Easter Sunday

Easter morning is always a hurried one, getting out the door to church with food in hand for our church brunch, John getting there early to help set up for our outdoor service, and things needed for the afternoon when we hang out with friends.

This year was a blessing because it is the first year in as many that I can remember that John and I have both sat in the audience and enjoyed the Easter service.  We weren't singing or playing and we weren't with the littles in the nursery.

{What a joy to worship our Risen Savior}

But we did let Chase do a little basket hunting before church.  Here you can sort of see her goodies.  Some plastic jewelry, some M&M's, sticker earrings, hairbrush, and a handmade bunny rabbit made by yours truly!

I saw a mom on another blog that had made these for her kids, and thought, this would be a great year for that since Chase is so into animals and loveys and hoarding them.  Well, it flopped!  I have yet to see her hold it, other than the moment she saw it.

I think he is darling.  Sometimes she is slow to catch on to certain stuffed animals. So maybe one day!

Here she is on the hunt....

And here she is ready for church, eating breakfast, M&M's

In the afternoon, we went to our friend/Pastor's home.  It was a blessing to have someone to hang out with for the afternoon, in a very relaxed setting.  The weather was a weird one here for Easter.  Started out nice and cool and sunny, turned to cooler and cloudy, then outright cold and overcast and slightly drizzly!

Mama Nutting had another egg hunt for the littles.  They loved it.  More candy!  You can see what our diet this weekend consisted of!!

Again, we are so blessed by our "extended" family here in San Diego.  We *hardly* even knew we were missing the real deal!

{Fully blessed and thankful}

The Day Before Easter

{ On Saturday we had an Easter brunch with our "extended" family } 

{ There were 5 families, 4 with littles.  7 kids total }

   { We had a delicious breakfast}

{ Followed by an egg hunt }

{ Then there was lots of sugar consumed; candy and delicious cupcakes }

{ Then moms sitting around talking and the dads in another room talking (or playing), and kids running around on a sugar high!! }

{{ It was a lot of fun!  Thanks dear Carters! }}

:: My Little Hoarder ::

I'm slightly concerned about my baby.

She is a collector.  She finds things and then can't live without them.

I think borderline hoarder is more like it.

You can see in these pictures her current favorites:

2 Mr. Potato Head noses, pink and red

2 books: one she has never read, one library book about gum that she is obsessed with

She got some new jelly shoes (hello 80's) that she had to wear to bed

Baby Porcupine (a nail scrubber)

And then there is always her cache of stuffed animals of the moment

This could be a new weekly posting; what is Chase sleeping with these days?

She's not going to end up on that crazy show about Hoarders, is she???

Washington, Post #3

This will be my final post of our trip.


Here is some of our activity:

Playing ball tag with "Uncle" Adam...invented by Uncle John and played for many hours in CA

A night of dancing...Whitney has fierce moves and lip syncs as well as Milly Vanilli

Morning fun 

This is a bad picture, but it makes me laugh b/c it is cold and wet out and Chase is in dress up clothes! 

On Monday, we packed a picnic lunch and went for a little outing to Mukilteo Harbor.  It was a quaint, tiny town on the water.  Beautiful, with a lighthouse sitting on the water's edge, but still oh so chilly and gray!


Being a Southern Californian who rarely sees rain anymore, I had to laugh as I saw people setting up for a party in one of the shelter houses complete with a pinata.  It was maybe 50 degrees and drizzly and not party weather compared to how we party in San Diego!  It made me laugh.  Anna says that people just keep right on living!  

 Um mom, why does this beach look so different from ours??

Be sure to look at Anna's blog to see some cute pictures of Chase and Whitney!

Washington, Post #2

Saturday was our big adventure day!  This was the day I got to play tourist.


My brother Adam, new resident of Portland, Oregon, drove up to spend the weekend with us.  He arrived Friday night after a four hour drive.  It was so nice having him with us.  The kids all LOVED him!


Adam, Anna, Drew, Abby and I headed downtown Seattle to check out Pike Place Market and a bit of the city. It was still pretty drizzly, cool, gray, but was great fun nonetheless.  I felt like once you get over the fact that it will be rainy a lot, then you can just move on in life and enjoy things!

~The famous "gum wall"~

~The original Starbucks...too crowded to even get a peek in~

~Then we went around the corner to a "good" coffee shop for a treat~

~Our fun day ended by having a delicious fun-due dinner!  Anna knows me well to know what I love!~