A few of my Favorite Things...

My kids have been really sweet to each other lately, and I have even been able to capture some of it on film! These are only a few of their most precious moments together. It's times like these that just melt my heart!

Aaron playing with Alexis under her activity bar...

Andrew reading Aaron his favorite bedtime book...

Andrew and Austin 'wrestling'...

Andrew feeding Alexis...

Austin and Aaron playing Wii...

Aaron talking on his 'cell phone'...

Aaron holding his baby sister (can you see the resemblance!?)...

Aaron and Austin with their buddy Nolan all dressed-up...

Bath time fun...

100% Princess...

Well, there are only 3 months left until my baby girl turns 1! Even though she is 9 months old now, she definitely looks more like a 6 month old due to her small size. At her doctors appointment on Monday, she weighed in at 15lb, 12oz which put her in only the 5th percentile. However, with her being my last baby, I don't mind her taking her time in growing at all! She's done so many new things in the last 3 months that amaze me even after seeing 3 other kids do it! She is officially rolling both ways and can even sit up all my herself! In the last week she has also started scooching on her back to get her places faster. She has been introduced to baby food and loves all the vegetables and fruit! I tried to give her a few puffs and biter bisquits the other day since she still has no teeth and could just gum them, but she started gagging, so I put them away for later use. The doctor did notice one tooth that should be popping through anyday, so we anxiously await that. The latest and greatest thing I have introduced her to has been a sippy cup with juice. She's still trying to get the hang of it, but is doing well. She's n a set daily routine and has been down to one 2-3 hour nap a day for quite a while now which helps me immensely! She still wakes up once or twice in the middle of the night, but I am hoping that once a few teeth pop through, she will sleep peacefully. She is really starting to interact more with her brothers and LOVES all the attention from them. Whenever she is in a room and someone leaves, she screams her head off until they come back. Once they are back in the room, she goes back to playing like nothing even happened. Spoiled perhaps!? She also "talks" up a storm and laughs at just about everything. Her favorite thing to play with is still her activity center and she bounces around in it like crazy! She's a very happy, go-lucky baby and definitely the princess of the family!

Alexis in her Easter dress...

And her tu-tu...

Easter Hoppenings...

The kids woke up bright and early this past Sunday morning to see what the Easter bunny had left for them. Of course the first thing the boys found were their Easter baskets stocked full of candy and 2 movies for each of them. Aaron was so excited about Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel, he took it right out of his basket and wouldn't left go of it for a second. Here they are showing off some of their goodies...

Alexis was more reserved with her basket. She didn't try to take anything out, and instead just held on tight to the WHOLE thing. I think she has come to realize that unless she holds on tight to something cool she may get, her brothers will try to snatch it!

After the kids viewed all the sweets in their baskets, it was on to the egg hunt! Since the kids are still little, the Easter bunny tries to keep all the eggs out in the open forthem to find easily. Perhaps next year he will try to give them more of a challenge... hehe.   Andrew finding a couple eggs...

Austin hitting the jackpot in eggs...

Even Aaron put his new movie down long enough to find a few...

The boys with their collection of findings...

After all those festivities were over, I quickly got the kids dressed in their Easter outfits and took a few snapshots before heading off to church... 

Sweet sibling love...

Andrew had already known the reason for celebrating Easter, but Austin really had no idea. So to make it easy for him and even Aaron to understand, I bought the kids an Easter movie and Resurrection Eggs that help tell the story of Jesus' death. I was really impressed with how quickly Austin caught on and was able to remember what each figurine in the eggs meant. As much as I love doing the whole Easter bunny with baskets and eggs thing, I want to make sure they are aware of the true reason we celebrate this great holiday... Jesus dying for our sins and being resurrected from the dead to live in Heaven with God until He comes again for us.

Eggs to Dye for...

As much fun as I had as a child dying and decorating Easter eggs, it's definitely one tradition that I wouldn't mind doing without during this Holy holiday. However, my kids absolutely love it, so I really have no choice in doing it. And this year since the weather was so nice, I was able to gather up all 4 of the kids and the neccessary supplies to head outside and color our eggs. Andrew, Austin and Aaron had no trouble diving right in and picking out the colored bowls to drop their eggs into. I was even surprised when they all went for different colors instead of all wanting blue because it is the "boy" color afterall. And they were very careful dropping their eggs in the bowls and taking them back out again. Oh so tedious!

Alexis required a little bit more assistance, but she was definitely ready, willing and able...

The messiest part of course is taking the eggs out of the dyed water tubs and making sure no one knocks one over or drops their egg. The boys did quite well with this part too, and were happy to show off their masterpieces... including Alexis!

Later in the afternoon they even went over to my parents house and helped my mom dye even more eggs since they were practically pros. Such an 'egg'cellent day!

Sun Bathing Beauty...

Alexis in her new swimsuit...

"Okay mom, you can stop with pictures..."

"Yeah, I am adorable..."