Easter 2011

So I am finally getting around to posting about last weekend! About the time I think I get all caught up, something big comes along that puts me behind again!! :)

The kids and I took off Friday morning to spend some time with family in Snyder for the Easter holiday. We were the first of the family to arrive, so Kenna got to help Gran make some whipping cream. She thought licking the beaters was "quite delicious."

By Saturday afternoon, most of the family was in town so we spent some time with a big egg dying party. Dane decided that this was a great time to practice his vocal skills. He was not mad at all when this picture was snapped - he was just telling everyone exactly what he thought!!

Kenna was very into dyeing the eggs this year - much more so than last year! She wanted to show me every step of the process.

Lots of concentration to get the egg exactly where you want it before dropping it into the dye...

For some reason, I neglected to take any pictures of the finished products! Oh, well!!

Easter Sunday was a gorgeous morning and I loved taking pictures of my precious children!

Such a helpful big sister...trying to make sure he didn't run away! :)

L.O.V.E. this picture of my Kenna Beth....such a sweet smile.Dane didn't want to stand still for too many pictures....he was ready to take off!

Cute grin from my Daners.

All of the great-grandchildren lined up with their Easter goodies.

Kenna understood the concept of hunting eggs better this year as well....she knew that there was candy involved!

Dane just thought it was fun to run around without any shoes.

Uncle Cade was a great help when it came to finding those hard to find eggs.

A picture of the Hooten clan...this was about as good as it got...

...and now you can see what most of the other pictures really looked like! I think this is greatness!!!

Poppy, Mimzi, and Dane

Poppy, Mimzi, and Kenna

We tried to get a picture of Gran with all of her great-grandchildren....you can see how well that turned out! :) I love how Kenna is holding onto Dane.

All of the excitement of the weekend just completely wore my two kiddos out. And the kids who did not sleep at all on the trip to Snyder both slept an hour on the way home....I'll take it!

Once Kenna woke up, she was quite content to watch Mickey Mouse, etc. and wear her headphones. She loves those headphones - which means I can listen to the radio while driving and she can watch her shows. We got into some pretty heavy rain on the way home...look how dark it is out the window...and it was 3 in the afternoon!

And, if you noticed, Daniel was not in any of our Easter pics. That is because he spent over a week in Graham/Possum Kingdom helping with the wildfires. We drove through Graham both times so I took a picture of the "headquarters." He was not there at that point, but that was where he began and ended every day. Too bad we didn't get to at least wave at each other since we were so close!

Whew...that was a lot of photos to post! We had a wonderful Easter holiday (except for the fact that we were missing Daddy) - hope everyone else did as well!!

Force-fed

I made a comment on facebook a few weeks ago that has repeated itself over and over and over this past week...thought I would post the whole story.

For her birthday, Kenna received the game "Hi-Ho Cherry-o" and promptly fell in love. The only problem with this game is that it is played with several tiny cherries that I am sure Senor Dane would put directly in his mouth - that is where everything goes these days! The rule became that we would play this game as soon as Dane went to bed. It didn't take long before Kenna started asking if it was time for Dane to go to bed...and that question usually came shortly after walking in the door and eating dinner. And then it came again every 15 seconds or so until it really was time for Dane to go to bed. A few nights ago, she decided that Dane was not finishing his night time bottle fast enough for her and thought she would help speed up the process. When that didn't go as well as she thought it should, she took matters into her own hands....literally. :)

Guess she was ready to play!

Future Drummer?

This past Saturday was one of the first, in a long time, that my family was able to just "hang out" for a little bit. While we have really enjoyed all of the activities, trips, and birthday parties over the last few months, there is something really nice about being lazy on a Saturday morning!

After spending quite a bit of time drawing and coloring with my new 3 year old, everybody ended up on the floor playing (and, yes, they were both still in their pajamas). Dane found Kenna's belly and decided he needed to play the drums. Luckily, for now at least, big sister thought this was pretty funny!

So thankful for time I get to spend with my two little cuties!

Week in Review

Just thought I would post some "leftover" pictures from this past week! The other day I had finished feeding Dane his dinner and had walked over to the sink to get a rag to wipe the spaghetti off of his face. Kenna had been digging around in the pantry and told me that she was going to get Dane some puffs. This is what I found when I turned around..... That container had been about 2/3 full! She was so proud of herself for helping and Dane was in heaven with all that food!!

