Birthday Bonanza

This past weekend was Jackson's buddy, Caleb's, 7th birthday.  Since they are good friends, J celebrated with him all weekend long.  The fun began on Friday night with a sleepover at Caleb's house.  This wasn't just any sleepover, either.  They ordered pizza, had a gaming truck...

 

played on the tramp,

 

pretended they had the hops of Lebron,

 

went swimming and played with these cool water guns,

 

went down the slide...

 

and even...

 

did some sweet 360's off of the diving board. 

 

 

After all that goofing around, I guess it was time to relax in the hot tub!

 

Their super-fun night ended with a movie and popcorn.  Apparently our son was so excited about all of the activities that he forgot to eat.  No worries--popcorn and cupcakes were all he needed, he said:)

 

Two days later was Caleb's big bash.  As in, 10 inflatable bounce houses, obstacle courses, etc. kind of bash.  It was so crazy!

 

 

 

They had this wild contraption, which was just like they were on the show Wipe Out.

As if that weren't enough, the Mavs mascots showed up, too! 

I was shocked that Jackson and Caleb wanted to stop for lunch, but they scarfed down their hot dogs and ran off again.

We had to leave a little early, so we didn't get to have cake, but we did get to admire them.  There were 4 stadiums!  All made out of cake!

There were even cake balls in the stands!

J shot a few more hoops...

Cameron and dad got to meet Champ...

and then Mavs man came over and asked to hold her!  She was totally fine with it, too.  Ha!
Go Mavs!

Photo Credit: Matt Gomez of Focused on Fun Photography.  Caleb's mom hired him to document all of the events and he got some great shots!

Family Ties

I'm the first to say that our life is totally crazy these days!   It's moments like these, though, that help keep me sane.  And a glass of vino doesn't hurt, either.

 

Jackson was so excited when Lila agreed to baseball lessons the other night.  It was really cute--he was so proud of her!

J had a sleepover at a friend's house on Friday night, so we invited Maddie over for a little party of our own.  She brought her new doll and all three girls wore their matching pj's.  Love it.

 

Saturday afternoon our family from Connecticut came to watch the Cubs win big.  So fun to share a little piece of our life with them!

Lila had never met her cousin Ana.  She was very intrigued by her name.  She asked me, "Ana?  Like Ana and Elsa?!"

As much fun as we had all day--cheering on Maddie at soccer, lunch at Spring Creek BBQ with the fam and then hollering for Jackson at his baseball game, we were READY for some time to relax!  We ate at Trinity Groves just south of downtown and enjoyed time with friends so much:)



These three all played together so well on Sunday morning.

They tried to teach Cami about her toys, most of which we have had since Jackson was her size.

Sunday afternoon we all went to see Beauty and the Beast!  It was fab-u-lous!

We rolled deep, too!  Most of the Hays crew was there, as well as Gigi, Maddie and Memaw's friend.  A great way to close out the weekend.  I'm so thankful for all of our family.

 

Memories

Just so I don't forget...here are some fun things that Lila did and said today.

 

Are you ready for this?  She can read!!  Yes.  As in whole sentences.  She correctly sounded out and read "The cat sat on the rat" and "Gus had a big ham" on the Reading Raven app we have on our ipad.  Then she moved right on to the next sentence.  I am BEYOND proud of this little girl.  I knew that age 4 was going to be exciting, and it is starting off with a bang!

Some other funny quotes by Lila:
"I hate that!  Oops!  I accidentally said the H word.  But I didn't say the F word...you know...Fuhh art (whispered). "And I didn't say the B word either.  "What's that?" I asked her, and she said, "buuuhhhtttt." Oh yes, we shouldn't say any of those words.  "No, we shouldn't," said my innocent little child.  Please keep her this sheltered forever!

Happy Easter

Easter Sunday rolled around and we were prepared!  First, the kids and I had fun making the super-sized Rice Krispy Easter Egg...

Note to self for next year: Do NOT buy pink lemonade icing just because it's pink.  Not the best tasting icing, to put it mildly!  Just get white icing and add some food coloring.  Rookie mistake.

Then, we made our annual bunny cake.  Every year I say I'm not going to do it.  We never need another dessert, but it's just too cute to pass up!  And it's only once every 365 days.

The sun dawned on Easter morning and we were so happy.  No rain!  It also marked our return to church.  All three kids were in great moods (thank you Easter Bunny for some fun loot!) and ready to go hear about Jesus.

 

 

We had a little impromptu bunny photo shoot and I got all three to smile.  Love these kids!

This little three month old could tell there was something special about the day.

I decided to go with a comfy turquoise outfit instead of a dress.  I think she appreciated it.  I was so happy that the headband I ordered online matched perfectly:)

We took all four kids into the service with us and they did great. 

We had Babe's for lunch and then broke out both of our fab desserts.  Ha!  They probably looked a little better than they tasted, but the kids didn't mind:)



I was so thankful that Cameron let Meme hold her for a while.  She was so good all day about that!  I think we may have turned a corner.

We snapped one fam picture and then it was time for the hunt!

These three changed into their egg hunting clothes, grabbed their baskets and were ready to go.

Jared did the countdown for them and gave the girls a little head start. 

I'm not sure anyone needed a head start.  This girl was fast!

Jackson found a gold mine and scooped up six in a row...



while Lila found some hiding up in the fort.

Cami was content to watch the mayhem from the safety of Gigi's lap!

After one last look around, Lila found a lone egg sitting on the top of the rocks.  Boom Pa made sure she didn't take an unnecessary dip in the pool while trying to get it.

Great success!  They all got plenty of eggs!

These eggs were full of goodies--chocolate, candy and money, too.  All that racing around really paid off!

Meme said she was very impressed with their hunting skills. 

 

A few hours later, we were at Memaw and Poppi's house for our next Easter celebration.

Once again, the kids listened to Jared tell them the rules--3 spins for Lila, 4 spins for Maddie, 5 spins for Jackson--then they could hunt the eggs.  Ready...set...

go!  Lila's nap really came in handy.  She was fired up about this hunt.

Maddie was tired, but she didn't let that slow her down one bit.

Go, go, go!  Get more candy!!  Flash Gordon and Lightning McQueen were fast and furiously hunting for those brightly colored eggs.

Once again, sweet baby girl was watching her big brother and sister, this time from the comfort of Aunt Lyndsie's arms.

They did it again--tons of eggs!

Silly pic:)

The confetti eggs were by far Jackson's favorite.  He got Uncle Andrew first, but very quickly got Poppi, Uncle Scott and both Aunts.

We had such a nice dinner outside.  It started to rain about halfway through the meal, so we just picked up our tables and chairs and moved them underneath the patio.  It was so relaxing to eat and watch it sprinkle outside. 

Thanks, family, for a very nice Easter Sunday. 
He is risen!  So thankful we got to celebrate that with all of you.

Happy Easter!