happy easter weekend

Happy Easter! Sammi's been doing a lot of spring artwork at school lately, so I thought I'd show off some of her cute projects!

Sammi's Hand Butterfly...

This week she made this adorable chicken hat & her class planted their own flowers!

Our fridge is full of new artwork every week!

On Saturday my parents picked Sam up early to go to their neighborhood egg hunt. We met them at their house for their own egg hunt and Easter dinner later in the morning.

Natalie loved her Easter basket from Grandma and Grandpa Sherman!

She also loves hanging out with her grandparents!

Sammi loved running around the house finding eggs full of presents!

I unfortunately don't have photos, but my parents had the girls make the CUTEST Easter presents for us last week one evening while they were babysitting for us. They had the girls make hand prints in clay and also decorate coffee mugs for us. They were such a fun surprise!

Sammi likes to wear her Dora sneakers at the Shermans' house...they stay there so they are a special treat when she visits!

Jordie and Ashley gave Sam and Natalie a huge basket full of goodies!

Adult time while kiddos were sleeping...

On Sunday morning we drove to Fort Wayne to have another Easter celebration with the Brand family! We started at Uncle Ed & Aunt Vi's house for a fabulous Easter dinner. Every year Ed and Vi do a huge egg hunt for all of the grandkids and it is so thoughtful and just so nice!!! 

Natalie stayed inside while Sammi went running around looking for her eggs, candy, and presents!

We had to "guide" Sam....she was so excited to find Easter stuff that it seemed like she overlooked most of it without our help! :)

Surprisingly she was excited to fill her basket and didn't mind that we didn't let her eat all of the candy at once! :)

What a beautiful day to spend together!

Some of the older kids liked helping Sam, especially Simon!

...And then.....my camera died! Oh no!!! What a terrible photographer! :) But, we hung out with the entire family and later our immediate family all went to Grandma & Grandpa Brand's house where the kids got wonderful Easter baskets full of goodies! We ate a fabulous dinner made by the ever-amazing cook, Kathe! It was so nice to see the family and have a day of rest and peace. 

It was also a busy weekend full of visiting and traveling, so by Saturday evening I was a little stressed about getting everything done for Sunday. The original plan was to also have an Easter egg hunt for Sam at our house before leaving for Fort Wayne. I reeeaaally wanted to do it, as I had already purchased everything and was so excited to put it all out, but I also got home late, had to make dinner for us, make a dessert for Sunday, stuff and hide all of the eggs, fill her Easter basket, clean the house (because we'd be taking photos of course) and think about getting some much needed sleep too.....so Dan suggested we do our Easter Monday morning. 

I agreed and was relieved, but now it is Tuesday and we still haven't done it!!! What do I do with all of the goodies? Take them back? Still have the hunt? Does it matter that it's late? I feel like a jerk taking Easter stuff back after Easter. But the girls got so much for Easter from their grandparents and aunts and uncles that they definitely don't need more.... I'll have to think on this a little... :) What a weird mommy situation! 

In other news, our first wedding of the year is this weekend! I am so excited but so nervous too! You'd think I wouldn't get nervous anymore, but my body is still so weak from my pregnancy and it is so much physical strain to carry the equipment and hold our cameras for that many hours!!! And, I always get butterflies before every wedding! Oh well...this will be my first attempt at getting back into shape!

Sammi started her Mommy & Me gymnastics class last week! She is having a ball & I will post photos very soon!!! 

Natalie is "talking" up a storm these days! She's been a very unhappy baby lately so as of yesterday we doubled her reflux medicine. I hope it helps. If it does, it will be worth every penny. If it doesn't, I'm wondering what our next step will be...

Dan is doing soooo well at his diet and exercise and he looks amazing!!! He's lost 23 pounds since late February and I am so very proud of him! And our families---Orlie, Steve, and Krystal are also using "Lose It" (an iPhone app) to lose weight, Jenny is running the mini this weekend, my parents are always off to some exercise class, Kathe is always cooking healthy meals these days, and I only wish their motivation would rub off on me! 

On the few days it was nice out, I started running again, but I hate working out inside and haven't made it to the gym to sign up yet. I have to get a move on it!!! I think I love junk food too much to lose weight on diet alone, so I MUST start working out. If you have words of motivation for me, please pass them along. I really want to be in shape, just not bad enough to do the hard work I guess----but I really do want to!!! :) Oh my gosh, I just realized that I don't know if I have a suit that fits for this weekend's wedding!!!!

We've been working hard on our business makeover, and will have a new product list, pricing, marketing, and website up soon. We can't wait to complete our building with our new business plan too!

This post is getting long, I'm past my bedtime (that I always miss), and I have to go raid my closet to find a suit!!!! :) So... goodnight for now! We hope you had a fabulous Easter weekend!!!