He Arose!!

What a wonderful Easter! After the kids checked out what the Easter Bunny brought them (games for their handheld game players, color-wonder coloring books, stuffed animals, etc.), we all put on our Easter clothes and headed to church. The Princess loved the traditional Easter hymns, especially "Up From the Grave He Arose." She loved how it was slow and then got fast in the chorus. The Prince also got into following along on the hymns this morning. The church was full and the music was beautiful - what a way to celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.

Here is a picture of the Easter outfits this year. I love to have the kids match, but now that they are getting older, I'll have to settle for coordinating outfits, which is what we did this year.

Dying Easter Eggs

We got together with some friends to dye Easter Eggs. We had to peel them off of the playground, but they loved making all of the eggs look pretty. It was also a gorgeous afternoon - sunny and just warm enough, but not hot. Once the kids were done, the other mom and I played a little with the leftover eggs. Do you love my plaid and polka dotted egg???

Second Weekend of Games

So, I know it's not the best picture, but it's the only picture I've actually gotten of the Princess kicking a goal in a soccer game (she's in the red shirt). I am usually way too into the game and cheering her on and forget about the camera in my hand (yes, I am one of those loud moms that cheers all the members of the team on). This week, she scored 3 of the 4 goals her team scored. She was thrilled! The Prince played well, also. I was sad to miss his game, but the Princess had dance rehearsal, so I was there with her. They both really seem to be enjoying the season so far!

OK . . . Really, Who Could Resist That Face

Sad face because he didn't get to say hi to one of his favorite girls at church (a beautiful teenager that he loves to give hugs to).

A Few Projects from the Weekend

Amidst all of the soccer games, dance rehearsals, egg hunts and Church, I did get a few projects done this weekend. First, the special order cabinets for the laundry room finally came in, so we picked them up and installed them - I LOVE THEM! They are exactly what I wanted. We recently redid the laundry room. You have to walk through it from the garage into the kitchen and it was awful. We considered re-configuring it completely, but felt that would be too much given the placement of the water-heater in the garage and the plumbing and electrical work that would have to be done. So, we laid down a new floor, painted the walls and installed cabinets for storage. The wall cabinets are just stock cabinets and we special ordered 2 floor to ceiling cabinets so that each child could have their own to store their backpacks and school items. We put a hook in each one and they work perfectly. No longer are the backpacks hanging on my kitchen chairs all the time!! We put the knobs on all of the cabinets. The only thing left is a little touch up paint on the walls and the finishing decorating touches. I'll post pictures once it's all complete.

Last weekend at the flea market, I was on a mission to find bird figurines. I've seen several bloggers using them in their decorating and I thought they were cute. I was extremely excited to find 2 birds for $4! One of them is glass and the other ceramic. The ceramic one was a little beat up and I meant to take a picture of it before. A few coats of white enamel spray paint, and it looks so cute!

Finally, next week is going to be busy and stressful at work with lots of long hours (much like last week) since it's our fiscal year end, which is a busy time in the finance department. Each year, we all bring in goodies - both healthy and junk - to help us get through. I made chocolate covered pretzels for this week - looking forward to sharing them with co-workers tomorrow!

Palm Sunday and Easter Egg Hunt

It's a tradition at our church on Palm Sunday that the children process into the service at the beginning waving palms and then place them at the alter. I love that the kids get to do this every year as it helps them learn and understand the story of Easter.

This evening, we had the annual church-wide Easter egg hunt. The kids had so much fun looking for eggs and then seeing what was hiding inside! Don't I have the 2 most beautiful bunnies???

Spring Soccer Season Starts

We had our first games of the spring soccer season yesterday. The Princess was so excited and scored 4 goals in the fourth quarter. She almost had 5! She was quite pleased with herself.

The Prince hasn't always been very into the games - he'd rather play and talk with his friends than actually play the game. But, yesterday, he actually got out there and kicked the ball and ran and paid attention. I think he's grown up alot since last fall, so I'm hopeful that he'll continue to improve this season. He loves going to soccer!

A Car Full of Monkeys . . . and a Trip to the Zoo

The Princess and the Prince did not have the same spring break this year (thank goodness they will next year!!) and I took the week of during the Princess' spring break. We got together with some friends one of the days and took a trip to the zoo. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we took a picnic lunch and sat out in a big field and ate sandwiches.

Here's the four monkeys in the car on the way to the zoo . . .

Checking out the meerkats through the popup viewing area.

The monkeys were very active and loud while we were there.I was excited to see the anteaters - they are such interesting creatures. They eat about 30,000 bugs a day!! They can kill with their front claws.A beautiful blue bird - there were 3 of them and 2 of them were fighting.

These birds were in an enclosure where you could go in and feed them nectar from little cups. The girls loved it! It was not my favorite as the birds are used to people and several of them flew a little too close for comfort for me.Four good friends spent a wonderful and exhausting day together!