There needs to be soooo many more of these....

Girl's night

Yes!

Easter

As you can see, I took A LOT of Easter pics.

It felt good to forget about the sadness that we have had in the past few weeks,

and to enjoy our time with our wonderful family and friends.

I told my work about my Easter weekend extravaganza and they about choked when I told them the 4 Easter Egg Hunts we had planned for the boys.

We just like to celebrate, alright? ha ha

Plus, look at all these SMILES!

First, we had our annual egg dyeing party at Jamie's house.

The kids were so creative,

the big boys were SO CUTE without their shirts on,

and Abby and I continued our secret friendship

(she is only my friend when no one else is around. I know the truth- you love me Abbs!)

Saturday, I spent all morning making Martha Stewart's Lavendar Brownies.

Ugh.

They tasted good, but they were so much uglier than I had hoped!

I forget what a terrible baker I am, hahaha.

For lunch, we went to Grama Roni's and Papa Tony's for their annual Easter Bash!

I love this giant family/friend party and this year they even rented a bounce house!

We got to see Melly and Trav from Jackson Hole, WY

And, FINALLY I got to see my Weenie and Brody!!

Geeeeez, I do not get to see them enough!

Easter morning, Max woke up EARLY.

I made him stay in bed like a mean mom until his brother woke up at 7:30am.

Jack found one egg, and sat on the couch to eat the candy inside.

He was done. ha ha.

Maxxy found all the eggs AND both Easter baskets.

They got some SUH-WEET helmets for this summer.

We plan on (finally) making Max learn how to ride his bike without training wheels.

I know, I know. Don't slap me. Worst mom ever award!

He isn't the sportiest kid around......ha ha ha

BUT, he IS handsome and VERY creative, so there!

My Jacky loved his helmet so much that he had to wear it to Grama Pat's

Oh, my boy in his helmet and cape

This is definitely the BEST Easter Egg hunt that we did.

Look at all the kids!

They were going CRAZY behind the fence, it was awesome.

And my barely-older-than-me cousin Rachel led the way.

She had to fight for her daughter's eggs because Ay wasn't there to find them herself.

Her face cracks me up!!!

Reminds me of the good old days

We had a DELICIOUS brunch with my favorite- biscuits and gravy.....oh.....

(doesn't that sound good right now???)

And my dad made special rice crispy treats filled with.....wait for it....bacon

Yea, not really good (tasted like camping) but I couldn't stop eating them!

Lastly, we went to Patti's for the world's-best-mashed-potatoes

and my FAVORITE boys in the whole world.

I love my little Lukey and Andrew!

They are my boy's bestest friends

(well, of course including Mars- her and Jacky are BFF's forever)

Happy Easter Everyone!
I hope your Easter was as wonderful as mine!
(here are my sweet boys, one of which who thinks he is a teenager)

Rain

We went to my Uncle Lorne's funeral today

It rained, hard, which seemed to fit perfectly

I loved hearing about him today

Stuff that I didn't know,

like his practical jokes, funny emails, and the amazing respect from his coworkers and friends

And stuff that I knew,

like his passion for Halloween, his amazing stories, his ability to nap anywhere,

and his love for my Di

I felt relief at the end of the day, and I hope his family did too

It hurts so much to see the people you love the most, hurting so badly

I feel so helpless, and I never know the right thing to say

So, I will say what I have said every time I have hugged my Di, Sar, and Coley

I. Love. You.

And, we are all here for you guys. always.

Sar- your words today were so sweet and so strong

Coley- every time I heard you laugh, I knew it would be ok

Zachy- you were so brave today, I was so proud of you

Di- your complete strength astounds me.

My whole family- I, again, am amazed by all of you.

What a lucky person I am to be apart of you.

I know that Uncle Lorne is looking over us,

and waiting for the day that he will be united with his family

Thanks for all the amazing memories

Rest in Peace

THIS is why I rush home from work...

Max's Great Brain

Our SMART, HANDSOME boy had his Great Brain Report today.

The kids got to choose anything they wanted to research and report to their class.

He chose The Deep Ocean.

He drew amazing ocean creatures, and we glued them onto our ocean poster where they really lived.

He read many books about his favorite creatures, esp the Anglerfish.

He likes it because it is creeeeeeepy.

We brought seashells from Maine and gave his class little bags of Swedish Fish Sealife candies.

Once again, he amazes us.

He is so confident and cool.

We HAD celebrated with yogurt from Spoon Me: