Mrs. Paula let all the kids load up the goodies in their Easter eggs… they absolutely loved the sneak peek, and it made them feel so special to be helping!  She has the best ideas!

Week before last, Anna Kate got to go with a group of her school friends on a field trip to the Science Museum.  I love Mrs. Paula’s pics!

 

 

 

  

 

Looks like our girl had a total blast!  So thankful for Mrs. Paula and the way she captures Anna Kate’s preschool memories on film!  It’s just so cool for me as camera mom to get a little breather, but not miss out on the action.  Anna Kate and I love looking through the pictures as she tells me all about her experiences.  It honestly helps her solidify her memories and remember her life better.  We are blessed!

 

We just had to stay and play a little longer in "Jackson-Bill” Easter weekend.  Rara and Poppa and their big country yard are just too much fun for our city girls, and Harper and Fancy Nancy are the icing on the cake!  They love every minute of their toes in the grass running around with not a care in the world.  This is the good life!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the three of us at John’s wedding in 2009.  Michele and John, may all of your hopes and dreams keep coming true!  I’m so proud of you guys and love you very much!!!

Rose couldn’t wait to play in the doll house with her sisters!  Isn’t this such a magical place!?!  So thankful our family owns a little piece of heaven on earth!  For you new readers, this doll house was from my mother’s childhood that her father built for her and her sisters to match the house he built that they grew up in.  It was in Granny’s back yard throughout their childhood and my own (along with Granny’s clothes line; I’ll never forget her beautiful slips and silk gowns blowing in the wind with fresh sunlight shining through them).  Anyway, when it was time to sell Granny’s house once she passed away, we transported the doll house out to the family center so that a piece of their childhood would always be with us. It was a big part of my childhood too! I remember many afternoons over at my grandmother’s house playing in this doll house. Noelle found a book in there today that had my name in the front of it in my own kid hand writing. Watching the girls play in the dollhouse this afternoon filled my heart with unimaginable joy! 

 

Rara got the girls decorative keys that work to open the doll house this year.  Each girl kept their key safe in their new purses.  They were so excited to unlock the doll house and feel a sense of ownership in it by having their very own key.  That was so cool, Rara!

This picture is golden!  Moments like this happen constantly at our house, lol.  Anna Kate was not having Noelle’s feet on the table, but Noelle was so absorbed in her book, she had no clue!  And Rose had smarties, so she was in her happy place!

Cutie Kate!  Loving every ounce of this middle child!

  

Aww… God love this sweet little bunny!  Noelle has worn her bunny ears almost every year, I think.  I just leave them out with the baskets, along with some others, but she’s the only one that’s interested in wearing any and goes for these each year.  It’s really cute!

 

What’s next, Rose?

My sweet little angels!

Anna Kate told me that she needed some privacy in this picture, lol!  She’s so funny!

 

Love Anna Kate’s pinky up like a true little princess in the left picture!  Noelle was having a blast chillin’ with her bunny ears!

Anna Kate plays the most pretend out of our three girls.  She really gets into it, and I often find her very involved in her little make-believe worlds.  She is a very creative little kid who stays busy in her mind all the time.  She is very much like me in that way!

I really think she could taste this piece of cake.  I loved watching all three of the girls play the day away in the Arnett girls’ doll house.  Just precious, and the way life should always be.

 

We finished off the day with Rose giving Noelle’s toe a kiss because she stubbed it… beautiful wonderful day I will never forget!  The day that started off rainy and dark, turned into a magical wonderland full of fun and love and laughter!  Thank you God for all of our love, blessings, and FUN!  Amen!

 

Thank you Poppa and Rara for having us over for Easter weekend.  We look forward to this tradition all year long!  The next adventure of our fun Easter day was opening our eggs to discover what treats were inside.  We always open our eggs on Rara’s doll house porch each year!

