Easter Season 2014

Easter was a little different this year. Instead of us hosting it (like we have since we moved to Dallas), Spencer and Cheryl decided to host. And they went. to. town! We don't own many Easter decorations, so I have a wreath and a fake flower set in the guest bathroom. But the table at S&C's was gorgeous and there were fun decorations all over the place! It was so fun to see their house (we hadn't been there in forever, even though it's only 40 minutes away) and to see it all decorated was extra fun.

So this was our day: we got up, went to church, came home to Easter baskets (I hid them and they had to find them) and some playing with our new toys, we dyed eggs and then ate lunch and laid down for naps. When the boys woke up, we changed back into our Easter Clothes and headed to McKinney. We did an egg hunt there basically right away, before the rain that was scheduled for later that evening, and I managed to get some good photos of that (which is basically my number 1 priority for the day! lol). And then we went inside for Nonnie presents followed by dinner and Frozen. Yes, we watched Frozen. It was raining at that point, so it was a fun way to connect. And a special highlight for me was when Delaney needed her hair brushed. She let me do it AND let me braid it. Such little things I don't get to do with my boys...

Enjoy some pictures from our day!

Graham's basket was "hidden" in their sleep room under the desk area. I think I'll keep to small things that fit into the basket from now on.

Austin's was hidden behind my chair in the green room.

Buster Introduction from Sena Spofford on Vimeo.

Graham getting into his basket:

Then Austin found his and we started playing. (I managed to get zero pictures of Austin "opening" his basket.) Graham soaked his clothes with some poor water-drinking, so his clothes went into the dryer to wear again later, so he's sorta naked in the next few photos.

Graham's t-ball set

He knew exactly what to do!

They each got a pair of sunglasses.

This is the best I got of both boys wearing their Easter Clothes.

loves his goggles! Aunt Carrie, we're ready for your pool!

A bubblewand instantly becomes a sword...
which is then used on a grumpy brother.

Best I got of all three men.

Then we played with the bubbles for real!

And more t-ball. Austin's really good! And usually bats left-handed though we've never encouraged one way or the other.

Then we moved inside to paint eggs. This was a fun change this year!

Seth's

mine

Austin's

Graham's

Then we went to Spencer and Cheryl's and it was time to hunt eggs!

He had no idea what to do at first, but hauled that basket outside with purpose.
And then immediately handed it to Gramps. lol

Once he figured it out, he was great!

Austin was great too!

All 5 cousins: Graham, Austin, Ireland, Turner, Delaney. Ages left to right: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

Nonnie Presents time!

I know he's blinking, but I loved this face he was making.
The toy dances around to The Chicken Dance.

Looking back, I very much enjoyed the day. Having an Easter Supper was nice because it meant we could spend more time together just our little family. I wouldn't dye eggs ON Easter again because it made things too tight, but we just hadn't made time for them the day before. I think we might dip-dye them next year, but I really enjoyed the painting, so who knows. I will continue to hide their baskets, but plan on incorporating a bit of a scavenger hunt like my mom used to do for me. I also enjoyed that they both got naps because it made staying together as family much more enjoyable and less-stressed for me (because if they miss a bunch of sleep, they turn into terrors and that affects me in the day-in, day-out of life). I didn't feel the pressure of they-aren't-getting-enough-sleep-tomorrow's-going-to-suck. I will also absolutely get a picture of them in their Easter Clothes. Not sure I did that in years past, but I love that one of them. And I love the one of them with their cousins.

Did you do anything new this year? I love to hear how people celebrate life!

Mustard... Buster... Same Difference

When I was a kid, I had a horse. Not a real one, mind you, but a horse nonetheless. It was an outside toy that I named Buster and used to tie up with log chains. My parents never hesitate to remind me about using those chains... Anyways, when a recent Facebook garage sale site posted this horse for sale, I had to buy it. And I had to name him Buster. Now if we can just get Austin to say "Buster" instead of "Mustard." lol

Texas Bluebonnets; April 2014

Last year's Bluebonnets were slim-pickins. It was a dry spring, so there just weren't very many flowers in any of the patches. (Here's 2012.) This year was a totally different scenario. We went to the Fujitsu headquarters (I know nothing about that company, just that someone posted the address on Facebook as having some good patches, so we went.) We pulled in and there was a parking lot and everything!