After Kenna's birthday party we had to throw all of the kiddos in the bath...doesn't that look like fun!

For Kenna's birthday, Daniel and I got her a bike. He was so excited about letting her help him put it together....they had a blast!

What a great daddy/daughter project! (I have to admit I was quite skeptical about this plan at the beginning!)

Sunday after naps, we all ventured out to enjoy the beautiful weather - the calm before the storm I guess you could say - and Kenna convinced her Daddy that they needed to break in some of the chalk she had gotten for her birthday....such artists!

Dane had his own version of chalk art - on his pants!

I L.O.V.E. this picture of my baby boy! He has such a cute belly that is especially adorable after a bottle. I wish I had done this as a video instead of a still photo because he was patting his belly, smiling, and moaning (that "I'm so full" moan)....it was great!!

Okay, I think I am all caught up....For now at least!!!

Hail Damage

As some of you may have heard....our area got a little thunderstorm excitement a few nights ago!! What started out as a little thunderstorm that was giving us a good lightening show quickly turned into something a whole lot more!! A little after midnight on Monday, it sounded like our roof was going to cave in as our neighborhood was pelted with golf ball to baseball size hail. It was SOOOO LOUD! Amazingly, Dane slept through the entire thing. Kenna just thought it was some really loud rain and said that the raindrops needed to quit stomping so loudly - and then went right back to sleep as soon as the hailing stopped. (Lucky us!) After the storm passed, we all went back to sleep. We ventured out the next morning to survey the damage..... Thankfully, our windows are double paned and the inside pane did not shatter....no water in the living room!! This picture was taken from inside our attic looking up at the attic vent....yes, that is sky you are seeing!

And our fence now looks like it is speckled. Those hail stones made some nice dings!

Thank goodness both of our cars were in the garage so they survived without any problems. The word is that, not only are we are going to have to make the obvious repairs (what you see in the pictures), but we are also going to have to replace our entire roof and gutter system - they are shot! I didn't ask Daniel to take a picture of those while he was up checking everything out - I didn't this post to include anything about a fall from the roof!! Daniel and Nathan got up there yesterday and got most everything patched up so we should be okay if it rains. The insurance people have already said they are ready to pay to get everything fixed as soon as we get an estimate from the roofer on Friday. That is definitely a blessing!

Now the question becomes - do you think our home owner's insurance will pay to replace my $20 lawn chair from Target that I use when I lay out in the sun? :)

Potato Head Birthday

Saturday, April 9, was a VERY exciting day in our house....it was FINALLY Kenna's birthday!! Kenna has been talking about this day for weeks and was bouncing on the bed the minute she realized that it was officially the day! (I can't believe that my little girl is 3!! Where has the time gone!?!) What better way to start your birthday celebration than with donuts. Kenna was so happy that Poppy was going to get her donuts - and then she decided that she needed to go help him and Abbye needed to go also. Of course, they needed them right that second so they headed out to the donut shop in pajamas and shoes. They looked so cute!

And then it was party time!!!!

JD's birthday is 6 days (and a year) before Kenna's so we decided to jointly celebrate this year with a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head Party. We had so much fun!!

Have to give a shout out to my friend Kristi for the great party designs!

The Potato Head birthday kids ready to party!

And then they were off.....

We had the party at a gymnastics place and all of the kids had a blast! Kenna was like a little energizer bunny on speed. She was in motion the whole.entire.time we were there. I couldn't even get a great picture of her on the trampoline because she wouldn't get still for very long!

All of the kids were yelling Happy Birthday to JD and Kenna.

Kenna showing that she is now 3.....

...and JD showing his new #4.

Dane was there to celebrate with his big sister - he roamed along the edges of the mats and ventured out on his own occasionally.

Anson also ventured out on his own...usually into places where he got a little stuck! :)

What could be more fun than a foam pit with bubbles!!

Maybe a foam pit with a slide!!!

Somehow Anson found his way into this one too.....Abbye making her way out of the blocks.And then it was time to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles....Both kids digging into their cake...I love how JD couldn't even wait for his fork! We had a wonderful day celebrating their birthdays and thanks to all of the families that came to party with us. I can't wait to experience the next year with my little princess!!