My "little girl".......

....Not! The other night Tucker and I went walking with a friend while my mom watched the kids. When we came home, Nathan decided he wanted to be Cinderella! Too funny, I hope this doesn't become a habit. I guess this is how it will be for awhile with an older sister! :)

The Park

Just some pictures of our fun time at the park!

Dogwood Picnic

Every year, Tucker's family "attempts" to have a Dogwood Picnic. Sunday afternoon, we gathered together on Tucker's grandparents' land where the dogwoods were in full bloom and beautiful! All of the kids had a great time playing and running around. We had delicious BBQ, chips, potato salad, baked beans, and desserts. Here are some pictures from the day.

Mama and her sleepy boy

Why do kids like to play in the back of trucks?

Our New Pets

Last Thursday night, we made a home for our new pets........5 tadpoles! Tucker came home from work one night and decided it would be a fun and neat learning project for us to grow tadpoles with the kids. So, he found our 5 new friends in a mud puddle at work and brought them home. Maddie and Nathan had a great time helping get the aquarium set up for their home. I am thankful to report that all 5 are still living and the kids are having a ball watching them grow and play!

Here, the kids are helping spread the rocks around. So cute!

This is a picture of one of our new friends.

Checking out the new pets and watching them swim.

Sick Kids

Nothing exciting going on here, but some sick kids. Nathan started running a fever on Sunday night and seems to be getting better. Maddie started running a fever on Tuesday night and complaining of a headache and sore throat. I believe she is feeling better this morning. It is really no fun when the kids are sick, especially at the same time. However, they are both on the road to recovery because they are DEMANDING again! That's how I know all is good in their world!!! :)

Happy Easter!

We have had one busy, but fun Easter Sunday. Maddie was up at 6:30 am to check to see if the Easter Bunny had arrived and thank goodness he brought the purple dragon Webkinz with him! Then, we went to Tucker's grandmother's house for breakfast, then church, home for about an hour, and then to my sister-in-law's house for lunch (thanks Kara for the nice and delicious lunch.) Then, we went to another egg hunt and then home for about 1 1/2 hours, then off to play a little basketball with some friends. It has been a really crazy day, but we did not forget the real reason for Easter, which is Jesus. I hope all of you had a great Easter!

Maddie and Nathan with their Easter baskets. I don't think Nathan was quite awake, yet!

My family at church

Gatlinburg Trip

So, my sister-in-law and I took our 5 kids to Gatlinburg on Tuesday for a quick but fun-filled trip. My nieces were on spring break this week and my sister-in-law wanted to take them to Gatlinburg to this indoor water park - Wild Bear Falls. We loaded up the car early Tuesday morning and made the trip to the mountains. When we arrived, there was a long line outside of the facility and you could not park your car there unless you were a time-share partner. So, we finally figured out to go back across the street (4 lanes of traffic with a creek in the middle) to park and ride the trolley. Who knew the trolley would take you all the way into Gatlinburg and back for a total of 30 minutes. So, we decided to carefully cross the 4 lanes of traffic. Without any problems we made it back to the facility. Nathan had a really smelly diaper and needed to be changed and the kids were making fun of him saying that he was stinky (which in fact he was). After standing in line for about 30 minutes, we finally found out that we could go and change clothes as long as someone from the party stayed in line to pay. So, I took 4 of the 5 kids and got them dressed. Then, I went back for Ruby and got her dressed. After Kara paid and got dressed.....Ruby went missing. She had gone out and was about to go down the kiddie slide. Talk about being scared to death! After letting the kids play for about 5 hours, we were all very tired and hungry, so we got dressed and head to the hotel and devoured 2 pizzas. The funny thing about the day, we looked out of the glass building and it was snowing while we were in swimsuits and swimming. VERY NEAT!!! We all had a great time and made it out safely. Kara and I were definitely out numbered, but we handled it just fine. On Wednesday morning, we get up and eat breakfast and then let the kids swim for awhile in the indoor pool. Then we get dressed and go to the outlet malls. We went to one store and decided that was enough with 5 kids and no stroller for the 2 two year olds - so we head back home. All in all, we had a great trip and I would love to do it again sometime in the future! Here are some pictures from our fun trip!

Nathan and Ruby had a blast on these slides. They had so much fun, couldn't stop laughing and kept going again and again!

My cute little Maddie pie!

Audrey "hanging out."

"Hallie-lujah"

Ruby-Kat

This bucket filled up with water and then dumped it out onto the kids. Audrey and Hallie loved it and couldn't get enough of it!

Mads taking it easy

One tired little boy at the end of the day!

Audrey giving the bear some love.

Hallie taking a break and getting ready to go for the day.

As you can tell, there are no pictures of me. I am not going to scare all of you with my lilly white skin. I am thinking I need to go the tanning bed or something! Pretty scary!!!!

Easter Egg Hunt

Last Sunday, we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt with our family and close friends. We had about 15 kids show up and go running after eggs in our backyard. Tucker always waits to mow the yard after the big hunt, so that is why our grass is so high. We had several eggs that contained money and the big prize egg that had $5.00 hidden in it. Audrey found the prize egg and had to wrestle it away from some boys, pretty funny! Afterwards, we had a kickball game with the kids. I don't know who had more fun, the kids or the adults. We had a great time and the weather cooperated with us up until the end of the afternoon.
This year we tried something different. We decided to have two egg hunts, a 1-3 year old hunt and a 4 and older hunt. I think the ages were divided equally and everyone found their share of eggs. The first hunters consisted of these 3 cuties - Nathan, Ruby, and their friend Emily.

The Mighty Hunter

Miss Emily, she is too cute!

Ruby is really concentrating!

Nathan and Ruby doing what they do best....fighting over something

Then, little Hillary arrived and she was so precious!

Then, it was the older kids turn. They were so excited, they could hardly wait to go. I have to admit, they were really patient waiting on the younger ones. ( I just realized, I didn't get any pictures of Maddie hunting eggs - what a terrible mother!!!)

The big kickball game

We had a great time!

Easter Egg Time

Last night I boiled eggs for the kids to dye for our Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday. They had a great time, but were a little inpatient when it came to keeping them in the dye for 5 minutes. I think the eggs turned out to be real pretty, what do you think?

Nathan getting ready to do some major egg coloring. He was so excited, but had no clue what we were about to do. However, he jumped right in there and did a great job without breaking one egg!

Maddie was so excited, she could hardly stand it!

Our funny little egg family!

The finished product in the bunny egg tray. Too cute! :)