Spring Cleaning

So most people in my situation would be doing spring cleaning around the house, or packing. Well I cleaned up the look of my blog a little. It actually took me a long time since I'm one-handed a lot of the time w/ babies on my lap (like right now;) and I just realized I hadn't done any real posing. That would drive me nuts if one of you updated stuff but didn't say anything about it.
So I figured out how to make link buttons. You can click on the images on the right to see what my friends are up to. If you want a different picture/image, let me know.
I don't know if I like the slideshow. Does it take too long to upload? Is it worth it? I haven't decided yet.

Thoughtful Easter

I'm so lucky to be surrounded by good people.
I'm sad to have lost my church youth counselor, Danielle, but I got great new ones to help me with the girls.
It reminds me of a song from brownies (girl scouts.) Part of it goes like this I think:
"Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver, and the other gold."
Anyway, I mentioned before how I didn't even make Dylan an Easter basket this year. What's wrong with me? Well part of it was that I've been stressing about $ and the other part is that I didn't want to contribute to more things to pack when it's time. Steven made me feel guilty about it b/c Dylan would really like it and would get excited about it this year and it's Isaac's 1st Easter. It was too late though. At church, one of my counselors gave me a cute Easter frame for Isaac (perfect gift for me) and this Easter basket for Dylan. She filled it with perfect stuff! There was a blue stuffed bunny, of course, but the rest was too perfect. She gave us, (I mean Dylan) bubbles. I almost bought some the other day and Steven said we didn't need them. I thought we did b/c when we were at the park the other day, he was playing with a little girls' bubbles and was having the time of his life. There was one piece of chocolate. What's an Easter basket without chocolate? She just put one in there, which is good b/c she may have felt she would need to ask before giving candy to my kid. It was great b/c it was white chocolate, which is my favorite, AND it makes less mess! I ate half of it:) The other thing is amazing. My parents always gave us a book in our Easter baskets. That's what I felt most guilty about not getting Dylan. She gave Dylan a book, and an educational one AND it had a DVD! Anyone who knows Dylan knows he likes to roar at anything that roars or that he thinks might be scary. They also know that he likes DVDs. We watch them when I'm a lazy mom and am not in the mood to find a creative way to get him to do something productive when he's having a mini tantrum. He also watches them in the car. I was thinking of how I should get some educational ones. This one's a tiger one, National Geographic style. I let Dylan open it after the park. Steven and he watched the DVD and were both intrigued by it. Yay for thoughtful friends who pick up my slack!!

Fun Easter Evening

I told you our Easter went on and on!
It was a busy day with church services and Uncle Andre's, but since it was such a perfectly beautiful day and Daddy was home this evening, (he gets off work late a lot) we thought that Dylan should run his wiggles out.

We went to the nearby park. Honestly, Steven and I wanted to get our wiggles out too, for exercise. Steven and Dylan ran some sprints, then I lifted weights. (Dylan's getting big enough to be my weights.) It's so fun to have kids so our romantic walks can be more fun and we don't have to feel dumb about acting silly. Did you notice that Steven and Dylan are kinda dressed the same? I noticed when we were walking to the car. I wanted him changed out of his shirt and tie.

Soon enough Isaac will participate in our silly fun. For now he'll just sit there and look rediculous. See the wipes case sticking out of the bag? I love mine. I bought it from Danielle who is saving up for adoption by hand making these and selling them to you! They're cute baby shower gifts, or good thank you gifts for someone who babysits for you (if they have their own kid that is.) Or you should buy it for yourself so you feel like you're pampering yourself when you're pampering your little baby's tushy.
Oh, and we keep the tee ball set in the car now. I can't help myself but take pictures and blog about it over and over. Dylan wanted to bat w/ the wooden spoon though. Silly kid:)

A Florida Easter

I was taking it for granted that we have have green grass. I was wishing there were flowers at the botanical gardens and wishing that we had gotten Malia and Dylan together for an Easter egg hunt in a flowery place. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. Well, until I look at my life in perspective. We have beautiful palm trees, and the grass really is greener here, literally! I looked at some other families' Easter egg hunts or family pictures, and the grass isn't green at all! There are spurts of green and they have many many other things to be happy about, but we had quite an Easter. It started out with the Keaster pictures, and went on for days. I'm not a great photographer and my photos are grainy or green or from wierd angles, but the memories are going to be the BEST. A year ago, I wouldn't have even noticed the picture quality anyway. I should appreciate that I'm learning more and more and that my family's growing and, while I'm on it, the real reason for Easter. I spoke with the youth in my church class about the real meaning of Easter and how to separate it from the bunnys and candy. (Of course I handed out jelly beans after our discussion, but it was a good discussion!) It's humbling to know what our Savior did for us and it's pretty cool that we have a whole holiday to celebrate it. I love that it's on a Sunday each year so we get to go to church (or two) so we can listen to sermons and talks about our Savior and the good news. I hope everyone had some good "green grass" to be thankful for in their Easter this year.

