Easter...Part Two

The next evening Zach, Meg and the boys came for dinner and an Easter Egg hunt.

It was soooo good to see them! We were so anxious to celebrate with them and also hear all about their trip! We started with the Easter Egg hunt. The boys are always so sweet and excited about the hunt. I decided this year, to make things a little more challenging since they are getting so good at finding their eggs! So, each boy had to look for a particular color and to make things a bit more fun...when they found one they had to carry it with a spoon to their Easter basket. They boys are so much fun and love any kind of challenge or game so they got right into it! It at least made the hunt last more than 5 minutes! We had lots of fun watching them and enjoyed hearing their little giggles!

They had such fun and after they found all their eggs we headed inside for 

our Easter meal. We had such fun sitting, eating and hearing about Zach and Meg's trip. 

They boys opened their other Easter treats and had fun playing (and eating) some of their goodies!

It has been a tradition to take pictures in our backyard on Easter Sunday, so the following Sunday we were so excited that Zach, Meg and the boys joined us for church at Hillcrest and then we went back to the house and took pictures. Oh my...how fun...but these boys are growing so fast and getting so big! It is really hard for me to pick my favorites because there are so many but here are some...

Love this family!!! I also am in love with these little boys ties! This was a first (yep, noticed their father choose not to join them!:) ) No pressure Zach! 

They were so handsome and they were so excited to wear them! Feeling pretty big!

William Texas Knight-Age 5

 This might be a more realistic view of Will...he is such a little "ham"!

Clayton Grant Knight-Age 6 1/2 

 Our sweet little goofy boy! 

Owen Austin Knight- Age 8

 "Joe Cool"

 Getting a good picture of all three at the same time can be challenging...but I always crack up at the expressions...seems like every shot one of them is acting goofy or giving us "the look"! 

 Oh my word...I love this picture...for so many reasons but mostly because this is truly them!!!

And I love them to pieces!!!

Bud, Owen, Honey, Will and Clay...oh how blessed we are!!!!

Easter...part one

We are so blessed to normally be with all our kids under one roof on holidays. However, this time we were a bit scattered. Zach and Meg got to take a trip of a lifetime to Switzerland and France and were just arriving back home Easter weekend. Since Ashley was told that was her last official travel weekend...we just told them to stay at home and let us come to them! Also, they had a wedding they really needed and wanted to attend on Saturday before Easter so we got to do a little babysitting while we were there! We celebrated with Zach and Meg and the boys the day after Easter...but I will start with Easter weekend at David and Ashley's first...

We arrived on Friday afternoon...with a very special delivery. Not only were we coming to celebrate Easter but we also delivered the baby dresser to Hudson's room. Larry has so lovingly built a dresser for each grandchild. Parents were able to pick out what they wanted and he built it. It was exciting to be able to move it into Hudson's room...so Mommy could get things organized! As always, it turned out beautiful and hopefully will be a piece of furniture that will be well used and loved!

We wasted no time before we got busy doing fun Easter things with Emma...

First off we made some Easter cookies and let Emma help ice and shake on sprinkles

which of course she loved. 

 Emma-girl loves to help her mommy cook! And her mommy is so sweet to let her help! So patient!

They have the sweetest little bedtime ritual. 

Bath, brush teeth, read Bible story, say prayers and then Emma gets to watch one 10 minute Pocoyo cartoon (which is such a cute little character!) then the last thing is being tucked in and David and Ashley sing her the sweetest song...I can't remember the name but it's about God's love. 

Love it! That night she sang with them...hearing those three voices singing such sweet words together really warms my heart. 

The next morning, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast casserole that Ashley prepared and enjoyed just some sweet table talk. Then the boys ran to Lowe's to pick up some sand for the Easter Bunny. :)

After they returned Ashley told Emma that the Easter Bunny had come (we decided to hunt eggs on Saturday so Sunday wasn't so rushed!) and I would give anything if I had a video of Emma. This little girl has been asking ever since Valentine's when was the Easter Bunny coming! So, when Ashley announced he had come...the SHEER delight and giggles and jumping up and down that occurred was priceless! We headed out to the yard where she was so precious about each and every egg.

