Easter 2012

We celebrated Easter with our usual crowd in the usual way. Just hanging out and enjoying everyone's company. Here are my kids posing before church. Lady bought Kathryn a new purse that she has carried around everywhere since Easter.

We had plenty of eggs to go around.
The three kids who were old enough went on an Easter egg hunt in the yard.Kathryn missed out on the easy ones because she was having one of her defiant moments. We called her over to look for eggs and she wouldn't come because it was at our request. That goes on several times a day.
She found one before Nathan! That wasn't an easy thing to do.
This is how Allison enjoyed the egg hunt.
Once Jessica realized the eggs were full of candy she began opening each one immediately as she found it and eating the candy. She got mad when she found one with money in it.
Nathan and Kathryn were rich with eggs.Kathryn made the mistake of showing Jessica one of her eggs.
Then Jessica found the Easter egg jackpot when she saw Kathryn's basket. Not only did she find a bunch of candy, but she was able to upset Kathryn in the process.

Adorable.
Mace had a happy Easter too.
After the egg hunt the kids hung out on the front porch and ate popsicles.
And they played in the new yard. We feel like high class now that we have grass. Laura blew bubbles for the kids' entertainment. The funny thing about this picture is Jessica in the background stealing Kathryn's favorite purse and wallet while Kathryn was distracted by bubbles.
I'm not sure if Jessica likes this tricycle because it's cool or only because it's Kathryn's.
Jessica squeezes as many hugs as possible into her visits with Nathan. When her daddy asked for a hug she pushed him away and turned back to Nathan and continued hugging him.

Kathryn doesn't understand them.
Worn out from the big Easter celebration.

Kathryn wouldn't let Lady out of her sight so she ended up going to church with her Friday night. She came home explaining everything about the Good Friday service. It got dark and the Bible slammed and made a loud noise. Then she goes on to explain the stain on the couch where Nate got a bloody nose.

This is her face of disgust. She holds it exactly like that and waits for everyone to see before she moves on. It's so fake it's funny.
Another Kathryn face.
I'm happy to say our bath game of tic-toc has dissolved and we've moved on to playing "Baby Allison." I carry them around in the towel like Aunt Lexi carries Allison around in her carrier.
I was demonstrating the game for Aunt Lexi.

5th Birthday Bash 2

Nathan made it clear that he did not want to have a friend party (even though for almost a year he was planning for a huge friend birthday bash). He changed his mind at the last minute. I decided to go along with what he wanted because it was way easier and cheaper. He only wanted to have family at his party because he said he likes his family the best. So sweet. It was the usual party crowd, Paw-Paw, Lady, Mace, JAJA, and Laura.
I made Nate's favorite meal at the moment. Tacos like Taco Bell. Loaded with nothing but ground beef (not Taco Bell quality) then wrapped up in aluminum foil to make the shell "bendy." Everyone else got a full Mexican meal.

I love how Mace positions himself in all the right spots.

My sweet baby.
Blowing out 5 candles. I can't believe it!
Storm trooper mask.
Another blaster.
A telescope.
More Lego sets.
Darth Vader mask.
This is how we see Nate most of the time now.

5th Birthday Bash 1

Nothing about our life or schedule is normal, so of course, Nate celebrated his birthday on multiple occasions. Steve left for Qatar the day after Nate's birthday so we let him open his presents from us a week early so that Steve could play with the new Star Wars stuff with Nate. I'm not sure if that was more for Steve or Nate.
Yay for me! Nate got lots and lots of big Lego sets for his birthday. Not only did I get to build them, but I also get to rebuild them as they break, step on loose pieces around the house, vacuum them up and dig them out of the vacuum.
Some people stopped by our house and mentioned they liked our Star Wars decor. Seriously, we have Star Wars junk all over the downstairs.
This is from birthday bash #1 with Mommy and Daddy. More to come.

Happy Birthday Bayba-Bayba!

Cavemen

Paw-Paw and Nathan visited their first national park together way back in 2008 when Nate was only 9 months old. A lot has changed since then, but a lot has stayed the same. Nathan has grown up a lot, but Paw-Paw continues to be wrapped around those little fingers.

Here they are at the Grand Canyon.

Visiting the Great Smoky Mountains in 2009.

Freezing in the Badlands in 2010.
Hanging out at Congaree National Park in 2011.
Exploring Mammoth Cave in 2012.

Nate being his silly self.
Waiting for the bus to take them to the cave.
Headed towards his cave adventure.
When Nate found out about this trip he was initially a little worried about bears in the cave.
We're glad he returned with a no bears report.

One of Nate's favorite parts of traveling is hanging out in the hotel room.
Those straws are either guns or light sabers.
After their cave trip they stopped in Chattanooga for a night. That's where Lady and Kate met them for a day of adventure.
We drove past the sign painted on the roof of a barn for Rock City every single day of our life growing up, but never went. Now Nate and Kate have been.
Jumping off of everything in sight.
Crazy little monkeys swinging on everything.
Fashionable as ever in her homemade tie-dyed shirt.

There you have it. That was Nate and Kate's adventure over spring break this year. I wonder where next year's national park is going to be...