Sophie's Easter Party 2019

Last week, Sophie & I threw her last official holiday party before she starts school. I have been throwing these little holiday parties & play dates since they were born. Besides their birthday parties, I have always had a Halloween party, a Valentine party & an Easter party but next year I guess I will be partying without them while they are both at school full time. We decorated the house:

and made a few yummy snacks before all of our friends arrived:

Ok, so we didn't make all of that, but we did make these cute little nests:

We had a great turnout with lots of her friends & the weather was perfect! I had been working in the yard for the past week trying to get everything cleaned up from winter so we could spent the morning outside. We all had a great time playing, eating & visiting - moms & kids:

We tried to get a group picture but not everyone wanted to cooperate:

Still looks like a pretty good group of kids, right? We decided to do the egg hunt in the front yard because with this many kids, it felt crowded in the back. So a few of us headed out front to hide eggs. We had so many cars lining the street it kind of acted like a border & then spread the eggs all the way from the street to our neighbor's yard so there was plenty of room for the kids to run around. We asked all of our friends to bring 12 eggs so we had a lot eggs! It took a few of us out there trying to hide them:

But I think we did a good job:

We thought we were being sneaky out front & I had closed the blinds in the dining room, but apparently someone saw us out there & they all started lining up in the foyer trying to sneak out the front door:

This is the chaos I ran into when we came back in! These kids were ready to go! To be fair, I shuffled everyone to the driveway so there was more room for them to run out however, we had a few little ones so we let them hunt first while the older kids waited in the driveway. I thought this picture was hilarious making them wait:

And then it was their turn! I was standing in the driveway & took this picture from the back:

But most of my friends were standing at the bottom of the driveway waiting for them to run out & this picture cracks me up even more:

I love the expressions on all of their faces! But what's even funnier is the fact in both pictures, Sophie is like "Hey guys - why are you running? I already found an egg right here!"

The kids did great, took turns, spread out, helped each other & everyone eventually found 12 eggs. They had so much fun & the weather was so nice, we ended up hanging out in the front yard for the next 30 minutes or so because the kids were having fun cracking open their eggs:

It was a beautiful day & we had such a great time with all of our friends. Thank you everyone who brought eggs & snacks, but most of all, thank you for your friendship! Sophie & I are grateful for all of you:

15 Years

15 years ago on April 17, 2004, I married my best friend:

Look at how young we look! I tried to go back & find pictures from our wedding, but honestly I don't have a bunch. I have a few that people took, but all of our professional photos are hard copies. Too bad we didn't get digital images back then. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed this dance we call life:

We have definitely had our ups & downs but every moment has been worth it to be where we are today. We are blessed with our 2 beautiful girls & to be surrounded by family & friends. I am so thankful for our friendship, your partnership & most importantly your love. Thank you for everything you have done for our family & cheers to the next 15 years:

I love you Bryan!

Easter at Sonshine Academy 2019

Last week was a busy week for Sophie - she had 2 Easter parties & egg hunts, starting with her school. She is in the oldest pod of kids at her school & their pod had their Easter egg hunt first. To make it more challenging, each kid is given an egg cart that is labeled 1-12 & they can only pick up 12 eggs in order:

This was her first egg hunt of the season - can you tell she was ready?!

She did a great job finding the corresponding eggs, faster than most of her friends, which kind of surprised me:

She was so excited to find the kinder egg - she even grabbed a 2nd one so she could give it to Sadie. Afterwards, her & Kennedy had fun going through their eggs together:

After the egg hunt, we headed back to their classroom for their class party:

They made an Easter snack first:

You can't really tell, but it was a chocolate donut as the tomb & the oreo was the stone that the kids could roll away. I thought it was precious, she thought it was delicious:

Afterwards, they divided into teams & played a game with an egg race:

While they were playing, she had a surprise visitor:

She literally quit the game to run over & hug him because she was so excited to see him :) 

Finally, they had 1 last activity - they got to build with peeps, kind of like building blocks:

Eventually we had to leave & head to the auditorium to grab seats for her Easter performance. She is always excited for her performances & has been singing around the house the past few days. She literally beamed the entire time she was up there:

I took way too many pictures but she just looked so cute! Her little bunny ears kept flopping over but she just kept on going:

Look at her - you can tell she is singing her little heart out! She even had her own little audience because Grammy came & brought Nanny & Granny with her:

Besides graduation, that was their last performance! She only has 1 more month of school left & summer will be here before we know it. We are so proud of our little Sophie!