Sweet Siblings

Evie worships Charlie.  She thinks he is hilarious, idolizes him, and wants to do everything he does.  At the Arboretum the other day, she was desperate to hold Charlie's hand, and for the first time ever, he let her.  They walked along like this for the longest time, which made Evie SO happy.  She was laughing and squealing and just couldn't believe they were holding hands.  Eventually, she got a little too excited and wanted him to hold both of her hands and walk sideways with her (because if one hand is good, two is better, right??), so Charlie cut it off.  But it was so cute while it lasted. :)

Congrats Kristin & Stephen!

The kids and I spent a fun weekend in Seguin for my cousin Kristin's wedding.  She married a Seguin boy (Stephen), so it was a really fun wedding with lots of old friends to catch up with.  The kids didn't get to attend the wedding festivities, but they had a great time with family during the day (and their sweet babysitters at night :).  I am so excited for this great couple, and loved getting to be a part of this awesome weekend!

I was sneaking a few pics during the ceremony...

 The beautiful couple.

 Adorable flower girls.

Jackson was quite the star on the dance floor.  I had no idea that boy had so many moves.  Check out this video (only one tiny example of his dancing...this literally went on for hours).  I bet he was tired on Sunday!

Charlie and Evie were so excited to have their aunts, uncles, and cousin Walter in town.  They were giddy when Sam and Audra arrived and disappeared into their room with them.   I don't know what went on in there, but I heard lots of giggling and screeching. :)  When Meggie, Foggy, and Walter arrived, they couldn't believe their luck!  Sweet Meggie is always up for playing or reading with them.  She is tireless!

In addition to spending time with their aunts and uncles, Charlie and Evie also got the pleasure of spending a day out in La Vernia with Papa and Foggy.  They both LOVE their solo outings with Papa and are both terrified of ever being left behind.  When Papa came out of his room on Saturday morning what they quickly recognized as his "ranch clothes," they both started to panic.  Evie was first to notice (!!) and kept saying "I go Papa! I go Papa!," and was desperate to get out of her high chair.  Then Charlie pushed his breakfast away and anxiously started trying to get dressed.  It took some fast talking to convince them that Papa was going to wait for them. :)  It is so fun seeing Evie bond with Papa and Ahh in the same way that Charlie did.  She is finally branching out from me a bit, and now she just adores her grandparents.  Every time she woke up in Seguin, she would ask me, "Papa?  Ahh?"  Then she would call for them (in her very quiet little voice :) the whole way down the stairs.  She grabbed onto Papa's hand one day and did not want to let go.  It was so funny seeing her trying to figure out how to reach down and get toys without letting go of his hand. :)

Charlie and Evie also really enjoyed tormenting Walter.  For some reason, they found the lovie-on-his-head trick totally hilarious.

 Another special part of the weekend were their Saturday-night babysitter--my aunt Mary and sweet cousin Grace!  I spent countless nights with Mary growing up, so I was so excited for them to get some time with her (Mary is a pediatrician and is absolutely passionate about kids.  She always has a bag full of fun activities and ideas!  She is incredible.)  She did not disappoint this time--she arrived with card tables and quilts and she and Charlie immediately went to work building a fort.  He and Evie LOVED their fort.  They read books in it, ate dinner in it, and played in it all evening.  Charlie could not stop talking about their fun time together, and I was so grateful that they had such a special, fun evening.  Thank you Mary!

Happy Easter!

Our Easter morning started off with bang--Charlie threw up all over my parents' couch (sorry, Mom!).  After watching him for a few hours, we decided he was ok and got him dressed and took him to church with us.  He was a little pale and tired all day, but he was a great sport.  The most comical part of the morning was the effort Clint and I went to in order to distract Charlie and see if we could minimize his candy intake (this is NOT easy on Easter, as we found out).  We knew we had a four-hour drive in front of us and really did not want to deal with vomit on the trip!

Here are my little Easter bunnies. :)

Poor, sick little guy.

The mouse has a surprisingly robust immune system.  She stayed perfectly healthy!

We decided to take a few pictures in the front yard, but the kids realized that the Easter bunny had already visited us and hidden eggs (we were delaying the official egg hunt until the whole family arrived after church).  They eagerly grabbed an egg and dug in...unfortunately, their mean mommy made them wait until after church. :)

Evie's wondering where her candy went. :)

This girl LOVES Easter eggs, egg hunts, and candy.  She was thrilled with Easter morning!

Clint and I tried to take photos with the kids...they are just not very cooperative!

Ok, so Charlie is fairly cooperative.  But Evie?  Not at all!

Obligatory pre-church family photos...

Sweet Rein family. :)

How cute is Walter?

After a very nice church service, we returned to my parents' house and began welcoming the rest of the family.  

Sweet Abby came in her Easter bonnet!

Frets granddaughters.  Aren't they adorable?  These 3 all have so much personality!

The other Katherine Diane. :)

While we were waiting for the Sculls and Skaggs to arrive, we tried to get a cousin picture.  This is the best we could do...trying to pose this group is not easy!

Addie and Walter.

The Easter bunny came!  Here are Charlie's, Evie's, and Walter's baskets.

Inspecting his "Thomas Saves Easter" book...

Evie loved her basket, but aside from checking for candy and other food treats, was not too interested in the contents. :)

Ahh, goldfish!

This girl ate candy all morning...thank goodness she escaped the stomach virus!

Evie was an avid egg hunter.  She quickly realized that they had candy in them, and once that realization hit, she was unstoppable!  After she had collected a few, she settled into a chair and started opening them and devouring the contents.  God help anyone who tried to wrestle any of this away from her... She did not stop until every bit was eaten! :)

Miss Priss did not want candy on her hands. :)

Charlie was not his usual, energetic self, which helped a bit with our control-the-candy-intake mission.  He enjoyed the egg hunt, but was perfectly content with this sucker and an elmo egg.  We were able to sneak the rest away until another (healthier) day...

Jane Ann.

Charlotte.  This sweet girl seems SO big all of a sudden!  She was talking so much and is so funny!

Jackson, King of the Egg Hunt.

Samuel, the other egg hunt master.

Sweet Julia.

Jane Ann and Charlotte were so sweet with Evie.  They helped her go through her eggs and once they realized how much she liked the candy, they were even supplying her with more.  Evie was very grateful for their generosity--I think they made a friend for life. :)

I finally got to meet little Henry James.  He is so sweet!

We had a long ride home, and luckily, our two kids were exhausted and slept for about half of it.  They were really good and fun even when they were awake, so that was a nice surprise.  And although Charlie moaned and groaned quite a bit about his tummy hurting (causing me to jump in the back with a trash bag several times), he never threw up again.  

Miss E was so excited when we turned her car seat around about half-way through the drive.  She loved her new view--definitely made the second half of the drive go faster for her!

These two are so cute and silly in the backseat.  They make each other screech and laugh and I love hearing them giggling back there.  One of my favorite parts of the drive was looking back to see them reaching for each other and trying to touch each other's hands.  I asked them if they were holding hands and Charlie said, "we're trying to!"  They have several "favorite songs," and they do the funniest little dances when those come on.  One requires wildly kicking, bare feet.  Every time I hear that song come on the radio, I immediately hear their shoes come off and they just start kicking and laughing.  They can be troublesome, but they make the trip so fun!

Here's the cool guy trying on his new Easter goggles.  Can't wait to try them out in the water!

Happy Easter to all of you!  I hope you all had a blessed holiday!