easter weekend! boring text!

No pictures, no video, no nothing! Last week was exceptionally busy, and by the time Saturday rolled around I was simply ready to be with family and focus on their company rather than how exhausted I was!

For the first time in years (years!) we didn't have the littles for Easter. What insanity! Fortunately for us, we have loads of family outside of our youngest dumplings - R, Meghan and I got together with Juju, Tonya, Stephen, Krystall, Darrah, Cody, Ryan, Kirsten and Luciana - phew!

We went to the hill, crammed around our once-big dining room table and ate hamburgers + loads of veggies, then the girls sat on the porch while the boys played baseball. It was so sweet and chill and wonderful. Meghan, Krystall and I even stopped by Sweet Firefly for ice-cream after getting home (lavender honey ice-cream! whut!). 

On Sunday, Richard and I vowed to do NOTHING, given the upcoming weeks of packing ahead (moving is awesome?!), and it was a slam-dunk. We slept in, rented a million movies, ordered take-out twice and kept the doors and windows open almost all day. Our house is a mess and there's alot coming around the corner, but we managed to just sit and relax for 12 whole hours with just the two of us. It. Was. Awesome.

So, family + good food + chill time + beautiful weather... we killed it this Easter weekend. :)

easter-fest 2015!

(imagine singing the title along to "treat yo'self 2011!")

I'm fairly confident we had an Easter celebration to end all Easter celebrations. With Darrah + her boys, Tonya & Stephen, mom & Grandpa Jim AND all the Moores (AND Jake from across the street!) we had 14 people in our little house and it was one of the best days of the year so far. :)

Not that I feel like I need to apologize for anything, but I didn't take alot of pictures. I've been sooo busy for the past few weeks (lots of early mornings, long drives and long hours... but all for good real-estate reasons!), and my only break was filled with spring cleaning (adulting?!?!). The morning of Easter-Fest also included getting up at 6am to take Sadie to a volleyball game. :X I was so tired afterwards, I even forgot to shave below my knee on just ONE of my legs. :X I even told myself "no pictures! who cares!" and poured myself a big glass of wine. But these people are so adorable, I of course snuck in a few (and after 15 hours of sleep today, I still haven't taken care of my lone unshaven leg calf ;P).

The weather was beautiful. We dyed eggs. We ate Easter ham... burgers! ;P Meghan made epic fried squash that was a dream dipped in ranch dressing. Emily wouldn't let go of Tonya's hand for 30 minutes. Mom brought us toilet an epic amount of paper. ;P There was soccer. There were riddles. There was a vinegar/baking soda volcano with BLUE lava. There were paper catapults and coloring. I drank alot of wine with Tonya. EVERYONE came outside to say good-bye to mom and Grandpa Jim and watch them drive off. The Moore family got to better know the Haynes family, and vise-versa. And at one point, Cody and Ryan were on the roof (I'm told for the purpose of parachuting action figures ;)).

It was a beautiful day, and I hope to never forget it. :)

Silly faces and hugs. :)

Grandpa Jim wearing R's Whole Foods jacket because he was a little chilly. <3

Cody and Ryan on the roof!

And then they took over my phone when I wasn't looking... :D

We even had such a full, fun evening the kiddos didn't have time to go through their Easter Baskets from Juju. :D They were so sweet this morning going through it all. :)

Hope you all had a fabulous holiday weekend!

hey, it's easter!

Alrighty-roo! Things that happened ages ago! This year for Easter, we went up to Grandpa Jim's house for some fun with Brendi and Dana, who fortunately were in town. The weather was perfect for our little family day. :)

Dana and Brendi are so sweet and wonderful, they had an entire mound of eggs ready to be decorated by our little dumplings. 

Then we all just played around in the backyard. A perfect distraction while the grown-ups set up the Easter Egg hunt in the front yard... ;)

Meg, being awesome (and smiling voluntarily!) ;)

Getting ready to go! (Trust me, when there are allegedly quarters/dollars in the hidden eggs, Meg's all-in as well!)

A little fuzzy, but I couldn't help myself. ;) That smile!

Spoils!

And just a few other good shots from the day... :)

Such a fun day! You want to know why I blog? Because I almost forgot this happened! When I was cleaning out my camera a few weeks ago, I saw these pictures and though OMG, we did that! I almost forgot! ;P 

Big thanks to my sweet family for putting on such a fun day for our sweet kittens. :) We always have the best time with you!

easter party!

We had all the kittens on Easter weekend this year, which is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing: celebrating holidays as a whole family is the best! Curse: I usually have to work Sundays. Ugh!

Fortunately, we live in a wonderful apartment community that hosted a family party this Good Friday and we were all able to make it. It was so much fun! There were bounce-houses, basketball, balloons, and even an Easter egg hunt all for free. I mean, hello! Count us in!

Look at the sweet little man!

She was getting pretty good by the end of her turn!

Emily is so not afraid of making big creative statements.

!!! 

So excited for the Easter egg hunt to begin!

That field was clean in less than 2 minutes. 

 If you need any further proof we had a great time, here it is: pictures of Meggie smiling. That's right, we had so much fun as a family, these pictures happened without complaint. Can't ask for more than that! ;P

I'm always so amazed how often little opportunities like this come our way just when we need them, and I'm so blessed that Richard is just as appreciative as I am to go-and-do when we get the chance. Planning holiday stuff that's both affordable and fun for everyone around visitation can be so hard, but we always seem to manage to do something that's adventurous. :) And thank goodness for those iPhone cameras!

"just once a year, I like to show everyone that my heart isn't completely as black as they think it is."

Say, girl, who's that's sweet Easter Bunny at Whole Foods Market today?

Oh, just my boyfriend!