Easter Festivities

Easter is my absolute favorite holiday EVER! It is just such an emotional week where you go from sadness and despair at the crucifixion to absolute JOY on Easter Sunday when Christ is risen from the grave! I love it, and I love celebrating it :)

Our Easter celebrating started pretty early on April 12th at preschool. Every year, the kids get to dress up for the school Easter parade. The little guys put on their dads' dress shirts and ties, and the girls get to put on their fancy dress up clothes. They are absolutely precious, and I just adore this tradition!

The following week (during spring break), the boys and I dyed Easter eggs here at the house. It was a rainy day outside, and i figured it was the perfect activity! Both boys did a great job of not making a big mess, and they loved getting to decorate the eggs with Toy Story stickers once they dried. I thought they turned out really nicely :)

The next day, Saturday, was the Easter egg hunt at church. We got to do the Bunny Hop, sing some songs, and do some really neat crafts. After that, we went out to the playground where the boys racked up the eggs! They both filled up their buckets and had a lot of fun. After that, we ate lunch and then went home to relax for a little while before heading over to mimi-mama and grandaddy's house for some more Easter fun!

On Saturday afternoon, we made the short trip to my mom's house to do some more Easter activities. The boys got to dye eggs again with A.J. (because, apparently, I did not let them dye enough eggs!), and we got to make Resurrection Cookies which is something I hope to do every year and something I recommend all of you do with your kids. It's an activity I found to be very meaningful, and Kaden still talks about it now. After all that fun, we headed up to get ready for the Easter Bunny to come and for Easter Sunday!

Easter Sunday was a fabulous day! The boys woke up nice and early to see the goodies that were left for them by the Easter Bunny. We, of course, let them have some candy as an appetizer, but I did make breakfast before we got ready to go to church. Easter service was amazing, as it always is, and afterward we got some family pictures in front of the cross at church. After our busy morning, we got to enjoy lunch at my Grandaddy John's house where we ate ourselves silly and enjoyed another Easter egg hunt in his yard. My boys were pretty much experts by this point and were happy to find that these eggs for filled with candy and money :) Later that afternoon we headed home and lounged around the house in our food-induced comas for the rest of the evening.

I hope that you all had a wonderful, blessed Easter holiday!

Spring Break 2011

Spring break came very late this year, and it was MUCH needed in our house! I think we had the perfect balance of busy and relaxation to make it a very nice break. It was nice to be able to sleep in and just have FUN everyday, and fun was definitely had by all :)

Even though it was not technically spring break, Friday, the 15th I braved the Colonial Center with the boys to see Disney on Ice. Patrick and I took the boys last year, so I decided that I could try to take them by myself since he had to work. I will say that the boys were extremely well-behaved. They stayed in their seats (or on my lap) for the entire show, and after I bought them each a light-up toy at the beginning of the show they never asked for anything else. The show was great - I loved it just as much as they did, and it absolutely made my day to see their faces light up when they saw all their favorite characters come out on the ice. After the show, we met Bobo for lunch at California Dreaming (a rare treat!) and then went home and CRASHED because we had a busy morning!

On Monday, Patrick had the day off from work. Since he rarely has any days off anymore, we decided to take advantage of it and go out to breakfast! The boys love going to Cracker Barrel, so we headed out there and both boys got nice, full bellies from pancakes, eggs, and bacon. We don't go out to eat very much, so we always have a good time when we do get to enjoy a meal out. The boys ate a lot and had a lot of fun :) After eating, we did some shopping to get ready for a trip planned later in the week and then let the boys play at mimi-mama's house all afternoon.

Tuesday, the boys and I joined my mom and A.J. at the movie theater to see "Hop." Kaden has seen two movies in the theater prior to this one, but this was Noah's first time going to the theater. He did such a good job and had a fun time watching the movie, eating popcorn, and dancing to the music :) Kaden, of course, was awesome and we all enjoyed the very cute movie.

