New Family Photo and Easter 2016

It is SO hard to get a decent family photo! Seriously, at what point do kids start smiling AT the camera? If they would just all look and smile at the camera at the same time, we could get a good photo in 30 seconds.

I keep thinking that it might happen "next year". Then "next year" arrives, and we are still all over the place. At least it makes it entertaining to look through the dozens of photos after the fact. Ha!

But, I think we ended up with a pretty good updated family photo on Easter! Thanks to my brother, Josh, for snapping it!

Elijah, Ellie, Sean, Rebecca, Caleb, and Abby

We spent Easter with both sides of the family. We started off with lunch at my parents' house. It had been raining, so their Easter Egg Hunt was held in the house to keep everyone dry. The kids and their cousins had fun anyway! Then they all lined up on the floor and started eating through their stash. Nevermind we had just finished a big meal!

Then we headed over to Sean's dad's house for a big Easter Egg Hunt in his backyard. Our kids look forward to that Easter Egg Hunt all year because Sean's dad hides almost 200 eggs. It's crazy how many there are....and so much fun!

Caleb

Abby

Ellie and Elijah

It ended up being a great day, and I got a new family photo out of it to boot. The hardest part about this Easter was missing my mother-in-law who passed not too long after Easter last year. As we dyed eggs with the kids this year, I was wishing we could have had her with us for that activity. I think this photo is the last one that I took of the kids with her.....she was definitely missed. Holidays are never quite the same when a loved one is no longer there. I think she would have been happy to know that the Easter Egg Hunt and egg dying still happened this Easter though!

Cousin Marissa, Ellie, Ma, Elijah, Caleb, and Abby

It is SO hard to get a decent family photo! Seriously, at what point do kids start smiling AT the camera? If they would just all look and smile at the camera at the same time, we could get a good photo in 30 seconds.

I keep thinking that it might happen "next year". Then "next year" arrives, and we are still all over the place. At least it makes it entertaining to look through the dozens of photos after the fact. Ha!

But, I think we ended up with a pretty good updated family photo on Easter! Thanks to my brother, Josh, for snapping it!

Elijah, Ellie, Sean, Rebecca, Caleb, and Abby

We spent Easter with both sides of the family. We started off with lunch at my parents' house. It had been raining, so their Easter Egg Hunt was held in the house to keep everyone dry. The kids and their cousins had fun anyway! Then they all lined up on the floor and started eating through their stash. Nevermind we had just finished a big meal!

Then we headed over to Sean's dad's house for a big Easter Egg Hunt in his backyard. Our kids look forward to that Easter Egg Hunt all year because Sean's dad hides almost 200 eggs. It's crazy how many there are....and so much fun!

Caleb

Abby

Ellie and Elijah

It ended up being a great day, and I got a new family photo out of it to boot. The hardest part about this Easter was missing my mother-in-law who passed not too long after Easter last year. As we dyed eggs with the kids this year, I was wishing we could have had her with us for that activity. I think this photo is the last one that I took of the kids with her.....she was definitely missed. Holidays are never quite the same when a loved one is no longer there. I think she would have been happy to know that the Easter Egg Hunt and egg dying still happened this Easter though!

Cousin Marissa, Ellie, Ma, Elijah, Caleb, and Abby

Easter Egg Hunt 2015

I'm always a few weeks behind posting holiday photos, but at least I'm finally getting these up!

We spent Easter with Sean's parents this year. We started our day off at church, ran home to take a nap, and then headed over to Sean's parents' house for Easter dinner. While I don't have any photos of the actual dinner, I do have lots of photos of the Easter egg hunt that the kids' grandparents put together for them!

I can't remember exactly how many eggs Sean's dad put out, but I think it was nearly 200. 200 eggs for 6 kids. It was awesome! The yard was almost carpeted in them and there were so many to go around that all of the kids had a chance to find eggs for quite awhile.

Previous Easter egg hunts have been fun, but this one was particularly enjoyable for me to watch! Our kids were a lot more independent this year, and this was also the first year that Caleb participated. He actually got right into it without having to be prompted. So while it wasn't his first Easter egg hunt, in many ways, it actually was. So fun to watch him embrace the idea this year!

Cousin Toby and Caleb

Caleb.....he's got this! YAY!!

