Easter and a Birthday Weekend

This weekend we crammed a lot of fun into 72 hours. My mom's birthday and Easter fell on the same day this year, so we thought this would be a good weekend to go to Dallas and be with my family for the holiday and celebrate.

My mom had no idea we were coming up, so she was completely shocked, surprised and very excited to see all of us. We left pretty early Friday morning since we were coming back to Houston on Sunday and we wanted to have as much time with Mimi and Papaw as possible.

Friday, we just hung around the house and the boys swam...

NO, their pool isn't heated.

And NO, it wasn't warm enough to swim in. The water was freezing, but the older boys really wanted to get in the pool, so we let them. Joseph seemed to enjoy it more than Christian. Christian would only stay in about 5 minutes and then have to get out.

Here he is testing it out to see if he really wants to take the plunge...

After grilling hamburgers for lunch, swimming and naps, we all loaded up and drove 3.3 miles to a house that belonged to a high school friend of mine. Her house was completely devastated by one of the tornadoes that hit the Royse City area last week. It was absolutely heartbreaking! They lost everything!

Saturday, my sister and I had arranged for the dad's to watch all the kids so the girls could all go get pedicures and take my mom to lunch. I cracked and took my little guy so Jeff wouldn't have to chase three around their house and worry about the pool. Nathan did great, so the outing was a success. After our pedis and lunch, we stopped by Target to get a few things and then I wanted to stop by and see my friend whose house was damaged. Her and her family are staying with her folks for the time being and they are right there in town, so I wanted to take advantage of that to see her and give her a huge hug. She told us about her experience and what she went through and I am so heart broken for her. I can't imagine going through what she did with my child and my husband on the phone having to hear it all. Please please pray for comfort, healing and peace for this family. They are such a sweet family!

Then Saturday evening, Stacey and Josh brought stuff to make fajitas. Josh grilled and pretty much prepared our entire dinner and it was amazing!!! I have never had that awesome of fajitas at home. He also made some awesome pico, and I am not the biggest fan of it, but I couldn't stop eating it! Simply wonderful!!! After dinner, we enjoyed some wonderful cake Josh and Stacey had ordered for my mom's birthday. We all sang to her and enjoyed the delicious cake and some ice cream.

But before all this wonderful food, we did a little Easter egg hunt for the boys. They seemed to have enjoyed it this year.

I thought Cooper did really well for one of his first hunts. I am pretty sure when my boys were this age, they would pick up the egg and open it right away to see what was in it or crying about something, so they ended up missing the entire egg hunt.

This is the cake Josh and Stacey ordered for my mom. It was so yummy, but the picture angle isn't that great. I didn't want to move it and take the risk of dropping it.And this brings us to Easter morning......It was a rough start for our little guy. After church I learned that he didn't eat much for breakfast and didn't drink any of his milk, so poor little guy was probably starving. However, for Joseph, he was his chirpy, morning self.

We learned this weekend that Christian likes to close his eyes while taking a picture. I seriously want to do a post called, "Phases of children in photos." Joseph just got out of this "goofy smile" phase, now Christian is going through it. When am I ever going to have a 'normal' family picture again?

Joseph playing air guitar and Christian, again, eyes closed.

And now, attempting a before church photo of the boys. As you can see, that isn't going to happen. (Nathan is in the photo phase of, 'if you make me stand next to him or do anything I don't want to, I am going to scream!')And.....now he's mad because he fell down and the sun's in his eyes. So that means, we're done.

Jeff found a branch with some thornes on it, so him and the boys started talking about the crown of thornes. There are always teachable moments. Love it!And now that Nathan had a nap at church and some lunch, he is a much happier baby. I would have tried to take more pictures of him since he was happy, but he was covered in his lunch. And no, Jeff and I are not in the photo phase of closing our eyes, it was just super bright and sunny.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!