hunt actually) we headed to Noah's school. They have preschool-8th graders there, and hold a big Easter Egg hunt. They divided the kids into groups by age and had them hunt in different areas. Here is Noah stopping to show me how many eggs that he had...


Lincoln can be a bit more competitive, and got into a zone about collecting as many eggs as possible. He would even shake the eggs to see if they were full of lots of candy, and not bother collecting those that felt like they didn't have much inside. At one point he even ditched his basket while collecting...


My boys after finishing the egg hunts.
We had a lot of fun at both egg hunts! I have to also share a comment of Noah's - which I know was reinforced both at church and school (he attended preschool at a Lutheran school). Right in the middle of all the excitement of egg hunting and candy eating Noah declares to me, "You know, Mom...this isn't really what Easter is all about." He then proceeded to tell me about how Jesus died and was resurrected as if I'd never heard of these events myself before. It was precious. I know that as a 5 year old he is reciting things that he's been taught, but it was so sweet that he took the time to share that amidst all of the commercial excitement of the holiday. And, since these are things that I dear to me, I do hope that when he is older that he chooses to let them take root in his heart as well...and that he'll share those convictions with others with the same pure sincerity that I saw that day.

Amelia & Jocelyn's Birthday

Mark's cousin Camille lives only about 45 minutes away from us, so we were lucky enough to get invited to her daughters' birthday party. Two of their girls (Amelia & Jocelyn) share a birthday! It was requested that kids come in costume and bring a swimsuit (both of which our boys were super excited about)! So, on April 16th we headed down to celebrate. Here are Lincoln as Batman (the Batman hood, shirt & shorts were made for Mark by his mom when he was a little boy!), and Noah chose to wear his Captain Hook costume - sans wig & mustache this time. Aren't they two cute little party goers?

At the beginning of the party they started things out with some dancing for the kids - both fast songs and not as fast songs. Our boys didn't know what to think. For one, they didn't really know anyone...and secondly, it was certainly a princess dominated party (being for 2 girls). After a little bit of coaxing, Noah relented and accepted one of the princesses requests to dance with her. I just about had a fit with how cute I thought his shy little face was while dancing, but I could tell that he actually was enjoying himself too. Here's a quick clip of them:


After the dancing, the kids divided into a couple of groups by age and played various party games, and then it was time to head outside for water fun! Lincoln had been chomping at the bit to get outside and just run around, so he was extra excited when the kids were let loose outside. And, can you blame him? There were 2 blow up bounce houses, a slip & slide, a playground structure, trampoline...and lots & lots of soft grass. Aaahhh. Here is Linc in line to try out the slip & slide...

Linc trying out the slip & slide...

Lots of the kids had a hard time grasping the concept of what you do on a slip and slide. It was hot enough that if I didn't have a big ol' pregnant belly, I would've volunteered to demonstrate, but they were having a great time just doing things their way anyway. Here's a quick clip of Noah taking a turn:


Lincoln's turn (makes me laugh):


Noah and another little boy drove around the backyard in this sweet ride. Gotta love the pink and princess look on the rugged jeep :)

Linc doing a little climbing - how unusual! *sarcasm*

The kids all gathered on the trampoline to watch people take their shot at the pinata:

Birthday girl Jocelyn taking a very solid whack at the pinata (which was thoroughly reinforced with duct tape, giving all party goers a shot at it)...

Noah taking his turn...

Finally the pinata broke and the kids collected their goodies. Here's Lincoln showing me what he collected:

Noah, showing me one of his pieces of candy. The kid has never been to concerned with collecting a large hoard of candy from a pinata breaking. He has never been a competitive (or gluttonous) child:

Next was cake time. Here are Amelia & Jocelyn showing their candle from the cake - after blowing it out, of course.

I love this anticipatory smile Noah is wearing...and I was surprised at his choice of white cake too (he's normally very much a chocolate kid).
We had such a great time! Thanks so much for the invitation!