Easter Weekend... Three Days with Daddy!

Happy Easter! Praise God for a risen Savior who is SURELY alive!! 

We have had a wonderfully fun and busy three day Easter weekend which makes this rainy afternoon all the more refreshing. Daddy has been home with us for three days... three days with no particular schedule and filled with Spring-like weather ... the perfect combo for a great weekend to spend at home with family!

We had a full week of Easter celebrations leading up to the weekend. We started with a MOPS Easter egg dying party on Monday, a visit from Nana on Wednesday where we finished dying our left-over eggs and Caden's school Easter egg hunt on Thursday... phew! Easter brings lots of excitement with it, doesn't it? And then throw in the eggs and it's bubbling over with fun!

Nana was sweet to sacrifice her fingers to the DYE... I think I was green for about two days... who knew that it really DOES dye your skin too? Shouldn't someone have come up with something that just dyes eggs by now? :)

The kids had a lot of fun playing with Nana in the backyard. Caden made Nana his goalie and his wide receiver and Kaki just wanted to look at all of the fun pictures on Nana's phone. And then there were the eggs... so between all of the demands on her, Nana was stretched pretty thin! :)

But thankfully, Nana always had lots of love to share...

And she has some pretty good egg dying skills...

Nana and Caden are out in the yard playing football... Kaki and I were the cheerleaders from the porch!   We left Nana to the wolves... hehe! :)

We are so thankful that Justin's company chooses to make Good Friday one of their holidays so that he can be home with us to celebrate all that Easter means to our family...

And... get few little chores done around the house too. It never hurts to have the extra time with our handy Daddy around...

He helped make my "kid's artwork" wall take shape...

And he took a hint and hung Kaki's swing... YAY!!!

And he organized the garage (this is ALL his wanting... he is a very organized dude!) Now we have all of our bikes and helmets and various other things neatly hanging on hooks coming out from the wall. There isn't a garage that stands a chance we he is around.

He also trimmed trees, helped me plant flowers and took a load of moving boxes to a friend! He was a busy guy!

In the midst of all of that we found LOTS of time to play in the backyard...

Nothing like some suds in the water table... 

Backyard snuggles with the Lou...

Friday was chore day but Saturday was FUN day...

We started with an early morning hike through San Gabriel River Trail... we did this last year on our "stay-cation" but this time we made it even further and had even more fun... not to mention we weren't sweating profusely just getting out of the car. Spring hiking is where it's at!

Self portrait with Daddy and Kaki...

Kaki calls her hiking backpack her "hiking stroller"... or "stro-yer" SO funny! She loves that thing! And let's be honest, what's not to love... 

Caden and I took the lead...

This time we decided to scale the "rockier" path instead of stay on the trail and it was SUPER fun... Caden did great... he fell pretty close to the beginning of the hike, scraped his hand pretty good which made for a MUCH more cautious Caden the rest of the day. He was crawling on all fours pretty much anytime he crossed a rocky patch... it was pretty funny!

Our resident tree-hugger... ha!

We stopped about .2 seconds in for a snack break... naturally... :) My kids love to eat!

Selfie of Mommy and Daddy...

Kaki wanted to get a taste of the wilderness and do some hiking of her own...ha!

Caden loved finding "hiking sticks" along the way...

We finally made it to the lake... last time we didn't quite get there... but this time we did it! So we stopped here for another and much longer snack break... isn't it pretty??

We had fun watching the fishing boats zoom by and seeing all of the people camping out across the lake from where we were... it was a big weekend for camping!

Family pic... mouths full of snacks... but still chessin'! 

Caden and I at the top of the "rocky" path... about the come down... almost home!

We were gone almost two hours and didn't quite make it much more than 1 mile... :) But our goal is to get to the old farm houses and waterfall... it is still 2 miles past where we stopped at the lake... so maybe in another two years or so we'll make it! :) Farm  houses and waterfalls or not, we had a great time making memories as a family and getting some exercise while we were doing it! 

We also got to see lots of blue limestone on our walk... I have never seen the inside of it before and it truly is blue and shiny... almost looks like quartz. It's gorgeous! I am amazed by all of the things God made! It was a fantastic morning!

