Easter

As you will see by the pictures I've included for Easter, I am somewhat emotional about family these days. Our nephews are moving to the land of "far, far away," and this aunt is more than a little sad about it. I've tried to capture in these few photos a small piece of what our time together is all about.

I don't think any of us can begin to imagine what it will be like not to have them right down the road. Well...not right down the road, but at least a car ride away. I'm going to miss those smiling faces and all the hang time we have been able to enjoy for the last few years.



Dying eggs with Pop




Our guys hanging out on the trampoline at Mer and Pop's house

Like father, like son...

Mighty finally "getting" what the Easter egg hunt is about

Hunting eggs at Mer and Pop's turned out to be an adventure. The first round lasted so long, we didn't need a round two.

Carter Boy

"Cheese!"

Oh, no! Mighty doesn't like to get dirty. He definitely did not enjoy having dirty hands and finding himself on top of a crawdad hole.

Hollis...on the hunt

This is amazing! Hollis can ride a scooter at 18 months!

Easter dudes in Easter duds

Mer and Pop with the Boys

Normal...

Crazy!

Three Generations

J's Real Birthday

We celebrated j's birthday the weekend before his real birthday. On his real birthday, Granny picked up a cake for him and decorated it with ocean animals. As you can see by his face, he was absolutely thrilled. I love that smile!

Happy 6th Birthday, Doodle!

On the Fly

When we went to New Orleans in February, we learned that a long time friend was planning a trip to Austin in March. She was coming for South by Southwest for work. One of her clients, Firefly Vodka, had some events during the music/film festival.

Firefly has an RV traveling around the country promoting their latest products (sweet tea vodka among other things). The best part is that there are college-ish kind of guys driving the RV and blogging about their adventures. They are calling it the "On the Fly Tour." Actually that isn't the best part. The best part is that Allison is supposed to be partially responsible for these young men. This is quite humorous if you actually know Allison.

Back to the story...we were excited to be able to squeeze in some more time with Allison (third time since October for me). She is ALWAYS tons of fun. This time certainly was no different. We met her in Austin for some adult time. We were able to meet her "RV guys." We really liked them and decided they were not at all what we expected. They were way better. They are two of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. So...we decided to have them all over for dinner on Sunday.

We weren't sure how the neighbors might feel about the Firefly Vodka RV showing up on our street. I'm sure they weren't pleased, but we didn't catch any grief for it.

Our little guys loved the RV guys. They were wonderful about playing with our boys and even took a trip down the zip line. K kept laughing about this warning on the side of the RV. I'm not really sure he understood, but maybe.



Mighty, Boppy, and our RV friend


Allison hanging out with the boys on the RV



The fam in front of the RV

K's Flight Suit

Aunt Brooke and Uncle Simon know and appreciate K's love of all things military. This year for his birthday they planned to take him to "the base" to do some shopping. Things got a little crazy for all of us, and it was beginning to look like that might not be possible for a really long time.

They surprised him with this flight suit. Needless to say, he LOVES it! He put it on and didn't want to take it off.

It didn't take him long to line up some military guys in the backyard.

Art Party

This year we celebrated j's 6th birthday at the art studio. We were able to combine his two favorite things: art and ocean life. The boys were able to play with balloons, do an art project, and play a few games.




Our party coordinator filled the floor with balloons for the kids to toss around. The boys were thrilled and the adults were nervous. We were just waiting for an accident to happen.

Simon found other uses for the balloons.



The rest of us decided it was time for a balloon time out. We just couldn't take it anymore!



On to the project...







Mom and Dad

Mer and Nan

Finally...our birthday boy with his cake

Bear Snacks

Spring Break is always a fun time for us. It kind of gives us a sneak peek at what summer will be like. I try to find some neat and different things for us to do, even if we don't go on a real vacation. One afternoon we made these bear snacks. We were inspired by our trip to the Farmer's Market where we bought local honey and a trip to the dentist where we were able to steal this idea from a magazine. We added chocolate chips for eyes and a belly button. The boys enjoyed dipping their bears in honey for an afternoon snack. We'll have to remember this one!




K really did have fun. It's hard to believe, I know. I keep telling him that one day he'll thank me for all of the pictures I make him take.

If you're hape and you know it...

When we can't find j, we look to the playroom. Usually he can be found sitting at his desk drawing. Not everything is a masterpiece, but sometimes we come across something really cool. At first glance this picture may not seem like anything special, but it really is.

When we asked j about it, he told us something like this...

It says "Happy Holidays" at the top and the illustrations below show all of the holidays. Each character is identified by the beginning letter of that holiday. The mummy has an "h" for Halloween. The bunny has an "e" for Easter. Santa has a "c" for Christmas. Cupid has a "v" for Valentine's Day. The turkey has a "T" for Thanksgiving.

He even made a key at the bottom so he wouldn't leave any holidays out. We only had one question. Who is the boy with "JD?" How could we forget his special day? I'm guessing J Day is his birthday.