Easter and more

I wanted to get the girls matching dresses for Easter (it's my tradition) and I found some cute ones at Old Navy online.  Luckily Jane is still small enough to fit into a 5T, thus I could get all 3 of them matching.  So I figured Sunday morning before church we could have a little photo shoot.  Well, Jane and Alice did not have the same idea.  They did humor me enough to get one picture with the both of them.  Plus, I looked out my front window at my yard and thought, yeah, that's not so pretty.  Then I looked at the backyard and it was almost worse.  We have needed rain desperately.  Here is what I got.

Jane and Alice posing for 1 shot

Kevin being a good sport and livening the photo shoot up with a little humor.  Jane was not impressed.  But it was a classic, "I don't want to do this face" from Jane, so I liked it.

After church, however they were a lot more willing

Too cute!

The family photo was a little rougher, super windy, but we made due.  Thanks Mom for taking the picture and coming to hear Kevin and I sing with the Smiths.

Happy Alice

The Easter Egg hunt gang.  Sophia joined us at Gramma's for some good egg huntin'.  Saturday night I looked for my baskets and only found one so Jane had to use a bucket.  Hey, it fit a lot more eggs.

I just really liked this shot

Alice saying something with firmness

Showing off the goodies (well, she was supposed to be).  And a very excited Sophia in the background.

Sean and Sophia enjoying the jelly beans

Friday I called my friend Krissy and invited her and her kids to come to the zoo with us.  We had a blast.  It turned out to be a beautiful, overcast day, so it was perfect.

Sami and Jane

Jane and Sami

My other cousin, Danielle and her husband Ben, came into town to visit Lisa, Sophia, and Sean.  Danielle loves babies, and babies love her.  Kate was super content with her.

Danielle and Kate

We celebrated Sophia's 2nd Birthday while they were here.  Dad and I tried to burn our fingers lighting all the candles on Sophia's cake.  It was a nice glow.

Me trying not to burn myself

The happy birthday girl

Sophia and Lisa

The little dress Kate is wearing is a hand me down from Kim's daughter, Mikayla.  I love that dress.  Well, a friend of mine from church's little girl was wearing the exact dress one Sunday, but in a size 4-5.  She is the youngest in her family, so I asked her mom if I could have the dress once Laura outgrew it.  Karen said, absolutely.  Jane was so excited to wear it.  It will be Alice's now, but at least Jane got to match Kate once before she was too big.  So I took some pictures.

The girls sitting around with their Pretty Pretty Princess necklaces on.  Kate is in a Bumbo chair.

A smiling Kate and almost smiling Jane

And this picture just makes me laugh.  Jane said, ok, everyone make a funny face.  Kate even looks like she is doing something silly!

Just a sweet picture!

It is pool time once more.  Kate relaxing on the porch.  I love her eyes.  She is a chunky little thing.  So fun.

Muddy Buddy and more

 I am having a hard time keeping up with all of our fun activities.  Not to mention all the day to day stuff at home.  I'm still working on that bookcase Kevin and his dad built for me.  I have my window seat cushion now, which looks great.  And I have the shades, but they are not up yet.  This week, we are finishing painting and then we will be done.  Hallelujah!!!!  I'm also trying to register Jane for Kindergarten.  I still can't believe she is getting so big.



Our three girls!  Kate, Alice, and Jane.

At the beginning of April, Kevin and I ran that 5k race that I ran last year too.  This year I did worse.  I truly need to exercise more.  It's just sad really.  Jane also got to run a little 1/4 mile loop.  They even gave them water on the route.

She felt like a pro.  Even threw her cup on the ground like runners do! 

In action.  I love her face.  It's saying, I know everyone is cheering for me, but I'm not going to look too excited.  I am AWESOME!  (And too cool for smiling).

The following weekend we headed to Disney for another race.  This time it was a team race.  Kevin and our friend Rich ran the Muddy Buddy race.  This was the first time for both of them.  Rich's wife Jessica hung out with me and the girls.  The guys did it in about 53 minutes.  They rode a bike and ran (trading off between the two of them).  There were also obstacles throughout the course.  But the last obstacle they do together and that is shown in the pictures below.

Hangin out in the pool

Rich waiting for Kevin to get to the final obstacle

Kevin running in

They climbed the tower

And then dove into the mud, which they had to crawl through to the finish line.

They did it!  And they had mud everywhere.

And he was going to kiss me.  (Yes the girls are still in their pj's)

Right after the race we packed up the hotel room and headed to Celebration.  It was the annual pie fest, where my brother-in-law, Cody, comes each year with Smuckers.  The girls love the fountains.

Well, Jane loves the fountains

Alice has to be held there

Otherwise she just flirts with the water

We also met my dad there.  He would never turn down an all you can eat pie buffet.  Thanks Cody.  It was good to see you!

And of course, for Cody's sake, it is always the hottest day of the year so far.  Jane enjoying the misting fan.

At home, I caught Alice teaching Kate all about Jesus.  She got the little "Think about Jesus during the Sacrament" wheel in nursery.  She was telling Kate how Jesus died on the cross.  It was precious.

Luckily, Kate likes to see things up close.

The other day I came home from grocery shopping to discover that I couldn't put up the garage door.  I don't have a key to my house on my key ring, so I was stuck.  Luckily for me the door had gone up about 10 inches before it quite.  I tried to convince Alice to crawl under it and unlock the house door, but she just said, "No Mommy, you do it!"  Very helpful.  So after 2 attempts, I finally squeezed myself under the door, to which Alice said, "Yay, you did it Mommy!!!!"  So excited for me.  The neighbors kitten was also cheering me on.

So I had to take a picture to document how small a space I squeezed under.  I was pretty proud of myself and felt a little like Indiana Jones or someone like that!

Then for Kevin's birthday we went on a boat ride.  Just a little ride, in a little boat!  It was fun though and we almost got attacked by manatees.  One big one started charging the boat and then at the same time, 3 of them slapped their tails really hard on the water.  It scared me to death.  I asked the girls if it looked like a whale and they said yes, so we saw a whale on our trip according to me.

Kevin and the girls before the trip.  Blowing up the boat.

Kevin and Kate.  She was a good sport about the life jacket for the first 10 minutes, then she was done.

Jane and Alice nearing the end of the trip.  Alice was very scared, but was a trooper.  Jane explored the whole boat the whole trip.  She even paddled at one point, even though we had a little engine.  It was very enjoyable.  Those are train tracks in the picture.  We are right by Billy's old house off of Palm Bay road.

And last but not least, the cake.  Kevin came home and I was just finishing frosting it.  I said, "So we're just going to say the girls helped me frost it."  And he said, "Did they?"  And I just shook my head no.  It was pretty bad, but it tasted good.  I even put a little strawberry filling in it.  Jane wanted the heart shape because we love Daddy!

Alice and Jane did put the candles on the cake though.  Kevin had a great birthday!  Or at least he said he did.