Finally...a night without sirens

For the first night in 3 nights, we have NO storm warnings in Arkansas!  WooHoo!!

So we came home and had some good old fashioned fun-out of the pantry.  

He found one of Casey's winter hats and insisted on wearing it while he played basketball. 

Look at those bright blue eyes! 

Cheese!!

Like I mentioned earlier, one of Samuel's favorite meals in spaghetti.  Can you tell?

Rain,Rain Go Away

Samuel and I were ready for the rainy weather that came to Arkansas Monday and Tuesday. 

According to the forecast, we should have a few nice days coming up.  We sure are ready for it!  

Easter Sunday

Today was such a fun day. 

Samuel and I started the morning at church celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus-Our Savior!  I cried almost all the way through the music service-singing about the sacrifice Jesus made and how it has set us free from our sins just stirs me.

I tried to get a decent picture of Samuel in his cute outfit today.  This was the best I got.  I am seriously going to have to invest in a good camera soon. He's just too fast for my sad little one. 

After we got home from church, Casey was home from the turkey woods, so we did Samuel's Easter Basket.  He had one from each grandparent, too.  As he gets older, I really hope to move Easter baskets to the background of what we focus on for this holiday. 

Casey and Samuel did some reading while I finished cooking lunch. 

We went traditional this year--Easter cheeseburgers.  :-)  This was the first time we've ever seen Samuel pick it up and eat it like this. He usually pulls the patty out and eats it separately. 

After naptime(for everyone) we went outside to do our Easter egg hunt.  My camera froze after just 2 pictures.  Luckily,  Casey grabbed the video camera, so we have some good footage on that. 

Everytime Samuel would spot a new egg, he'd get so excited!  It was too fun!

 We spent the rest of the afternoon playing ball in the backyard.

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning was our church's Easter Egg Hunt.  It was at a little neighborhood park close to the church.  I was feeling brave enough to try it this year. 

When I got Samuel dressed, I tried to get his picture in the outfit holding the bucket.  Wouldn't that have been cute?  Well, here's what we got instead.  :-)

We knew parking was going to be an issue, so we got there early.  Samuel wanted to swing.  The whole time I was pushing him, he was yelling, "WEEEEEEEE!" 

The Easter Bunny came to play, too. 

And then, he hunt was on.  They had the eggs just laying all over the ground, so the little ones could just pick them up. Samuel, however, wasn't interested in the eggs.  He wanted to just run all the way across the field. 

When he finally got to the edge of the area, he turned around and noticed the other kiddos putting them in their baskets. 

When we were all done, Samuel sat down to just watch the action.  

I am so thankful for our church and all of the activities it has for the little people.  There is a ministry for all ages-even our little guys. 

Bath Time

I've been so reluctant to take bath pictures of Samuel at our house.  We live in a house in Midtown that has an old style bathroom with tiles and lots of grout. The grout simply will not turn white again. We've bleached it, we've scoured it, we've done it all.  So it's the cleanest but dirtiest looking grout!

Samuel absolutely LOVES bathtime.  No matter what we're doing, we can get him into the tub without a fight.  He runs down the hallway and tries to jump in before we even get his clothes off. 

I've done a few bubble baths recently and he just plays and plays with them. 

Dyeing Easter Eggs

This is Samuel's 3rd Easter, but his first that he's even noticed the eggs all over the place. 

I decided it was time to dye Easter Eggs. 

Samuel decided, he was too busy to worry about it. 

These are the few pics I got of him looking interested.  After he plopped them into the cups, he was done.  

We did manage to get him back into the kitchen to see how pretty they were becoming. 

We only did 6.  My confession: I CANNOT peel boiled eggs without making a mess.  I've watched all of the videos and read all the tricks.  I can't. 

Things I've learned this year: I read on a friend's blog that using a whisk to hold the egg works best.  So...next year when Samuel is more interested, I'll have proper cups and several whisks to use. 

Sweet Spaghetti Face

Samuel has really started talking so much lately.  There's hardly a word we ask him to say that he won't try. 

His newest and funniest are octopus and kangaroo.  He's now saying car instead of booden-booden.  And calls lots of animals by their actual names: dog, kitty cat, cow, horse, frog, sheep, donkey.  I"m sure there's others, but I can't remember them. 

His animal sounds are becoming more and more accurate. He got some frog boots from Aunt Val for his birthday. When he puts them on, he starts saying, "Riggit, riggit!" and hopping all over the house. 

He has a name for almost all family members.  His newest one is Uncle Kiss(Chris-Valerie's husband) and Aunt Bal(Val.)  Whenever my phone rings, he automatically screams BAL or JUJU(Julie.)  When Casey's phone rings, he says PawPaw.  He's a hoot!

He calls our phones, Hello's.  His labels just tickle us.  We have figured out most of them, but there are still some we have to decipher with him showing us. 

His favorite food is spaghetti.  He says "pakeki."

Super Relaxing Saturday

This past week has been standardized testing for K-2nd Grade in all public schools.  I am our building's test coordinator, so I've been super stressed out trying to keep everything coordinated and secure and by the rules. 

I needed a day of down time. 

I got it. 

We spent the morning inside and just hanging out watching some Sprout cartoons and LOTS of playing. 


Casey went out to grab some milk and got us Taco Bell for lunch. Samuel ate 1 1/2 bean burritos!  I mean tore them up quicker than Casey and I could eat our tacos! 

After naptime, we wne outside to join Casey.  He has begun our annual Pool Cleaning.  We don't have a cover for the pool, so we have to get all of the winter debris out before the clean water process starts.  It takes a few days to get that ball rolling. 

Samuel wanted to wear my flip flops. 

For those of you who know Casey, you know that he is frugal to the point of absurdity sometimes.  Well this might be one of those times. 

Do you see what he's doing?  Yep, he's duct taping two of our old pool poles together in an attempt to make one sturdy pole.  We have to buy one every year, so I guess he's just trying to put it off as long as possible. 

I was able to get a promise that he would have the new one purchased before we did the first big vacuum.  That vacuum requires both of us and HAS to have a good pole. 

He's teaching Samuel the value of duct tape early. 

He's Gonna Be a Road Hog

One afternoon, Casey let Samuel "drive."  He LOVED it! 

After he drove Casey's car, he wanted to drive his truck, too. 

Just Samuel