All of the eggs were plastic, and Sean's mom actually stuffed each one with candy. (That's a LOT of candy!) While most of the eggs were opaque, there were a few that were clear. The kids had been gathering eggs for awhile when Ellie came across a clear one. And....THERE WAS CANDY IN IT?! Oh my word, the expression on her face when she realized that she had been gathering candy filled eggs was priceless!

"MOM!! There is CANDY in this egg! LOOK!"

And of course, she had to yell across the yard to her Daddy as well. :)

"DADDY!!! I FOUND CHOCOLATE IN MY EGG!"

Last year, Abby was still in her phase where she liked small objects but would become fixated on one thing and refuse to let go of it. I think she found maybe...four eggs total last year, and all bets were off when she came across a red one. From that point on, she held onto that egg like it was the last egg on earth.

This year, she was totally into the egg hunt, and ran around collecting eggs regardless of color.

Abby

She filled her bucket right up!

Abby

Elijah....oh, Elijah. This child is currently our biggest handful. He loved the egg hunt, and actually found the most out of all of our kids. The bucket was positively overflowing by the time he was done. He loved every minute of it, and I was extra glad that Ma and Pa (grandparents) had taken the time to put out so many eggs!

Elijah

But then, he too also figured out that the eggs were stuffed with candy. However, he didn't bother to announce that find with us. Instead, he hauled his entire bucket of eggs up the ladder, into the clubhouse, quietly closed the door, and then proceeded to unwrap candy and stuff it in his mouth as fast as he possibly could.

How did we find out? Well, Ellie visited the clubhouse, saw what was going down, and thought that it was a fabulous idea! She called down to her Daddy and said, "Daddy, could you please bring up my eggs so that I can eat all of my candy like Elijah?"

BUSTED!

Let's just say that Elijah was VERY disappointed when Daddy climbed the ladder to clear the eggs out.

Elijah

We really enjoyed watching them hunt Easter eggs this year....the sugar crash after wasn't too pleasant, but they did go right to sleep that night which was really nice for their tired parents!

We hope y'all had a wonderful Easter with friend and family, and most importantly recognizing the gift that Jesus gave to us so many years ago: Redemption!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

I'm always a few weeks behind posting holiday photos, but at least I'm finally getting these up!

We spent Easter with Sean's parents this year. We started our day off at church, ran home to take a nap, and then headed over to Sean's parents' house for Easter dinner. While I don't have any photos of the actual dinner, I do have lots of photos of the Easter egg hunt that the kids' grandparents put together for them!

I can't remember exactly how many eggs Sean's dad put out, but I think it was nearly 200. 200 eggs for 6 kids. It was awesome! The yard was almost carpeted in them and there were so many to go around that all of the kids had a chance to find eggs for quite awhile.

Previous Easter egg hunts have been fun, but this one was particularly enjoyable for me to watch! Our kids were a lot more independent this year, and this was also the first year that Caleb participated. He actually got right into it without having to be prompted. So while it wasn't his first Easter egg hunt, in many ways, it actually was. So fun to watch him embrace the idea this year!

Cousin Toby and Caleb

Caleb.....he's got this! YAY!!

All of the eggs were plastic, and Sean's mom actually stuffed each one with candy. (That's a LOT of candy!) While most of the eggs were opaque, there were a few that were clear. The kids had been gathering eggs for awhile when Ellie came across a clear one. And....THERE WAS CANDY IN IT?! Oh my word, the expression on her face when she realized that she had been gathering candy filled eggs was priceless!

"MOM!! There is CANDY in this egg! LOOK!"

And of course, she had to yell across the yard to her Daddy as well. :)

"DADDY!!! I FOUND CHOCOLATE IN MY EGG!"

Last year, Abby was still in her phase where she liked small objects but would become fixated on one thing and refuse to let go of it. I think she found maybe...four eggs total last year, and all bets were off when she came across a red one. From that point on, she held onto that egg like it was the last egg on earth.

This year, she was totally into the egg hunt, and ran around collecting eggs regardless of color.

Abby

She filled her bucket right up!

Abby

Elijah....oh, Elijah. This child is currently our biggest handful. He loved the egg hunt, and actually found the most out of all of our kids. The bucket was positively overflowing by the time he was done. He loved every minute of it, and I was extra glad that Ma and Pa (grandparents) had taken the time to put out so many eggs!

