Our Easter. . .

I love Easter! Celebrating the resurrection of Christ is the foundation of Christianity. I am so thankful for the gift of the cross…Jesus defeated death and is alive! What a great day.

I realized as the kids came down stairs Easter morning that I forgot to pick out their pajamas the night before. So yes, they are a pish-posh potpourri of randomness.  Well, except Avery’s friend London. She looks all precious and junk making me feel even more like a slacker mom.

The Easter bunny brought all the kids a bible.  The plan was to keep them in the car so that we would not have to tear the house apart looking for them before church every week. As of now, none of them are in the car. Have I mentioned I am tired?

All my girls love lip gloss. Thank you Target’s “dollar spot”. Stuffing Easter baskets and Christmas stockings have never been so easy.

Jackson got a study bible. Half NIV and half Message.

Avery’s friend London has started going to church with us almost every week. Her parent’s are non-church goers but encourage her interest in Christianity and church. Since meeting Avery she has gotten her first bible and started asking to attend church with us. We have told her parent’s that she has a standing invitation to go with us each and every week. (How blessed are we to live in a country where we can freely make these decisions and worship Jesus without fear of being tortured or killed.)

My oldest and youngest baby.

Yep. I fed my children sugary Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast…and they LOVED it. Lol

Can you tell?

  Jackson took this picture of Brent and I about to leave for church.

Yes, Jackson is taller than me. Has been for about a year. Depressing, I know.

 

Love this next one of Brent with the girls in their Easter dresses. So sweet..

  After church we went over to Grandma and Papa’s for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt.

Avery Grace found the “golden” egg that had a $5 bill in it. Lucky girl!

Savannah and her cousin Chloe….

Here are the 6 youngest cousins (on Brent’s side) after the egg hunt. Jackson and Brayden are not pictured, but they are the ones that hid all the eggs for the little ones.

I hope all of you had as beautiful an Easter as we did!

Sweetness is. . .

A messy haired baby in a mama’s t-shirt first thing in the morning.

Wasn’t is just 3 short years ago that…..

Awwww, she was kinda chunky. . . Love her, love her, LOVE HER!!!!!

My sleeping brownies. . .

The rejects. . .

I have been asked the question, “How do you get all your kids to look at the camera and smile naturally when you take pictures?”

To that I smirk and chuckle.  The main thing my kids have learned when I go to take a picture is……I’m gonna get the shot. It may take 2 minutes or it may take an hour….but I AM gonna get it. They have slowly learned over the years that it is best just to suck it up, smile (or not…depending on how “fake” their smile is looking that day) and get it over with.

Another thing the kids have learned is to peer pressure each other into doing what I say. For instance, if Savannah is giving me a smile that makes her look constipated as she is in this photo here:

The other kids will harass the “slacker” to do it right… or else!!

This time Avery took the bull by the horns and tickled Nana to get her to smile more naturally.

WALA! Natural smile!

Of course, Avery is NEVER exempt from a little goofing off. Never. Ever.

But for the most part she wears her big sister “hat” well and keeps the other girls in line.

Jackson just wants to get it over with. He sat in the car with Lulu until it was time for the group shot and as soon as it was over retreated back to the car. Ha! I think he is still quite the trooper for entertaining me at all with pictures in flowers. That is one of the many things I love dearly about him.

This year my hardest to photograph was little miss thang (aka: Caroline).

She was in a bit of a bad mood and did not want to have her picture made. Of course that came across in her smile that looked almost painful in most of my shots.

When she was told for the 100th time to smile a more natural smile she got upset. This is quite a common occurrence for Caroline as she can turn the tears on and off with the best of them. She would be a great soap opera actress. Lol!

Avery wanted to try to tickle her, but she started crying harder.

In the second photo she wanted to make sure I was watching her. Hee hee!

Feeling like I already got my shot of the 4 kids, I agreed to let her join Jackson and Lulu waiting in the car. Thinking she just won the jackpot, the tears magically disappeared and she joyfully sprinted all the way back to the car.

Which is why on the previous post there are so few shots with Caroline in them.

After viewing last years bluebonnet photos, I realize that we did not have a good crop this year. The flowers looked so much healthier last year. :-(

Last years discards are here.

Anyway…..I bet you are sorry you asked now, huh?

My Flower Children. . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Texas bluebonnets…..spring 2011