What? Easter?

I have SO many pictures to post about it's overwhelming. I am not so sure where to start.... so I picked one. Easter this year was spent at our new house. Unfortunately, it was spent in a big ol mess. We had only been in the house for a week or so and the whole week before was spent getting out of the old house and cleaning it. But nevertheless, the Easter Bunny made his appearance at the Mikkelson casa. The Easter Bunny was sympathetic to the new digs and knew that we needed Easter baskets on the smaller side and we appreciated that.

We quickly got dressed and headed out to church. We discussed once again what Easter meant and how it DID NOT mean that when Jesus died, he then pooped out jellybeans (as the bunny does on the movie Hop) and had my weekly talk with her about not kicking during worship. Oh and I should disclose that Delaney found the hat she is wearing on clearance at Target and was very insistent on wearing it... all the time.

Church was great. We love our church. After the service, we picked up the kids and made them pose Our good friends, Courtney and Ian were there with their kiddos.

Is it just me, or do our kids kid look like giants compared to the others....

After the photo op, we headed to my mom's for an Easter brunch and egg hunt. They ran into the house, checked out their baskets and literally dumped them out so they had something for the hunt. I was trying to make them wait for my sister, Joe and my adorable new nephew, but they were not havin it.

Tearing into it (and yes, camera is on the wrong setting)

On a mission.

I love the hand on the hip

Checking out the loot

Nap time was unsuccessful that afternoon- totally random. I guess it's because Brody fell asleep on the way home from my mom's for like 5 minutes and was seriously like he drank a Red Bull or something. He was not going to sleep for anything. Eric and I were a little apprehensive about taking the kids over to Holly's (Eric's step-sister) house for the afternoon, but alas we ventured forth with our mission. To our wonderful surprise, the kiddos were awesome! They had an awesome egg hunt where the bigger kids actually helped the littles. The grown ups were able to sit and talk and have some beverages and just enjoy the afternoon. When Brody climbed up onto my lap and asked to get in the car, I knew it was time to jet.

ON the run

Found one!!

Josh helping Brody

Aunt Holly helping out Delaney

Yes, we made the big kids look too!

Oh and I just love this picture of Delaney- CJ and Josh have all the goods when it comes to Mickey stuff and she dressed herself and came out to say hello- love her.

All in all, good Easter with the fam.

Halloween 2011

I don't love Halloween.... I don't know that ever have, but I have kids now. Kids that LOVE to dress up! This year was a blast! Delaney really wanted to be Rapunzel. She wanted the long hair and all. Brody didn't care too much, but he loved the Spiderman costume we found at Target so that's what he wore. We got Delaney's dress from the Disney store, not cheap, but necessary. I knew that she would wear the dress pretty much everyday for the rest of the year, so it needed to hold up against the 'little princess'. We ended up finding the Rapunzel wig, which is 2 ft of hair, in the doll section of Target! Seriously, lucky!

Brody didn't take a nap on Halloween, so I knew we were fighting the clock.  On Halloween, I was very insistent that the kids eat dinner before they put on their costumes, so we ate as soon as possible. Delaney was literally holding the last bit of pizza crust while she was getting down and asking to get dressed. Up until this point, she had only tried on her costume once. I told her we would put some make up on and she was stoked! Brody was sad when I didn't put make up on him, so we compromised and we slicked his hair back.

He was slightly excited:)

 

She was so ready! She would not let go of the door knob

Brody saying, "It's me Granddaddy"

At the first house...

At Aunt Kristin's house.

Brody was starting to get tired....

Starting to fade....

Poor baby... this was right before I carried him

My parent's handed out candy for us while we took the kiddos out and when we got back, Delaney decided it would be fun to hand out candy with Eric....she was over her wig by then.

Brody was pretty much asleep on the floor and Delaney was wide awake, waiting for more kids. It was a good time. And just as I thought, the following morning, Delaney came out of her room in her Rapunzel costume- not sure if she put it on in the middle of the night or what, but Rapunzel has been living in our house ever since.