Elijah

But then, he too also figured out that the eggs were stuffed with candy. However, he didn't bother to announce that find with us. Instead, he hauled his entire bucket of eggs up the ladder, into the clubhouse, quietly closed the door, and then proceeded to unwrap candy and stuff it in his mouth as fast as he possibly could.

How did we find out? Well, Ellie visited the clubhouse, saw what was going down, and thought that it was a fabulous idea! She called down to her Daddy and said, "Daddy, could you please bring up my eggs so that I can eat all of my candy like Elijah?"

BUSTED!

Let's just say that Elijah was VERY disappointed when Daddy climbed the ladder to clear the eggs out.

Elijah

We really enjoyed watching them hunt Easter eggs this year....the sugar crash after wasn't too pleasant, but they did go right to sleep that night which was really nice for their tired parents!

We hope y'all had a wonderful Easter with friend and family, and most importantly recognizing the gift that Jesus gave to us so many years ago: Redemption!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

The Little Things Thursdays: #104

This post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for supporting our family and blog!

Welcome to The Little Things Thursday!!

If you are new, we like to take a minute to look back on the little things that brightened our week. So often we get busy and forget all of the things that we enjoy as we go through our daily lives. This is an opportunity to stop, remember, and enjoy those things! Nothing is too small...in fact, the smaller the better! That's the whole point! If you have a blog, leave a link in a comment below! If you don't blog, I'd love for you to participate by leaving a moment in a comment anyway. Ready?

1. And...It's April!

It's been about 3 weeks since a Little Things Thursday. Every year from mid-February to the end of March, I fly along by the seat of my pants (not saying I don't the rest of the year, but these few weeks are CRAZY!!). We have Sean's birthday, the kids' birthday, taxes (I'm self-employed so they are a doozy!), a consignment sale, and our anniversary. It doesn't seem like much when you type it all out, but it gets STRESSFUL up in here! Thankfully, Sean helped a ton with consignment sale prep this go around, and that lightened my load considerably.

I am always SO happy to see April arrive!

2. The Dying of the Easter Eggs

This was our first year letting the kids dye eggs, and let's just say that if Sean and his mom hadn't ganged up on me and made it happen, I probably wouldn't have done it. Four 4-year-olds and dye. In my head, there are just so many ways that can go wrong. But I'm also admittedly short on the bravery front when it comes to trying new things as an adult, so I'm sure that's playing into it with my kids. I really need to put on my big girl panties more often and just go for it.

Sean's mom volunteered her house for the Easter Egg dying adventure, so the kids and I all showed up to work on them with the help of their Cousin Marissa. Let's do this thing!

Marissa, Ellie, Ma, Elijah, Caleb, and Abby

The kids were all excited to see what this project was about. "Coloring" eggs was definitely a new concept.

Ellie....I just love the little dimple that jumps out when she is grinning!

Elijah....trying very hard to say "cheese" and smile at the same time

Most of the kids followed the general game plan of dying eggs....except for Caleb. Caleb plopped into a chair, grabbed an egg (look at the first photo above! You can see him grabbing it!), smacked it open on the table, and started shoving pieces into his mouth. Shell and all.

I mean, if you are going to give a boy food, what do you expect, right?

And that was the end of Caleb's participation. I guess he didn't like the way the shell crunched, so he went upstairs to play. Lol!

Caleb

The rest of the kids hung around awhile longer. Elijah dyed one egg before he was done. Ellie finished two, colored on the tablecloth with the provided crayons, and then headed to play, but Abby stuck it out to the end. I think she loved seeing her eggs turn colors!

And then we broke for fruit snacks! Don't worry, Caleb came back for those. *wink*

It ended up being a very successful egg dying experience! Watch out world! My kids know how to use dye!

Abby

The Easter Eggs! Everybody had four to begin with...and Caleb left with three!

3. Because You Asked....

I've had several emails over the past few months asking for info on essential oils classes. I'm teaching an online Introduction to Essential Oils Class on FaceBook on April 14th at 8pm, central time. Everything will be in text format with all posts numbered in order. It's the same info that I teach in person, albeit with much less commentary and side bars about rescuing my kids with oils. Ha! You'll have to just imagine that part. *wink* The class will be in real time, but I'll leave it up for a few days after it ends in case you can't make it right when it is going on. I'd love to see you there!