Then we headed to the backyard where that clever little Easter Bunny left some fresh sand for the sandbox and some new sandbox tools!

 A new camp chair

And some new bubbles...which brought her so much joy and laughter!

 Ashley and David left a little later for the wedding and so Bud, Honey and Emma made a Bunny cake and played a lot of fun games before bedtime. 

The next morning, Bud really scored when he went to the local donut store and found donut holes that were painted bunny faces! Oh she was so delighted once again! 

 All dressed and ready for church...giving her mommy a hug!

I love this little girl and she looked so cute in her pale pink Easter outfit!

Honey and Emma-girl 

We enjoyed attending church with them, which was followed with an Easter Egg Hunt for the little ones. Emma had such fun. Then we headed home for a lovely and very yummy Easter lunch that Ashley and I worked on together...fixing lots of our favorites. 

We hated for our time to come to an end but it was time to head back to Abilene.

This was our first time to be at one of our kids for a holiday and it was quite fun. Fun to be in their home and celebrate their little traditions and be a part of their family time.

Thank you Ashley and David for the invitation...we had a really lovely time!

Red Dinners 2012

We love having Red Dinner's, where our food is basically red or shades of red!
We weren't able to get all the grands together for one dinner but no worries...we will just do two!

I went to see Ashley and Emma while David was on a business trip so we celebrated while there. It was so fun to do all sorts of little crafts, have a red and PINK (her favorite color) and play Valentine Bingo. It was fun to have Ashley "attend" and Emma-girl loved it!

Opening a little gift from Bud and Honey

Sorry...this is blurry but I had to share. Emma cracks me up. She can be so relaxed and laid-back ! She was watching a little movie before we headed out shopping. Love it!

 I got to take Emma to school...so fun! I wish I had a video of her when we went back to pick her up, she was so delighted and said "Honey, you came back!" :)

She tells her mommy that every time she picks her up...as if Ashley normally doesn't???

 Before school....

 And after school...a little frozen yogurt date...what color did Emma want? PINK of course!

 Another treat...I got to feel little Jelly Bean getting on "his groove" in my daughters belly.

Very special...and I am already in love with this little one!

 Emma riding with Bert and Ernie on one of our shopping stops.

 We ran by the local Mansfield Cupcake store for a few special cupcakes for our dinner!
She was so excited about our stop at the cupcake store...this girl has a sweet tooth for good eats!

The only problem...I have no pictures of our dinner. Oh Ashley....

Then it was back home to celebrate with the boys!

Red Dinner (no PINK...these boys are boys and they aren't a fan of pink!!!!)

The boys spent the night with us, allowing Mom and Dad to have a date and quiet evening. We had lots of fun with games (several I found on Pinterest....minute to win it themed), Bingo, crafts and even time for a movie and popcorn! 

I thought it would be fun to eat by candlelight!
I want all our grandchildren to feel like we always cherish our time with them and that any time we get to be with them is a very special occasion for us! Now, that doesn't mean I use candles every time I feed them but I do want them to have opportunities at our home to feel royally treated!

While I put away dinner and got ready for other games...Bud and the boys enjoyed a little checkers! They love playing with him and its obvious they are learning some strategy!

The "minute to win it" type games were a huge hit. We will be repeating this activity again as the boys are just at that perfect age to love games and love to be challenged!

This one involved them trying to throw tiny wadded up pieces of paper at a wall of tape!

 They loved it! They had one minute to see how many pieces they could get to stick!
More challenging than you would think! Each boys paper was a different color and at the end of the minute we would count the pieces that stuck!

Stacking conversation hearts as high as you can in a minute!
Love the tongue!

 Sometimes it would fall but they could start over.
Didn't take Clay long to figure out to build a solid base first!

 Picking up hearts with chopsticks, seeing how many you could put on your plate in a minute!

Marshmallow toss...they loved this!

 Catching marshmallows

 Having a cookie put on your forehead and getting it down to your mouth without dropping it and with no hands...leave it to our chocolate lover to figure out how to make this happen the fastest!

 Three precious little boys.
Full of energy and sweetness!

We love spending time with these kids...they are all so fun and always so sweet and well behaved. Thank you Zach, Meg, David and Ashley for raising such sweethearts!!!