Easter/Miles' Birthday!

Easter Sunday was extra special this year because we got to celebrate Miles' First birthday as well. We love Easter so much and the celebration of our Savior. There is nothing more that gives me a tiny glimpse of the Love of our Heavenly Father than being a mother. So it was fun to celebrate the life of Jesus Christ as well as surviving a year of motherhood with two kids, no matter how small it seems in comparison. 

We got to spend the Friday before Easter as a Family and decorating Eggs. So much fun. I think I say this every holiday, but I love seeing how much more involved my kids are each year with our traditions. Charlie had been looking forward to this for weeks and would often ask if it was the day to color eggs. 

The remnants of our week old tulips. 

I think it's become a tradition that Max and Charlie cover their faces in the little Easter stickers that come in the dye kits.

On Sunday Morning, Easter Morning. We woke up to the sound of Charlie playing in the hall with all the balloons we had prepared to throw in Miles' crib when he woke up. Charlie was pretty excited when I told him the plan for the balloons


While Charlie waited in our bed we watched a couple videos about Easter. They are beautifully done videos and if you haven't seen them (even if you have) you should watch them! I love that Charlie is starting to understand Jesus Christ and his love for us.

After watching the videos, we waited impatiently to hear the slightest peep from Miles' room so we could bombard him with balloons. Eventually he woke up and we made our move. He seemed a little confused at first but then thought it was so fun!

So much joy!

 He now has a bunch of balloons in his room that we keep throwing in his crib when he wakes up in the morning and from naps. On one occasion when I went in his room to get him he pointed in the air and said "baloo" requesting that we fill his cribs with balloons.

After a bunch of balloon fun the boys got to go downstairs to check out their Easter Baskets. And they actually had baskets, not mixing bowls like last year. The baskets were so simple but completely loved by both boys. The slinkies and light up balls from the dollar section at Target are winners among my boys.

 Oh yeah, and they got matching shorts which neither of them were that excited about.

Miles found one egg and threw it so Charlie went on a hunt for the rest of the eggs and did great. Those hide and seek games are paying off. 

We then had a yummy breakfast of Puff pancakes and strawberries. And Miles got to try cow milk for the first time. He really wasn't that big of a fan, which disappointed me a bit because I'm ready to wean him from nursing.

We then spent the day at home and listened to the General Conference message. It was enjoyable to have a home day as a family. During Conference Miles got to open some gifts. Charlie helped me pick them out and wrap them so he was so excited and had a hard time letting Miles open the presents or play with them.

 After the last session of conference, we got ready to head out the door and go celebrate Easter more at my Red Grandma's house. While we were all ready and waiting for Max to be ready (haha!) we went to play in our much overgrown lawn.  He had his first experience with wishies!

We got there and Charlie promptly ran into the sliding glass door in his excitement to go play with his cousins outside. So many cousins and second cousins were able to come so there were tons of kids that made it so fun. 

We are always so happy when James and Elizabeth come down with their kids! 

 

Aaron showed off his tattoos

And Timmy showed off his missing tooth. 

And Everett showed off his tongue

After a dinner break we got ready to go back outside for an Easter Egg hunt. James was the security guard, holding the masses of children in. 

And then they were released!

Oh my this kids was happy!

 There were lots of low eggs for the younger kids to find, Everett and Miles were able to find tons!

Miles loved shaking the eggs and then throwing them, then they would roll down the hill away from him and he would try to get it and roll down the hill as well.

"Saved it Mom!"

Then there was a lot more backyard play time!

When it started to get cold we went inside for some cupcakes! Miles' faces were priceless!

Charlie had to help him blow his candle out.  

Powdered Sugar Mustache

And he loved his cupcake!

It was so much fun to celebrate so much goodness in our life with family! I'll save Miles' stats and development for another post.