We had come straight from soccer, so we changed clothes and then wandered into the field. It wasn't long until others joined us, so the pictures got harder and harder to catch, but we managed some fairly good ones. I decided against having them both in white polos this year and I'm happy with the colors. I think I might do solid color polos every year from now on, just different colors. I mean, similar to each other, but different year to year. And as we drove away, we saw these other fields... HUGE fields. This looks like a tiny patch in comparison. But those fields didn't have parking lots attached, so it would have been harder to manage. We're just not in a stage where we can do that safely. Maybe in future years we'll try something like that.

Here are our pictures. Enjoy!

Me trying to be a creative photographer.

GRAHAM:

AUSTIN:

BROTHERS:

MONEY SHOT.

And, we're done.

Cute Pic Post -- March 2014

March was a fun month. Austin started soccer, we finally got those ugly plantation shutters removed (and gorgeous curtains hung in their place), Seth and I went away for a quick 24-hour getaway, we watched Frozen a bunch of times (and Tangled, actually), and got to spend good quality time getting dirty outside.

Cheese!

These brothers love to hug and wrestle.

I woke up with Chick on top of me!

We had fun decorating this box (that's our friend Eric with Graham).

Grocery shopping love!

His first time in a sandbox was a total hit!

He did it over and over again! Never hurt. Never scared.

A man's wheels and his shades.

This is mostly a picture of Graham. lol

Dirt on our faces, fresh air in our lungs.

This is parts UWEC, parts Little Brother and parts funny face!

This is Superwhy getting a time-out for dousing his brother with hose water.

Helping water the plants...
(with fun sunbeams in the shot!)

One of Graham's latest things: empty the toy basket and climb in!

sound asleep

also sound asleep

thigh roll, big cup, cute shirt

double-fisting snack after soccer 

Mine's the one picking his nose.
Can you spot the other kid who's really pulling a fast one on the photographer?

He's always wearing it sideways so it looks like a sombrero.

This kid loves Frozen. He'll come running and plop right down.

Our Whirlwind Getaway!

One of the great things about living near family is that Seth's parents are able to help with some babysitting. (We try not to use them too much, of course, and have an unspoken rule about using them only once a month.) They help in the fall for our annual Fredericksburg trip which is usually a long weekend, and I came up with the idea for a springtime getaway as well, but one that's shorter and closer to home. Just something like 24 hours to get away--eat a few meals, see a movie, run an errand, sleep in, etc. Just little things to recharge ourselves and our marriage. And this past weekend we did it!

Kim came over at about 1:30pm on Saturday and we returned to the house at 2pm on Sunday. It was a quick 24 hours of a vacation, but it was perfect! We crammed fun and relaxation into that time and because we stayed in Las Colinas, we didn't spend much time traveling to our destination. It was a perfect time. And the Omni we stayed at was amazing! The view was great, service amazing (they upgraded us to a suite on the 23rd floor!) and the staff was very pleasant.

We started off our getaway with some spa time, then a movie, dinner, got ice cream and ate it under the stars (as much as is possible in Irving, TX!), then slept late, had breakfast at the hotel, and then drove the Miata around Dallas, enjoying perfect Top Down Weather. We stopped at a kiosk in The Galleria for Seth to buy several pairs of sunglasses (wearing sunglasses is very important to your eye health--there's family history of macular degeneration in Seth's family, and he's terrible about losing/breaking his sunglasses), had lunch and came home. It was perfect. Thanks, Kim and David for watching our sweet boys for us!

Our view from the 23rd floor included downtown Dallas!

Here it is zoomed in. 

Our dinner at The Ranch included this Front Porch Swing drink.
Those ice cubes were perfect and frozen long after the beverage was gone!

 We got to see the city lights and the sunrise!

And then we went driving. With me in my scarf! Wearing that thing makes me a much happier Top Down Passenger as my hair isn't impossibly wrecked!

Seth's been wanting to drive over this bridge for forever. Doing it in a convertible was the perfect first experience! And then we went to Oak Cliff for some sight-seeing and then the Design District for window shopping.