Let the Easter Festivities Begin

Today was Good Hope's (The Hettinger's church) Egg Hunt!  We had such a great time last year that I couldn't wait to go back this year with two participants.

God provided us with a beautiful spring morning.  The festivities began inside with some praise songs.  After my kids were held and sucked thumbs while Auntie L and I sang, the 3 and under group went outside to hunt for eggs.  Braylen had no problem getting right to it.  He probably had five eggs in his bag before his sister moved.

Yes, he fell AGAIN.  Just as his nose healed,
he fell twice and open the same wounds...

He loved looking for eggs

G and Poppop must have all the Easter
baskets.  The gift bag worked just as well

Once Evie saw all the eggs that her brother picked up, she finally stopped being a party pooper joined the action.

I had to put in the one picture that has me
in it.  I am getting upset about the lack
of pictures of me with the kids.

Running and having fun!

Opening eggs to find lots of candy!

While our group moved inside to hear about Jesus and do crafts, Hannah's group headed out to the hunt

An old pro at this point!

Apparently Hannah ate her ENTIRE basket of candy before she made it back inside.  I am anxious to hear how the afternoon and evening were at the Hettinger house...

Making bracelets

I think this craft is so neat: You use the sticks to write on
black paper and your writing comes out in rainbow colors.
Evie and Cole were too distracted by their candy to do it.
The downfall of being the first group to hunt for eggs :(  

We finished up our morning at Good Hope by enjoying some snacks in the warm weather with the cousins

That was Evie's reaction to face painting

Sugar, sugar, and more sugar...
and kisses from Cole xo

Too. Much. Candy.
(I think Uncle Sam is photo bombing.  The navy blue polo gave him away)

Thanks for inviting us again, Auntie L!

National Sibling Day

Apparently today is "National Sibling Day".  Oh good, another "Hallmark Holiday" where a plethora of inspired people on Facebook post pictures of his/her sibling and write some mushy comment about it.  Another blasted day that I feel guilty for not doing the same.  Is it clear yet that I despise all these made up holidays?

I'll one up you Facebook and write a BLOG POST about sibling day.  How's that?!

Here's the picture my sister kindly posted on FB for
sibling day.  Notice the dating of our childhood
by the Cabbage Patch Doll.  

My sister and I are 16 months apart.  We've been playmates our entire life.  My favorite memories of our childhood include: swinging while singing Belinda Carlisle and Debbie Gibson, playing Barbies for days on end in our basement, catching "lightening bugs" on warm summer nights, and our knocking code on the shared bedroom wall before bed.

We had some seasons in our lives when we weren't as close.  Fortunately during this overwhelming season of my life, my sister lives 20 minutes from me and is easily accessible through speed dial at any time of day.  I have needed her more during the last three years than I imagined.  She is my go to girl with most of my problems.  She is my best friend for life.  She is the reason I wanted Evie to have a sister.

Jennifer is so darling.  Jason... he's
just a boy.  :)

Jason and Jennifer are almost exactly 4 years apart.  From what I gather, these two became closer during my existence in Jason's life (ie the last decade and a half).   I am lucky to have a second sister.  Jen has a big heart and has proven many times that she is willing to go out of her way for her brother (and me).  

Now that you see me as a little one,
do you think Evie looks like me?  Clearly
we have the same wild hair

A few minutes of calm before they start using
our furniture as a jungle gym

Based on all the pictures and cute messages on Facebook, I think most are thankful for a sibling.  Maybe they didn't like each other until 20 or 45, but I personally think the best gift we gave our children is each other.  My two are at stages in development where they are hitting, pushing, and screaming; half of the day they are swatting and shrieking at each other.  It's those brief moments when they are looking at books together or chasing each other around the dining room table giggling that I cherish.  I pray my time at home with them, forcing them to play together, will develop a lifelong friendship.  Maybe 20 years from now they will be posing a picture I took this year and posting it on whatever FB is in the future saying how much they love each other.  

Happy Sibling Day!

Full House

Our house was filled with 3 additional adults, 1 more two-year-old, 1 two-month-old baby, and another dog while our family from North Carolina visited us (plus a quick trip from MeMa).  Those four bathrooms and three levels of space I despise cleaning came in handy!

