Brotherhood

It can be all fun...

or sometimes make you a bit nervous.

Either way, these two love each other!

Beau's Favorite Person

There's not even any worthy competition here.  

Beau may love to spend time with me, but if Daddy's around, that's where he wants to be.  

His sweet little face lights up each evening when Daddy arrives home from work.  I love to hear him exclaim, "Dada!" & head for the door.  If he has a toy phone, he throws it up onto his shoulder & says, "Hey, Dada."  

This boy is all about Daddy.  And that's just fine with me because watching Justin's relationship with all three of our kids, but especially our boys, is one of the things I love most about parenthood.

Self-feeding is a messy business...

but he's slowly starting to get the hang of it!

Any Given Sunday

I have no real purpose for posting these pics, except to document the everyday stuff.  These were taken on a recent Sunday after we returned home from church.

Pretty girl in her pretty dress

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Jake, aka "The Hulk"

Sweet Beau tuckered out from all that time praising Jesus

Jake spends many a Sunday afternoon (& often other days of the week for that matter) pantless, deeming his Sunday morning shirt adequate attire for the remainder of the day all on its own.

Texas Cuties

Each year, I am optimistic that our bluebonnet pics will turn out so much better than any from past years.  Suddenly, my children will become docile & smile perfectly while looking straight at the camera & sitting still.  In reality, my three are usually whiny & completely uncooperative for the process.  Good thing they're cute anyway!  And there's always next year...

This one shows their true feelings about the process.

 

Princess Ballerina Mallory

We may have a new activity to add to our calendar soon.  Mal attended a "Princess Ballerina" birthday party yesterday & is now quite taken with the idea of being in dance class.  It was such a fun, girly party with eye shadow, costume changes, tiaras & princess parasols.

Mal modeling her choices

Skipping around the circle holding her parasol

Walking on the balance beam with her tiara & wand

 

At the end of the party, each girl got to present their gift to Ella & sit beside her as she opened it.

Mallory & Ella - such sweet friends!

 

At least soccer is ending, so that might free up some time for dance.  We'll see!

Just a Thursday Night

No big event to document here, just a lazy Thursday evening in the backyard.  With bubbles to catch & ice cream for dessert, who could ask for more?

Chalk it Up to an Awesome Daddy

For quite some time, I've been admiring the oversized chalkboards I've seen in certain catalogs.  I did not, however, admire the price.  Good thing I have an awesome husband!  J took on the task of making a 4'x8' chalkboard for the playroom.

I helped paint the trim, but I definitely don't deserve any credit for this project.  He researched what kind of wood would be best, bought the materials, painted the many coats of chalkboard paint & made it all happen!

The finished product adds a lot of color to the playroom, serves as a great activity spot for the kids & also gives us a place to display Bible verses we're learning or artwork they've done.

Way to go, Daddy!

 

Happy Easter!

Easter morning arrived with baskets of goodies lined up on the stairs.  Mal was beyond excited to receive Tangled on DVD.  She's been heartbroken ever since Netflix removed it from their instant video list.  Jake's movie was Rio, which they seem to like after watching it yesterday.  He also loves the kangaroo that came with his book & named it Rio.  Yes, we're very original.

Give Beau a ball & he's in heaven!

Boys in bow ties - cuteness overload!  And their sister is pretty cute too!

 

We really didn't stage this picture to look quite so official, but we both laughed that it looks like Justin is running for office or something & this is his perfect family.  At least we can occasionally achieve perfection in a picture.  Not so much for real life!

Papa & Nana with three giggly kids

After church, Easter lunch was filled with lots of yummy food: ham, deviled eggs, green bean bundles, salad, pineapple casserole, rolls & the finished product of Mal's cookie decorating.

After lunch, the hunt was on!  Beau was just thrilled to have somehow made off with Mal's barbie toy from her basket.

 

"Mommy, I can't find any more!"

 

The little man has a love for heading toward the street.  It keeps Mommy on her toes!

Easter's not just for kids - these crazy people had fun too!

 

 I hope your family had a happy Easter as well!

Pre-Easter Festivities

Jake & Mallory have had fun getting ready for Easter to arrive.  Beau thinks that throwing plastic eggs is fun, but he doesn't have a clue what Easter is.  Next year for him!

Filling eggs to take to school

Cute kids on Thursday morning before their egg hunt at school

 

Mallory helped me decorate sugar cookies shaped like tulips, butterflies, bunnies & eggs today.  I'll go ahead & confess that letting her help wasn't my original plan.  I was going to make "pretty cookies" by myself, but the icing sort of flopped so I decided to let her make some beautiful in her own way.  Shameful of me, I know.  Her concentration look bears a striking resemblance to mine.  I know of one other female in our family who shares it as well.  We come by it honestly!

Beau knows to stick close to Papa for a few icing taste tests.

 

Me & my sweet girl

 

Then it was on to egg dyeing!

A little color-mixing lesson from Nana

So proud of their creations!

 

And though there are no corresponding pictures, we have taken lots of time over the last several weeks to talk about the real meaning of Easter.  So much more than bunnies & pretty eggs, I want them to understand just how awesome & exciting it is that Jesus rose from the grave.  I love hearing them exclaim, "Jesus is alive!"