Now it's your turn! What Little Things brightened up your week? Link up your post in a comment below and make sure you come back next week to play again!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

This post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for supporting our family and blog!

Welcome to The Little Things Thursday!!

If you are new, we like to take a minute to look back on the little things that brightened our week. So often we get busy and forget all of the things that we enjoy as we go through our daily lives. This is an opportunity to stop, remember, and enjoy those things! Nothing is too small...in fact, the smaller the better! That's the whole point! If you have a blog, leave a link in a comment below! If you don't blog, I'd love for you to participate by leaving a moment in a comment anyway. Ready?

1. And...It's April!

It's been about 3 weeks since a Little Things Thursday. Every year from mid-February to the end of March, I fly along by the seat of my pants (not saying I don't the rest of the year, but these few weeks are CRAZY!!). We have Sean's birthday, the kids' birthday, taxes (I'm self-employed so they are a doozy!), a consignment sale, and our anniversary. It doesn't seem like much when you type it all out, but it gets STRESSFUL up in here! Thankfully, Sean helped a ton with consignment sale prep this go around, and that lightened my load considerably.

I am always SO happy to see April arrive!

2. The Dying of the Easter Eggs

This was our first year letting the kids dye eggs, and let's just say that if Sean and his mom hadn't ganged up on me and made it happen, I probably wouldn't have done it. Four 4-year-olds and dye. In my head, there are just so many ways that can go wrong. But I'm also admittedly short on the bravery front when it comes to trying new things as an adult, so I'm sure that's playing into it with my kids. I really need to put on my big girl panties more often and just go for it.

Sean's mom volunteered her house for the Easter Egg dying adventure, so the kids and I all showed up to work on them with the help of their Cousin Marissa. Let's do this thing!

Marissa, Ellie, Ma, Elijah, Caleb, and Abby

The kids were all excited to see what this project was about. "Coloring" eggs was definitely a new concept.

Ellie....I just love the little dimple that jumps out when she is grinning!

Elijah....trying very hard to say "cheese" and smile at the same time

Most of the kids followed the general game plan of dying eggs....except for Caleb. Caleb plopped into a chair, grabbed an egg (look at the first photo above! You can see him grabbing it!), smacked it open on the table, and started shoving pieces into his mouth. Shell and all.

I mean, if you are going to give a boy food, what do you expect, right?

And that was the end of Caleb's participation. I guess he didn't like the way the shell crunched, so he went upstairs to play. Lol!

Caleb

The rest of the kids hung around awhile longer. Elijah dyed one egg before he was done. Ellie finished two, colored on the tablecloth with the provided crayons, and then headed to play, but Abby stuck it out to the end. I think she loved seeing her eggs turn colors!

And then we broke for fruit snacks! Don't worry, Caleb came back for those. *wink*

It ended up being a very successful egg dying experience! Watch out world! My kids know how to use dye!

Abby

The Easter Eggs! Everybody had four to begin with...and Caleb left with three!

3. Because You Asked....

I've had several emails over the past few months asking for info on essential oils classes. I'm teaching an online Introduction to Essential Oils Class on FaceBook on April 14th at 8pm, central time. Everything will be in text format with all posts numbered in order. It's the same info that I teach in person, albeit with much less commentary and side bars about rescuing my kids with oils. Ha! You'll have to just imagine that part. *wink* The class will be in real time, but I'll leave it up for a few days after it ends in case you can't make it right when it is going on. I'd love to see you there!

Now it's your turn! What Little Things brightened up your week? Link up your post in a comment below and make sure you come back next week to play again!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Easter 2014, Part 2: The Other Side, Whipped Cream, and Vomit

Well, a whole WEEK after I promised it, I'm finally getting to post about Easter with my side of the family. If you missed the post and photos from Easter with Sean's side of the family, you can see that adorableness here.

So Easter with my family was fun and a little disappointing at the same time. Sean had to work, so he didn't get to come with us. *sniff* I've spent more Easters without him than with him, but I always hate not having my hubby with me on special days. It just doesn't feel right. He works so hard though, and never complains. I'm so grateful that he is my partner in life, and I think he is equally grateful that I brought home leftover dinner for him to heat up. We make a great team, right? :)

Anyhow, I loaded the kids up for the short drive to my parents' house for dinner. We had a great ham meal, and then dug into the cheesecake that my dad requested I make. The little kids were running around and missed the cheesecake...but they sure didn't miss when Grandpa pulled out the whipped cream.

