easter 2014

I know I have been MIA on here but it is for good reason. I will share it with all of you soon but for now I wanted to catch everyone up on a few things...

We had a wonderful Easter and I hope all of you did as well. It was a low key one for us this year but I loved every minute of it.

It was our first Easter as a family of five. Little Miss L. and Mr. D were super excited for the Easter bunny to arrive. They had been talking about it for days as they went around the house pointing out the perfect spot they thought the bunny might leave those yummy chocolate eggs. It was hard for the kiddos to fall asleep that evening in anticipation for the morning hunt.

The morning arrived and they jumped out of bed and hurried into our room. They giggled as they told us they had seen eggs in the hallway. We had told them they had to come get us and that we were going to go on the hunt together and if they went ahead of everyone else the bunny would quickly come and gather the goodies before they could get them. Well, it seemed to work as they came right to us, but as they eagerly waited for the go-ahead to start the hunt, it was quickly put on hold. They can blame their furry friend Toby as I got up to let pup out things got a little messy (I won't go into detail) but he needed a bath. I (being the selfish mom) didn't want to miss out on the hunt so I made the kiddos eat their breakfast and told them not to dare touch any goodies they may have seen.

The hubby and I have some pretty good kids or they really just wanted their goodies as they did not leave the kitchen table. I bathed the dog (yes, exactly what I wanted to be doing on Easter morning) and quickly changed.

It was time to finally start our hunt. It was short and sweet as speedy Little Miss L. whipped around the house filling her basket before her little brother barely had a chance.

After our hunt, it was time to get the house in order as we were hosting family. It was nice to be able to stay at home and not rush off somewhere shoving kids and belongings into the vehicle.

It was a great afternoon surrounded by family and filling our bellies with more than enough sweet stuff.

Here are a few moments we captured throughout the day...

surprise 30th birthday party

Today, I am celebrating the last hours of my 20's. I can't believe tomorrow I will be turning 30!! Wow, hurts a little to write that.

Well, I am not one for surprises but the hubby pulled off a pretty good one yesterday. Growing up, I spent most of my time at the ice arena. I love love love figure skating. Over the years, I have not been able to hit the ice as often as I would like but now that the kiddos are getting older, I have had the privilege of introducing them to skating. With that in mind, the hubby decided to plan a surprise party at the skating arena where he rented the ice for an afternoon of fun.

I won't get into details on how he got me there but let's just say it wasn't an easy task and there may have been a lot whining and complaining about taking the kids out in the cold etc. but once I was there and I was surprised to see family and friends gathered to celebrate this old gals birthday, I quickly whipped on my skates and had an afternoon of laughter and fun.

Thank you to everyone who came out and helped my hubby prepare for my birthday shindig as it truly meant a lot to be surrounded by so much love. It was great to see lots of you enjoying a passion of mine and for those of you who did not hit the ice, maybe we can convince you to try it sometime soon. I loved watching our babies head out on the ice with smiles plastered on their faces. They soon will be skating circles around this old girl. I think we may have to make this a yearly tradition.

A huge thank you goes out to the best hubby this girl could ask for. You pulled it all together to make an awesome afternoon and pulling off a surprise, as we know isn't an easy task when it comes to surprising this momma. Love you all!

P.s. I may or may not be a little sore today!

winter family photos

Photo credits to Nicole Marie Photography

There have been many posts I have been wanting to share with all of you but this momma of three is trying her very best the last few months to learn how to function as a family of five with 3 kiddos who for the most part have been sick, running two businesses, trying to fit all the other fun stuff such as keeping our home from looking like a bomb went off, trying to take the mountain of laundry down to a wee size hill and making sure that when we open the fridge, there is something to eat inside. Wow, did you notice I have wrote "trying" several times. It is taking everything in me to make it through the last few months as I have been one exhausted momma. I can't wait for the winter weather to be over and the warm sun to lift my spirits.

Well, with that said, I was searching through the computer the other night when I came across the family photos we had taken right before Christmas. I realized I did not share these with all of you and definitely wanted too. As I have mentioned before, I am usually the one who is behind the camera and rarely have any photos with all of us. All I wanted for Christmas was a family photo.

I was lucky enough to meet a very talented photographer at a workshop. After chatting, I realized Nicole did not live too far away from us. I quickly asked her if she would be willing to take our family photos.

It was a very and very cold day, but I was determined to make it work. Let's just say as it always turns out when it comes to getting our photos done, the kids were not in the mood. They all whined and complained about the weather, having to listen to instructions and wanting to go and eat while we were supposed to be posing as one big happy family. In the end, Nicole was able to work her magic and here are a few from our session.

Don't forget to head on over to check out the talented Nicole from Nicole Marie Photography

happy birthday

I have to take a moment today, to send a birthday shout out to this amazing woman. I could not ask for a better mother and grandmother. She would do anything for her children and is always there when we need her. We can't thank her enough for all that she does.

She has three little kiddos who look up to her and can't wait to shower her with birthday kisses and hugs. We love you!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

pumpkin patch

Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho, it's off to the pumpkin patch we go... this past weekend we headed to our local pumpkin patch. We met up with our friends who have kiddos the same age as ours and are also expecting any day now. The kids always love getting together with them and were super happy to roam the pumpkin patch together.

We checked out all the pumpkins, played about in the hay, went for a wagon ride, checked out the corn maze and finished up by filling our bellies with wood oven pizza. We lucked out as the weather was perfect - warm and sunny. We have had an Indian summer and I am not going to complain one bit.

Alright, prepare yourselves for picture overload, but I couldn't help myself as these little ones are too adorable not to snap photos of all day long!