So the reason I got on the subject(s) is because I was looking through these pictures from Andre's house. He had all the Fegers over for dinner. Then he and Rita hid eggs for the kids. Wow, didn't have to do anything this year! Look at his amazing back yard. It's a tropical oasis. Gabrielle even went swimming! She kept going back in too. Where else in the world can you have this much family fun?

hiding the eggs
finding the eggs

twins
sharing
oooooh! a treat inside!
hunting for eggs IN the pool
Cousins

Family Photo!

What's a party without hanging out by the tiki bar and dancing pool-side?!

Church Bunny

I took pictures of my little bunny at church and I'm glad I did b/c he got it dirty after that. Luckily I had his other Easter outfit with me!
This is Dylan from 2 years ago. The same outfit was way too big on him.

Rain or Shine

Isaac and I went to Darren and Corrie's church's Sonrise Easter Service. It was on the water on the Tampa Bay so we could see the sunrise. After the service, lots of people went in the cold water to be baptised. We never saw the sun rise because it was drizzly and cloudy. Rain or shine, I wanted a picture of Isaac and Noah in their cute Easter ties. Steven was worried Dylan shouldn't go out in the weather because he had been sick. They slept in but I went. I have to admit that I stayed in the car for most of the service b/c of the rain, but I got out for the end and sat with the Crews. We took some pictures then I went home to get ready for our regular church.

Happy Easter!

Dylan found teeny "buggies" (ants) crawling on the sidewalk and had to get a closer look
He also found a big leaf

Silly Kid

Yesterday we went to the Florida Botanical Gardens w/ my step-dad. I was expecting tons of flowers, but it was mainly palm trees and cool year-round plants. It was fun walking through the gardens anyway. They have a market in the park and Don bought Dylan a hot dog. It was funny watching him try to take a huge bite.

Happy Keaster!!!

my inspiration (One email forward I opened):

Funny Pictures and Myspace Layouts at pYzam.com

Easter Outfit

This outfit was a baby gift from one of Steven's law school friends. It's so cute. I'm so glad I tried it on him. I was sure it would be way too big. It's size 3-6 months. Dylan always fit in the clothes that he was supposed to (by the month). This outfit is a perfect fit for my 6 week old! That means he's like the size of a 6 month old! The people at the chiropractor said that he looks exactly like a really old man that goes there b/c they both wear those hats and have chubby cheeks. Apparently the facial expression is the same too. My baby looks like an old man! This was a total last minute whim. Dylan was with Steven taking a nap and I was driving by the mall. I got Dylan pictures w/ this Easter Bunny for his first Easter. I thought Isaac should get the same experience. (If he were in a onesie, we would have kept driving.) I had wanted to go to a park with the other Dylan and Malia to do a little Easter Egg hunt and get pictures, but Dylan got sick and canceled our plans. Isaac was all dressed up with nowhere to go. This was satisfying for me:) The mall lets you take your own pictures as long as you buy something from them. This is the picture I snapped real quick with no editing:
And this is what I scanned in from what they gave me. If only I could have saved the $20 they charged me. The Easter Bunny learned how to hold a baby this year. He must have had a lot of practice! He was pretty awkward w/ Dylan 2 years ago.

Decorating Eggs

The dye didn't seem to work. Crayons are perfect for Dylan. He wasn't too into the stickers. He liked the little stamper marker that came with the set. Don was a big help setting up the towel and reminding me not to fill the dye cups with too much water or the water would be displaced and would spill. He's had practice being a parent. I probably haven't dyed Easter eggs since I was a kid. I bought this kit for me and Steven to do before we had kids. It just got packed away with the Easter stuff each year. I'm glad we got to put it to use this year.

JT was a big help too by holding Isaac.