Fooled Me

I've never been a big fan of April Fool's Day. I don't like playing practical jokes ( I can't ever keep a straight face) and I hate jokes being played on me. That being said we've never done anything for April Fools. I know there are fun and harmless things you can do with kids I just haven't gotten that creative yet. Someday maybe. So this particular April fools day we stayed home all day because I was deep cleaning the carseats (which is relevant later in this blog post.) On this day both boys inadvertently played a mean joke on me. We decided to make it a massive cleaning day. While changing the sheets and adding the clean mattress cover that we had been meaning to put on our bed for weeks, Miles decided to dump a bunch of massage oil on our clean mattress cover. Boo. At least it smells good. Later in the day, The fabric from our carseats was finally dry enough to put back on our carseats just in time to leave for roller skating. The boys helped me put the clean carseats back together. (Oh yeah I should mention I decided to deep clean the carseats after Charlie peed on his during our road trip last weekend.) So we get the beautiful pristine carseats all put together and of course the boys wanted to play in them because nothing is better than playing in carseats in the middle of your living room. Anyway, Charlie buckled himself in his and then realized he had to go to the bathroom sooner than we could get the buckles undone and he peed in it again!! DId I mention that cleaning the car seats was an all day endeavor? I guess I just wont do any more cleaning days. Oh yeah, and both boys ended up bleeding from their face at some point in the day. And you wonder why I dislike April Fools day!

The day got better when we got to go Roller Skating with the Dickinson Family which is a family we grew up with and fairly often in our youth they would rent out a roller skating rink for their family and friends. (There are 13 kids in their family, 2 of which are mine and Max's ages) Anyway, a bunch of the kids were in town and there are tons of grandkids now so they put together this excellent party.

Hokey Pokey

I love that they have these fun cars now, Charlie had so much fun!

It's been awhile since Charlie last skated so it was time to see if he had improved.

Max was teaching him to put his hands out to be ready in case he fell down. I just laughed each time he did this though because he looked lie a little raptor boy.

I told Max to take a picture of me so it could be documented that I skated with Miles, and this is the ONE picture he took....and it looks like I'm running over my first born! (I wasn't by the way)

There were hockey games and trains.  

There was also a pizza dinner. These Dickinsons know how to party!


And this young lady became Charlie's new best friend. He chased her for a long time and she kindly held his hand while he ran.

It was a fun evening with excellent old friends, and somehow we didn't get pictures with them. Thank you to the Dickinson family! Charlie has asked to go back every single day since.

Prineville Move

Last weekend was the big move for Max's parents from Tigard to Prineville. Max was in charge of driving the large moving truck so I tagged a long in our car so Max would have a way to get back home and my boys could spend time with cousins. Max's parents bought the house across the street from Brent and Lisa and will get to enjoy some small town livin' for awhile.  The drive was going pretty slow until I realized that I didn't need to be with the caravan and decided to go ahead so the boys didn't need to be in the car longer than needed. We ended up getting there around the same time anyway thanks to Charlie's pee breaks.

I ended up staying with the kids most of the time over at Brent and Lisa's house while all the hard work was being done across the street. It was constantly busy but My boys sure loves the time with the cousins. Charlie got to play Mitchel's drums. Definitely a highlight for him.

We spent the night so we could help get Max's parents settled in as much as possible. We had a rough night with Miles not very thrilled to sleep in his pack n play. Luckily Charlie slept through all of Miles screams, even Max slept through a lot of them. On Sunday morning we attended Max's parent's new ward. Everyone was so kind and welcoming. I went to primary with Charlie since I am his part time Sunbeam teacher anyway. We had a lot of fun despite Charlie yelling out "I don't love my new Friends."  I had told him he was going to meet new friends in his sunbeam class.

After church we went back to Brent and Lisa's house for a delicious lunch. Miles slept in the car and Charlie played with cousins and their excellent assortment of riding toys.

Cousin Mitch really is the best.

Nice one Bray!

And that's Grandma and Grandpa's new house.

My little cheeseball was a big fan of August's bike.

Lunchtime

More biking.

This boy had a great nap!

Charlie kept asking to go on the trampoline and I didn't want him to if I was needing to hold Miles since I couldn't stay close to him. I finally gave in and thanks to his big cousins, he stayed pretty safe.

We had some dinner then packed up and hit the road. We all took turns driving because we were pretty tired. Thankfully Brent was with us and is a regular night time driver and saved the day for us. The boys only screamed a little (lot) on the way home. Charlie was so sad to leave his cousins and their amazing toys. I guess we will just need to go back and visit again soon, especially since Grandma and Grandpa live there now.  Let's just hope that baby sleeps better next time!