Easter!

I had to take a picture of Grace with her dress and doll's dress that my mom made for her birthday.  My mom has made it something of a tradition to sew for her granddaughters on their birthdays, which I just LOVE.  

True confession:  Now that the kids are getting older, I have a hard time getting them to cooperate for Easter pictures out in the yard before church.  And then I get frustrated and grouchy because I should have a better attitude.  And then I am thankful for Jesus' forgiveness on a day that is all about the forgiveness that I don't deserve, but accept with gratitude!  All the pictures at home this year were duds.

But, I got some fun ones at church after church.  They'll work.  Here they are!

Grace's Dolphin Party

Grace had a fun party with school friends this year.  She invited all the girls from her class, and she wanted to invite four of the boys, two, so we ended up having 12 kids here for her party.  It was a little crazy with all those bouncy boys, but we had a lot of fun.  We did some coloring, watched Dolphin Tale, and had cupcakes and gifts.  I realized that I don't have permission from the kids' parents to post their pictures here, so just take my word for it that they had fun.  Oh, and we had the kids wear pajamas and bring a stuffed animal for snuggling during the movie.  Some sat through the movie better than others, which was a surprise to us...but it was a fun time for the kiddos.

I love that we can do party activities outside!  We had some kids outside and some kids inside for coloring and eating.  The windows were open, so everyone was part of the same big group.  I had a couple of moms hang around, so they sat out in the wine barrel chairs for most of the time.

Oh, and we had dolphin temporary tattoos...

And famous Doreen cookies in the shape of dolphins and Grace's name and age.

Here we are at gift time...but the rest of the pics have other people's kids in them!

It was a crazy fun time.  Have I mentioned that I'm thankful her birthday is not in December?

More from March, Including Benjamin on a Two-Wheeler

The dolls are enjoying their new table, and Kit loves her new scooter.  Who wouldn't?

I can't remember why I took these pictures...except that Grace is cute and her room is actually clean!

This is a play-doh snowman.

This is a bank, by the way, complete with ATMs.

We like eating outside when the weather is nice!

Jonathan was Benjamin Franklin for his school's Walk through the Revolution day.  I made his had and covered his Crocs with felt.  He borrowed a friend's blouse (and I pinned lace to it) and fencing pants, and that's my blazer.  I'm glad I hadn't donated it yet.  He looks pretty great, in my opinion!

We like the Apples to Apples freestyle game.  Here's a little birdie that Benjamin drew.

The kids were excited for an Easter surprise from their grandpa!

Once in awhile I let a kiddo borrow my phone to send a message to Jeff.

And, the big news is that my baby rides a two-wheeler!  When we got around to it, Jeff took the pedals off of his bike to teach him to balance, and then when he had the hang of that, Jeff put the pedals back on...and he rode away on his first try!  I wish I had had that method when I was a struggling little bike rider!  It was amazing to see...but sad, too.  I tried not to think about this being the last time we'd launch one of our babies on a two-wheeler.  We sure were proud.

Oh, and Jeff is making a tradition of taking each of the three kids out to breakfast before church, one at a time, once a month.  They love it!

Divide and Conquer: A Trip to the AG Store, and a Trip to See Birds of Prey

Corinne and I had been planning to take Grace and Charlotte to the AG store to have a special meal to celebrate their birthdays.  It's fun that these two cousins have birthdays just a couple of years apart and two or three weeks apart on the calendar.  Here are the pictures from our trip.

Charlotte had been planning to have salon experience for her doll, and Grace and I had not.  I didn't hear this part, but apparently Grace was very sad about this while she watched Charlotte's doll.  The gal on the left was SO sweet to her and had her colleague do a simple style for Kit's hair (for free,) and both dolls got nail polish stickers, also for free.  (Jamberry for dolls!)  It was a very sweet gesture, and both of us mamas really appreciated it.

Here we are at lunch.  The girls and their dolls really enjoyed this time.  Now, Corinne and I didn't really enjoy it because the service was super slow and pretty terrible, and we nearly had to beg for birthday cupcakes for the girls.  But we were tactful and our daughters were oblivious to the problems.  If this had been my first time at the AG bistro, I would probably never return.  The employees in the rest of the store were wonderful, though, so all was not lost!

And these girls are so cute and really enjoyed their time.

Grace's birthday had already passed, so Corinne and Charlotte brought her gift.  She was thrilled with it...

A table and chairs for her dolls!  The perfect gift, and it has gotten lots of play already!

We stopped by the Lego store on the way home because Charlotte had never been to one.  Of course, Grace has been countless times.

I think we wore them out.  It was a fun day for the birthday girls and their moms!

Jeff saved the day - for the girls - by doing some fun things with the boys.  He took them to the local wildlife sanctuary and to the band festival that Jonathan needed to attend.  They had a great day, too!