It's amazing how quickly little people can all appear when Grandpa is squirting fingers with the good stuff!

Abby and Grandpa

 Ellie, Elijah, and Grandpa. Check out that cheezy grin on Eli's face. He was SO thrilled that Grandpa was sharing!

But really, photos don't do the whipped cream portion of the meal justice. I finally started recording our kids and their cousin Aly all lining up for a squirt:

Those kids could have stood there with their fingers out all day long, but Grandpa eventually put the cap back on the whipped cream so that we could start the Easter egg hunt. Uncle Josh and Uncle Chris hid the eggs in the front yard (the backyard is too steep), and the kids started hunting!

Elijah

I was delighted that Caleb decided to hunt for a few eggs this time. He hasn't ever wanted to participate before, so the fact that he went looking for his eggs was fun for me to watch.

Caleb

Each egg was filled with trail mix with one special candy-filled egg for each kid. I never would have thought to put trail mix in the eggs. How smart is that?!

Abby

Caleb, Abby, Elijah, Ellie, and Cousin Aly were all over the egg hunt. There is something so fun about watching all those little legs running over the yard trying to fill their baskets up.

I was glad to have Uncle Josh and Uncle Chris guarding the cul-de-sac and herding wandering kids back up into the yard. The kids love their uncles, and I never turn down extra hands!

Uncle Chris, Ellie, Uncle Josh, and Abby

This is where it really starts getting good. So after the the hunt was over, we all sat on the front steps while we dug into our eggs.

 Caleb and Cousin Aly

Elijah and Caleb

Ellie, in particular, was a big fan of the trail mix. My dad kept saying, "Look! She's like a piranha! Watch this!" Grandpa would open an egg, and Ellie would inhale the contents in one mouthful. It was hilarious!

Ellie, Cita, and Grandpa

We were all laughing and enjoying each other's company, and suddenly, Abby started puking her guts out right in the middle of all of us. Too much whipped cream, Abby?

Abby and Mommy

When Abby started throwing up, I handed my camera to one of my brothers. This is what was happening behind me while I was taking care of my daughter. That's pretty much exactly what they are like all the time.

 Mike and Chris

They took a lot more photos (of random trash, Abby's vomit, the plunger in the bathroom), but I'll spare you those. I think Abby and I both learned a lesson here. She should maybe not eat so much whipped cream, and I should maybe not hand my camera to my brothers for safe keeping.

Anyhow, I got Abby cleaned up while my parents moved the rest of the kiddos inside. By the time I was done cleaning Abby up, I looked up to see this sad face in the window:

Elijah

It was obviously time to head home.

What can I say? It's always an adventure taking these kiddos places! Next time, I just hope Daddy can join us for the fun!

Well, a whole WEEK after I promised it, I'm finally getting to post about Easter with my side of the family. If you missed the post and photos from Easter with Sean's side of the family, you can see that adorableness here.

So Easter with my family was fun and a little disappointing at the same time. Sean had to work, so he didn't get to come with us. *sniff* I've spent more Easters without him than with him, but I always hate not having my hubby with me on special days. It just doesn't feel right. He works so hard though, and never complains. I'm so grateful that he is my partner in life, and I think he is equally grateful that I brought home leftover dinner for him to heat up. We make a great team, right? :)

Anyhow, I loaded the kids up for the short drive to my parents' house for dinner. We had a great ham meal, and then dug into the cheesecake that my dad requested I make. The little kids were running around and missed the cheesecake...but they sure didn't miss when Grandpa pulled out the whipped cream.

It's amazing how quickly little people can all appear when Grandpa is squirting fingers with the good stuff!

Abby and Grandpa

 Ellie, Elijah, and Grandpa. Check out that cheezy grin on Eli's face. He was SO thrilled that Grandpa was sharing!

But really, photos don't do the whipped cream portion of the meal justice. I finally started recording our kids and their cousin Aly all lining up for a squirt:

Those kids could have stood there with their fingers out all day long, but Grandpa eventually put the cap back on the whipped cream so that we could start the Easter egg hunt. Uncle Josh and Uncle Chris hid the eggs in the front yard (the backyard is too steep), and the kids started hunting!

