Easter stuff and Easter weekend

I know I sound like a broken record but every holiday is seriously amazingly magical with little kids. And I feel like Matthew and Kate, at their ages now, are the most magical age of all. I try to appreciate every second. I know it'll fly by way too fast.

We kicked off the Easter celebrations with coloring eggs for FHE. I like to do this 2-3 weeks before Easter so that we can use all the eggs and enjoy them before Easter is over. (Not that you can't enjoy them after Easter... but you now...)  It was a little chaotic but still so fun. ;-) And we had these little painter things (made specifically for coloring on eggs) that the kids LOVED. Perfect for preschool age kids.

Easter egg hunts!!! Love! Other than the hunt they had Easter morning, they also went on a hunt that the community put on as well as one that my amazing friend put on. Every year she does a Flashlight Easter Egg hunt and it is so much fun! The kids loved it.

Game planning with Dad before the community hunt started. Haha!

Flashlight Egg Hunt. As soon as it gets dark the flashlights come on and off they go!

Matthew also got to enjoy an Easter party with his preschool class. Seriously, I want to go to preschool. They do the most fun things.

Easter weekend also happened to be my birthday weekend this year. I'm actually not a fan of Easter being in March simply because I like the holidays to be a little more spread out, and luckily it's not super common. But it's extra uncommon to have my birthday only one day before Easter! The weekend was fun though. The Schlesingers came to town on Saturday (my birthday!) and that's always super exciting since we don't get to see them a lot. We ate Gimaldi's pizza for lunch (YUM!) and per my request, Michael picked up a giant chocolate chip cookie from Paradise Bakery as my "birthday cake." They are seriously so delicious. And no, their regular sized chocolate chip cookies aren't nearly as good. I don't get it either, but it's true.

We spent most of the rest of the day just hanging out with everyone and enjoying catching up. Michael wanted to play the girls at tennis because they're both awesome at it. And the kids adored all the Schlesingers. Can't blame the kids - they ARE fun!

I suppose it would be rude if I didn't mention that although Michael got an amazing workout, that's water all over him, not sweat. ;-)

That night we got a babysitter and went to an Escape The Room place. We did one that was an "Escape the Dead" theme (felt Halloween-y) and it was SO FUN. I have to admit that I didn't think I'd like it that much, but we all did. Way more fun than it sounds. I want to go again! :)

Easter Sunday was great as always. The kids enjoyed their egg hunt, we went to church, and then went to Michael's grandparents house for Easter dinner. Love my family!

The Rest of Winter

Winter in AZ is seriously the best. The weather is amazing and we get to spend the majority of our time outdoors. Because of this, winter always FLIES by. Seriously, how is it almost May? And whyyyy? Haha. Anyway, here are some of our winter highlights that I haven't mentioned yet:

Family outings outdoors! We call them "hikes" but really they're just nature walks.... I think I prefer that anyway. ;-)

Picnics:

Valentine's Day! Our tradition is for me to take Matthew out on a date and for Michael to take Kate. Next year I'll probably start also taking Joshua on a date! Anyway, me and Matthew got a McDonald's ice cream cone and Michael and Kate went to Bosa for a donut. I love this tradition.

Park days galore! We live it up while we can before it gets impossibly hot.

Kate continued doing ballet, which she loved as much as always-

This really cute place that does haircuts for kids is pretty cheap if it's your first time so I took Joshua shortly before his birthday so that he'd look extra handsome for his birthday. Now it's probably time that I figure out how to cut his hair myself. Yikes. (Matthew and Michael both have the type of hair where I just use clippers. With Joshua, I need to learn to use the actual scissors. I see some bad haircuts in the poor kid's future while I figure it out.)

Volcano Day at preschool, a tea party, and lunch at LoLo's Chicken and Waffles. (yummier than it sounds!)

Some days are even nice enough for the pool! (Though I try to save the pool days for when there's nothing else to do in the summer.)

And t-ball!!! I am so, so glad that we had the option of doing t-ball in the winter. We spent all our Saturday mornings in January and February (and part of March) at the baseball fields, cheering on our new little t-ball player. Since he was on a team with such little guys, most of the dads helped out and would stand out on the field during the games to help direct the players. It was so fun to see how much Matthew improved. Towards the end of the season he even hit a ball that was thrown by the coach! (As opposed to hitting it off the tee.) Seriously so fun. Go Black Pirates! :-)

Matthew got to be on the same team as two of his best friends - Caleb and Zach Ferguson. (Matthew is #17)

This was the week he got MVP.

Watchin the game. 

And the Chandler Ostrich Festival.... These things are way too expensive but for some reason we love them. Maybe it's the funnel cakes. I'm such a sucker for funnel cakes. We also paid too much for me and Matthew to ride a camel. Kate originally said she didn't want to go. After watching me and Matthew ride she changed her mind but it was too late. Next year I guess!

Good, good times. I am so lucky to get to spend so many amazing days with these amazing people.