Join the Mureens: April 2010

Monday, April 5, 2010

J.R. with Cousin Brandon...

forgot to include these in the Easter pics from today...so cute...the ducks walking around in the yard (in the background of this pic) were cracking me up.

His water "gun." He's squirting me as I take this picture.

EASTER!!

Easter bunnylicious!! :)

Gabby had lots of fun treats for the kids and hid eggs all over Aunt Missy's house at a fun family Easter feast!

She's probably looking for something to eat...preferably chocolate. This girl is an eater. She loves to eat...all.the.time.

The fam!

Sweet Anna Kate sure did a stellar job at "hunting" the eggs...she was fast! But she left the "obvious" ones for J.R. to get. It was rainy-drizzly outside so we did it indoors. They had a lot of egg-hunting practice this week that made for a great "game-day!!"

Papa and Caroline!

This morning when Anna Kate and Caroline put on their Easter hats, J.R. said he wanted an Easter hat to wear. Jon and I told him boys don't wear Easter hats. He walked out then came back in this hat and said, "I will wear this Easter hat." It really doesn't matter what you say to him if he already has his mind made up about something. And he is especially particular (aka stubborn) about what he wears!!

What a special day!! And the Easter baskets Mammaw gave them were just icing on the carrot cake!

So many Easter parties before Easter!!

Anna Kate and Zac...Zac's mommy, Sarah, did an AMAZING job capturing all the fun times of this event here.

I'm friends w/ Martha Stewart!!

not really, but my sweet friend Leonore is just about as close as you could get to a real Martha Stewart...and I love her.

I always think Caroline looks so much like her when she holds her :)

This is Anna Kate at her house holding one of her REAL chickens by her REAL garden and she's so gifted at hospitality...and there's so much more!!!

Remember those eggs the kids dyed w/ Aunt Jen and Uncle Ryan?

Well, J.R. thoroughly enjoys smashing them in his hand over the carpet. Boiled egg is actually very difficult to clean out of carpet b/c it's just moist enough that it doesn't really vacuum out...smells great, too. I'm convinced that carpet is one of the worst (and GROSSEST) inventions EVER.

Reading the Easter story this week!

Jon is the BEST spiritual leader for our kids...I just couldn't be more proud of him...I think he is the PERFECT dad (and husband, too! except when he tried to throw away my cilantro today because we were late, but I was not finished making salsa with it...which is actually a pretty hilarious story b/c we definitely quibbled and we don't quibble that often, but when we do, it's never w/out some pretty funny drama...and before we know it we both end up laughing to the point of tears)

A date...for almost 24 hours!!!!

or as J.R. calls it, a "gate" for Jon and me courtesy of his sweet sister, Jennifer, and her too-good-to-be-true-but-true husband Ryan :)

The kids had a total blast with them...dying Easter eggs...and apparently Anna Kate gave Jen some helpful pointers on preparing dinner like how she forgot to peel the carrots and needed to do that as she handed Jen the peeler.

Caroline loved Uncle Ryan!

And of course the kids wanted to go home with Jen and Ryan when Jon and I got back...it is true that they are way cooler than us. But Jon and I had so much fun together over the weekend...one of my favorite parts was getting a new swimsuit I love and getting to wear it at the Crescent spa...so fun!

Delivering Invites for a neighborhood party...

The kids LOVED doing this. Anna Kate was great at putting them on the doors.

J.R. enjoyed splashing in any puddles he could find. And he was taking off his clothes as they got all wet and muddy. Eventually he was naked in the wagon...and it was chilly outside.

But keeping him out of puddles is like keeping white off rice or something.

And we made new friends as I ran up to a house when I thought a scary dude in a car was following me...over the culture-shock thankfully, but I still get spooked in this city...burb-life must be nice. My knight-in-a-suit came to the rescue as well :)

So another project consuming my time lately is starting a neighborhood group so we have more community w/ each other....so far it's going great and so many ladies are so excited about it!

A weekend visit from sweet friends!!

And getting to meet their precious baby Grace!!!

Let's go fly a kite!!!

Why not?

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Things he loves...

driving cars in dirt, his toy snake, his superman shirt, being outside...

Fun times in the closet...

J.R. is in the picture...hilarious.

3 Musketeers in the closet.

I was missing a check and it was...in the closet of course...written to Anna Kate. Oh she is the pack-rat stuff-staging junkie queen of the world!!! At least we laugh about it...a lot...if you need a good laugh just come check out Anna Kate's room and closet and there will be something pretty amusing...probably glued in place - no joke. That is if you can get through the door b/c there's so much stuff...and she doesn't like any one to come in and "mess it up."

Getting so big!

Still wears jammies whenever she can night or day. LOVE HER.

My super hero...

Can trim his own trees to save $$$ and DEFEAT the mosquitos that try to take over our backyard - oh yes he can!!

Is she walking yet?

No, but she can stand up and we are really proud of that :) I'll let you know if there's any progress in this department.

My how a month has flown by!

We've had lots of fun parties and friends and a special weekend get-away courtesy of Jon's sister and her husband...and it goes downhill from there. At the bottom of the hill there's some potty training, and picking out a new roof (I've become an obsessive roof stalker...sounds cooler than it is) and lest we not forget, some seemingly chronic pink-eye that's graced each family member. But enough of that and time to update w/ some pics!

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