Easter

 This is a little on the late side, but better late than never right?
We had a wonderful Easter, as usual. We enjoyed an incredible Good Friday service and fabulous Easter morning service at our church. It is always such a joy to be able to worship with such an amazing community of believers, especially at Easter!

 Thanks to Auntie Andrea Luke and Elin were stylin' this Easter! 

I wanted to get a nice picture of our family all 'prettied up' but, as usual, this just didn't work out. The kids cooperated (sort of) so I was able to get a few decent pics of them before meltdown central. 

We had a few friends over to celebrate with us on Sunday afternoon. Most (if not all) of us have no family close by so we tend to become one another's families for such occasions. :) It is such a special group of friends - we are SO blessed to have them all in our lives. What's even more fun is that our kids are all growing up together and becoming good friends as well! The blessings just keep coming!

The kiddie table. 

Pretty sure they all giggled and laughed more than they ate- guess they were just saving room for chocolate and jelly beans! 

Gearing up for the Easter egg hunt

 There was at least one camera per 2 kids out during the Easter egg hunt. I count 4 in this picture, not including the camera that was taking this picture. Gotta capture these memories! 

The Easter bunny ran out of good hiding spots for all the eggs! 

Lucky thing the kids didn't notice Matt continuing to hide some after the kids would find them - mystery of the reappearing Easter eggs!

showing off their loot

 

 We had just reseeded our front lawn days before so there were at least two large piles of left over dirt in the backyard. Dirt piles = irresistible to little boys. We did warn everyone that the backyard was/is a mess and to leave the nice Easter clothes at home. To say that the kids were filthy would be an understatement of cosmic proportions.

It may be gross, but I love how Luke's snot drip cleaned off the line of dirt above his lip. Priceless. 

Shout out to Mark Leonard (pro photographer markleonardimaging.com) for taking these awesome pictures! Thanks Mark! 

Mmmmm...

 Sometimes there are no words worthy of the pictures - they speak for themselves.

Three on Thursday

That's right! Luke is 3! Thursday, April 12 marked Luke's third birthday. We can hardly believe that he's 3 - my, oh my, how the years have flown! Luke brings us so much joy each and every day. He has so greatly enriched our lives and we are thankful to God for granting us the privilege to be his parents. 

 Luke is THREE... see! 

We didn't necessarily try to stretch his birthday into a marathon event, it just sort of happened that way. So much so that he is still convinced that there are more presents for him and he should get cake, cookies or cupcakes everyday, every meal! We celebrated the week before his birthday with all the Aunts and Uncles on the DeBoer side as well as Bill and Harriet. The day before his birthday, Luke received a package in the mail from Grammie DeBoer. We weren't going to battle him into waiting to open the gifts until his actual birthday, so he got to celebrate with Grammie DB via skype on the 11th. On his official birthday, we skyped with family on the Thomson side, opened presents from us (he got a baseball tee - just in time for the Yankees season to begin so now he's pretending he's Jeter, Tex, Swisher or Robbie!) On the 13th, we got home to find another package had arrived from Pops and NeeNee! More presents, skyping and celebrating. You can see why he thinks this should be a normal, daily thing. 

Opening presents/skyping with Grammie DB. 

Presents from mom and dad

presents from Pops and NeeNee. 

Luke certainly is one loved little boy! Happy Birthday Buddy!! 

Spring Break

Can I just say I LOVE being on a school schedule! Working in a school is not without its challenges but what other profession gives you a week off in the fall, two weeks at Christmas, a week in the spring and the summer for vacation? I don't know how I managed working year round before! What's more awesome is that Matt and I are on the same schedule- talk about some quality family time! What's even more awesome is that the women on the DeBoer side are all employed in schools too (Andrea and Candice are teachers and Mom DeBoer is a school secretary), so that definitely works to our advantage. Our spring break coincided with Andrea and Candice's spring breaks this year, so we hosted a sibling reunion of sorts. It was SO much fun to have all the DeBoer siblings and their spouses together! We had a blast. To say that our kids got spoiled by all the attention and love would be a serious understatement. It is such a blessing for Matt and I to watch his siblings interact with our kids! We look forward to the day that we get to love up on their kids (hint, hint Andrea and Candice! ;) - no pressure.) 

We had glorious weather for entire week. We spent a day at Huntington Beach. The water was too cold to swim but we had fun playing in the sand, laying in the sun and throwing the football around. (sorry, no pictures.) 

We went hiking up in Forest Falls. The road was closed to go up to the falls, which was a bummer. But we still had a nice hike and saw some beautiful sights. Luke was a champ and walked pretty much the whole way. Matt may have carried him on the way down, I don't really remember, but Luke did so well! Elin was nice and snug in her sling -even Jordan got in on the baby K'tan action!  

We had a 'dance party' in the living room one night. The boys (especially Luke) really got into it! I promised the men that the videos would be "just for us" so the rest of you will just have to settle for the still pictures. sorry.  

 

Shaking their booties! (video is much better)

We had an early birthday celebration for Luke and Elin while the family was in town. Bill and Harriet Bierling came over for dinner and cake. 

We had wanted Bill to baptize both our kids but it didn't work out for him to baptize either Luke or Elin. When Luke was baptized, Bill and Harriet were in Israel, so Bill brought back some water from the Jordan River to wash Luke's feet in. We froze the water and were able to have the same sort of ceremony for Elin - a blessing on her Christian walk. It was incredibly special. 

Luke and Elin were definitely spoiled by their aunts and uncles. Uncle Eric and Aunt Candice gave Luke a 'big boy' bike! He loves it - he still needs to get the hang of pedaling (he pushes the pedal backwards which triggers the breaks) but he'll get there eventually. 

The week was not 'all play and no work', however. We put Andrea and Jordan to work shoveling and packing down dirt in our front lawn. (Eric and Candice left early that morning, getting out of the yard work day!) :) It was so great to have the help. Matt was able to plant grass seed that afternoon and now we have bright green grass springing up! I am SO looking forward to having a nice lawn area where my kids can go barefoot.

Of course, there was plenty of quality cuddle time! Luke and Elin are going through some withdrawl now that it's just the four of us! 

Thanks for coming! We loved having you here. Looking forward to the next time the DeBoer clan can get together!!