Easter Best

I loved Abby and Landon's Easter outfits this year. They both looked adorable!!

Landon doing his very best "GQ" look...

Abby, beautiful as always...

The best thing about Easter is seeing it all through the eyes of children. Abby and Landon had such a fun time celebrating Easter this year which means Jason and I did too. We sure do love these little munchkins!!

Finding Eggs

After finding eggs at home, we headed over to an egg hunt put on by the local recreation department. The original hunt had been scheduled for last week but was rescheduled for Saturday due to rain and flooding. The skies were overcast that morning, but the temperature was actually really nice for "hunting." They had set up numerous fields and marked them off for the different ages (0-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10.) This was actually a great idea and helped so that the older kids didn't take off with all the loot. I stayed with Landon at the 0-2 field and Jason joined Abby in the 5-6 field.

Landon made an early friend before the hunt began...

On your mark, get set, GO!!!

There were eggs everywhere and both Abby and Landon ended up with very full baskets. We emptied out the eggs to recycle them for next year and the kids have been devouring their mounds of candy ever since!

The hunt is on!

On Saturday morning, the kids made quick work of finding their Easter baskets filled with goodies from the Easter bunny and then searched the house high and low looking for candy-filled eggs.

They each filled their baskets with some yummy candy and then spent the rest of the weekend on a super-sugar-high!!

"Dye-ing" to do it!

We started our Easter festivities on Friday night by dying Easter eggs. Both Abby and Landon really enjoying this tradition and were amazed to see all the brightly colored eggs that they created.

The final product!!! Jason hid these eggs the next day outside and the kids enjoyed finding them and then eating them via some yummy egg salad!!

Spring is here...Maybe?!?!?

We have officially entered spring now, but we're never quite sure what the weather will be like each day. It can be warm and sunny one day and stormy and cold the next. We've tried to take advantage of those nice days by playing outside as much as possible. Abby and Landon both love playing in the backyard and it's fun to watch them use their imagination with our little fort and swing-set.

Abby has gotten really good at using her own "pumping abilities" to get her swing going pretty high!!

Winter is definitely my least favorite season, but I'll take it so that I can thoroughly enjoy Spring, Summer and Fall!!

Artists at work

Grandma endeared these two to her by buying them each a coloring book and a HUGE box of crayons to share. I think my mom was a bit disappointed with our meager crayon supply so she took matters into her own hands and bought them the biggest crayon set she could find. (Note: It's hard to keep our crayon supply going when kids like to snap them in half and our dog likes to chew them to bits...just sayin'!)

Abby and Landon have spent hours drawing and coloring in their new books. Thanks Grandma for the fun entertainment!!

Fabulous Foursome!

We got to meet little Miss Reygan for the first time when she was about 10 days old. Both Abby and Landon were quite enamored with her and have been talking a lot about having our own little baby soon. It will be fun to see how they respond to our own little bundle of joy who will be arriving here in about two more months!!

(Please excuse the devilish look in Abby's eyes in these pictures. Something exciting must have been occurring off screen!)

Beauty Queen

Abby loves all thing "girly" which definitely includes make-up. I am certainly not ready for my five-year-old to have any of the real stuff quite yet, but she makes do with what she can find around the house. I would put money on the fact that she will probably learn how to do her own make-up perfectly when the time comes, and will far surpass the meager abilities of her mom (just like she has already accomplished when it comes to wearing high-heels.) This little girl is sooooo different from me in many ways, but she sure is fun to watch!

A Talented Duo

While Grandma was visiting, the kids really wanted to put on a concert for her. A few weeks ago we attended a fireside put on by Jenny Oaks Baker and her family. Ever since this fireside, Abby and Landon have been obsessed with performing concerts of their own, complete with song, violin, and piano performances. They both love "playing" their violins (the amount of screeching involved however usually makes us cut this part pretty short!)


Then we get to witness my favorite part...both kids singing together. They do a pretty awesome rendition of "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" and it totally melts my heart every time!

Abby and Landon both seem to take after Jason when it comes to their musical abilities. Thank goodness for that!!

Family Pics

I think that these are the first "family" pictures that we have had taken of all of us together since Christmas. And without my mom in town, they very well may be the last pictures of our little family of four!

When did these two little munchkins get so big????

Grandma Comes to Town!

My mom was able to come out to Maryland/Virginia over the last few weeks and we were lucky enough to be able to have her out to visit our new home. The kids loved being spoiled by their Grandma and all the extra attention that they received while she was here. My mom is doing really well and recovering from the cancer and radiation/chemotherapy treatments that she has endured over the last year. It was fun to be able to show off our new neighborhood and my growing belly!

Of course no trip would be complete without Grandma Julie taking a bazillion pictures. I'll be posting some of these over the next few days...

Of course the main reason for my mom's visit was due to the arrival of the newest addition to our extended family...

Tasha, Jeff and Coldon welcomed Reygan Alaesha into their little family on Saturday, March 26th. My sister had a c-section scheduled for March 29th (Reygan was breech, just like her big brother!) but Reygan decided to come on her own terms when Tasha' water broke early Saturday morning and the c-section was done a few days early!! Both mom and baby are doing terrific and we are excited about our newest cousin/niece!

National Zoo...Then and Now

Here is Landon on his first trip to the National Zoo. He was about 3 weeks old and completely hidden behind the Baby Bjorn and a nursing cover! Can you believe how little Abby is though?!?!

And here is Landon at our visit two weeks ago. Now he prefers exploring to napping, but it's probably the same cow in the background.

My how things have changed!!

28 Weeks

28 weeks down...12 to go!!

I'm still feeling really good and I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by. Third trimester already....wowzers!!

I've also restarted by fitness blog after a three-month break. Check it out here!

Zoo People

Two weeks ago, on an abnormally warm day, we ventured down to Washington D.C. to explore the National Zoo. We were able to find some free parking, of course the zoo was free (I LOVE this about D.C.!) and we packed our own lunches so it was a pretty inexpensive and fun way to spend the day.

Despite the incredibly nice weather, the zoo wasn't very crowded either, which made it even better for all of us. Abby chose to ride in the stroller most of the time but Landon was very happy to wander the zoo on foot for the majority of the time that we were there. We realized we need to get Abby's "walking legs" back up to par after their long winter's nap!

Landon's favorite part was this tiger. There was obviously something smelling really good inside that door so the tiger would wander down there and then jump up on his hind legs and try to scratch his way through those little windows. Landon thought this was hilarious and kept saying the tiger was playing "hide and go seek" with us!

We also saw the new lion cubs that were born this year. They were all huddled around their mommy while daddy kept a protective watch out in front (or just took a nap as the case was that day!)

The elephants are always a favorite...

But we found these little animals to be quite cute and entertaining!

My favorite is always the panda bear and today we got to see him playing with this green crate. I'm guessing it probably had food in it at one time because he sure was fascinated by it!!

The cutest caged animal had to be this one though...

(There are definitely days when I wish we had a contraption like this one in order to contain this little boy's energy!)