Sunny & Share

Each Spring, my school, now Kayli's school, has a special night called "Sunny&Share" night, that is an opportunity for parents to come up to school and see samples of artwork / school work that the kids have proudly displayed throughout the school. Usually there is ice cream served on the playground. This year, Mr. K, and the committee decided to order rainbow sherbert cups. The kids loved this great treat and the teachers loved the simplicity of serving them! Everybody wins!
The evidence of enjoyment is on the faces of the girls below, Kayli and her friend Lily...

we walked around the school, checking out all the artwork on the walls, then stopped in the 1st grade room to check out Kayli's display...

the art show was fabulous, the sherbert was yummy, but the big hit of the night, according to Kayli, was the opportunity to play on the playground! Kayli was thrilled to be able to show her young friend Lily all the cool equipment on the school playground...

Lily, who is 3 1/2, was determined to keep up with Kayli! She grabbed onto the first rung of the monkey bars, jumped off the ladder, then yelled "Heeeelp!" I'm pretty good at holding a camera in one hand and a child in the other. My motto is "never put down the camera or you'll miss the next best shot!"

so, once I got Lily across the monkey bars, Kayli wanted to "introduce" her to the rockwall..."C'mon Lily, you're gonna LOVE this!" Kayli says, as she grabs Lily's hand and heads for the rockwall...

"Ok, Lily, now just follow me."

way to go Lily! While watching Kayli and Lily on this rockwall, I had a flashback to a similar scene a few years ago with Kayli trying to keep up with her older cousin Jake while at the Ozarks.

check out the video below...

Ohhh, those "trips down memory lane"...but now, back to "Sunny & Share"...

now, where was I? Oh, yeah, so the girls moved on to explore more, and eventually ALL, of the playground equipment, while I followed with the camera, and Lily's mom served two shifts of sherbert!

At one point, while on the playground, a few of Kayli's 1st grade friends showed up and wanted to join in. Kayli said "Ok, but you guys are gonna have to be gentle with my friend Lily, cuz she's only like 2 or 3 or something like that." The girls, all paused to take in Kayli's "condition", then nodded in agreement and yelled "Ok, we promise" and they were off and running! Way to look out for your friend, Kayli!

The girls played sooo hard, we know they will sleep well tonight!

Just Because

...just because my two girls are lookin' so cute in this picture...but if you look deep into those sweet puppy eyes (Sprinkles, not Kayli, ha!) trust me, she's not so innocent...she's just thinking..."what can I drag under the coffee table and chew to bits before someone hears me or notices!" But, we love her anyway, and it motivates Kayli to keep her toys picked up!

A Little Girl and Her Dog...

Need I say more?

Easter

The week before Easter, Kayli and I were invited by a co-worker to her church for an Easter egg hunt. We've participated in this Pre-Easter fun festival for the last couple of years, and they usually have bounce houses, crafts, prizes, and they usually have someone tell a short rendition of the "Easter Story."This year they had some cute puppets to "help" tell the story, and the kids loved it!

on your marks, get set, go...

Woohoo, I got soooo many eggs!

crafts...

It was Kayli's lucky day when her name was drawn out of a hat to win this FABULOUS Easter basket!

It had a cute bunny, jumprope, frisbee, yo-yo, sidewalk chalk, bucket and shovel, very cute "Beginners Bible" and more. Kayli was "on top of the world!"

Easter morning, Kayli woke up, told me she was going to use the bathroom, came back a few minutes later and said "Hey, Mom, I saw the most AMAZING things downstairs!!!" Apparently she got a little sidetracked on her way to the bathroom , ha ha.

Kayli wants to know how the Easter Bunny knew her initials?

She got the much coveted Build-A-Bear pretend cell phone for pretend texting! Also, some flip-flops with Jelly Beans?!!!

some very cute ducks for our bathtub collection...

and a whole lot of other great stuff...

the Easter Bunny even brought MOM a giant chocolate bunny this year, Woohoo!

Kayli and I hosted an Easter Brunch for our family this year. We had a large number of people (19) to plan for! We started with this cool idea from fellow bloggers and pinterest for making some beautiful Spring-like cupcakes...

 yep, they made such a great decoration that I had to remind myself to make people eat them!

I baked a ham, and everyone brought an array of fabulous food items for our brunch.  

We even managed to "spring Dad" from the Care Center for the day, so he could enjoy the fun food, and festivities!

I was extra pleased with the beautiful, sunny day, that allowed us to take advantage of the outdoor seating!

then, it was time for the Easter egg hunt. Players take your mark...

and they're off...

there were two different age groups "hunting" at the same time.

and there were some "puzzlers!"

and "AHA" moments...

and, "Look, how many I found, Mom!" moments...

and, "Let's count them to make sure we got them all" moments...

and then, while the "big boys" continued to seek out the hardest hid eggs, and Laura and Anna were ready to give clues if need be...

 Kayli joined Marion on the big swing, where the two of them entertained themselves by singing...

then the last egg was found, and it was time to gather the gang for pictures and prizes...

in addition to the quarters and candy found in the eggs, there were gift certificates to McDonalds for everyone! Nick got a cool "jelly bean laying" chicken. Colin got a new app for his phone. Jake got a new app for his ITouch. The girls were thrilled to get candy necklaces that had light up easter eggs on the end!!!

We took advantage of the beautiful "backdrop" my bridal bush offers, to take a few family photos.
First up, Marion, Jim, Jake, Nick...

next, Eileen, Gary, Anna...

Mickey was home, sick, today, so we didn't get a Laura, Mickey, Colin family pic. Robert's clan is still back in Washington. Kevin, Karen, Adam, and Mamie posed and they probably could photo shop in Matt at a later time, but I was dealing with some kind of minor catastophe in the house at the time and missed the picture. Oh how I hate it when I can't be two places at once! But, then, all my siblings and I managed to get a family picture with my dad...

I even managed to get someone to take a photo of me and Kayli...

and, of course Kayli with Princess Sprinkles, who did NOT want her picture taken...

and finally, Kayli begged me to let her show Sprinkles how "cute" she could look with some bunny ears, Ha ha! Poor Sprinkles...

Whew! So much fun!