Inaugural Pool Party at the Wilson Home

So, Mark's parents built this AMAZING pool and had an AMAZING party to celebrate! The weather was perfect, the pool was too chilly for the Mama's but the kids had a fantastic time swimming (and so did my husband)!

Here is Mark with his brother, Dustin.

Just one part of the Wilson family (Mark's step-father, Dana is one of six wonderful children)!

Here is Dana's sister, Auntie Elizabeth, with her husband, Greg, and daughter, Sloane.

Me and my boys - Karsten and Jaden!

Mark's mother, Karen, and our former family trainer, Matt.

Mark's dad, Mark III, and his girlfriend, Christa.

Me and my baby girl!

Mark's sister's husband, Jeremiah.

Karsten and Jaden, so ready to swim! They were so patient, waiting to go into the pool!

Mark's grandma, Grammie . . . this is the outfit she came out in! She is fantastic! Love her to pieces!

Look at my little man! What a dare devil!

And this is where he gets it from . . .

Looking forward to many more family fun days at the Wilson's! Yeah!

Happy Easter 2010

Happy Easter! I'm not a very good Catholic, I hardly ever attend Mass . . . the kids and I do talk about God and He is a part of our lives, but they do not understand the meaning behind Easter. I should change that soon - add it to my ever growing to-do list. Anyways, I do have fun at Easter, it's not a high pressure holiday, but it's fun and the weather is usually fab! I really enjoy decorating for the festivities. This year, I'm not supposed to shop (crazy, right?) so I was trying to find decorations for cheep, cheep. (Do you like my Easter pun?) I found Peeps and colored paper fill at Target (speaking of Heaven) and created decorations that adorned my house! I used votive and tea light holders I already owned, put the fill at the bottom and placed a Peep on top. I got different colored Peeps for different rooms of the house. The only downside to using food as decoration is that my mom started eating my decorations! :) Ha! I really liked how it turned out though.

Family pictures:

My best buddy . . .                                                                                                           

The daughters' with their girls!

Mila and Rich with their grandbabies . . . 

Megan and her friend, Lauren 

Auntie Izzie with Ava Beans

Digging into the Easter Baskets!

Hunting for eggs . . .

Look what we found! 

My mama and I

The munchkins!

Hope your Easter was as nice as ours! xoxo

Piper!

Oh Piper! Look at those cheeks! Can she possibly be any cuter? Oh, I think not! 

My sissy and I had lunch with Roberta (Piper's mama) and Piper

 and then walked around the Biltmore to enjoy the wonderful weather. 

We had such a nice time, the babies loved the grass and each other! 

(Look at little Ava with Piper . . . Ava LOVES babies!)

Ella playing in the grassy area in front of Saks . . .

Oh, hi little one . . . Sweet baby girl!

I wish we had more and more lunch/play dates like this . . . 

but I will take what I can get! 

We love you Miss Roberta and Piper Jean!

Easter Egg Dyeing 2010

Having the munckins just makes everything more fun! 

For years and years, I hadn't dyed Easter Eggs.

But now that I have little ones, we must do it! :) And it's so much fun! 

I love to see how they create things. . . .

Their little eyes sparkle with excitement and wonder 

and they are so PROUD once they are done.

 I love being a part of that. 

So while most were still at work, I was lucky enough to partake 

in the best Easter Egg Dyeing of 2010! 

Ava and Taylor joined us and I couldn't have been happier! 

Fabulouso! 

Look how patient they are, waiting anxiously to start the coloring.

Oh Beans! I adore you!

Miss T from next door.

 Little E, trying so hard to make her letters on her eggs.

Big K Man, coloring up a storm on his fantastic eggs!

The finished masterpieces! 

We dabbled in using crayons on the eggs this year. 

The kiddos colored and wrote on their eggs before dyeing them. 

They really enjoyed that. 

We also started to experiment with dyeing the eggs in multiple colors. 

K came up with some amazing colors! 

He was so happy - and so was I! 

What a lovely afternoon!

Good Bye Dear Friend . . .

Dear Candace, Hannah and Molly,

I am going to miss you very much. Your friendship means so very much to me! Whenever we were together, I had the best of time. You girls are amazing and my life has been more enriched having you in it. I'm not quite sure what to do this summer without you - I am going to miss swimming and bouncing and playing in your basement. :(

I know how special you girls are, and I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends in my life. Not everyone gets to have such amazing and true friends - I am very lucky! I know our friendship will be fine - it has made it through a lot of years and we have only grown stronger and closer. I can't wait to visit you in beautiful CO and you will always have a room here in Gilbert!

I love you all! Here are some fun pictures of our last outing together at Jump Street. As always, it was awesome!

xoxo forever and ever!

Love,

Lizzie, Karsten and Ella
(and Ava too!)

Happy Birthday Mimi!

Happy Birthday Dear Mimi! Welcome to the dirty thirties. I'm so glad to see you! :) The whole fam got together to break bread at Casanova Brothers' Pizzeria. Another must, if you haven't tried them yet - so yummy and they are so nice! Of course we had a great time and little Mimi had a nice birthday dinner - her next birthday celebration is scheduled a little later in the month . . . 

We love you Mimi!

K drinking Coke, you can guess how thrilled I am with that!

Ava Beans!

Gorgeous, Charlie!

 Look at those clear Damon brackets! You can barely tell she's wearing braces! 

(Contact Liz at her office for more info . . . )   :)

Mila and Papa Rich

Sisters in their thirties . . .

 I don't think we look a day over twenty-five. ;)

We'll just stay with that!