Easter

The night before Easter we put Jillian to bed and then the older girls dyed Easter eggs. I figured she was to little this year, but hopefully next year she will be ready for it. This was her right before she went to bed.. all smiles as usual! Her face in this picture absolutely cracks me up! She reminds me of a little mouse! ( well really a rat with her nose all scrunched up and her two big front teeth showing!)

Alexis and Marissa are so artistic! LOL

Easter morning all of the kids came downstairs and hunted for their baskets then Alexis and Marissa got ready to go to church with Grandma Smith. They were both so excited about helping her usher this week and about having the Easter egg hunt at the church.

Alexis looks so much older to me in this picture!

Later in the afternoon we headed over to Ed's cousins house for Easter dinner and yet another hunt.

Jillian had fun playing with all of the eggs before they were hidden....

and then later she discovered that they had candy in them!

Alexis, Marissa and Ed's cousin Rachel counting up all of their eggs!

All of the "kids" after the big hunt. I put kids in quotations because Lauren really isn't a kid.. she will be going off to college this fall!

It was a fun day, we walked over to a little park that is near their house and let the kids play for a while. Then later we had a contest.. everyone had to decorate a hat and bring it to be judged. We left before the judging was finished, but everyone was really creative!

I still need to put Jillian's first Easter Bunny picture up, but I will have to scan it first because at our mall.. taking your own pictures with the bunny is highly discouraged!!!

Max is 4

On Friday Max turned 4! The first two pictures are from a few weeks after we got him 4 years ago. He was such a little ball of fluff back then. My moms two dogs had a few litters and after the passing up a puppy the first time around I just had to have one.

At the time Ed and I did not live together but were engaged. I lived in an apartment that didn't allow dogs so I had to beg and plead with Ed for weeks to get Max and then for Ed to keep Max at his place for the next 3 months until we were planning on moving in together. And let me tell you.. it really took some pleading. Ed wanted no part of a little dog messing all over his bachelor pad!!! Finally he gave in and I went to my moms house to try to decide which of the 4 puppies I wanted to take home. As soon as I sat down on the floor next tot he puppies Max immediately ran over to me and I knew he was the one for me!


I have NEVER in my life loved an animal as much as Max! He was great for the girls and even though Ed completely hated him in the beginning, they are the best of friends now! I often remind Ed that HE didn't want a dog! LOL

I know I'm a little bias but isn;t he just the cutest thing you have ever seen?!!?!

We celebrated his birthday with a doggie peanut butter cookie and a meat stick.. He loved it. As you can see he was very excited for Marissa to give him a piece of the cookie!

I know the cookie was a New Years theme, but the birthday one was HUGE and way to much for such a little dog to eat!

Now if I could just get Max to love Jillian as much as he does the rest of the family we would be set. He is not a fan of her. Any suggestions on getting him to like her are welcomed!!

Nancy's Wedding and Baltimore

Last Saturday Ed and I headed down to Maryland for my friend Nancy's wedding. Nancy is a friend of mine that I met in tech school for the Air Force. As I was talking with some of the people at the wedding most of which I have not seen in atleast 10 years it dawned on me that I have known Nancy for almost 14 years... it seems like yesterday that she lived just down the hall from me. CRAZY how time goes by. Anyway last weekend she and her fiance Keith were married.






She looked absolutely beautiful! It was a perfect day for a wedding. The reception was outside on a balcony over looking the water.











Tori was so happy the whole time. It was great. I thought back to my wedding when Ed and I got married and Marissa (who then was about the same age as Tori) cried her eyes out for about 15 minutes becasusefor some reason in her little head she thought that once I married Ed that meant that I would be leaving to be with him and she would not be a part of that. As soona as she caught up with me out side of the church and was reassured that we were all staying together.. it was smiles all night LOL


I think Tori looks like a mini Nancy!










Here is the happy couple just after being pronounced man and wife!





Rick also announced this weekend that he is engaged. We still have not met Sarah, seems like every time we get together she unfortunately has plans. Last weekend she was in Nebraska, her hometown visiting for a long Easter break :(

While Nancy and Keith were having their first dance as a new couple I thought it was so sweet that Tori came right up and joined in!

Since we were so close to the Inner Harbor we decided to meet back up with Rick for lunch at Ed's very favorite place ESPN Zone.. he can not get enough of their nachos and the only other one that is even semi close to us is in NY.

We had a nice little mini-vacation without the kids. Thanks goodness for grandma's!