Weekend Recap: Outside Edition

We ended up having a very fun, yet relaxed weekend.  We started out with not a lot of plans, and ended up with a lot of fun!  Here's what we were up to:

Friday

Friday afternoon, Matt took Cooper to get a haircut.  The last place that did it did not do a good job, so we scheduled him in with Angel who we knew would do great.  Double thumbs up for being a big boy (he's not a fan of haircuts)!

Matt said he did great!

All done and so handsome!

What did Matt bribe him with to do well at his haircut?  Swimming at Gigi's!

After school, LL and I met the boys at Gigi's and both kids got in their first swim of the season!

Both kids spent the night with Gigi to give Matt and I a much-needed date night.  Life has been pretty stressful for us lately, so we needed to chill time with no kids!  After swimming, Gigi took the kids to dinner at one of their favorite places - Waffle House.  #theyresofancy

Matt and I enjoyed dinner with friends at Red Lobster, some retail therapy, and then ice cream from DQ!

Saturday

Saturday morning, we were up and at Gigi's pretty early to get the kids.  Matt took the kids home, and I stayed in town for lunch and some shopping with Emily.  We got a new water heater this weeks (so fun) (except not), and Matt saved the big box for the kids.  When he got home with them, he busted it out and they laid inside and watched a movie.

After naps, we decided that all of us needed some Vitamin D, so we loaded up the truck to go fishing and have a cookout!

This is Daddy's happy place.

Both kids are pretty much big enough to fish on their own (with supervision), so it was pretty low key for me and Matt.

Sunshine with my favorite people!

I got in some (quick) snuggles with my favorite boy while Daddy got his fishing pole ready.

Two kids living the dream!

LL is a rockstar and caught the first fish!  AND picked it up for a picture!

Then she was an even bigger rockstar and got the second fish!  Of course Cooper walked through take 1...

...and take 2 just made me laugh.

Don't ask me what that is, but the second fish was a little yucky.  It didn't stop LL from getting a picture with it, though!

My view: sunshine, my kindle, and a view of my kids and the pond.

Fishing only occupies kids for so long (shocker!).  They were both happy to come see me on the blanket for a little while.

My best girl!

Life is good with these two.

LL found me a flower.

Around dinner time, friends showed up for a campfire, dinner, and more fishing!  The boys were masters with the hotdogs.

We tried to get Susanna in the picture with us, but she was not having it.

Cooper finally got a fish, but was not going to touch it.

Big fish!

Susanna's cheese is just the cutest thing ever!

Cooper got another fish!  (and again refused to touch it - haha)

Trying to get in some momma talk, watch 4 kids, and dole out food - exhausting but fun!

These two are just the cutest things ever!

Andrew brought a big jar of minnows that the kids enjoyed playing with.

When we got back from fishing, our neighbors were having a cookout, so we went to hang out for a little while.  Man it makes me long for the days of summer!  All the kids played outside, the weather was nice, and we didn't worry about bed time.  Summer, get here quick!

Little Beez is everyone's favorite!

Sunday

Sunday morning we were up bright and early for church!

After church, we let the kids play outside on the church's new playground for a little while before heading home.  For lunch, Matt and I made a super quick and super yummy guacamole - some salsa mixed with fresh diced avocado.

For dinner, we had organic venison burgers - just chopped up for the kids and with sauteed mushrooms and onions for me and Matt.  We also had fresh corn on the cob which was soooo sweet and yummy.

Emily introduced me to these greek yogurt bars (with only 100 calories), so I got some at the grocery store to try - they were very delicious and a do-again for sure!

I kicked off my 26th book for the year!

That's a wrap on our weekend!  3 more weeks of school - we can do this!

Easter 2017

We had lots of fun stuff both leading up to Easter and on Easter this year.  I love Spring - the warmer weather, the fun activities, longer days, playing outside, etc.  This time of year just gives me such a renewed spirit!  Here's all of our Easter fun for this year:

Cooper's Class Party

Cooper had his annual class Easter party this year, and Matt was able to go with him.

It was at the Country Club, and Cooper was pumped to play on the playground when they got there.

Cooper and his bff -Brayden.

My boys!  And major props to Matt - he was the only Daddy at the party. #bestdadever

Had to get a crying pic - Cooper had to stop playing to hunt eggs and he wasn't loving that idea - haha.

He was into it once he figured out what was going on!

He had to hunt for eggs with his own name on them!

Checking over his stuff with Brayden.

After they hunted eggs, they had snacks and drinks for the kids.  Before they ate, they sang God Our Father (like they always do).  Well.  Matt was taking a video for me (you can watch it HERE) and didn't have any idea what gold he was going to get.  It's worth it to hear Cooper at the end.  Obviously we're #winning at raising Godly children!  #ohCooper #notagain

Hansen and Cooper (can you tell Cooper is the oldest in his class?  He is a BEAST).

LL's Class Party

LL's party worked out that both Matt and I were able to go.  Her teacher has family that lives right across the street from LL's school, so they hosted the party for the whole class.  It was so sweet!  They hid all of the class eggs that we sent in, and then they had a big lunch for all the kids (way better than school food!).

All the little ducks walking across the street with their teacher!

They were ready to hunt eggs!

LL's class did the hunt the same was as Cooper's where you had to find the eggs that had your name on them.  With 24 kids in her class (and everyone sent in 12 eggs), that was a lot of eggs and it was surprisingly harder for her to find all of her eggs that I thought it would be!

We love this girl so much!  She makes us so proud!

It was such a sweet lunch that they did all on their own - grilled hot dogs, pickles, chips, cookies, and drinks.

LL's sweet teacher sent these next two pictures after Matt and I left the hunt.

Easter Fun Day at Church

The day before Easter, our church hosted an easter day on our new campus.  Easter Sunday was our first day in our new (permanent!) building!  It was so incredible to be at this Easter celebration on our own land with our new building!

Matt took these pictures of the kids on the slide while I was registering them for the egg hunt, and these pictures made me laugh when I looked at them later.

Sliding crazy but still holding hands.  :)

They had these super cute photo booths set up (with real bunnies and chicks!) and it was so sweet to see these two waiting in line and holding hands. 

A bunny!

They also had lots of snacks and I think the kids liked that part the best.  Cotton candy!

And snow cones!

That night the Easter bunny came!  The kids had requested that the bunny please give them some new art supplies - and he came through!

Easter Sunday

We got up extra early on Easter Sunday to make sure that we were all dressed and ready on time.  We also figured that we should get to church early since it was our first day in our new building. We knew it was going to be crazy crowded (and it was!  On Easter Sunday, there were 727 kids in attendance between the two services!)!

My babies!

The three parts of my heart!

Even though we can't do #brickpics at church anymore, we still snapped some pictures outside after the service.

I love this handsome man.

Kayla and Andrew came to church, too!

After church, we went to Grammy and Pop's house for Easter lunch!

This girl - she is turning out to be such an amazing person.  She is so funny, sweet, strong-willed, and kind. It's the best combination!

This boy!!  Goodness this boy.  You can put a tie on him, but you can't take the wild out of him!

Grammy and her babies.

We had such a great Easter, and had so much fun celebrating!