Elijah

I was delighted that Caleb decided to hunt for a few eggs this time. He hasn't ever wanted to participate before, so the fact that he went looking for his eggs was fun for me to watch.

Caleb

Each egg was filled with trail mix with one special candy-filled egg for each kid. I never would have thought to put trail mix in the eggs. How smart is that?!

Abby

Caleb, Abby, Elijah, Ellie, and Cousin Aly were all over the egg hunt. There is something so fun about watching all those little legs running over the yard trying to fill their baskets up.

I was glad to have Uncle Josh and Uncle Chris guarding the cul-de-sac and herding wandering kids back up into the yard. The kids love their uncles, and I never turn down extra hands!

Uncle Chris, Ellie, Uncle Josh, and Abby

This is where it really starts getting good. So after the the hunt was over, we all sat on the front steps while we dug into our eggs.

 Caleb and Cousin Aly

Elijah and Caleb

Ellie, in particular, was a big fan of the trail mix. My dad kept saying, "Look! She's like a piranha! Watch this!" Grandpa would open an egg, and Ellie would inhale the contents in one mouthful. It was hilarious!

Ellie, Cita, and Grandpa

We were all laughing and enjoying each other's company, and suddenly, Abby started puking her guts out right in the middle of all of us. Too much whipped cream, Abby?

Abby and Mommy

When Abby started throwing up, I handed my camera to one of my brothers. This is what was happening behind me while I was taking care of my daughter. That's pretty much exactly what they are like all the time.

 Mike and Chris

They took a lot more photos (of random trash, Abby's vomit, the plunger in the bathroom), but I'll spare you those. I think Abby and I both learned a lesson here. She should maybe not eat so much whipped cream, and I should maybe not hand my camera to my brothers for safe keeping.

Anyhow, I got Abby cleaned up while my parents moved the rest of the kiddos inside. By the time I was done cleaning Abby up, I looked up to see this sad face in the window:

Elijah

It was obviously time to head home.

What can I say? It's always an adventure taking these kiddos places! Next time, I just hope Daddy can join us for the fun!

Easter 2014, Part 1: Celebrating with the Ishum Side!

It's always a connundrum how to share photos of holidays without overloading you with them. I always end up just deciding, "Hey! It's my blog, and I want these memories to be preserved for my kids." So if you love photos of the Ishum Quads hunting Easter eggs, then you are in for a real treat today and tomorrow! I have SO many photos, that today is all about Easter with Sean's side of the family, and tomorrow I'll post all the photos of our Easter celebration on my side.

This weekend, we had GREAT weather! The kids were wearing long sleeves and pants at the start of the week, but shorts, tshirts, and sundresses were the rule on Saturday and Sunday. 

We started the evening off with pizza! I love pizza. It's one of my favorite meals ever! I've never met a pizza I didn't like (except for BBQ Chicken Pizza which is just weird), and so I was thrilled with what was on the menu! And, thankfully, my kids have inherited our pizza-loving genes, and scarfed down their own slices. It's the one meal I don't have to argue with them about. :)

They really do look like twins, don't they? Caleb is on the left, Eli is on the right

Ellie, Cousin Marissa, and Abby

When we pulled up, we were happily surprised to see that Gpa and TwoMa (Sean's grandparents) were there as well! It's always a treat to see them! Family is so important, so I'm always anxious for the kids to spend as much time with their grandparents and great-grandparents as possible.

TwoMa (Sean's grandma) and Ma (Sean's mom)

Aunt Ruby, Cousin Toby rocking a mohawk, and Uncle Todd

Pa (Sean's dad) and Gpa (Sean's grandpa)

After dinner, Sean and his dad went out in the backyard to hide the eggs. Marissa was kind enough to leave the easy eggs for the five younger kids, and she went hunting for the hard-to-find ones. I think the kids had a lot of fun!

Ellie, Caleb, and Abby 

Elijah, Cousin Toby, and Aunt Ruby

Ellie and Elijah got right to hunting eggs. They thought is was beyond fun!

 Ellie

Elijah

Caleb, ever marching to the beat of his own drum, decided that playing in the clubhouse and on the swings was way better than being forced to pick up stuff at this grandparents' house. He probably figured that since he didn't take them out, he shouldn't have to pick them up. Hmm...I follow that logic, I guess.