On to opening eggs…

 

Guess who got the golden ticket!?!  Rose!!!  This was her second year in a row to find the winning egg.  She got $25 in golden dollar coins!  They have a winner in each age division, and our cousin Melissa won the other golden egg.  I helped Rose both years but had no idea which one was the winner, or even if we had it!  We were so surprised and excited!!!  Rose was SO proud; truly, she got it and she felt like she had done something so great.  It was awesome to watch her beam with pride.  She did work really hard picking up all those eggs!  She was so determined!

Happy moments of the day…

 

Anna Kate is always smiling at someone, this time it was Rara, who was so thoughtful to grab the camera to capture more Easter moments!

 

The Pond and Banks families… at the end of such a fun reunion! 

 

Kay Kay and Grandpapa are so awesome to drive to East Texas with us to celebrate our Risen Savior together, out in nature, God’s special creation.  It’s so refreshing, you can only imagine!  I love taking pictures with my girls because someday, they are going to be beautiful young women surrounding me, and I’m going to be their sweet old Momma… loving these times when I’m still young too, because I know they are fleeting chapters… life happens so quickly… seemingly when I’m not looking… so I love taking little breaks and remembering that it’s happening now, and I don’t want to miss it!

The girls are crazy about cousin Harper!  Rose was eating something sour in this picture, and Harper was checking it out!  It was toward the end of the afternoon, so this is the best picture we got of the four of them, but it’s precious, and I love it!

 

Noelle and Harper have a sweet little bond.  Noelle was showing her how to give a big good-bye hug.  You can tell Harper felt like a big girl and for a minute when they were hugging, Noelle just closed her eyes and cherished the moment, smiling as big as she could.  It truly melted my heart… these precious precious girls!!!  Granny would be tickled pink… hopefully she already is!

 

And then all of a sudden, out of no where, the sun came out in full force to finish off the best Easter ever!  Cousin Amber made blankets for the girls, which was a huge labor of love!  They are so cute and comfy… THANK YOU, AMBER!!!  She’s followed our blog ever since Noelle was born, and this is the first time she’s ever gotten to meet them in person.  It was awesome!  I asked her if the girls are what she expected in person from growing up with them through pictures on the blog.  She said that Noelle is a little more reserved than she expected and just as sweet as she thought, that Anna Kate looks just like I did when I was a kid and reminds her of Rara’s mommy, my Granny, and that Rose will be my spitfire, lol!  Her words, not mine.  She said they are all adorable and very good girls, which made me so proud!  It was neat talking to someone who grew up with me about my kids that has actually seen them grow up via the blog.  Noelle has been talking about technology in her class at school, and it really has changed the world around us.  I’m so thankful for the friendships that I’ve made, and the smiles and laughs of our precious girls that we get the privilege of sharing with you guys each week.  Family is what our blog is all about, and I’m so blessed to share special moments of our family, God’s most sacred unit, with you!   

              

We had so much fun hunting Easter eggs this year, and Mike was behind the lens, so it was impossible to choose my favorite pictures.  This blog is first for my family, and I can’t post too many pictures of the Pond girls, so their wish is my command.  Enjoy!

  

These pictures have personality plus and are absolutely hilarious.  It was so standard for Rose to think to put her basket around her neck; I mean, who wouldn’t!?!  She was comfy and ready to go!  The big girls were smiling but about to get their game faces on… egg hunting is a big deal in this family, primarily because there are prize eggs, and no one knows what they look like or where they will be, so it’s always game on!  These kids don’t mess around… they know what’s at stake.  $25 prize eggs!

 

Game faces on minus one, lol!

Cutie Kate’s always good for a quick smile, especially for Daddy!

Rose’s little group went first.  The babies hunt separate from the big kids and it’s so nice for them to get lots of eggs too!  Linda thinks of everything to make it absolutely perfect!

 

She started getting the hang of it, and although I don’t think she thought there were treats in the eggs, she was still excited to pick them up all by herself.  She’d let me hold her hand and lead her to the eggs, but she picked up every single one all by herself.  My baby’s growing up!

“Look Rose, there’s one!!!”  You can see her eyes are fixed on where I am pointing.

Got it!

 

Yay!  Rose was having so much fun, and I was loving every minute of her grabbing my hand.  My precious baby!

