Celebrating Earth Day...Sort of

It's been a rough two weeks around our house.  Everyone has been hit hard with colds, congestion and coughs! (with the exception of mommy who only had a sore throat)  It was passed around like Kool-Aid on a hot sunny day.  When one person got over it, someone else got it and seemed to get worse as each person got it.  Lexi had her first fever and mommy and daddy did NOT like it.  Luckily no one else had a fever but Devin had (and still has) chest congestion and a terrible deep cough.  We've been stuck in the house for the last two weeks and haven't been doing anything fun.  We miss the beach and play dates so much and kids beg us to take them but we didn't think that would be appropriate with fevers and coughs and all.  We originally had big plans for last weekend with Earth Day and Easter festivities but they had to be altered a bit due to illness. 

Saturday morning Lexi and mommy met Grandma Diane at The Equestrian Challenge 5K race in Pine Ridge.  Grandma pushed Lexi in the stroller and mommy got to run with her dear friend Jen (who beat me by the way...that's hard for me to admit!).  After the race, the three of us enjoyed a nice breakfast at one of our favorite spots.  Originally we had planned to go to Koreshan State Park for an Earth Day celebration after the race with the whole family.  They had entertainment, food, vendors, face painting, activities for kids, etc.  But we decided everyone needed to lay low and take long naps instead.  Well after naps all four of us felt like climbing out of our skin!  We could not stand to be home any longer, sick or not.  So we decided to pick up Grandma Diane and head to Koreshan State Park to see if we could at least make it to the drum circle they had planned.  When we drove up to pay to park they gave us half off because the festivities were over. :(  But we did get to run around a little and dance to the drums.  It was worth getting out of the house but after 30 minutes the kids were TERRIBLE and very tired and still not feeling well.  Maybe we can celebrate Earth Day next year?!

The park is beautiful and shaded with many trees.  Love the next series of pictures of daddy and his pokie!

If I could draw a thought bubble over Lexi's head it would say...What are all these hippies doing here?! :)

Oh, well, here you go....Thanks Leah Peah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :-)



Devin was NOT in any mood for pictures.  Poor thing was still pretty sick and probably should have stayed home.

The spectators and dancers enjoying the drum circle.

Lexi was telling me she wanted to go home!

Hopefully next year we won't be sick this time of the year and can get out and enjoy the Earth Day festivities that our town always offers. 

Saturday night Andy and I were sitting in the play room watching tv after the kids went to bed.  I looked down and saw that Sterling had derailed a train and was laying on the train  tracks. Devin would have lost it if he saw it.  He's very particular about the dogs messing with his things.  I thought it was cute!

Devin has a train table but he and daddy build large and elaborate tracks on the floor instead!

The monster at the end of the tracks...

Easter Eggstravaganza!!

This year's Easter festivities were awesome!  The Vuko's hosted a fabulous Easter Egg Hunt and a delicious brunch on Sunday morning.  It was so nice because even Grandma and Grandpa Schaps and Grandma and Grandpa O'Dean came.  We are so fortunate to be able to be with the ones we love celebrating a wonderful and hopefully new holiday tradition!  The kids had a blast and were spoiled rotten with baskets and gifts galore.  Everyone had a great time; it really was a perfect way to spend the holiday.  We can't thank the Vuko's enough for inviting our entire family over and hosting the Easter festivities this year; we love you!

The 3 amigos before the egg hunt!



Devin, Lexi and Miah Jane...How cute are these kids?



The men were in charge of hiding the eggs and they did a great job.  They had to be careful and not hide them too well because the kids are not experienced at this yet.  Some were placed high and some were place low but all were sticking out just a little to catch the eye of toddler on the prowl! 

Don't we all wish we had beautiful landscaping like this to hide eggs?  I mean...come on...Gorgeous!

Miah Jane found one!!



Oh, wait...I think she sees the second one!



Yep, she found two!





Have you noticed the pink and yellow purses the girls are carrying around?  MJ's grandpa bought those for the girls.  So sweet and thoughtful.  Lexi carries her purse around everywhere now...so cute!

 

I don't get to dress Lexi up in pretty dresses often...mama loves it!

Working together; TEAM WORK!

Big man on the campus...basket full of eggs!

Yelling at the girls that he has found a good spot! As you can see Devin cleaned house...overflowing with eggs!

Precious picture...love it!  M.J. giving Devin an egg she found.

Lexi counting her eggs

Miah quickly going through her stash...a mouthful and two fists full of jelly beans!

