Easter(part I)

A few days before Easter, we drug out old newspaper and art smocks, we invited a couple of our bff's and let the kids dye eggs. We literally had a 5 yo, 4yo, 3 yo, 2yo and 1 yo. Pure craziness!!! Chary stayed in her highchair, mostly watching. She did get her hands on and break an egg here and there though.

Cady Grace had lots of fun. Check out that big smile!

The kids had a great time, some moments required concentration.

Other moments were so EXCITING, they just couldn't hide it!!!!

They were also very proud of their bright egg-creations.

And rightfully so, they did a super job

On Easter-eve the Easter Bunny paid a visit to our house. C and D have a visit tomorrow so we celebrated Easter one day early. It wouldn't have been the same without them. The bunny hid eggs in the yard and when the kids went out to do their hunt, he left their baskets in the house.

Hmmm, there is only one family member missing form this picture....any guesses on who played the bunny????

The kids were so excited about finding eggs. There was lots of oooing and ahhhing and even some screeching with excitement when a perfect egg was found

E.B. brought the kids new bikes for Easter this year. Ayla needed a 14 inch bike because her knees were up to the handle bars :0

D hasn't ever had a bike! Poor guy. He spent the majority of the day wearing his matching Buzz Light Year helmet, even when he was inside, goofy guy!

C got a little pink mini-sized tricycle along with her basket. Honestly though, she was so excited about the commotion and the CANDY that I never got a good picture of her on her trike! I'm sure there will be many to come...this is A and C at my mom and dad's neighborhood EEhunt Saturday afternoon.

Tomorrow we have church, an EEhunt at church and then home for naps. We celebrate Easter with our entire family. They'll all be coming to our house this year but sadly, C and D will miss it. Hopefully this is the last year for them to miss anything!

Saaawiiiing batttttta, battttta, batttta!!!!!

Ayla really wanted to play baseball this year, just like her bff, Caleb. She didn't love soccer last year so we decided to give baseball a shot. She's the only girl on her team and she thinks thats kinda cool. She's definitely the prettiest one on the field :) Her first game was tonight and she was excited to see that Papa and Gigi showed up to cheer her on! Dailon and Chary cheered for her "GO AYLA, GO!!" SO, so cute to see the love developing between the three of them, they really melt my heart!

Her team is coach pitch, they get 6 tries and then hit it off the tee if they need to. No strike outs for 4 and 5 year olds. The first time she batted, she had to use the tee. The 2nd time.....she hit it with a pitch from the coach!!!! We were so proud!

During the last 15-20 minutes, D and C played at the playground right behind the bleachers. They had LOTS of fun playing.

"GO AYLA, GO!!!!"

Sunny San Diego

Last week Darren, Ayla and I went to San Diego. Darren attended a conference and Ayla and I shopped, swam and played until he was done each day. It was a great time but was really, really hard to leave Dailon and Chary. Dailon was super scared about us leaving. He's been left FIVE times in the last 20 months and no one has ever come back for him. I promised that we would be back. He didn't believe me. So heartbreaking.

We made bags for each of the kids for everyday we were gone. They got a little love note from us and a couple little prizes(bubbles, cars, stickers, yogurt raisins, fun toothbrush etc). We talked to them everyday on Skype and the phone.

We had the BEST care ever lined up for them while we were gone. An old friend of mine is licensed for foster care but doesn't have a placement yet. She and her sweet little girl took our two in for the 5 days we were gone. She took amazing care of them and made it so much easier for us! Holly watched the kids during the time that Beth worked. I am so grateful for the people in our lives!!

The kids were THRILLED when we made it back and Dailon is still telling me daily "Mom, I'm so glad you came back!!". I love that little guy so much.

This was the view from our hotel room. And this was looking in the opposite direction. Ayla watching a show at Seaworld

The sea lions begging for some yummy fish!

Ayla petting a dolphin

Feeding the dolphins

Ayla drew a picture of her with Dailon and Chary...she missed them so much! (BTW, she is the peach one, the other two are brown, bwahahaha!!)

Sitting in the Queen's chair at the Old SPaghetti Factory

Room service breakfast

Our next vacay will definitely include ALL five us!