Easter in Raleigh

We celebrated our risen Savior in Raleigh at Ben's brother's home.  We had a super time and all the little people had so much fun playing together.  They all played so well together...non-stop.  We hardly ever even saw Whitney and Ava.  Ben's mom and dad and Abby and CJ met up with all of us there as well.  It's a rare event to have everyone together so we made the most of it.  We went to see Than's office at John Deere, went to visit Duke's campus (and got to see inside Cameron Indoor, their basketball stadium, very cool), colored Easter eggs, made Easter cupcakes, went to church and hunted for eggs.  Whew...very busy, fun weekend!

Evidence of how we survive long car trips, coloring books, head phones for watching dvds, and candy (chocolate ring on Lindsey, yellow candy teeth on Whitney)

At Uncle Than's work they had a bunch of tractors to play on

Running around at Cameron Indoor

Coloring eggs, it involved tears by all and some clothes dyed yellow, but we got it done :)

Aunt Jen with all the kiddos after singing Happy Birthday to her

Easter Day!

Love this shot...this will most likely never happen again.  So cute.

The hunt is on!

Then we all stuffed our faces with the candy and curled up in the fetal position.



Playing with Fire

Ben has been chomping at the bit to burn this enormous pile of "stuff" in our back yard.  Finally, the other day the conditions were right.  He tended to it alllll day, got a couple small burn holes in his shirt, a little bit burned in the face, but no smoke inhalation...it all blew towards our neighbors...

Looking for Eggs

Our Sunday school class had our annual Easter egg hunt at the Henderson's.  The girls each got twelve eggs and all the candy in those twelve eggs was gone before we left the party.  Shhh...don't tell the dentist :)

Shots...

Both girls have had there four and two year checkups in the last week, and both had to get shots, but poor Whitney, she had to get four.  One in each leg and one in each arm and a finger prick.  She was very brave and did a good job so we went for a doughnut at Krispie Kreme after.  Nothing like sweets to make it allllll better!  When I asked her how the doughnut was, she said "Fantastic!"

Spring Birthday Party

Lindsey and her little friends had fun at her 2nd birthday party making butterfly masks and doing a pull string pinata.  We had a brunch, opened presents and of course, had birthday cake!

Pre-party pictures...before the chaos begins :)

Whitney and Riley Catherine

All the girls with their butterfly masks. I was amazed at how much the girls loved these and wanted to wear them, even the little ones.

EAT!

She got lots of great gifts, but the sunglasses were a huge hit.  She wanted them on asap!

The candy!!!

Cake

More presents with Grandma and "Pa Pa" (she just started calling my dad that, it's pretty cute)

Big 2 Year Old

Little Lindsey Kate has done it, she turned two.  So hard to believe.  What's even more weird to think about is that Whitney was her age when she was born.  She's wearing the clothes that Whitney was wearing when she was born.  So weird...Anyhoo, we celebrated her day by going to a puppet show at the library, playing outside, then nap time, then dinner followed by cupcakes and presents.  She's your pretty typical 2 year old.  Learning to do things on her own, throwing the obligatory 2 year old tantrum every now and then (or more), learning her colors, learning to talk...her favorite thing to say by far is "shoes", then she proceeds to go through pointing out everyone's shoes in the family saying, "mommy shoes", "daddy shoes", "nit-ney shoes".  The girl loves shoes, we go through at least three shoe changes a day.  She's a sweet little girl, such a snuggler.  Her daddy likes that best!  Happy Birthday Lindsey Kate!  We all love you very much!

Sweet sisters

Got it!

I think Whitney is contemplating how she will attack her cupcake

Icing first, good move...

Lindsey, same thought, but but with more of an attack mode

Presents...a big girl stool, like her sister's from mommy and daddy

Some stuff from Grammy and Grandpa and CJ and Abby.  She loved the coat, had to put it on right away!  She's an accessory girl!

Dtown!

Ben and the neighbors took a trip to Durhamtown during spring break.  I was in Jersey with my friend Mandy, packing up our house there.  What was a "work" trip turned into a girl's trip.  We had planned three days for the whole process, but the movers were done with everything in 3 1/2 hours.  So, Mandy and I went to visit her grandmother, Carlos Bakery in Hoboken and spent the night in the city, went to dinner, walked around, just took in the city!  How blessed we were to have a few days away...anyway, back to Dtown.  Ben and the neighbors and their kiddos all got to go and they LOVED it!  So glad my hubby has a hobby he loves.  Check him out getting some air!

Lunch in a Fort

The girls had a special morning with daddy while I was out doing something.  Daddy made them a fort and they got to eat lunch in it.  They were super excited about it.  Yes, it's lunchtime and yes, they're still in their pj's...so what! :)  We love those kind of days.  I hope they realize one day just how special their daddy is!