Easter Weekend!

We had a really great Easter weekend.  Ryder learned all about Easter this week at school and had an egg hunt and party on Thursday.  He brought this home and told me, "Mommy, this is a 'cwoss' and it means God loves us!"  I was a proud momma.  So we hung it in the window for the weekend.

Saturday we had an Easter rehearsal at church and then Daniel I had a lunch date :)  Sushi & cupcakes.  Saturday afternoon we colored eggs.  That was an adventure.  Paisley just wanted to spill the dye and Ryder was more intrigued with the fact that they would crash and break if he hit them!  

 little ham.

Looking at the surviving eggs!

Easter morning we had to rise & shine early!  Notice, it's still dark out...

checking out her basket

Ready to go! 

Not sure whether to go with the hat or the headband!?! 

Love my girl.

 We had a great service.  We did some special music & videos and I sang Kari Jobe's, "O the Blood."  Great song.  The kids had an egg hunt during service so I snuck out after worship and got a few pics of Ryder.

 

 Ryder giving Ellie some love after church! :)

 Workin' it in her hat!

Me & my little Easter bunnies!  Going on 5 hours at church at this point - they were getting loopy!

 And tada!  The Easter family picture.  All matching, all still put together and all looking in the direction of the camera!!!  

 We grabbed some lunch after church at Z Tejas.

Daddy & his girl!  She was saying "Cheese!"

 Ryder asked to have his picture taken on this rock.  

 We went home and all took a good nap then we headed out to meet Phillip & Kristin at her parent's new lake house.  The guys took Ryder out on the boat!

While us girls chilled and met them for dinner out on the pier.  

 It was a beautiful day.  We serve a risen Savior and He is so good to us.  We missed being with family, but we love our spiritual family and all that God is doing there!  We started a new series at church yesterday called Beautiful Things. 

You make beautiful thing, beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful thing, beautiful things out of us.

The sad nest news...

Daniel said I must give an update on the bird nest.  This should not be included in our "Easter Weekend" blog coming up next as it is much more sad than the rest of our weekend.  If you're reading this and have not read my previous blog -read that first! :) 

So Saturday morning we were getting ready to go to rehearsal at church and chaos broke out.  We were sitting at the table all eating breakfast when I notice the angry bird - not the app.  I tell Ryder (again, note to self: think before speaking) "Look, that birdie is SO mad!  Why's he so mad?"  The bird was sitting a few branches over from the nest with HUGE ruffled feathers fluffing up everywhere, clearly upset!  We look again and Daniel says, "Uhhhh, there's a SNAKE!"  It was wrapped around some branches next to the nest.  We kinda freaked out, but didn't want Ryder to realize it.  I told Daniel he HAD to kill it or I would never return to the backyard again.  About the time we are getting dressed, the babysitter is coming, Ryder's friend Ellie is coming over... it was just chaotic and Daniel (horribly afraid of snakes) goes out to kill it.  I was trying to keep Ryder distracted so he would not witness the killing while I watch (squealing & laughing) as Daniel pulls the thing out of the tree and beats it with a pole!  Ryder comes over just about the time Daniel is laying it on the patio (dead).  Ryder says, "OHHH a snake! (He pauses) Why's it not moving??"  The babysitter says, "It's playing. Playing dead."  I said, "It's asleep!" ;)  So here it is...

I am so sad to report that we're pretty sure it ate the bird eggs :(  The birds have not returned.  Daniel said, "Ohhh there's a blog in there somewhere!"  But I won't even try to analyze the spiritual aspects of this!  Do what you will with that!  Yesterday morning during Morgan's sermon he said something to the effect of "When there is no gratitude that's when the serpent comes in!"  Daniel and I looked at each other and laughed. 

He will protect your nest

So we've been watching this bird nest being built right outside our kitchen window.  It's been a neat little science lesson for Ryder.  Each morning while we eat breakfast we look at it and talk about how it's changed.  Are there more sticks?  Are the birds there today?  Where are the birds, what are they doing?  Are there eggs?  What will happen to the eggs?  Etc...

So this morning while we were sitting there I see a squirrel in that tree.  I say, "Oh look Ryder, a squirrel is right by the window!"  Just as the words are coming out of my mouth that stinkin' squirrel has jumped into our precious bird nest!  I LEPT out the back door and toward that thing as fast as I could screaming for it to leave.  At this point Ryder & Paisley (seriously confused!) BURST into tears!!  The squirrel jumped away of course.  Meanwhile the birds were in the tree next to it squawking and fluttering around.  I came back in, trying to see if the nest had survived.  I didn't think there were eggs there yet, but maybe there were because Momma bird has now been sitting there all day.  The Daddy bird has been sitting further down in the tree watching.  It was just so interesting to see their reaction.  The Momma bird flew back over immediately to protect her nest.  She was visible shaken.  You could see her tiny little chest beating and she was on edge the rest of the morning.    Her home & her children had been invaded!

I thought of how I react some days to things life throws at my nest... visibly shaken.  The devil will use any little thing to come against me and my nest.  But I will not stand for it.  I am daily building and protecting my nest.  I will declare that this house is His.  We will not be shaken, we will not be moved.  We know WHOSE we are.  And we know HE cares for us so deeply.

^{Matthew 6:25} “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Hot {CAKE POP} Mess!

