Toy Story on Ice!

We returned to Disney on Ice this year being one year older and one year into having watched our first Disney movie. She loved the show last year but had not yet seen any Disney movies so she didn't recognize any of the characters. Over the last year, she's become quite the Disney buff and Toy Story is easily her favorite. We really lucked out having the Toy Story on Ice show come to our town (the other show around the country this year is about the princesses). 

Of course, she wanted to go as Jessie so we let her dress up in her Jessie hat and t-shirt! She had fun stepping into character for the night!

She kept wondering if certain characters would be there and then they'd be up during the very next scene. She didn't have one thing to be disappointed about...Except the fact that we wouldn't buy her endless amounts of $12 souvenir cups of drinks and snow cones! Those things cost more than the tickets did!

Katie and Cole enjoyed the show and got most excited about seeing Buzz and Woody. I couldn't believe how it held their attention for so long...The show was just over two hours which is more than even I wanted to pay attention to!

Here's a quick shot of the grand finale where all the characters came back out for one final number! I'll have to throw my vote to Ken and Barbie as my favorites for the night.

Until next time, Disney on Ice! Although I can't imagine it being any more perfect for Katie than it was this year!

 

Easter Eggstravaganza!

We had Easter lunch at our house with friends from church and their kids. About 7 couples and their kids make for an exciting afternoon. I didn't take any pictures of all the food we had - I was too busy enjoying seconds (and possibly thirds) of many (most) things. But I did snap a picture of my carrot cutlery! Saw the idea on pinterest a few days before Easter and thought it looked easy. It was simple to do and didn't have to be perfect at all...The hardest part was finding orange napkins...Doug got sent out on a reconnaissance mission the afternoon before and came back with two packs!

Here's a quick glimpse into the actual egg hunt. I know the backyard looks littered with toys but since we have absolutely nothing in our back yard to hide the eggs - we put lots of toys in the yard and then hid eggs over/under/around them. It was still basically a free for all for the kids and a fun picture opportunity for the parents.

Katie took full advantage of her "home court" status and collected tons of eggs...Not to mention she had an age bias working in her favor!

If there's an egg anywhere to be found in this picture, I certainly can't spot it. I'm too distracted by the insane double dose of cuteness from these boys! (And PS - there were actually eggs right by them...They weren't wandering aimlessly.)

While there were still plenty of eggs left to be found, these two girls took a break from hunting to start going through their baskets. They certainly both already had enough and could spare leaving the rest of the eggs to other kids.

To the victor goes the spoils! Chocolate and peanut butter are this girl's best friend - although she wasn't a fan of the heat melting the foil onto the chocolate. Good thing her dress had enough of a pattern on it to hide all the chocolate hand prints.

Yep - this is it. Definitely the best photo of all the kids. Is even one of them looking at the camera? Didn't think so. And is one kid totally missing? You betcha!

We managed to go through all of Easter Sunday without a family picture of the three of us and zero pictures without Katie's hair in her face since she tossed the bow as soon as we got home. Doug would likely call that a successful day for him - but I was sort of bummed not having at least one family shot. It's probably for the best though...I've put on a few pounds lately (smile) and am not looking my best!

Early Easter at the Lake

It's been a Jones family tradition for the last few years to celebrate Easter together the weekend before Easter. We've had fun egg hunts and lunches at Lindsay's house and enjoyed watching all the cousins have fun together. This year, we had a new nephew just over a week old who kept Eric and Mari away while Melissa and Denny were celebrating with his side of the family...Lindsay still hosted but this year it was at their lake house...Lots of Marshall's family came, family friends were there, and my parents came along for the festivities. The food was delicious - a hodge podge of salads and veggies and meat and desserts! The weather was perfect and we made good use of the deck and the yard and the lake!

Katie brought back her teal bathing suit for the 4th year in a row...Seriously - best bargain ever! She and Cole played in the sprinklers for a while before we headed out to the boat.

They got all suited up with life jackets and Katie seemed a little apprehensive at first - but Cole's excitement quickly spilled over to her!

We were on the pontoon boat so speed was not our goal for the ride. We were soaking up the sun and just enjoying being together and relaxing on the water.

We did pick up speed a few times and Katie loved watching the boat makes waves and feeling it splash in her face a bit.

She walked around the boat a bit once she got more comfortable and settled in with my mom for the rest of the ride.

Katie and Cole had spent the night together at the lake the night before all of this and I'm quite sure they stayed up late talking about cars and trucks and dolls...They were both tuckered out and the sun and the wind and the calmness of the lake allowed them to drift off to sleep!