Caleb

Cousin Toby was a lot of fun to watch! He was all about the eggs too!

Abby hunted eggs for awhile, but eventually ended up playing with Pa on the tire swing. Abby and Pa have a special relationship. She has definitely learned how to milk his attention for all it's worth.

Pa and Abby

Of course, with every family event, someone has to pull a stunt. Lol! After awhile, Elijah decided that he wanted to slide. He climbed all the way up into the clubhouse with his basket of eggs, and then dumped them all out for their own ride down the slide. And then he came down. "Uh, Eli? Where is your basket?" So up he went again, and then his basket came flying down the slide. I guess he followed my instructions, right?

While we were outside hunting eggs, TwoMa stayed inside to supervise and spot eggs from up high in the house. She found several that the kids missed!

TwoMa

After spending some time playing after finishing the egg hunt, we headed inside for carrot cake and ice cream. The kids were exhausted by the time we got home, which meant that they slept through the night. That is an Easter gift in itself...and all of the jelly beans that I sneaked out of the kids' stash while they weren't looking! :)

It's always a connundrum how to share photos of holidays without overloading you with them. I always end up just deciding, "Hey! It's my blog, and I want these memories to be preserved for my kids." So if you love photos of the Ishum Quads hunting Easter eggs, then you are in for a real treat today and tomorrow! I have SO many photos, that today is all about Easter with Sean's side of the family, and tomorrow I'll post all the photos of our Easter celebration on my side.

This weekend, we had GREAT weather! The kids were wearing long sleeves and pants at the start of the week, but shorts, tshirts, and sundresses were the rule on Saturday and Sunday. 

We started the evening off with pizza! I love pizza. It's one of my favorite meals ever! I've never met a pizza I didn't like (except for BBQ Chicken Pizza which is just weird), and so I was thrilled with what was on the menu! And, thankfully, my kids have inherited our pizza-loving genes, and scarfed down their own slices. It's the one meal I don't have to argue with them about. :)

They really do look like twins, don't they? Caleb is on the left, Eli is on the right

Ellie, Cousin Marissa, and Abby

When we pulled up, we were happily surprised to see that Gpa and TwoMa (Sean's grandparents) were there as well! It's always a treat to see them! Family is so important, so I'm always anxious for the kids to spend as much time with their grandparents and great-grandparents as possible.

TwoMa (Sean's grandma) and Ma (Sean's mom)

Aunt Ruby, Cousin Toby rocking a mohawk, and Uncle Todd

Pa (Sean's dad) and Gpa (Sean's grandpa)

After dinner, Sean and his dad went out in the backyard to hide the eggs. Marissa was kind enough to leave the easy eggs for the five younger kids, and she went hunting for the hard-to-find ones. I think the kids had a lot of fun!

Ellie, Caleb, and Abby 

Elijah, Cousin Toby, and Aunt Ruby

Ellie and Elijah got right to hunting eggs. They thought is was beyond fun!

 Ellie

Elijah

Caleb, ever marching to the beat of his own drum, decided that playing in the clubhouse and on the swings was way better than being forced to pick up stuff at this grandparents' house. He probably figured that since he didn't take them out, he shouldn't have to pick them up. Hmm...I follow that logic, I guess.

Caleb

Cousin Toby was a lot of fun to watch! He was all about the eggs too!

Abby hunted eggs for awhile, but eventually ended up playing with Pa on the tire swing. Abby and Pa have a special relationship. She has definitely learned how to milk his attention for all it's worth.

Pa and Abby

Of course, with every family event, someone has to pull a stunt. Lol! After awhile, Elijah decided that he wanted to slide. He climbed all the way up into the clubhouse with his basket of eggs, and then dumped them all out for their own ride down the slide. And then he came down. "Uh, Eli? Where is your basket?" So up he went again, and then his basket came flying down the slide. I guess he followed my instructions, right?

While we were outside hunting eggs, TwoMa stayed inside to supervise and spot eggs from up high in the house. She found several that the kids missed!

TwoMa

After spending some time playing after finishing the egg hunt, we headed inside for carrot cake and ice cream. The kids were exhausted by the time we got home, which meant that they slept through the night. That is an Easter gift in itself...and all of the jelly beans that I sneaked out of the kids' stash while they weren't looking! :)