This weekend while Daniel was at a men's retreat with church the kids & I had a fun friday night at home where we made homemade pizza, cake pops & watched Toy Story.  I must start this blog by saying this is in NO way an INSTRUCTIONAL blog!  So if for some wild reason your google search for cake pops landed you here: abort mission & restart! ;)  The whole thought of making cakepops came because we've started selling them at starbucks.  Friday morning Ryder and I went to his 3yr well-check where he'd gotten 2 shots, so I promised him a little treat.  We went to starbucks and he picked the pink cakepop and then on the way out he asked if we could make those at home.  With no hesistation I said, "Sure, let's do that tonight!"  Note to self: next time hesitate.  :)  It started out so tidy, but I finally just gave up and let them dig in and make a huge hot mess! 

step one: make cake (I just used a box mix I had)

Baked it, then crumbled it in a bowl and let it cool. (We then made pizza & ate that!) 

Then we mixed icing in with the crumbled cake till it was nice & gooey

 Next we started rolling balls.  This is the point at which they just started loosing focus on the goal and began eating huge chunks!

Caught!

 We ended up with a tray of really sad, oddly shaped cake balls.  (Then stuck them in the freezer for a few mins. to harden- That really angered the munchkins!)

 We then began the dipping.  I just melted white chocolate chips I had.  I think the melting candy chips work much better.  I gave them bowls and sprinkles and let them go at it.  I do not have many pictures of that because as you can imagine I had my hands a little full and covered in gunk.  

And VIOLA.  This is what we ended up with.  Really ugly (shhhh don't tell them I said that, they thought they were beautiful!) CAKE POPS!  

BUT, they were pretty yummy.  And they had a blast. Try at your own risk.

Flower Power

So this was actually a couple weeks ago now, but the pictures were so precious I had to share.  We did what I do every spring... I get this deep craving to go get flowers.  I even talked about this in a worship day last year - and Daniel will not let me forget it.  I always want to go get all these plants because I actually like planting them (mostly) and I love how they make me feel at first... but I don't cultivate them.  Well, that and it gets 110 degrees here and I finally say Oh forget it, it's all gonna die anyway.  ;)  But that's a whole other much deeper blog.

So the kids got in on the flowers this year.   They had fun picking them out.  They thought that was just the greatest - especially Ryder at Home Depot...

Then planting them and watering them has been a whole new level of fun!  :)  While Ryder was really helpful digging the plants up from the roots (!) Paisley was very content transferring the dirt from pot to pot.  She was so sweet.  I just love these pictures because they show several faces of her sweet little personality that is developing these days.  

His favorite thing is really just the water hose!  

Ryder turns 3!!! (Part 2 - the PARTY!)

So our sweet little Ryder turned 3 this weekend.  How could that be???  We had a Cowboy Party (all the decor and stuff in the previous blog!!!).  He has been SO excited for the party for weeks!  Every day he would ask if today was the party!  He watched me make all the stuff and just kept coming up with funny things he wanted at his party - like tents, the $3000 playscape at Costco, a swimming pool, specific people, a horse, etc.  And then he would be so sweet and say, "Mommy, do you think I can have a cupcake at my party?"  :)  

So it was finally party day!  Mimi & Poppy came in Friday night to help get ready and Grammy, Grandpa, Aunt Rachel & Aunt Sarah came in Saturday morning.  AND Nana and Grandma even made the trip to celebrate.  It was so fun to have the party at home and let all of our friends and family meet!  And my awesome friend, Melisa Urban who has taken so many great pics of the kids came and took pics for me, which was so great! 

Ryder was out front with me when Ellie (Ewwie) his girlfriend arrived!  It was straight out of a movie.  They ran across the yard to each other...

And met with a big embrace!!!  Could they be any cuter???!!!!

Hats off.  Boots soon followed.  Time to play!

Bounce time!

Ryder & Karter bouncing!

 Sebastian

 Sweet Haddon checking it all out

 And Addi.

 Grammy watching the kids!

 Sweet lil sissy!

 My precious Grandma.

Gabriella.  She is just darling!

Brooklyn striking a pose!

 Aunt Sarah get her cowboy stache on!

 Pausing to take a deep breath!

Kristin & Ashley

 The dads.

And... the WANTED SIGN.  I had this idea and my amazing husband went beyond any expectations and built this out of old wood and torched these letters in!  He is amazing.
 WANTED.

The Mr. & The Mrs.

 Paisley & Ryder

 

 Sebastian & Gabriella

 

 Ellie & Brooklyn

 

 Rachel & Sarah

 

 Gracie & Christy

 

 Finley & Brynlee

 

 Karter & Provi

 

 The Daddy & The Daughter

 

Pinata time!!!

 These girls have brothers!  Can you tell?!?

Paisley wanted a turn!

 The pinata just would not break.  All the kids took a couple turns at it, so finally I stepped in...

 Cupcake time!   

Phillip & Baby Elle

 

 PRESENTS!

I still find this to be the most stressful time for moms at littles' b-day parties!  Ahhh.  Mass Chaos...

 The great-grandmothers watching.

 Beautiful Jennifer and Baby Serena

One last present.  A water & sand table from Mimi & Poppy!

time to say good bye.  getting favors...

While everyone was leaving Paisley decided to go for some seconds.  She went outside climbed up in this chair and started eating people's leftover desserts!!!  This is how they found her.  Happy as can be!

It was a great party and we were again, SO blessed by all of our sweet family & friends who love our kiddos so much to come hang out and celebrate with us.  Ryder had a blast.  Thanks to everyone!!!

After everyone left we were wiped out.  We put on Toy Story and they laid down.  I went to get a shower and came back to find this at 7pm...

 HAPPY TRAILS! :)