Since it was still muddy from the rain earlier in the afternoon, there were lots of good brush to hide the eggs under.  Rose found this one that I didn’t even see.

 

Okay, now the big girls are off!!!

Noelle is not messing around when it comes to the egg hunt.  She’s very competitive, just like her Mommy, and I love it!  Go Noelle!

She looks so peaceful, but I promise you she wasn’t posing for pictures now… her mind was already 5 eggs ahead of this picture, lol!

 

Anna Kate will hurry hurry if there are kids nearby, but if there are a bunch of eggs and she’s all by her lonesome, she’ll check out bugs, and look around… then when the kids come closer to her area to get the eggs that have been by her the whole time, she’ll frantically put them in her basket.  She makes me laugh so hard!

East Texas, and my biggest bunny, are breath-taking!

This is one of those moments where she is just enjoying her surroundings, relaxing and taking it all in… she was just standing there.  Go get the eggs darlin’!

 

 

There she goes… now that’s how it’s done!

 

Then she stopped to show us a cupcake egg she thought was really cool!  Noelle is still on the prowl.  She’s got so many eggs, they are falling out of her basket, but she is intent on finding every last egg… you just never know where the prize egg could be!

This is my favorite egg hunting picture of the big girls this year.  I love that they are hunting eggs right in front of Pawpaw and Granny’s grave.  Such a beautiful collision.  We are blessed to be near our loved ones’ resting places and do life in the midst of our remembrance of death and the hope we have in Him.  It works naturally for us, and we feel so honored to be here!

 

The Pond girls are ready to check out their Easter prizes!!!  Great job girls!

Rose was wanting to stay in the field, and Mike started videoing her walking further away from the family center.  It was pretty hilarious!  She just had it in her mind that she wasn’t done hunting yet, lol!

 

The second picture is that face of determination.  If I need to stay out here, then I’m going to figure out a way to do so.  Oh Rose, bless your heart.  We’ve got to be so consistent with you.  You are the sweetest kindest most hard headed 2 year old I’ve ever met!  Your spunk is going to come in handy in your life, we just have to keep it in respectful boundaries.  I have no doubts about you.  Whatever you decide to do in life, it’s going to be great!

 

I just love this picture from Easter 2013!  I’ll treasure it always and forever.  Our sweet little girls, all lined up in a row!

Aunt Polly and I were breathing each other in in this picture.  In this moment, she told me she was always interested in what my family and I are doing.  That’s her way of saying call her any time… which of course is part of my Sunday routine.  I love hearing her voice and catching up on old stories with her and hearing all of her crazy expressions and sayings.  I need to write them all down.  She’s the most kind, tender-hearted spit fire you will ever meet.  She’s my guardian angel, my true friend, and I treasure every sweet phone call I am blessed to have with her!  She always tell me when we are getting off of the phone to be good and that she knows it will be hard… and then we start laughing because she thinks I’ve got it all together, ha!  I love my Aunt Polly more than words can say!

This little one was wandering back out into the field for more action.  Bless her heart!  She didn’t know it was time to open her treasures!

 

When I’m with my family at Easter, I feel so alive!  Nothing beats family, fun and good food!  Here are the girls in the first picture with cousin Harper and in the second picture, they are cuddling with my grandmother’s sister, Polly (my great aunt who I claim as my very own Granny too!).  The girls adore her and listen to all our phone conversations very intently.  They think she’s a hoot… and she is!  Love her!

Yay for cousin time!!!

 

Having cousin Amber at the reunion was icing on the cake.  She and I text and email often, and we just get each other.  She’s the best!  Noelle said, “Cousin Linda is the coolest lady in all the world!”  Linda coordinates our Easter weekends and out-does herself each year.  We are so grateful for all her hard work and cheerful attitude.  She’s like a kid in a candy store watching the kids with their surprises… she’s so giving and loving and everyone knows she’s the joy behind it all!