We weren't expecting everyone until Sunday after Jen and Matt went to a wedding in PA, but DC traffic on a Friday afternoon made them consider otherwise.  I never get upset when anyone unexpectedly drops in while I am watching every minute click away until Jason comes home from work on a Friday afternoon around 3:15.  We walked the neighborhood, played, and snarfed down our pizza dinner.  And best of all, we met our new niece/cousin, Heidi!  

Braylen is no longer the baby on the Hollencamp side.
Heidi Ann is about 2.5 months

Everyone packed up and headed out after more play outside, but it wasn't sad good-byes since we knew they were all coming back in two days.

Sunday was absolutely miserable, weather wise.  It poured all morning and afternoon and we even got a switch over to SNOW (say it ain't snow...)

Look outside, this is March 30th for cryin' out loud!

We made the best of our afternoon and evening in the house since no one wanted to go outside.

I mean, who wants to go outside
when you can recline and watch a DVD on the baby bouncer
 that reappeared for baby Heidi?

The perfect weather to snuggle up with a baby (and/or MeMa)

"drawing" kept them busy for a long time

After our snowy 32 degree Sunday, Monday was a beautiful day!  Jason went to work while the rest of us went to the B & O Railroad Museum.  It was opening day at Camden Yards, so it was very quiet at the Museum, the way I like it :)

Packing sacks

The big train is not running until April 2nd, so the $0.25
thrill ride will have to do

Rudolph or conductor?

OMG those curls under that hat!  I
couldn't stop staring at my beautiful daughter

The playground outside was huge hit.  I am still working with Braylen on proper etiquette on going down a slide.  He decided once he got to the top of the slide he would just fly down head first.  I corrected him a few times, but gave up.  The playground is on top of foam squares and the slide wasn't that steep.... The bigger kids thought Braylen's method was much more fun.

Luke demonstrates Braylen's method

Then Evie

Seriously, there was no stopping that boy

Crawling through the tunnel

It was fun to play with our other cousins at the B & O RR Museum.  Best membership out there!

Those little cheeks won't fit side by side for much longer.

Evie and Luke enjoyed playing together.  There was a little less fighting, crying, and screaming than our last time together.

Luke and Evie giggled at each other blowing bubbles. 

We'll let the table manners slide this time to hear
them laughing instead of crying/screaming at each other

I don't know who came up with this idea, but they
were picking apart the bush and blowing away the pieces...

Evie entertaining Luke with her singing

Making cards

More playground fun

On Tuesday, Jason took off from work and took the crew to the BWI playground while I took Braylen to book study.

Watching the planes

Burning off all that pent up winter energy

Love

Looking at dirt?

It's all fun and games until Evie kisses Luke's sister.

Evie absolutely adores her new baby cousin.  Since she was born, Evie asks about her.  Once she was here in the flesh, Evie kept tabs on her whereabouts.

So many smiles

Proud to be the big cousin

Oldest and youngest on the Hollencamp side- still
only 3 years between them.  They will be best buds, just like
Evie and Hannah :)

The outfit that Heidi is wearing used
to be Evie's.  It exciting to see Evie's
outfits a second time around

Luke was getting very jealous and needed his snuggle time
with his sister

They can't get enough of Heidi

And where is Braylen?  Catch him if you can

I'm sure he's saying his favorite word "That"

Love them

So cute and full of energy

If her thumb isn't in her mouth, her fingers are up her nose..

Thanks for hanging in there, if you did, through all those pictures.  I had to choose from over 200.  It's pretty amazing that Jason and Jen are four years apart, yet all four of our kids are under 2 years, 8 months apart.  Evie and Braylen are so blessed to have four cousins so close in age.  I hope no matter how far apart they are in distance, they will always be best buds.  I would also like to point out that the adults were in, possibly only a limb, about 4 of the 200 pictures we took.  We all know where our focus is these days.

As of now, Evie is still the tallest, followed closely by Luke then Braylen.  We all think Braylen will be the biggest cousin soon.  We'll see where they stand in another few months when we are all together again!