Easter with the Hechts

We celebrated Easter with my side of the family on Saturday, the 11th, so that the Murphy-Hecht family could join us. My cousin Dan and his wife Brooke had twin daughters in August and this was their first time visiting in Eugene since they were born. My brother also drove down from Seattle for a surprise visit, so we had the whole family together! We filled up my parent's house, but thankfully the weather was nice enough to have an easter egg hunt outside. We all enjoyed getting to know Summer and Kara--it's so much fun having more girl cousins around!
Dan holding Summer and Papa holding Kara

Me with Kara

Brooke and Kara

Egg Decorating!

Mom and Becca

Brooke, Kara, Sadie, and Ronan

We ate a delicious dinner together and then it was time for Easter baskets and an egg hunt!

The Henry Family~soon to be a family of 4!

My mom came up with the idea of having each kid look for a certain color of plastic eggs, and they were hidden with their ages in mind. (: It was a great idea! Even Griffin and Finn understood and had fun searching for their color.
Griffin found lots of yellow eggs! Somehow his little monkey ended up in his bag, too. (: It goes everywhere with him.

Ronan's color was green!

Uncle Erik sitting with the kids as they discovered what was inside the eggs...treats, stickers, money...!!

Papa and Memaw with Kara and Summer

Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday, April 11th, the boys and I met up with the Greens, the Creager kids, and Grammie at Camp Harlow's annual egg hunt. It was our first time going and it ended up being lots of fun.
We managed to get all 8 of the cousins in this picture--even Emma who was in the Moby Wrap. (:
Grammie, Ronan, Audrey, Dylan, Lydia, Griffin, Ethan, Macey, and Emma

The eggs were hidden in sections for different age groups, and the four of us adults split up with the kids. I took Ronan and Dylan to their area and we waited for the "go". I didn't realize how tough it would be to keep track of the two boys. Dylan took off searching for eggs and Ronan froze and wanted me to stay with him. There were a lot of kids and I think it was overwhelming for him. So while I was helping Ronan get comfortable I was also trying to scan the sea of kids to find Dylan. After several minutes went by, and still no luck finding him, I heard my name being called over the loud speaker. Someone had found him and asked if we was looking for his mom, and he replied, "no, I'm looking for my Gretchen." (: I felt awful, but so relieved, too! He was happy to be found and happy because he found a whole bunch of eggs!

Jon & Amy were with Ethan, Macey, and Griffin (and they kept track of them nicely). (:

Griffin discovered the yummy treats inside the eggs!
Amy took these pictures for me. I had to post them both because only one boy is looking up in each picture. (: They were too excited about their eggs.

It was a fun little adventure and I'm glad we went--next time I'll be a little more prepared for the craziness of it all. (:

Good Friday

This year our church did a drama for the Easter services which were held on Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday morning. We decided to go Friday night so that we could have a more mellow morning with our kids on Easter Sunday. The Chase family also went on Friday night.

All dressed up and ready to go. It takes a lot for Ronan to be willing to wear nice clothes, so I had to be sure to capture him wearing his Easter outfit--bowtie and all. (:

Me, Ronan (4 1/2), Josh, and Griffin (almost 2 1/2)

Sweet Cousins

Becca, Cohen, Aaron, Sadie, and Tyler
(My older sister's family)

April 7th & 8th

The day before my birthday was a free childcare day for our moms group at church, so a group of my friends all got together for coffee at the mall. We always look forward to "free day" because many of us don't get regular breaks from our kids to run errands or hang out with friends. I was honored that they chose to spend their kid-free two hours with me that day. (: It was so nice to sit & chat & relax!

Becca, Me, Hillary, Kelly, Beth, Lindsey, Sydney & baby Jumi

By the time my actual birthday came around I felt like I had already done a lot of celebrating! (: But, I still had a big day ahead. In the morning Griffin and I got to help in Ronan's classroom with egg decorating. Ronan was very excited to have us there and made sure to tell his teacher and all his friends that it was my birthday. (:

Miss Julie is teaching the kids how to tell the difference between a raw egg and a hard boiled one. I'm not sure how the dinosaurs were related to that. (:
Griffin wanted to right in the center of the egg dying action.


When Griffin and I left the classroom we had about an hour before we needed to pick up Ronan, so we met my friend Kelly and her son Eli at Perk n Play (cute little coffee shop with toys for kids to play with). Later that evening Josh's mom watched the boys so we could go out to dinner with our friends Jill & Eric. We went to Sushiya because of their amazing birthday deal ($20 off of your bill on your B-day!)...and I enjoyed every bit of it!

Josh is good at encouraging me to eat new things, and I'm so glad that I was brave enough to try sushi with him a few years ago. It has definitely become one of our favorite types of food!

I always love the presentation!

After dinner we drove around and decided to go to some stores to look at home decor and idea books since we didn't have the kiddos with us. We went to Pottery Barn, Borders, Pier One, and Bed Bath & Beyond--and actually got to take our time shopping around and discussing our plans & ideas. We forget how nice it is to have that time for just the two of us!

A few pictures with my boys before they went to bed.

Family Party

We celebrated my Birthday a few days early with my family on Sunday, April 5th...everyone gathered at my parent's house after church for lunch. My mom and Josh collaborated and made all of the fixin's for Yumm bowls (like at Cafe Yumm for the non-Oregonians). It's a favorite for most of my family. (:

Enjoying my Yumm bowl

For dessert Josh made a butterscotch cheesecake! It was SO delicious! I love cheesecake, so Josh learned how to make it a few years ago and has made it each year for my Birthday ever since. (:

We had gorgeous weather that day! It felt great to sit outside in the warm sun, surrounded by my family. I got some new spring clothes and gift certificates...I felt very loved & spoiled. My boys were being extra cuddly and sweet, which is always nice. (:

Me with my my sisters

Skating Party

April 3, 2009~ We were invited to a Skate World birthday party for Meaghan (one of Ronan & Sadie's friends) and boy did it bring back memories from childhood! The elementary school that Becca and I went to always had end-of-the-year skate parties, so we thought we were pretty good skaters back then. (: We got a kick out of seeing our kids watching out for each other & figuring out how to skate. Ronan had been skating once before when he was only two, so this was his first time to really try to skate on his own. I loved watching him with his cousins as they hugged the wall around the skate rink. I think he only made it around two times, but he was so proud of himself and felt like he was really skating. (: One cool think about Skate World is they allow strollers on the rink, so Becca and I were able to take Cohen and Griffin for rides too.

Sadie with the birthday girl.

All laced up and ready to go! Tyler got to try roller blades!

Slowly but surely making it around together. (:

Griffin enjoying the ride. (:

Before we left Sadie and Tyler each took turns strolling Griffin around.