Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  We had a wonderful, meaningful, and fun Easter weekend filled with great church and family activities.  Our weekend actually began on Thursday with the Maundy Thursday service.  This is my favorite service of the year because it involves children, youth, and adults.  It includes traditional and contemporary music.  And, I get to sit with my entire family instead of us all being at different places in church. 

Saturday our friends came with us to the Eggstravaganza at church. The kids had lots of fun enjoying the secular silliness of Easter.  I think the favorite thing for them was the Easter egg hunt because Easter definitely includes candy.  Drew and I also gave the kids their baskets on Saturday.  Sunday is so crazy that there is no enjoyment in giving the baskets and the kids can't enjoy them. I think this is one of my smartest mom decisions ever!

Everyone was happy with their candy, books, and random other fun things!

My "basket" from Drew which I absolutely loved!

Sunday we had a lovely service at church followed by a butterfly release.  The symbolism of new life is easy for everyone to understand.  Having butterflies sit on your hand is also pretty cool!

In addition to all the Easter activities was baseball.  The kids and I went Friday night.  Some of us went on Saturday afternoon.  And we all went on Sunday after church.  For the second year in a row Rice has played at home on Easter weekend so we had our Easter meal picnic style. 

They participated in an egg hunt after the game!

Our Easter picnic

He caught a Rice home run ball

One of the reasons we started following Rice baseball and going to the games is because Drew went to school there.  For all the time we spend at games we have never taken the kids on the campus to see where Drew went to classes.  So, after Sunday's game we toured the campus and the kids loved it.  It was fun for Drew to share his experiences with the kids and I think they were really excited to see where their daddy went to school.  They also thought it was pretty funny that it was the third college that Drew attended (lots of letters after his name)!

Our weekend was not filled with much besides being together, watching Rice win baseball games, and rejoicing in our Risen Savior.  It was a wonderful break in the craziness of our daily life.  I am so thankful for these beautiful, crazy kiddos and Drew. 

The best of the rest of February

So this is what I didn't take the time to blog about in February.  Life is just a little crazy at times with baseball, gymnastics, instruments, running, and birthdays.  It was a crazy busy month!

The Kindergartners at Haude dressed up for the 100th day of school.  Elena was just precious!

It has starting being warm consistently and Samuel thought it was time to get a tan.  I really think he was nuts because on that very same day I was wearing a sweatshirt as you can see in the picture of me and Drew.

The very next Monday it was cold and Samuel had to wear a sweatshirt to baseball camp.

It was decade day at school.  The boys agreed to dress in cool 50's style, but Elena refused anything fun that day.  I think they made very handsome 50's dudes.

Ranger loves stuffed animals and shoes.  This is actually a dog toy and it is the only one he hasn't destroyed within the hour.  It is actually still in one piece and he still likes to cuddle with it.  

For the first time in I don't know how long we had off for President's Day.  We had planned to go to the Zoo, but the weather was not very nice.  Instead we went antiquing at two different places.   It was a group decision and we had lots of fun.  It is hilarious to me how they react to some of the "antiques".  Then we went to the park because the sun started to shine.

My girlfriends took me to lunch for my birthday.  It is tradition and it was so much fun.   My birthday was on a Thursday.  A middle of the week birthday for a parent means not much  birthday fun. So, we celebrated my birthday on Sunday at Reckling Park with a Rice victory and a nice dinner after the game.  It was a relaxing day and I had the best grapefruit beer to top off a fun weekend and birthday!

Loves his condiments

The last Friday in February was Go Texan Day.  It is rodeo season here and that is serious business in Houston.  Having lived here forever now we are all in for the rodeo especially Samuel.  That boy!  For the two weeks prior to Go Texan Day the kids spend PE time learning various dances.  Each grade was a little different and it was so fun to watch.  Drew took the day of work so he could see each kiddo dance with their classes. I'm telling you....serious business!

He would rather be in the gym

A cowboy in the making

Emma and I volunteered at an event that collected items for Camp Hope which is a facility helping soldiers who suffer from PTSD.  It was an emotional morning and time well spent helping those men.

Finally, we celebrated Jonah who earned a regional qualifying AA score at his meet.  It is a little crazy, but fun and exciting for Jonah.  He spends 16+ hours a week at the gym so to achieve such a honor made him so very happy.   He has to qualify again at the state meet in three weeks.  Here's hoping it happens again!  These are some fun action shots from his meet!

 

For all that Jonah doesn't do well yet, the boy can tumble!

And my favorite because it is so Jonah....