Easter

Here is a rather long video of the girls Easter morning as they are discussing and comparing their Easter basket goodies.  It is probably of little interest to anyone other than me, but I like to have this little record of how they interact with each other. Please ignore the fact that their PJs are clearly too small and are for winter.  And I don't know why I can no longer add videos here (anyone know?) so I am attaching a link that may possibly work to you tube.

http://youtu.be/BEmUiMtWh-Q

Here are our pictures in our Easter outfits.  Sadly we did not get a complete family picture....and I am not a good enough photo editor to smash them together and make one with all of us.

 Love them!  And love the dresses that they picked out!

 It cracks me up that this is what they do when I tell them to pose!

D with his little ladies!

 I was trying to take a picture of D with just Audrey....but I love the look that Brooke is giving as she totally walks in front of the picture.

Pre-Easter Activities

 Brooke decorating our house for Easter....they love to hang things from the chandelier.

For the second time (we missed last year as we were house-hunting during Easter) we made what the girls like to call our Smash Eggs - you hollow out the egg, then dye them, then fill them with birdseed (so they are biodegradable and I don't have to pick up oodles of confetti), and then paint a little glue and tissue paper to cover the hole.  Somehow I have managed to capture every aspect of this activity except the actual smashing of the egg this year.  Hmm.  But here are the cute preparation pictures:

Hunt 1: On good Friday, one of our friends from church, Hollie, had an Easter Egg hunt at her house - technically at the park directly behind her house.  It was a perfect day for it, sunny but still a little cool, and the girls had a great time!

 Audrey working very hard in the egg race!

 Brooke hopping like a champ in the bunny race.

 Hollie trying to organize the kids by age to get ready for the hunt....note that my kids are listening to directions :)

 And they are off!  You can see that it was a very challenging hunt :)

 After the hunt with their friend Lauren

Hunt 2: Our Exxon friends John and Robin had an Easter Egg hunt at their house on Saturday before Easter.  The weather was PERFECT and it was super fun.  I felt like we were in a movie - you know the ones where everyone is hanging out and spontaneous games of kickball, football, and cornhole just happen. 

 My pinterest project for the hunt....turned out adorable, tasted bad.

The kids getting ready for the hunt

 I love this picture of Brooke!

 YESSSS!!!! The perfect egg!

 Audrey is so darn cute!

Jack and Brooke hit the jackpot in the mailbox....I think a parent got lazy distributing eggs!!

 Brooke asking for help reaching an egg that was way up high....if only there was an egg nearby that she could reach.

 Audrey and Jack both look so happy with their loot!

And for a refreshing treat, snowcones after the hunt!

Easter Edits

I am trying to learn how to edit my pictures a bit.  Here are two Easter pics that I have tried to edit....with the before and the after.  Though it really looks like the main difference is that I cropped them.  Hmmm.  A real Easter post will be forthcoming.

Z Fest

Our town had its big ZFest the weekend of March 22 - 24.  It had been hyped up a ton.  Unfortunately, the weather was less than stellar.  We went on Saturday (just me and the girls as D was out of town).  I thought that it was just a foggy morning, but as we drove up I realized that it was actually wet and disgusting and misty.  The one upside to this was that we were really the only people who had braved the weather to go. So the girls got to go on all the rides with no wait at all.  Of course their favorite thing was the bungee trampoline - which was not included with the wristband.  But I sucked it up and paid for them to do it.  And then they wanted to do it again.  I convinced them that they had to spend their own money for it - thanks Papa and Weecie for the Valentine's money - which they happily agreed to.

 Audrey is rocking her new shirt - which she does not even get the humor of, but LOVES the fact that the cookie has a mustache.

 They really seem to be too big for these little rides that just go around in a circle, but they rode them all and enjoyed them.

 From atop the Ferris wheel....Brooke was a little nervous about the height.

 They had mastered this after going to Disney.  See how we are like the only ones there - and how wet it looks!

 Ready to jump!!

 Again this was by far their favorite thing to do.  Though I could not convince them to try to do a flip.

 Brooke ready to go.

She was really going high....which almost created a problem when one of Brooke's bungee cords broke.  I about had a heart attack.  Though she was totally not phased at all.

Grandparents

Gramma and Gary spent some of spring break with my sister and and kids in Houston.  Since we are pretty much on the way, they stopped in for a little stay over.

Here is a picture of Brooke reading her little Bob book to Gramma and Audrey.  As an aside, the girls were wearing each other's PJ's so that we would be confused as to who's who. They totally crack themselves up with doing that....like we can't tell them apart!

This past week was our spring break.  So to break up the week, we went up to MS to visit with all of my side's grandparents.  We had lots of fun!  It is a perfect distance - just over 2 1/2 hours - to make a short trip.  The girls LOVE to visit with them...and LOVE to watch movies in the car the whole way there.

 I LOVE this picture!! If my dad were on FB I would make him use this as his profile picture.

 The whole Shows family...minus me of course.

 I guess this is also the whole family as J is lurking in the background.

 Now with the G's! 

And the three generations of the women in the fam....I am totally ignoring Brooke's snarl and calling this a great picture.

Gonna Be Gross

As the title says, this is gonna be a gross post.  But since this is truly my only documentation of anything that has happened in our lives, I am going to include this.

So sometime this fall we noticed that Audrey seemed to have developed a wart on the bottom of her big toe.  I saw it and really was not concerned about it at all and just let it go.  Until Audrey started to complain that it was hurting her - and crying about it and not sleeping well cause it was bothering her.  Then I sprang into action.  The pediatrician said that since it was on her foot we should see a podiatrist.  He basically recommended just treating it with over the counter meds.  And seeing him back in 2 weeks to kind of shave the top off....right I said this was gross.  This went on for about 6 weeks.  And instead of it looking better, new warts grew!

Since she was so little, the doctor did not want to freeze it (which he said does not work for plantar warts) or use a laser.  So that left cutting it off.  I will not go into details but let me just say that holding her down while she was hysterically screaming it right up there as one of the worst times in my life.

One little funny did happen during this. As we were driving home from her little procedure I made the comment that I wished that this had happened to me rather than her.  And she replied "No.  I wish it had happened to Bob* rather than either of us."   Bob (whose name I did change in case I ever get to be friends with his mother) is in her class and she says that he is the worst kid in the class.  It really was so funny.

Audrey was super tough and really was only sad and pathetic for just the one day of the procedure - which I thankfully scheduled for a Friday.  By Monday she was ready to go back to school.  And now, I am happy to report, she is wart free!  Unfortunately in an unlucky turn of events it appears that Brooke has a wart on her foot now.  We are apparently gross.

And here are the truly horrible pictures to go along with this post!

 

Before the procedure.  You can see the big one and then off to the side is a new little one and then up above it is the other new little one.

 

The morning after - still with the bandage from the doctor - getting ready for a soak in the sink with Epsom salt (the highlight of this whole thing, which Brooke insisted that she do as well....hmmmm perhaps I have solved the mystery of how she was exposed to the virus.)

 So so gross and so so painful looking!  Good thing she is our tough little bear!

All healed and all gone!! Hooray!!