Easter Weekend Livestock Show

We drove to Houston on Thursday to begin the long weekend with our families. Before we met up with everyone, we stopped by HFBC and I got to visit with my friend, Lauren. She had her first baby, Noah, two weeks before Gabe was born so it was really fun to get to meet him.

On Friday morning we went to the Houston Livestock Show. It was my first time to go since high school, so it was fun be back at that Houston tradition. Next year I want to actually go to the rodeo and see some bull riding and calf roping! Gabe stayed home at the Murrells with his Great Aunt B and cousin Elizabeth. Joshua loved seeing all of the animals and enjoyed sampling the food.

Before we left for the Livestock Show, we took some pics of the boys in their western wear...

Joshua loves tractors so he was very excited to sit and "steer" a real tractor!

He got to ride a pony and Daddy walked with him...

When the cowboy's feet got tired, he hitched a ride with Uncle Phil...

Easter with the Murrells

Gabe got to meet a few more family members that he had not met before. Uncle Phil was in town, and Gabe immediately showed him some love! As soon as Phil held Gabe, he was all smiles and coos.



Gabe also met his great grandpa (PaPa), and was very happy to sleep in his arms.





Joshua opened his Easter basket from Granny and Pop on Saturday morning...



Gabe got in on the fun too...




What's Easter without a Joshua-size bunny?






It was a beautiful day on Saturday, so we spent some time playing in the backyard...badminton, swinging, and flying kites.




Joshua got a Nemo kite for Easter. Peter, Phil, and their dad flew that kite for a while in the backyard. When they needed more of a challenge, they got Oksana's bigger kite out. There was no wind that day, so they started getting creative on how to "launch" the kite.





It was all a little much for Joshua so he had to take a water break!




Cousin Elizabeth and Gabe watched all of the action.




Joshua went on a great egg hunt, and was very excited to find eggs...





Here he is checking out his loot...







He had to take another water break after running all around the yard...


Definitely a posed pic...

Easter with the Ashdowns

We spent part of Friday with my parents and Alicia, and packed in all of the Easter fun that we could handle in those few hours! Joshua got to go on an Easter egg hunt, dye eggs, eat a yummy dinner, and open a few more presents.

Auntie Alicia helped Joshua dye eggs. We made him do it in his diaper since he was dressed in his Easter outfit to be worn to church in a few days.

He got a little messy...and loved it!

Joshua got bored with dying eggs the traditional way and made up his own method to collect all of the dye that had dripped on the table.

Joshua and Gabe posing in their Easter outfits. Since we weren't going to see my parents on Sunday for church, they wanted to get a sneak peek at their outfits.

Joshua loved hunting easter eggs! With each one he picked up, he said "More eggs"!

He got a few huge eggs that really weighed the basket down! My mom made his basket to be used in years to come for egg hunts.

Gabe was chilling during the entire egg hunt!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was Gabe's first time in our church nursery. All of the volunteers in the nursery are great, but we were waiting to leave him until flu/cold season was winding down. Here is a picture of him with Mrs. Peggy, who also held Joshua a lot when he was a little baby.

We had to have a family picture since the boys looked so precious!

I managed to get Joshua and his buddy, Tobias, to stop long enough to take a picture. It looks like they are both saying, "Ah, mom. Don't embarrass us by taking a picture. We are way too cool for this!"

Here is Joshua's Easter basket (no picture of Gabe's basket). He loves his Horton elephant and now we are looking forward to seeing the movie.


On Sunday night we were able to eat dinner with Casey and Michael. Casey was in the Student Ministry at FBC Mansfield, but now she is in college. It was so fun to catch up with her, and for her to see the boys. She always played with Joshua at church and was a great babysitter!

Welcome Baby Klaire!

Klaire Grace arrived on Friday, March 14th! She is so beautiful and tiny! She weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and 19.5 inches long. Peter, Gabe, and I went to the hospital to see the Billups after she was born. Here are a few pics!

Jared and big sister, Karoline, were watching baby Klaire in the nursery window.

Zoo Playdate

Two weeks ago we were able to take Joshua to the zoo for the very first time. Kristin and Laney invited us to join them. Peter was able to take the day off work and go with us...it was so much fun to be there all together! Needless to say, Joshua loved all of the animals, and especially enjoyed running around the zoo.

Here are Joshua and Laney checking out the elephant. Their favorite thing to do was to climb up on the fence to get a better view of the animals.




Joshua and Daddy checking out the ducks...



We saw lions...



elephants...



flamingos...


gorillas...


And Joshua's favorite sight to see was the construction workers building the new penguin house...

He got to touch a chicken at the petting zoo...

Joshua's GQ pose...

Gabe enjoyed spending the day getting fresh air outside!









He was completely worn out by the end of the day!