Easter Weekend

I took a lot of pictures this weekend - don't say I didn't warn you.

Our Easter weekend started with an Easter brunch and egg hunt. The kids decorated cupcakes and were over-loaded on sugar by 11am.

Patrick was just happy to sit and watch.

He also took his first sip of water from a cup.

He wasn't quite sure about it but kept taking sips when I offered it.

That afternoon Lily and Brian made Grandma's rolls for Easter lunch and Patrick watched.

Later, the kids opened up their gift package from Nana and Poppa, which they always love to receive!

I know these pictures are almost identical, but the kid is so smiley! I can't help it.

For some reason, Jamison is in this "cool guy" phase and he says it whenever I ask him to take a picture. He'll also declare something a "cool trick" if he does something impressive. I have no idea where it came from.

Next, we dyed eggs. You might notice that my kids are always in pajamas. I promise that they do wear regular clothes, they just change out of them at every chance they can. I can only say I'm glad that Jamison is dressed, as naked is his other everyday outfit. I've honestly gotten into arguments with him over the necessity of underpants.

Patrick munched on some crackers.

Next, Lily put her grand Easter scheme into action. Little did I know she had one, until I saw her intensely writing and running around the house. When she finished, she showed me where she posted multiple instructions to the Easter bunny on the wall. Since the note was written in yellow marker, I re-wrote it word for word, including the adorable typos:

There are eggs. We hid them for you! In the one that doesn't look like the others has candy. Find the puzzal pissis next (this word is circled) to the eggs (this word is also circled). Easter puzzal. Leave a toy for the baby? please?

Please write me a note right here

ps can you put a egg in our bedrooms? Put in baskets. I love Easter!

She then proceeded to hide eggs and puzzle pieces around the house. I didn't think about it until 9pm that night but then I realized I had to be the Easter bunny and collect all the pieces of the puzzle. I then had to find the one odd egg that had candy in it. This took me about 30 minutes. Lily is really good at hiding eggs and puzzle pieces. This is a talent I did not know she had and I wished I had known it earlier in the evening. I still couldn't find the last piece and had to make up some excuse that the bunny was very busy last night and didn't have the time to find all of the pieces.

Easter morning

Jamison was not given one of his gifts because he found it in its' hiding place in the basement a few days earlier. After I told him to not go in that area of the basement he decided to try again. Lily ran to tell me that he was hiding behind the couch opening his toy. So Jamison lost the toy.

Lily can get a little competitive, finding Easter eggs not being an exception.

The boy loves his Reese's.

Patrick's basket

The toys were interesting, but not as much as the basket itself.

We hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Patrick - 9 months

Patrick is 9 months old today! I unofficially weighed him on our scale this morning and he was 20lbs 3oz. His 9 month appointment is next Thursday so I will get the official weight and his length then.

Patrick is a very happy baby. He truly laughs more often than he cries. Both Lily and Jamison are pros at making him bust out laughing.

As you can see, he has some teeth. He has four on the bottom, four on the top, and some more must be trying to poke through this week because he is leaving a path of drool and snot everywhere he goes.

He has been active for a few months - rolling or scooting around on the floor. Often, if I left him on the floor to make a quick trip out of the room, I'd return to a game of "where is the baby?" Here he is hiding underneath the bed. Luckily I was able to follow his toys to find him.

One of his favorite places to roll was under his excersaucer. I think he liked playing with it from a different perspective.

And then earlier this month he started crawling. I loved the look he had of "finally! I figured it out!" Ever since then he has been moving all over. Lily and Jamison have been quizzed numerous times on what items Patrick could choke on and have somewhat learned to put those things away. It's tough for Jamison, though.

Another thing that's tough for Jamison isrealizing that Patrick can touch Jamie's toys. Patrick knows exactly what to grab in order to get a reaction from Jamie. I frequently have to remind Jamison that there is no "my toy" or "his toy" or "her toy" in our house. I own them all and I share them with all three of them. He's not a fan of that philosophy.

You might notice Patrick's amazing yoga abilities. This is downward dog. He also has great form doing the plank position. Or is that pilates? Either way, he's really good at it.

Yes, I know what you're up to. But go ahead, Jamie isn't home.

And if I am in the kitchen cooking, I keep forgetting that he can follow me. It's a little unnerving looking into the next room to check on him only to see he's sitting right behind me.

I can't believe there are only 3 months left of his first year. He still seems so much like a baby to me. Soon, Brian will have to lower the mattress on the crib. I walked in to get him this morning and he was kneeling in bed looking over the edge. The pride that he felt with that accomplishment overshadowed that twinge in my heart that told me he is getting big, quickly.

Another Post! This Could Be A Trend!

Here are just some random pictures of the past few weeks:

My birthday cake. Brian took me out to dinner while Miss Sarah watched the kids. They decided to decorate a cake for me but we were out of frosting. Of course, we have plenty of decorative icing. Lily ALLOWED Jamison to have the lower left hand portion. Please notice the portrait she drew of me in the upper right hand corner.

Last week we had a trade show in Nashville. Since my sister lives there we took the whole family down. During the trade show (Sunday-Tuesday) Kristen and my mom watched all five kids.

Here are me and Brian working. I'm sitting down because I got DEATHLY ill the second night of the trade show and the next day I had to take it very easy in order to survive. It was not pretty. On a positive note, I lost 2 lbs!!

And if you couldn't tell, our booth had a golf theme. We showed Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore while potential customers played a putting game. The winner won...a putter. So exciting.

The day after the trade show Kristen and Brian took the kids to the zoo. I had to stay at home with Patrick or else my body would have zero capacity to travel the next day. The plague that attacked me was not in a playing mood and if I dared to push myself it would have pushed right back. Both Brian and Lily took pictures of the zoo trip.

This is Jamison's "cool guy" pose. We have no idea where he got this. Maybe The Electric Company? PBS is such an evil influence.

Lily took pictures of the zoo for a book she decided to make. The next week was "Z" week in her class so her teacher suggested Lily make a zoo book to bring in for Z week. Lily thought this was the best idea in the world and set out to make a zoo book that would be unsurpassed. She was slightly OCD about it.

Brian took a picture of his subject in her natural habitat.

Lily took the following pictures to document who went to the zoo. Why? Not sure.

Auntie Kristen. If Auntie Kristen is smiling at Day 6 of five kids then she truly is amazing. Or she is thinking "I want my life back with a Cherry Limeade and cheese fries from Sonic!".

My handsome husband.

Miss Ruthie with her new glasses.

Maddie Moo.

Jamison.

Lily obviously wanted to get a picture of the elephant but was reluctant to let go of the chocolate chip cookie.

When I saw this picture on her camera, I asked her - "Why did you take a picture of the sign?" She said it was because she couldn't get a picture of the bird. She then tried to convince me that this bird was called a Banana Bird because it's beak looked like a banana.

Brian was able to capture a picture of the elusive "Banana Bird".

We had a fun week in Nashville despite my deathly illness, tornado warnings, electrical failures, and a few flight delays. It's always an adventure when all the cousins get together but we wouldn't have it any other way. Right, mom?