The girls get SO excited about coming to Easter each year!  You can’t imagine all the fun we have playing with our family in East Texas!

The Pond girls + Mommy!

  

 

Anna Kate was having a fun photo shoot with Daddy (see how far the hill goes down behind her… so cool), and Anna Kate and Noelle were so excited to see their cousin Melissa!

Cousin Brittany and I had fun catching up!  She moved closer to us now that she finished college, so we will see her a lot more often, yay!

These were some excited girls right here!!!

 

I love the back of Anna Kate’s dress!  Here go the big girls to check out the big “surprise!”

Oh sweet baby Rose, what I’d give for you to smile at the camera, lol!

 

There.  Got it!  You’re sooo cute and funny!  By this time, Noelle and Anna Kate were having a ball on the big slide!

Aww, love this pic of me and my Cutie Kate!

 

Harper and Rose really hit it off this visit!  I think they will remember each other next time!  Cousin time is so special!

  

Harper and Rose were amused by Noelle and Anna Kate’s silly faces.  My sweet little diva still looks so cute and little in my lap… I want to keep her little forever!

The PondFam5 is all smiles tonight!

Our first game tonight was a scavenger hunt around our family center.  The big girls and I ended up at Pawpaw and Granny’s grave reminiscing about how special they are to us!  Some might find it odd, but it’s a big part of our lives and why we come home to celebrate Easter.  To thank God for our loved ones, remember them and our hope in Him during this time.

 

We waited a little too late to take grandparents pics, as the sun was already going down… they’re still super cute!

After Mike taught Rose how to climb up the slide, I bet she went round and round 100 times!  She was in heaven!

 

So was our middle child!

Next was the bunny hop sack races! 

Anna Kate won her little division… yay Anna Kate!

 

Such cute little sack hoppers!  Rose was so intrigued!

She actually did a pretty good job!

 

Until she thought it would be more fun to put the sack over her head!  The Pond girls were in the middle of the best night ever right here!

 

Noelle was determined to win the egg and spoon balancing race!  I’ve never seen her so focused, and it paid off!  It was so neat… everyone won something special thanks to cousin Linda and all her amazing efforts to always make our reunion weekend so special and down right FUN!

If you get queasy like Mike from these pics, scroll on down.  Sorry!  These pictures were taken before we left Poppa and Rara’s house for the party barn last Saturday night, and Noelle’s tooth didn’t fall out until bedtime that night.  We decided to tie dental floss around it and pull, but Noelle was too scared to pull, so we tried to untie the dental floss but by that point, it had traveled up into the gums because there wasn’t much root left hanging out, so we couldn’t get up in there to get the dental floss untied without pulling the tooth.  We got in this predicament in the first place because we were trying to get her to pull her tooth out before bed because it was so loose we were scared that she was going to choke on it during the night.  At whit’s end, I finally grabbed the string (truly without thinking) and barely pulled.  It just popped out and she didn’t feel a thing or even realize it had happened.  In the minutes right before that, we felt so stuck.  That was no fun!  She got extra money from the tooth fairy and goodies from the Easter bunny the next morning, so she was a happy camper.  She was just fine the moment she realized the tooth (and tied up dental floss) were out, and that’s when I lost it, and she had to hug me!  Haha… my baby’s growing up and every step of the way, I’m so sentimental!

Easter in Jacksonville pictures are headed your way this weekend!

The girls had such a wonderful time at Anna Kate’s preschool Easter party!  All the families were invited to come have snacks and hunt Easter eggs, which was such a blast.  I took tons of pictures but accidentally erased my memory card in Jacksonville because I thought I had already uploaded the pics onto the computer.  I have never done that, but thankfully, Mrs. Paula was taking pictures too, so we still have pictures to remember our fun Easter egg hunt at Anna Kate’s awesome school!  As always, a huge thanks to Mrs. Paula and Mrs. Julie for everything; they’re the best!!!

Anna Kate’s classmates and their siblings… such a fun group of personality plus!

 

The little siblings got a head start!

