Baby Ella and Grannie's Visit!

On May 7th, we welcomed a new addition to our extended family- our baby niece and cousin, Ella Kathleen! Kenna could hardly contain her excitement that there's a new girl in the family, so Kenna, Finn, and I went to the hospital to meet baby Ella! Of course, the first thing Kenna wanted to do was hold baby Ella. Between Finn being cranky and me trying to help Kenna hold her, I was thankful Aunt Alisa was able to take a picture for us:

We three girls, squished into a very deep-seated hospital chair! Kenna was so excited! It feels like not that long ago we came to see Ella's big sister Emmie in the hospital just after being born, and now there's a new little tiny girl in the bassinet:

 Of course, when there's a new baby in the family, we all get extra excited because that is sure to mean that a visit from Grannie is coming! She came to town to help Jason and Alisa adjust to their new addition and she also usually comes in May to celebrate Jason's birthday. We had lots to celebrate as a family this month!
We stopped by Jason and Alisa's house to see baby Ella and to go to a birthday dinner for Jason.

 Grannie never forgets special treats for the older great grandkids. She and the girls had a great time playing bubbles!

 Finn was not quite walking at this point (he was so, so close!) but could not stand to see Evan, Uncle Jason, and Daddy playing basketball without him. We kept trying to keep him happy with his own ball there in the soft grass, but he insisted on crawling out across the driveway to get to the big ball. He did is so much that his poor little knees and tips of his toes were scraped and bleeding a little! He is all boy and apparently feels no pain when it comes to keeping up with the big guys.

While the big kids were riding bikes, Finn got a helping hand from Grannie to try a scooter for the first time! He is so determined to keep up with his sister and big cousins. We're all impressed at how well Grannie keeps up with all of them too!

After playing, we met up with Papa for Jason's birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse. It was a little wild with four tired kiddos (mostly mine were the tired ones since we skipped naps that day!) but we had a fun time together.

 

We also all shared in Uncle Jason's dessert- happy birthday!

 We obviously take ice cream very seriously in this family.

 Here is one more photo of Ella a little bit older now, that I also had to borrow from Aunt Alisa. We just don't see these cousins of ours often enough! With that beautiful dark hair, I think she looks just like Uncle Jason! Welcome to the family, baby Ella!

Happy Easter!

We had a really busy, but really great Easter weekend! Matt had a major project due for one of his classes, and also taught Sunday school Easter morning. I had a great time with the kids leading up to Easter weekend, and we had a really fun time going to our church's annual Easter egg hunt together as a family on Saturday! Easter is such a special time to celebrate in the life of a believer, Jesus's sacrifice on the cross and vanquishing of sin and death, that we really load up on the excitement around here!

At Home:

I didn't feel brave enough yet to let Kenna loose with real dye, so we stickered some plastic eggs instead. And since Sundays are so wild and crazy in our family at this stage of life, we opened our baskets Monday morning (the day after) so we could take our time and take fun pictures!

The Color Wonder markers were a favorite with Kenna, and definitely the Hello Kitty stamps and chocolate bunny!
Finn of course, looked on with approval. Sweet brother.
My two little bunnies!

With Friends:

And we filled up a few with candy to take to our friends the Bryants' annual Easter egg hunt (here are last year's pictures). Kenna had a great time with the "candy eggs" and after she picked up the first one and discovered chocolate in it, I wasn't sure she was going to pick up any more!
Sarah's mom dresses up like the Easter bunny and I wasn't sure how Kenna would react this year... but she LOVED it. I had a hard time prying her away so that other kids could take pictures! I was so bummed that I forgot my camera, but a good friend took some photos and emailed them to me later:

At Church:

Even the threat of chilly rain (and some falling on the drive out there!) was not enough to deter us from Bayleaf's awesome Easter egg hunt.
It was so cute to see Kenna and Beckley old enough to really get into it this year... they were putting eggs in each other's baskets and Kenna helped him pick them all up when his bucket fell over. So sweet.

Our big girl took one look at the giant slide, took her shoes right off, and climbed all the way to the top by herself. I both love her brave independence and at the same time am incredulous that my baby girl could possibly be that grown up.
My little blue Easter egg snuggled up with Mommy all morning while Daddy took Kenna to all the bouncy houses. He is growing like a weed too- from the angle I was holding him, I coouldn't tell that his little newborn hat barely covers half his head anymore!

With Family:

We had our traditional delicious lunch at Matt's parents' house after chuch. Ansley helped Nana B. pick out everything for the kids' Easter buckets... they opened them in a total blur of chocolate bunnies, bubbles, play dough, and crayons. All the fun stuff!
Granddaddy had left a strip of his yard unmowed so that it would be long enough to hunt eggs in. It worked out perfectly and the weather was just gorgeous! The kids could not have had more fun finding all the eggs and inspecting their treasure (Granddaddy and Nana helped spot a few):
I wanted a cute sibling shot of my two cuties all dressed up for Easter, but it just might not be possible at these wiggly little ages. Kenna was wearing a dress my mom made and smocked for me when I was her age. Finn's was an outfit I bought when we first found out we were pregnant with Kenna- I bought a boy outfit and a girl outfit (see them here on my crafty blog!) and this was the boy one!
Granddaddy and Nana B:
The Edwards:
Us:
A sweet one of just Matt and I that Leanne took for us:
And guess who was left holding the giant chickie when it was all said and done!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays, and certainly not because of the eggs and chicks and bunnies. We serve a risen and living Savior and King! Without his death there would be no atonement for our sin, and without his resurrection, no promise for an eternal life restored to our heavenly Father.

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
-Romans 6:9-11

I hope everyone reading had a wonderful and worshipful Easter with their families as well!

Family Dinner!

Last week we went out for a family dinner to celebrate Nana B's birthday (which was actually this week, happy birthday!). We were going to try out a new Italian restaurant near Wakefield, and we got a call from Granddaddy right before we left the house... we were supposed to get there a little early and be ready to sing happy birthday because Nana was getting an extra special surprise birthday gift:

a new car!

The faces in this next photo are hilarious... Kenna is pointing at the car, Nana didn't realize right away that it was for her, and Sandy had driven up in it just minutes before she got there! (Granddaddy looks like maybe the surprise didn't quite go like he thought?)
After all the excitement, we went inside and enjoyed a delicious Italian-bistro style dinner and lots of fun cousin and grandparent time! Love these girly girls:
Check out that cheesy pizza!
A little mister also had a September birthday! Beckley boy turned 2 on September 10th!
Kenna enjoyed helping herself to Granddaddy's chicken parm and sweet tea... luckily he is always gracious enough to share!
Coloring with Nana B:
After dinner we each got to take a little spin in the parking lot in Nana B's new toy... Happy Birthday Nana B!