On Wednesday, the boys and I loaded up nice and early and made the trek down to Savannah, Georgia to visit a very good friend of mine. This is the first time the boys have ever been to Savannah, and it's the first time that I have been in over ten years. We had a great time letting our boys play together on the splash pad in downtown Savannah and walking down to the BIG candy store on River Street to let the boys fill up on candy :) We drove back late that night but will definitely stay overnight next time. It was a very fun day with our friends, and I know without a doubt that we will be making several more trips down there over the summer!

The rest of the week was spent celebrating and getting things ready for Easter which I will cover in another blog post. Sorry it's taken me so long to post, but I hope to get everyone caught up over the next few days. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Info on an awesome Giveaway!

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to pass along a link to a fantastic giveaway that is going on until midnight tomorrow. This is a friend of a friend, and she is going to Ethiopia in July to spend time with some of the orphans there. There is one particular orphanage there that is very near and dear to her heart, and she is currently in the process of raising money to assist them with things they need to help the kids (basics like DIAPERS!). If you are able to donate to her cause, you will be entered to win one of many great prizes (you choose which drawing you go into) so it's a win for everyone involved. Go check out her website here and please consider donating to help these sweet, innocent children! Thanks, and God bless!

Putt-Putt, T-ball, and Big Boy Beds!

I LOVE this time of year! It's starting to warm up outside, I've been able to dress the boys in some of their new spring clothes, and we have been able to enjoy more outdoor activities. T-ball is the newest, biggest thing going on right now, but we also took a morning off of preschool to enjoy a round of putt-putt at Frankie's Fun Park.

The Monday after Kaden's birthday party I decided to let him stay home from school. I don't usually just let him stay home unless he is sick, but Patrick was off on this particular Monday, and we thought it would be fun to take the boys out for the morning doing something fun together. Neither boy had ever played putt-putt before, so that's what we decided to do. Kaden was SO excited because he loves to "play golf." We got off to a good start, but on the third hole Kaden decided to check out the pond that was next to the hole and HE FELL IN! I kid you not! He was chest deep in the water. Luckily, I had a change of clothes in the car, so we were able to dry him off and continue our game (on a different course with less water :). Unfortunately, I didn't get a single picture of him soaking wet on the course... I was so flustered that my biggest concern was getting the wet clothes off! You will notice, however, that in the pictures he undergoes a wardrobe change :)

Kaden has also started playing t-ball this year! We decided that we were going to let him decide between t-ball and soccer, and he chose t-ball (I think because he has been watching A.J. play t-ball since he was born). His team is called the Mighty Mud Hens and their colors are red and navy blue. So far, we have had 5 practices and a scrimmage game. Kaden really does a great job! He is catching on very quickly that when you are on the field you have to be watching for the ball. We are working with him on throwing to first base when he gets the ball. He also does a great job at bat! It took him a few tries to remember that he runs to first base after he hits, but he's got it down now and did a great job at their scrimmage. His coach is wonderful, and I just feel very blessed that is having such a great experience so far. He is the most adorable little t-ball player I have ever seen!

Now for some Noah news! Noah has kind of been living in Kaden's shadow these past few weeks between the birthday party and t-ball, but Noah is the star in the Todd house this week! Over the weekend we broke down and purchased Noah's big boy bed! With Kaden and Noah we completely skipped the toddler bed stage and just bought them both twin beds with a safety rail on the side. Noah's crib converted into a toddler bed, but since he never slept in his crib it was impossible for us to get him in that toddler bed. The twin bed is the most like our bed (which is where he has been sleeping - keep your opinions to yourselves!), and we figured it would make the transition a little easier. I am happy to report that he napped in his room with very few tears yesterday for a whole hour! He didn't wake up at all for that hour. Last night was more difficult. He cried his little heart out for about an hour and a half (it felt much longer) and finally crashed in his bed. The plus to all that was that he slept the ENTIRE night in his bed! He didn't come into our room once or even wake up. I'm not holding my breath that it will happen that way every night, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. I didn't sleep a wink because I was worried about him, but I'm sure restful sleep will find me soon :)