   

This last picture I love.  I took 10 pictures of the kids sitting on the steps before I got one (the first picture in this post) where they were all three looking at the camera.  This was probably one of the last ones and the girls had enough of it.  Devin's cracking up laughing, as usual, and the girls are more interested in their purses and getting on with egg hunt already!

We hope the Easter Bunny was as good to everyone else as he was to us this year.  We had such a great Easter and hope this Easter Egg Hunt at the Vuko's continues and becomes a tradition.  Next year we need to recruit more egg hunters.  So mark your calendars friends!

Spring Has Sprung

Presenting our fabulous spring cards...................................................


Thank you to my friend Jessica who designed and had them printed for me.  You can see more of her wonderful creations HERE.  The quality of the pictures of the card I posted aren't great because I scanned the actual card in.  But believe me, these cards are beautiful and colorful!  My two little angels looked so cute all dressed up in Easter/Spring colors.  Happy Spring to everyone!!

Family Fun Day

We all are enjoying the weekends together now that Andy isn't working them anymore.  It's like we're a whole new family.  We get to do fun things together every single weekend...we LOVE it!  One thing the kids particularly love is that we go to beach every Sunday now.  They have so much fun and mommy and daddy enjoy getting a little suntan too.  We don't stay for very long but it's the highlight of our weekends.

Devin's new thing is, chasing waves, he calls it.  It's pretty much body surfing...

Catching a good wave!

Beautiful background for my beautiful boy!

Devin showing Lexi how its done.

I love this picture because they're both yelling with excitement!

Having a BLAST!

LOVE this picture of my cutie pie!

Looks like Lexi is sacheting on the shore!

The kids beg to go to the beach and we haven't said no yet.  They are finally at the age where the beach is fun for the adults too.  It's something we all enjoy together.  We are loving our new Sunday tradition!

Spring Pictures...Take One!

Last weekend Andy and I attempted to take Spring pictures of the kiddos.  In years past we paid someone to it but Andy reminded me that my new camera wasn't cheap and that we should try ourselves first.  I do like challenges but I knew this one would be very difficult.  The hardest part for me was deciding where to take these pictures.  I wanted them to have a springtime, outdoor, feel to them.  Our yard is completely dead and brown and not an ideal place for any sort of photo shoot.  So after many hours of thinking of the perfect place it came to me!!  Joanne's parent's have a beautifully landscaped, perfectly blooming, picture-perfect yard.  So in fine Kara fashion, I invited my family over to their house for a photo shoot! We can't thank George and Sue enough for hosting us for a couple of hours and letting our kids run around like they owned the place so we could capture some memorable pictures...and we did! The kids had a fabulous time playing together (Miah Jane, Adrey and Charlie were there too!) and we managed to snap some cute pictures.  We also want to thank Sue for baking delicious cupcakes for the kids (and parents) to enjoy after making them take hundreds of pictures.  I was able to get the last pictures by bribing the kids with cupcakes.

What Spring/Easter photo shoot is complete without baby chicks?  Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Baby Chick #1, Baby Chick #2, Baby Chick #3 and Baby Chick #4 (we never discussed names)....

These cute little chicks were the highlight of Devin's afternoon.  He loved them! (maybe a little too much)



A tight squeeze...a love squeeze but he held them very tight.



For all you Soup (E!) fans, Andy and I call this picture...Chicks Man.



Lexi chasing the poor little chick around the back yard.



Lexi had more fun riding around in Miah Jane's truck than playing with the chicks.



I don't know what she's yelling about but it made a cute picture!

Miah Jane exploring the tulips...such a cutie!

 

After taking this picture...

 

NO MORE MOMMY!!!

We realized the kids needed a break.  Miah Jane's grandparents have so many fun toys...the kids were in heaven!!  Lexi took a break to water some plants.

Then, we wandered over to the side of the yard to visit Ray...a humungous turtle or tortoise or something like that!

Ray enjoying some lettuce.



 The next series of pictures are funny.  It is nearly impossible to get three toddlers to all smile at the same time or even look in the same direction for that matter.  Andy was standing over me making goofy sounds and faces to get them to look over at me and smile.


I love this picture because it looks like Lexi is yelling at MJ to MOOOOVE OVER!



Finally one decent shot after 100 takes!!





There are really good pictures that we got of Devin and Lexi but I don't want to post them just yet.  My friend Jessica is making our Spring cards with them and I'll post them soon.  I'm so excited to see these cards she made; they are adorable!  You can check out her etsy store/site by clicking on the link posted in Other Sites We Follow on the upper right side of this page; Custom Cards by Jessica Johnston.  Happy Spring everyone!