 

The girls wanted a picture in front of the Easter egg tree, but you can only see its pretty bow, lol.  Anna Kate and Kay Kay posed in front of the dessert table for you guys to see.  Next year, I need to take a picture of the 10 yard spread of delicious food.  It’s pretty impressive!

 

When Aunt Polly arrived, Noelle had been waiting for her with a mosaic Easter egg drawing that she made just for Aunt Polly.  She was so proud!  Aunt Polly was so sweet to admire it so, and she will definitely put it in a special place because I know it meant a lot to her too!

 

Cuddles from Poppa and pics with Amber (Amber is Polly’s granddaughter; her dad and my mom are first cousins) and Polly (my mom’s mom’s sister).

 

Flashback pic!  Regan is holding Anna Kate this year in the first picture, and I am holding Regan, pregnant with Noelle in 2006.  So crazy how fast they grow!!!

 

Aunt Nancy (and Brother Man) are due in June with their second baby girl.  They are keeping the name a secret, and we are so excited and happy for their growing little family!!!  Where ever there is Rara, Anna Kate’s usually pretty close by.  She’s our stick tight… always likes an adventure, as long as we are not too far away. 

 

These pictures make me so happy!  I love our family SO much and miss my sister’s family who live in England right now.  Can’t wait to have them in the Easter mix when they move back to the states.  All 6 girls and Drew (and one more blessed baby on the way) are going to play so hard… it’s going to be great!

Mike told me it would probably be raining on Easter this year, so I threw the girls’ rain boots in the back of the Pilot just in case.  The girls were SO excited to wear their rain boots, and honestly, their little sparkly silver shoes I had picked out would have gotten all wet and frozen their toes, so it worked out perfectly!  We were definitely singing in the rain… (minus Anna Kate’s tummy starting to rumble, which was the beginning of the worst stomach bug we’ve ever had last week!  I just say that because you can tell she’s not 100% in these pictures, but isn’t she precious to try her best to smile and be a part of it all anyway?  Such a tender-hearted sweetie!)

  

Here’s sweet Harper and Noelle dancing for Jesus!  After a church service led by Poppa in a way that we will never forget (thanks Dad), we all headed outside to see if the Easter bunny came.

The big girls knew what was going on and ran to their baskets… but Rose ran straight for the tractor and was as happy as could be, lol!

  

Rose was confused why we kept trying to get her to come check out her basket.  She’s so funny!

 

After she got a couple of things, she was back on the tractor!

 

Anna Kate’s basket ended up being full of random clothes I’ve been waiting to give her… she just kept pulling stuff out.  It was fun!

 

Now she gets it!  Next year, I’m pretty sure she’ll be after her basket!  Love.this.kid.

 

You can tell from the pictures above it was getting darker and darker and rain drops were beginning to fall, and right as we finished opening our baskets, it began pouring!!!  This is a picture of a sweet little cross Noelle painted for Rara one Easter a few years ago.  Rara is so creative and thoughtful how she keeps and displays the kids’ art… and at the perfect times.  This was such a special Easter reflection for me, seeing my kid’s art work as the rain was falling behind it, remembering the cross… and that today He arose!

I took this picture on Poppa and Rara’s front porch as the rain was falling down… breathing in being washed clean… reflecting my deep seeded hope in Him who is greater than all; with a thankful heart, treasuring the resurrection.

                

While our Easter bunnies were getting ready for bed…

“The” Easter bunny got to work!  Easter baskets are always so fun for me… I save up fun little things I find or they say are cute while we are shopping throughout the year, and just kind of see what happens when it all comes together in the baskets the night before Easter.  The girls love it, and I do too!!!

  

Noelle’s basket is pink, Anna Kate’s is purple, and Rose’s is green!

This is Noelle’s basket, full of purses and jewlery, of course!

This is Anna Kate’s basket, full of purses, little gidgets and gadgets, doll clothes, and jewelry.

This is Rose’s basket, complete with all the things I use each year until they know they’ve already gotten them, lol!  We’ve had that Pooh bunny since Noelle was born, but they love seeing it reappear each year, along with the Hello Kitty and a little chick eggs.  She had fun with her basket and it was super easy!