Madi's Easter Birthday

This girl had been excited for her birthday for a year!  Well, not all the kids aren't excited for their next birthday as soon as one is over, but she was especially excited for this birthday all year, since we had realized on her 7th birthday that her 8th birthday would fall on Easter Sunday!  She was SO excited and I was so happy for her to have such a special 8th birthday!  Since it was on Easter, it turned into a 3 day party, Friday friend party, Saturday traditional Cousin Easter egg hunt and Sunday the big day - Easter and Madi's big day!  It was a fun filled 3 days for this birthday girl and she loved every second of it!

Friend Party

We had a fun Easter themed party and did a little Easter Egg Hunt for the girls, we gave them a list of 8 things they each had to find hidden in the yard and cute Easter baskets.

 Bro thinks he's so cool.  Evey, Annie, Aubrey, Ella, Ava, Madi  Cute neighborhood friends!

Hunting around the yard..


Playing "Egg, Egg, Chick"...


Present Time!

 Evey, Madi and Ella, she loved the Baby Ana doll they have her!  She was hoping for "Frozen" Barbies but they have been sold out for months, so she was excited for something that was "Frozen"!


Cousin Easter Egg Hunt

The McDermotts were here for our annual Cousins Easter Egg Hunt at the Hall's home, this was especially fun because we got to do this on Cousin Lily's birthday!

Celebrating our two cute 8 year old cousins!  Madi and Lily were born 12 hours apart, Lily on the night of the 19th and Madi on the morning of the 20th!  

Let the games begin! 

 Sissy is so good to this sweet boy, I love this so much!

 Cute Cousins!

 Brock, Logan, Dallin, Kelton, Davis, Ellie, Brooke, Ammon, Calli, Pierce,
Bridger, Gracie, Jens, Madi, Lily, Harrison, Thatcher, Matthew


Easter Morning

 Special Birthday breakfast, Yum!  (Pumpkin Spiced French Toast, so amazing you need to make it!)

Present Time!

 I got this book for Madi, "Waking Beauty", I heard it and thought it was the cutest story.  She has loved it and practically had it memorized within a day or so.  She was loving it so cute and since it's a short story I told her she should work on it and do the story telling festival next year.  She has it memorized and recites it often and her expression is getting better and better!  She is going to be beyond ready to perform it!

 LaLaLoopsy Fun House!  A fun surprise from Mom!

And the biggest excitement of the day....

 Patiently waiting for his cake.  Love this face.

 Birthday girl and her candles!  Love how this shot turned out!

Make a Wish!

This girl had a delightful day, I think it was everything she had been dreaming about all year.  She loved being sung to in Primary on her real birthday and she loved wearing her new, special baptism dress to church.  (Pictures of her Baptism shoot coming up soon!)  It was a very special day for our special girl!

My Little Superman!

March was a wonderful, glorious, fabulous month for me!  Jensen decided he was ready to potty train!  WAHOO!  SO happy to be diaper free!  He had teased me last summer and I thought he was going to do it just after he turned two, but it only lasted a few days.  Over the past 7 months when ever he wanted M&M's he would go pee on the potty but that was it.  I was so happy that HE finally decided he was ready!  He did it really fast and had the pee thing down very quickly, I used a timer and would just take him potty each time the timer went off, increasing the time each day and he did so awesome with this method!  "#2" was a little hard to get the hang of so he eared a new "Jake" sword and telescope when he finally did it, and then we were all happy,  so, so happy.  Of course I think seeing him in this little super hero undies is one of the cutest things ever, so of course we have photos.  I'm sure he will love me for this when he is older.  (So for the record he also has Jake, Cars, Thomas and Cookie Monster undies that he loves)  This day was perfect for snapping pics of him proudly showing off his undies, a pile of pillows in Mom's room was the perfect setting!

 Proudly showing off his Underwear!

FUN jumping into Mom's pillow pile!

 I love this face more than I can say.

 His new "Jake" telescope...

 Putting it to good use.

 This boy melts me.  To the world this looks like a little boy in his underwear, but to me this little boy in his underwear is the world!

Our Merry Christmas 2013

Christmas was such a fun one this year!  (Last year I should say since I'm writing this so delayed!)  I had been really excited for the Holiday season this year, at the end of summer I was just feeling excitement and anticipation for the Christmas Season, I was ready to skip Halloween and bring on Christmas!  Which was weird because I really love Halloween, but I have just been so enjoying Jensen's toddler stage and I knew it would be a really magical and special Christmas with the fun of his age.  And it definitely was!  The snow excitement just added to the special season and I just really, really loved the feeling of Christmas with the kids this year.  Here are some highlights in pictures...

Decorating the Tree....

I love when everyone is excited and therefore being nice and getting along!  The kids had a great time helping me decorate the tree.

I hadn't had any luck getting a family picture of my own family (hardest part of being the photographer) so I decided to forget the cute family picture that wasn't happening and go with funny for our Christmas card.  I was so glad I did because it turned out hilarious and the kids loved it!
Here are a couple outtakes that I love...

Pierce and Madi were great sports about me tying them up, they thought it was so funny and Jens thought it was great too, up until I put the tape on his mouth!

But I got the shot!  Success!  Here is what we used for our card...

Here is the finished product...

I was so happy with how it turned out!  (Thanks to  Kathryn for Photoshopping it together for me!)  We got so many compliments from so many people who loved the card and thought it was just so funny!  Now the only problem, what to do for next year?  I don't think I can top the funny-ness of this.  So perfect for our life right now.

Mom forcing them to stand still for a picture in their Christmas Sunday best, which was only made possible with the compromise that they could hold the treats they had gotten at church.  Cute outfits though!

Mom finally gave in and let Pierce get a DS from Santa!  He could not have been more thrilled!

Madi has been wanting an American Girl doll for the last couple of years, she finally made some improvement in the "taking care of and picking up her toys department" and Santa brought her Kit! Love this smile, makes some of those headaches worth it!

Still loves Hello Kitty!

And so it begins...

So in love with this sweet boy.  Love this face and his excitement!

 

 A Christmas visit to Grandpa and Todd's graves.  We sure miss them.  Love you Grandpa!

Opening gifts from Mom and Dad later in the afternoon...

 Not sure what it is,  but it's big so he's excited!

 More Legos! This kid could never get tired of Legos.

 Excited for her Hello Kitty alarm clock!

 

I gave Jens this adorable Superman shirt and cape (and a Batman one also) and it was so funny he put it right on, made the gift opening even cuter.  

 We also gave him some "Mike and Sulley boots"  he was so excited to have his own boots!  Of course those came right on too!

 And that made the gift opening even more cute! Just love this picture! Never want this boy to get big.

 

 Our Sock Monkey loving girl was so excited for sock monkey slippers and a sock monkey BYU hat!  She loves this hat so much it even replaces her beloved Hello Kitty hat as her daily hat to wear during the cold months.  She wore it to school until I convinced her it was too warm!

We gave the kids new clothes hampers, Jens was pretty excited about his, not so much for the place to put clothes...

Can you spy a sweet boy?  We still don't use it for dirty clothes, but what a fun hiding spot!

We had a wonderful Christmas Day!  I love the joy and real magic that it brings to our home and family.  I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ, for his miraculous birth and the glorious celebration that reminds us not only of his birth but his perfect example, his atonement and his resurrection.