I am so happy to be catching my poor lil' ol' blog up finally! It's been so long I'll probably forget a ton of things but here goes...

We had a great time at our annual Easter Egg Hunt at the local Presidential library. They do a fabulous job with all the activities, games, treats...and all for free! It was Hannah's first egg hunt experience and we were late getting there. The kids all swarmed when the fire truck sounded the siren. Luckily we had Maggie and Lily there to share their eggs with us. Plus Sage, Jade and Baby Rane kept us company through the whole thing. We convinced their dad that we would help him juggle all three kids since Rebekah had to attend classes. The kids had their faces painted, ate cotton candy (their favorite part), sat on the Easter bunny, played with a miniature fire truck named Freddy, pretended to drive a real fire truck, and played all kinds of games. Allen got kicked out of the duck pool area for throwing ducks and splashing everyone. Surprise, surprise. It was tons of fun and then Sage and the gang joined us for lunch at McDonald's with the play land.

For our real Easter weekend we had a hunt with Emily and Abby at Mom's house. Katy and Allen absolutely ADORE spending time with their cousins! Once Allen found his Hot Wheels air planes and helicopters he stopped looking for eggs and just played. We really missed Sarah and Amy. Sarah had to spend time with Chad's family and Amy was busy eloping in Hawaii. Yup. She eloped. I have a new brother-in-law named Paul and we already love him! He's an Army man who is stationed in Iraq so I guess I finally get to tie a yellow ribbon around one of our trees. :o) They came back from Hawaii and met Dad first, then Amy's friends, then came here and met Mom, Sarah and us, then on to Laura's place, then she met his family. What kind of honeymoon is that? Leaving Hawaii to tour the Texas in-laws? That just proves they're crazy!

Our third hunt took place on Easter Sunday at Jerry and Kathy's home. Jason's roommate Manny came instead of his fiance because Kristin had to stay with her family for the holiday. Katy didn't seem to mind because, thanks to Aunt Amy, she is now very interested in getting married. When I suggested one of the boys from her class she told me he was too small. She wants to marry "Handy Manny" from Easter. Karli snagged the silver egg and Jason grabbed the gold...lots of fun!

Some post-Easter fun with Allen's new Cars chair and a little Max & Ruby. This is a rare sight because Juice Box does not ever watch tv for more than 30 seconds.

Gramma Grape headed back to Iowa at the beginning of April and we still miss having her here. Katy asks for her all the time. Mom says she's missing us, too. All this excitement happened just after she left. At least she got to meet Hannah before she went home.

I wanted to post a few of our photos from our time in Utah. Marie brought her boys over and we had Brendan and Jamie so all the "siblings" got to play together. When we head back in September we are going to get Jim and Tara and Marie together so they can swap stories and experiences. I love our family!

When we returned from Utah the bluebonnets were in full bloom. It's another of our traditions to snap the kiddos in lovely Texas bluebonnets. This time I did it on my own and it was cuh-razy. There were lots of out-takes and bribes.

For the first time ever I felt free to send out an April Fools joke that I was pregnant. I pasted my face over a pregnant woman's body and e-mailed out my announcement. Some people fell for it, but most knew right away that it was a joke.

Mom had a birthday on April 2nd and Katy insisted on designing, baking and decorating her birthday cake. What a pro! There were only a few egg shell pieces in it. And Katy specified that the cake should have Mom's picture in the middle with pink words written in "rostings" that said, "Happy Birthday Mookie Love Katy" on the side. She is quite talented.

This is Hannah's hospital portrait. It's the best one I've ever seen. The same photographer took it who did Allen's. She's really good but Hannah made her job easy. Tara says that Hannah's perfectly round head is like an apple. Our little apple head!

This is one of Hannah's photo shoots. I was going for the Anne Geddes look and she happily cooperated. The pink stroller is actually for a baby doll but she looks just right for it!

Our first Sunday together at church as a family. Don't we look proud!?

And here are the two oldest nugs on their "sicles" which they love to ride! They both prefer the $3 one from a g-sale that Katy is riding below instead of their new ones from Christmas...go figure!

And finally, here is a photo of Hannah's first bath at home in our kitchen sink. All of our kids had their first home bath there. Shortly after that I started bathing her in a white mixing bowl. I don't have a photo because I did it alone and couldn't let go of her long enough to grab a shot. She looked good enough to eat! Now I just put an inch or two of water in the tub and she gets all suds up.

Now almost everyone has met Hannah. The Utah family, Mom, Gramma Grape, Marjean, Warren, Dad, Uncle John, Jerry & Kathy's family, my sisters and their families...almost everyone! She is already spoiled rotten and VERY popular with all her visitors! We are so blessed!