A few times this weekend we have been out for a family bike ride. KK and Albi bought Caden a new bike so he could ride alongside us and so we've been working our way up to longer and longer rides. Luckily, we have some empty lots and streets that make the perfect safe haven for him to experiment. 

Look at him go...

And Kakster just hangs out... with her fancy new helmet and eats her snacks!! :) YUM!

Last night after dinner we hung out in the most literal sense in our front yard... 

We ate chocolate chip cookies and LAYED in the grass... I am sure our neighbors loved the views out their front windows... but we couldn't pass up the shade, the cool grass and the sounds of Spring!

Justin and I were laying next to each other and were trying to take a pic when we were photo-bombed by our son!!

So we decided... hmmm... that's a GREAT idea... fam pic in the grass!! Easter Weekend 2013!! Whoo-hoo!!

I love those three!!! SO MUCH!

Okay...

Sunday's a comin'!

EASTER!!

It's here! He is Risen! The bunny came!! Hurray! So much to celebrate!

Caden woke up well before the sun this morning so he got to see what the bunny brought before the bunny even made it back home... by the way... where does the Easter bunny live? I had nothin' when Caden asked... :) I told him in Heaven with God and Jesus... ha! :)

Ring pops...

Headphones... 

Spiderman swag...

And then Kaki woke up... but she couldn't see her basket until we put a bow in her hair... it's a bit untamed in the morning! :) She certainly doesn't sleep in a bow! :)

Caden was ever the good brother helping her go through her stuff...

Happy girl, but still not so sure what all the fuss was about...

But egg hunting she remembered... WHOO HOO!! CHEESE!! She's the one-eyed pirate when she cheeses... hilar!

And .... GO!!!!!

I realized that I probably should have thought through Caden's choice of PJs the night before but if it wasn't a big t-shirt it would've been Christmas PJs so really I guess we did pretty well! :)

Eggs, eggs, everywhere...

So... I have a confession... when I was getting the eggs ready to leave for the bunny I realized I didn't have enough candy, because I never actually bought candy this year... I just used the left-overs that KK had from her Easter stuff... thanks KK! But I ran out after filling Caden's eggs for school. And I was lazy and didn't want to go buy any... so I thought ... hmmm... I'll write message on the eggs and fill them with those...  so we did and the kids LOVED them and it was a sweet little moment to share all of the things we wrote about each of them together this morning. I wish it was because I wanted to make Easter more profound and candy-less but it was pure laziness... which sometimes strikes gold! The miracles abound on Easter! :)

After egg hunting and a quick breakfast it was the mad dash to get ready for church...

We had to attempt to take a few pics beforehand...

Attempt...

Kaki has started to fold her arms across her like this... too funny! I stand like that a lot and might need to stop... monkey see, monkey do! :)

Yo, yo it's Easter in our houz!!

She's about to make a break for it...

Individual shots...

Come back Kaki... your turn!

And she's off... for good...

You can dress her up... but... she'll still run around  like a banshee!

After church we had some time to burn before we headed to brunch... 

BLUEBONNETS!!! Hey, ho!!

Oh that boy... 

Caden tried to help us wrangle that Kaki...

He did a pretty good job too!

My sweet littles!!! I love them so!

That hair!! Those cheeks... oh my!! Precious Lou-Lou!

That grin... those cheeks... oh my!! Sweet Cade-man!!

HUGS... brother... sister!!

Almost done... just a few more... hang in there with us, Kaki...

Every girl needs the back of her dress photographed... especially when there is a bow involved! :)

Dapper Dan...

Pretty, pretty...

As if we hadn't taken ENOUGH pictures, we still had some time to burn so we decided to take a few pics on the square... 

Nothing like a Daddy and his girl...

Or his kids...

The sibs...

Mommy's turn... one of my favorite pictures of me and my sweet ones!! 

And again... a Daddy and his girl!

Peek-a-boo... 

Caden wanted me to take a pic of him being silly...

NICE!!

And of course Kaki was off and up the courthouse stairs...

What a great weekend!! A Happy Easter! A meaningful time with family! Fun in the great outdoors! Celebrating our risen Lord!! 

We are grateful for these days... three days!! 

Happy Easter!!