"Splish Splash"

Kinsie received this very cute singing duck from Papa and Grandma for Easter. She loves to listen to him sing and watch him wiggle as he dances! She has listened to it so many times that she is starting to learn the words to the song!

Easter Weekend

Our Easter weekend at the farm was full of food, fun and family! We traveled to my parent's house on Friday afternoon and spent the rest of the day and evening there playing and having pizza for dinner. Tory, Brandi and the kids were also over and when it came time for them to go home Kinsie insisted that she was going to go with them for a sleepover. I was very skeptical about this due to the fact that she is not a very good sleeper, especially when we are away from home and I felt bad about the thought of her keeping them up in the night. This was also her first sleepover with anyone other than Papa and Grandma. But she was very persistent and I could hardly say know when our two-year old nephew Adden and Kinsie were walking hand in hand out the door! Despite my worries Brandi insisted that Kinsie only cried a little bit and did just great...I am sure she was probably trying to spare this worried mommy's feelings with a variation of the truth!!

On Saturday Caden was up early to chore with Papa Curt, which he loved! His job was to watch the gates while Papa hayed the cows. My Uncle Mel and Aunt Doris's family was also visiting for the weekend and Aunt Doris and my mom had already planned out our meals for Saturday and Sunday. So we went to their house for lunch before heading out to the Easter Egg Hunt in Tingley. Unfortunately, Caden and Kinsie were in two different age groups so I was only able to snap some photos of Kinsie...but Caden was very excited to show me his bucket full of candy when he had finished!

After the Easter Egg Hunt in Tingley Papa Curt had a special job for the kids to do. The yard at my Grandma Twilla's farmhouse was littered with sticks and branches from all of the snow and ice this winter and was in need of being cleaned up. Papa had promised the kids a reward if they helped him clean up and they were very excited about the money they received when they had completed the project! Unfortunately, I had stayed in town to help Brandi at Treasures and did not get any pictures taken of the yard clean up. It was very evident by all of the tired faces that they had worked very hard! That evening we returned to Mel and Doris's for dinner. All of the kids had such a fun time playing together despite how tired they all were from such a busy day.

On Sunday morning Caden woke up early once again so he could help Papa with the chores. Before heading out he was very excited to discover the basket of goodies that the Easter Bunny had left for him!

Once Kinsie woke up she was also very excited to see find her Easter basket!

Papa and Grandma also treated the kids to some Easter gifts. Caden was thrilled when he opened his first gift and saw his new articulating dump truck...I would guess that most adults probably would not know what that was or atleast the proper name for it, but Caden did!

Kinsie was very entertained by her new Duck that sings and wiggles to the song "Splish, Splash"! She absolutely loves her new little friend and listens to the song over and over!

(Back Row: Kinsie, Addie, Makena, Brandon, Caden and Adler

Front Row: Hayden, Laurel and Adden)

Uncle Mel and Aunt Doris were having Easter dinner at their house so we returned to their home later in the morning. Our cousins, Jeff and Brian were also visiting with their families which is a special treat for all of us. We grew up together and now it is so fun to see our children growing up together as well. Our family has grown to 9 children with number 10 due in July and they are all paired up in age, beginning with Addie and Brandon (age 8), Adler and Makena (age 6), Caden and Hayden (age 4), Laurel, Kinsie and Adden (ages 3, 2 1/2 and 2). Before dinner we had an Easter egg hunt for all of the kids.

The starting line.

Caden looking under the trees for some more candy.

Enjoying their goodies!

Enjoying Easter dinner.

Before leaving on Sunday we went to Uncle Cody's to see one of his new baby calves. This calf is a twin that was born on Saturday night. Unfortunately, the mom only claimed one of the calves, so Cody brought this one to the stock trailer so he could bottle feed it. Caden absolutely loved the little guy and even asked if he could bring it home with us...which we had to gently say know to!

A Good Day!

Last Thursday was a great reminder to me of just how blessed I am to spend my days as a stay at home mom. After taking Caden to preschool Kinsie and I went to story time at the library, which she absolutely loves! It was a small group that morning so the librarian had the children actively involved in the stories and Kinsie thought that was a great treat! She loves the stories, songs and play time and it is so fun for me to see the joy on her face! After story time we picked up Caden and headed to Valley West Mall. Both Caden and Kinsie wanted to see the Easter Bunny, but not get too close to him! So we strolled by and waved and they were both very content with the extent of their interaction being a returned wave from the Easter Bunny! We then took a ride on the train. Caden rode in the front car and had the pleasure of ringing the bell as we traveled around and around...he loved it! Following our train ride we had some lunch at the food court and then played at the play center. We capped the trip off with a ride on the elevator...it's the simple things that they have so much fun with! After returning home we were able to play outside and enjoy the wonderful warm day. It was such a fun day for us and we especially thank our wonderful daddy who works so hard to make it possible for us to spend our days together!