A Little "WT" Never Hurts:)

Last Monday, yes Labor  Day, we had big plans to go to Mt. Lemmon, but due to the family day disaster, we opted out of that plan for fear of a repeat. So, we went to Home Depot. That's the same right? Anyhow, Eric is almost done with this AWESOME project that he has been working on for me (love that he is so handy), and we had to buy some finishing touches. As we were leaving, hot dogs sounded super yummy, so we sat down at the Moon Dog trailer and had some lunch. The funny thing is, it was the best behaved our kids have ever been while eating some place other than home. So random! Brody loved watching the cars and trucks go by.

Delaney

Having some lunch

Such a boy

Photo op the The Home Depot....Classic

Now that Delaney is potty trained (Hallelujah) she really likes all her new big girl chonies (yes that's what we call them) She has all kinds.... Ariel, Minnie, Kai-Lan.

Now, when we are at home, this is what she looks like:

Yes, those are pink gardening boots with purple chonies, a green shirt, and stickers on her legs.

Same day....but she found her Kai-Lan chonies so she had to wear those instead.

Such a cute booty.

"Happy Easter Egg Everybody"

Super fun weekend! I went to Kohls with my mom to get Easter outfits for the kids and got some awesome deals. Seriously, my mom saved $130! She had a coupon for 15% off, plus there was no tax that day, plus I am a super frugal shopper so I only went for the deals! Anyway, just thought that was awesome. Later that day, Daylen jumped in the pool! Yes, it is April and he went swimming. He didn't believe us when we said it would be cold in the deep end and on the bottom, but he soom figured out we were right. Time for the pool cover to go on for awhile! We will all be swimming before we know it!

After that, we dyed eggs! This was the first year we have done it since I was a kid. It was fun! Delaney didn't quite grasp the concept and Brody just ate through the whole thing, but Daylen and Eric tried to see who had better coloring skills. We figured out that if we put an egg in a whisk, she didn't drop in the color and get all gross....

Apparently the pictures of us coloring the eggs is on another camera.

Sunday morning, the Easter Bunny had visited the house. We had to be at church by 9:00 so we needed to get the party started. I woke up Delaney and brought her out to the living room where Eric was asleep on the couch with Brody. She was SO excited. She showed everything she got to Eric and loved every minute of it. We tried waking Brody forever and finally he cooperated. He went right over to his wagon basket and dumped it out. We then made Delaney wake Daylen up (he was thrilled:) and she showed him what the Easter Bunny brought him.

Brody checking out the goods

Oops.

'Happy Easter Egg Everybody'

We all went to church and were reminded of His Sacirifice and how we are blessed (always a good reminder). When I picked Delaney up from the nursery, the lovely lady who works in there, told me that Delaney peed on the potty twice! The second time she had seen a boy go before her, so she attempted to pee like a boy, standing over the potty. Huh....didn't see that coming.

I seem to always pose them in the sun....maybe I should stop that.

Daylen, Brody and Delaney

I love this one...

Brody just likes his eyes closed I guess

Me and Munch (and Opie)

Anyway, after church we had a brunch at our house with Eric's mom and step-dad and sister-in-law and nephew. It was very nice. We finished off the day at my parents house. Delaney went on her very first egg hunt and it was the cutest thing ever. Brody just wanted to drive the dump truck. All day we had been telling Delaney to say 'Happy Easter' and for some reason, it always came out, "Happy Easter egg everybody". It was too cute to fix.

Looking for eggs

Maybe there are some under the dirt...

Brody just like his tractor-he seriously drives this thing by himself!

Brody and Uncle Joe

Delaney and her eggs....very proud

It was a great day. Brody had his very first Easter! I was thinking back to last year and how ginormously pregnant I was. Wow....what a difference year makes. God is good.

The big man in his new chair (he needs a haircut)