Jesse is 5!

Jesse has been counting down the days till April 28th since Josie's birthday in January.  He understood his birthday was the next in our family and he was dutiful about crossing the days off his calendar.  He had so much anticipation but the I think the day lived up to all he imagined! The dimples were shining all day.

 Since it was Jesse's off year for a party, he got to invite 1 friend for an outing. This is his best friend Matthew - they are 2 peas in a pod! We went to a place called Rebounders...wall to wall trampolines.

 They never stopped running and jumping...they literally got to bounce off walls!

 We thought Josie wouldn't enjoy it but she was the only one who didn't even take water breaks!

 Jesse is Skylanders obsessed so of course he asked for a Skylanders cake. I was so excited to top the "portal of power" cake with the figure "Ninjini" that took me days, lots of phone calls and trips to game stores to find. She is the newest figure to come out. Jesse has been asking for her for months.

 Oh, those dimples!

He was so happy with all his gifts, more Skylanders, monster trucks, and hotwheel cars and tracks. The house has still not recovered from the toy explosion from sugared up kids.

So then he wakes up on Monday and thinks he is going to Kindergarten that day! I guess it is my fault for always saying "when you are 5 Jesse". He now tells us is a big boy and doesn't need help with things like flossing, or opening food packages, or putting his clothes on the right way...but he is still backwards 50% of the time. I hope that never changes :). Welcome to 5 my Hawaiian baby!

Playing Hooky

A site to behold: Cherry blossoms in peak bloom in Washington D.C. Apparently the window to behold said site is small...a few days to a week long. And don't people travel from all over during this window to see the same site we want to see?  All the better to play hooky from work and school and spend a day being a tourist in D.C.! Not sure how I convinced Joel to do this (I will say he had an approved day of leave, he didn't really play hooky-but the kids did!). The kids thought it was awesome. Now Jesse points out all the cherry blossoms in our neighborhood as we drive through and Anna was in love at first site because the blossoms were PINK! A shout out to my parents and sister..."Pink, PINK? What's wrong with pink?!"...yes this song was in my head ALL day!

Well, I am not sure the pictures do the beauty of the blossoms justice, but we did out best! Amanda, I think you would have been in heaven. The day ended with a stop at "Georgetown Cupcakes", an amazingly delicious cupcake shop that has a show on TLC called "DC Cupcakes"...so good that we will be taking any visitors there to show it off!

Spring Break

Even though the kids spring break and anticipation of Easter brought more snow and rain, we still eagerly packed up our minivan (snow gear included) to head to my parents house in WV for a week. We have all been looking forward to a break from the everyday routine. My parents had some fun outings planned for us but first we had to hit the Easter Egg hunt out our church.

 6,000 eggs spread across a field.  Um, Anna and Asher are in that madhouse somewhere. I guess the cute pictures become obsolete once they reach a certain age.

 These 2 had time to pose!

Josie was happy with one egg, and sat down to get the candy out.

 Laser tag was the longest 7 minutes! It was Joel and I vs. these 3. I would be shooting away and all of a sudden be dead, turn around and see Anna giggling.  They were fierce competition!

 And the unanimous favorite day was the one where Grammie and Poppy took them to drive go carts!

 Fun at a Children's Museum

Poppy took the boys fishing and Jesse caught his first fish! No, it was not from the pond in the background. My dad would have a heart attack if we fished in his pond!

 Grandma Thorson began a tradition with the kids a few years ago of making "peep dioramas" of the Easter story so we try to do it every year. Jesse did the last supper...too cute that he put M&Ms on the oreo table for "Jesus and his friends".

We intended on being back home for Easter but alas, Jesse started throwing up non stop so we extended our stay another dat. Anna was beside herself with worry..."what about our magic jelly beans", "we don't have our Easter baskets", and "how will the Easter bunny find us!". It was comical.  Never fear my dear, it all worked out! Mommy always has a store of magic jelly beans :).

 Planting

And lollipops grew again! Joel almost gotten eaten by a giant raccoon during the "growing" process but the look on their faces in the morning makes it worth it.

We hope all our loved ones and friends out there had a wonderful and blessed Easter. In Asher's words "I can't wait till tomorrow. Jesus will rise!". A true blessing indeed.