Rose went straight for the play ground, climbed to the top and got every egg up there.  All of the big kids were interested in running around.  As it turns out, I really think Rose got the most eggs out of anyone; she did out of the Pond girls this time.  Smart thinking!

 

 

The weather was perfect!  We had so much fun hanging out together.  It was a special afternoon!

 

I love this picture of Anna Kate headed straight for the purple egg, her favorite color!  She was so funny today.  There was a bug on one of the eggs and she was calling everyone over to see it… she wasn’t in any hurry to get eggs.  She’s my “stop and smell the roses” kind of girl; she’s precious!

 

This is Rose’s “I want to get down right now” face, lol!  So funny Mrs. Paula got a picture of this expression… I’ve seen it a million times and am so glad I can remember it always.  I love my little 2 year old!  Here’s a picture of Anna Kate with her sweet friend Ella.  I got an adorable picture of Anna Kate with her friends Ella and Livy on the bridge but that one got erased.  I’m hoping one of the other moms will share it with me and I can add it to this post.  It was adorable, and Anna Kate has made some really sweet school friends this year!

 

Mrs. Paula put this table under the play ground, and the kids love it!  Anna Kate calls it their “hide-out.”  Anna Kate and Rose were “hiding out,” eating as much candy as they could before they were discovered!  Ha!

                             

So happy Mrs. Paula got a picture of our family… yay!

 

Here’s a picture of Anna Kate with her friend Emily, and Rose having fun with Mrs. Julie!

What a fun afternoon with our Easter cuties!  Thanks Mrs. Paula for hosting such a magical Easter egg hunt!!!

 

Last week we were long overdue for hair cuts, so off to Sweet and Sassy we went, just in time for Easter!

 

Throw-back picture!  Noelle’s changed so much, but her sweet little face is still so much the same baby I remember!

Anna Kate LOVES getting a bob!  This is her second one now!

 

The very fussy watcher got a very special treat that every mommy uses as a last resort every once in a while! 

 

Fishy faces… almost finished!

 

Yay Anna Kate!  Your hair is much more blonde than it is in our heads.  We were talking about that the other day when we saw these pictures.  You have a very pretty hair color; it’s unique!

  

Rose has found where she was meant to be!

 

These girls love to work the runway!

 

I love girly days!

 

The girls livin’ it up!  We only get hair cuts twice a year, so they really look forward to having fun at Sweet and Sassy!

  

While Noelle was reading with her bunny ears on, Anna Kate was playing doctor, and Rose was going on a walk with her baby!

I was supposed to be packing, but as their little worlds collided, I had to take a couple of pictures!  Sick bunny had to go to Dr. Cutie Kate!

 

Anna Kate plays doctor very seriously!  She even takes your pulse while listening to your blood pressure (no one taught her that either)!  Noelle is such a good sport with Anna Kate… she loves to entertain her imagination!

 

If you play doctor with Anna Kate, she will look up your nostrils with a light… beware!

Rose is always monkeying around!!!

 

All of their personalities are so sweet and cute!  We love each one as if they were the only one! 

Sunday night, when we got home, Anna Kate, Rose, and I all got a really bad stomach bug!  For the past two days now, we’ve be so so sick!  Today, we are finally moving around the house a little… I wish there was medicine we could take to keep that from happening.  I didn’t remember how bad a stomach virus was until our family got it with multiple casualties, and then I remembered how truly awful it can be.  We’re on the up swing now though.  Whew!

The day before we left for Jacksonville, Georgia came over to craft it up with Noelle.  They had a great time, of course!

They wanted me to take a picture of their sign with their paint brushes in it… so cute!

 

Happy Easter!

Although the storms blew through East Texas this afternoon, the sun came out just in time for these bunnies to hunt Easter eggs!  Happy Easter, Happy Day, Happy Life!  He is risen, and we are free! 

P.S.  Some “bunny” lost a tooth the night before Easter and got a visit from the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny!  Yay Noelle!

P.P.S. Rose was guarding her eggs no matter the cost.  She would NOT look up for a picture because those eggs were her top priority… which makes me love this picture even more!