Spring Break and Easter!

Here's what we did for Spring Break...

I got my hair done!  Decided to lighten it up for spring...

The boys and I headed down to Williamsburg on Wednesday to meet up with Traci and her kids for the rest of the week!  They had a timeshare there and it was beautiful!

Within a few minutes of us being there Jackson threw his football on the roof so he had to climb up to get it...

Here's all the kids, minus baby William...

The first night Traci made everyone a yummy spaghetti dinner while we got all settled...

The kids all LOVED the pool and we spent lots of time there...

William passed out after eating...

Happy baby!!!

The boys slept in this room which they loved because they had their OWN TV...

We took them to a fun park called Kidsburg...

The timeshare had this little mini golf course which the kids loved and played over and over.  Their favorite hole was hole 18 where you had to hit the target, Jackson spent hours on this hole...

Movie and popcorn night...

Chillin in the hot tub...

Tyce and Anna singing songs and laughing.  He was so cute with her this trip...

They built castles in the sand...

They played shuffle board...

Saturday morning they had an Easter egg hunt!  There were 8,000 eggs total for the three age groups...

Needless to say, we came home with TONS of candy...

Traci won the guess how many jelly beans are in the jar contest!  Well, technically she got 2nd place, but the 1st place lady wasn't there so Traci won a carrot cake from a fancy local bakery...

Picture with the creepy Easter bunny...

Traci and I rarely get pictures together but on the last day we finally remembered...

The whole clan...

It was a FABULOUS trip and many lasting memories were made for both Traci and I and our kids.  It was so fun being in the same house as Traci so we could put the kids to bed and stay up late watching movies, talking, laughing, and...of course...eating.  I haven't eaten past 7pm in 12 weeks but Friday night we stayed up till 2am and ate a whole bag of mini Cadbury eggs!!!  It was also so fun to see our kids interact, I love how sweet they are to each other and the special relationship they have.  That is not to say the trip did not have it's challenges...we had seven kids ages 0 to 9 so there were times of tears, whines, and irritation for SURE!  But, the goods outweighed the bads tenfold.  :)

We came home to an Easter package from Grandma Morrill!  She is always so thoughtful!

The boys loved all their goodies but Tyce's favorite was this Family History coloring book thing she sent.  While I was upstairs unpacking and Parker and the twins were outside playing Tyce made his own family tree!  LOVE it!!!

Easter time!  Here are their baskets...

Waiting on the stairs to come down and find the eggs and their baskets...

They found all 66 eggs and were thoroughly spoiled by the Easter bunny...

Tyce, of course, was thrilled about his new 350 page chapter book...

Reading our Easter book about Christ and the Resurrection...

A few pics before church...

After church we went on a long family walk and it was SO wonderful!  I love my family and feel so blessed to be surrounded by these amazing four...

It was so cute on the walk because Tyce held my hand the ENTIRE time and kept telling me how beautiful and wonderful I am.  Jackson made a point to move all branches or weeds in front of me so I wouldn't trip.  When we got to the park he made sure wherever I wanted to sit was dry and if not he would wipe it off with his sweatshirt for me.  Such gentlemen we're raising!!!

At the boys school we raced around the track.  Jackson beat me by like 12 seconds, that kid is fast! Josh actually beat Jackson with his time but when they raced together Jack beat him (not surprising because Jack HATES to lose!)  Then they all four decided to race...

Jack was pretty bummed he lost to daddy but someday, someday he will beat him no doubt!

LOVE all the blossoms coming out on the trees!!!  Spring is a gorgeous time of year here in Virginia...

While I made a nice Easter dinner Parker and the boys played baseball, football, and basketball...

 After dinner the boys colored eggs...

While I snuggled Brody...

That night I found this on my pillow from sweet Tyce...Parker had one also that said #1 Dad.  That kid is amazingly thoughtful...

Josh deep in thought/sleep...

The other day I was drying Jackson off and his legs just cracked me up!  This kid has bruises, scratches, welts, you know it all over his body all the time and never says a word!  The other day he was bleeding all down his leg and just shrugged it off.  LOVE how tough he is...

Lastly, I took Josh summer clothes shopping.  Josh LOVES to shop, loves clothes, and loves fashion so he was very excited.  It was fun one on one time together and he got some cute stuff and I got good deals!!!

March Update

 Here's what we've been up to...

Jackson got the FLU!!!!  He is the first person in our family to ever get the flu and he was down for about four days with bad fevers and headaches, poor kid.  He is such an angel when he is sick though, he is so low maintenance and sweet and tough.  He spent a lot of time sleeping and watching TV which Brody LOVED...

Haha, Tyce claimed he didn't take a bite of his rice before prayer so I took a picture of him to show him how I KNEW he was lying, haha punk...

Jack was pretty tired after his first day back to school after recovering from the flu and he fell asleep reading at 7:00!

I love our neighborhood because there's so many boys for the twins to play with (unfortunately we're lacking on boys Tyce's age!).  They usually play outside from the minute they get home from school until it's dark but this day they all came in and played with Wii, the girls also came over to play with Tyce...

This cat LOVES the deck but he goes in and out in and out in and out all day...

Basketball season is over, Tyce's team made it to round two of the playoffs then lost.  Here is his team picture which, by the way, I hate.  They had a new photographer this year and it was a disaster.  I am still waiting on the twins pictures and who knows if I'll ever get them...

 Josh sad because he finished all of grandma's yummy  home made peach jam...

 Tyce and his best friend Michael holding hands walking around the rec center...

Jack and Josh's team also made it to the second round of playoffs which was farther than expected! We had a rough season and fully expected to get slaughtered in our first play off game but the twins played GREAT!  We won 18 to 14 and they had all the team's points!  Josh had 12 and Jack had 6. Josh has become quite the three point shooter.  In our last game he had three 3's in a row!   They are really sad basketball is over but they improved a lot this season and look forward to next season!

 And on to the next sport!  Josh is going to play baseball AND soccer this season!  He is thrilled to be on Coach Ronnie's team at GMBL and Coach Bewley's team at NVSC, should be a busy season but I love watching my boy do what he loves!

I've been hard at work at the gym with my gym buddies Lisa and Tami!  Between the three of us we've lost 50 pounds!  It's so fun having such awesome friends to keep me motivated!  I've lost 19 pounds since January and want to lose about 8 more!  Goodbye fat Jenn, hopefully for GOOD!!!

Lastly, yesterday was my grandma's 81st birthday and her first birthday without my grandpa.  It was a hard day for her but she is so strong and positive.  She emailed this to me and I just loved it...last year at this time my grandpa was getting pretty sick and weak and was unable to go buy her a card so he MADE this one for her...he apologized for having to make one but it was most definitely her, and my, favorite of them all...

Mom and Dad Come to Visit!!

Here's what we've been up to so far in March...

Got a call from the school last week telling me Jackson cut himself with scissors and needed to go to urgent care for stitches, par for the course for this kid...

MY PARENTS CAME TO VISIT!!!  I actually didn't take many pictures but here are a few...

We went bowling (and I ALMOST beat my dad for the first time in my life!)...

Grandma made rice krispie treats and the boys were THRILLED with how big of pieces she gave them...

Lots of wrestling, teasing, and laughs with grandpa as always...

And, of course, Ty Ty loves reading to them...

The twins dressed up for Dr. Seuss day and it was adorable!  It was Josh's idea and he was glad to have a twin to pull it off with!

Adorable...

They took each boy out to lunch from school, Tyce picked Pizza Hut...

So unlike me to not take more pictures but we LOVED having them here and were so sad to say goodbye today.  Love you both!!!!