City Camping...

Well, Eriik calls it city camping when you have electricity and a bathroom nearby, but to me it's still "roughing it"! He's used to the kind of camping that he and his brother and dad did when he was a kid. They lived in WY and would drive off into the middle of nowhere and camp for a whole week living off the land....that's just nuts! Anyway...this was plenty adventurous for me! We had a great weekend camping with 6 other families from our church small group at Daingerfield park. We were originally planning on staying two nights, but then Ava came down with a stomach bug and we had to get that out of her system (apperently it wasn't out of her system enough and she gave it to Sophia unfortunatly) We rented paddle boats, and fished, and the kids all had fun exploring the woods. You couldn't have asked for better weather...it was perfect. Eriik had just bought a new family tent, and we really enjoyed the extra room. We stayed warm and comfy, but I woke up hearing racoons several times in the middle of the night (the kids had dropped some chips on the ground and I heard them munching right outside our tent) It was a great weekend! I forgot my camera, but took a few pics with my iPhone....they aren't real clear, but not too bad for a phone.

Carson, Matheus and Alec. Our campsite was right by the lake so we got to park our paddleboats there.

Eriik and Alec when they had just gotten back from fishing

The Ziesemers in their paddleboat.

Alec loved playing with the fire...it's a far cry from when he first went camping at age 3...he was afraid of the "firebugs" (floating embers) then.



So...this is why Sophia caught Ava's bug...Ava was attached at the hip with her the whole time.



Eriik and Luciana after breakfast Sunday morning. Eriik made his famous buttermilk pancakes! By the way this was Luciana's first time camping and I think she is hooked now!

Easter continued....

We had a wonderful Easter. On Saturday we went to the church egg hunt which was a lot of fun with face painting, bounce houses, and chicks to hold...ect. When we got back from the egg hunt the kids dyed Easter eggs. On Easter Sunday we went to the church brunch and late service...we are not sunrise service kind of people. The sermon was excellent and the music was beautiful. After lunch the kids had a little egg hunt in our back yard. After Ava's nap we went over to the Ziesemers house. I brought the ham and there was lots of other really yummy food. The Vance's and the Simcoxes were there too. It was a nice relaxed, fun evening...so relaxed and fun that I forgot to take pics while we were there...oh well. I've got plenty of other pics from Easter. It was a beautiful day spent with friends celebrating our Risen Savior! So, here are some pics from last Saturday and Sunday.

I can't take credit for the photography here ....this photo was taken by a reporter and ended up in our local newspaper!

Alec, Carson and Sophia laughing at Mr Jazz's balloon show.






Alec got his face painted like a pirate at the egg hunt and these are his eggs he dyed

Sunday morning with their Easter baskets...Ava still has her curlers in.

Eriik was cracking them up...I have no idea what he was doing, but he is my secret weapon in getting the kids to smile for pics!

My little egg hunters

Alec and Ava had their Easter parties and egg hunts for preschool this week, and I just can't pass up an opportunity to share pics! So, here they are! There will be another Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow at our church, and then again on Easter...so I'm sure there will be more pics coming soon!

Sprinting for another egg!

I have never see Ava eat so fast...she devoured this chocolate cupcake before any of the other kids had a chance to lick off the icing!

She took a moment to pose for me...so sweet.

Ava's little class.

Alec with one of his friends Fe....she has a bit of a crush on Alec. She holds his hand sometimes when they are walking in the halls at preschool, and gives him pictures that she draws hearts all over...too funny.

I can't believe this is his last preschool Easter party for Alec....I am going a have a Kindergartner...scary.

Alec with his whole class...it's a lot of boys!

Alec's first catch...

Well...it has been a while since my last post. I can tell you exactly why. The last post about the daffodils was done the last weekend that Ava was wearing Pull Ups. After that weekend she moved on to big girl underwear....and let me tell you, it has been exhausting! Anyway...things are better now...she's doing great and staying dry :) All this to say I have been too preoccupied to think about blogging!

Anyway...I forgot to post a momentous event for Alec....his first time to catch a fish all by himself! A couple weeks ago Eriik took Alec on the father son camp out. Eriik has always loved fishing and took up fly fishing before we were married. Now he is even tying his own flies and really into it. I totally don't get the fly tying hobby, but it makes me smile to see Eriik enjoying it. Anyway...Alec has been fishing with Eriik around 4 or 5 other times, but Alec would never get a bite on his rod and so when Eriik got a bite he would pass it over to Alec to reel in. Well on this trip he got a bite and reeled it in all by himself and he was so proud. When he got home and was telling me all about it I have to tell you he did exaggerated just a bit on how big his fish was. Typical male!

He was so excited!

Trying to grab it.

Christian and Matheus