We Have a WHEAT GRINDER!

For quite a long time now I have been wanting a wheat grinder, for one reason or another I have had the strange urge and desire to be able to grind my own wheat and make fresh wheat flour! But, unfortunately, we never have had any money just laying around to spend on a wheat grinder so I haven't had one. But for my birthday this year, Mummis sent me some birthday money and the SECOND thought I had was "I can buy a wheat grinder now!". The first thought was " I can pay my tithing and just BLOW the rest!". But fortunately, my second thought stayed with me longer and that is EXACTLY what we did! We went straight to East Coast Food Storage on Monday evening and I bought a wheat grinder!! And I LOVE it already!!! The kiddos and I made our first 2 loaves of bread with wheat flour that we ground and it was DELICIOUS!! We had some of the yummiest PB&J sandwiches for lunch today!! And of course, you know me, I thought it would all be more fun if we took pictures this morning and so we did, and it was fun:)

My Little Chefs!

The Wheat Granules!

Our New Grinder!

Fresh Ground Wheat Flour!

And our first 2 Loaves of Bread!! It was a SUCCESS!!

2012 Easter Photo Extravaganza!

Easter pictures are some pictures that I really LOVE!! I love all of the spring colors, I love the cute Easter outfits, and I am especially in love with the 3 little people that I get to have in our family Easter pictures!!! This year we asked Dooders to do our Easter Photo shoot! He has a great camera, he has been practicing with it a lot lately and we LOVE him!! So, thanks Dooders for a Cute Photo Shoot this past Sunday!! There were some beautiful shots, some unique expressions and it made for a great birthday present for me, since Easter fell on my birthday this year!!

Haley waiting for her 2 "Partners in Crime"!

And then there were 2 adorable little princesses on a stump together!!

Haley has a look of pleasure on her face, while Emily is seeming to say, "It's a Bird, It's a Plane...."

And Emily is REALLY ready to hold her Little Bro!

Emily is comforting Haley who seems to be stuck on this tree stump!

Emily: "Alright Daddy, I am really ready for Ethan now!"

And Cute Baby Ethan Makes Three!

Our Adorable Threesome has so much personality!!

My favorite Shot!!

Family Photo Take ONE....HILARIOUS!!

Family Photo Take TWO: Sharing the Love!

Family Photo Take THREE: Really in Love!!

The Coloring and the Hunting Continue!!!

In our family, especially since we have had kiddos, once the coloring and hunting of Easter Eggs begins it usually continues on for a while!! Takes everyone a little while to get into it, ya know!?!?!

Today, Mimmi got off work a little bit early and came by to help us color some more Easter Eggs! The girls thought it was FANTASTIC!! Not just that they got to color eggs, but that Mimmi showed up at their door during the week to help! I know it was definitely one of my highlights too!! It's always more fun to have more than one adult when taking on this kind of activity:)

The girls colored the eggs, then took a little walk around the block with Mimmi while they were drying and then came back to decorate them with all kinds of stickers (left over from the kit we got at Mema's earlier this week!) and then they got super excited to hide them and try to find them!! I was really impressed because I think in that whole process we only broke one egg and lost one egg in the hunt!! ( And the lost egg was totally my fault, I forgot....and still don't remember....where I hid it:)

Ethan, slept through most of the outside fun!

Mimmi helping the girls color the eggs!

Haley LOVED making orange eggs!

She also LOVES Mimmi too!

And So Does Emily!

Emily, showing off one of her artistic creations!!

Haley was pretty happy with her stickered egg too!

Emily doing a little relaxing on the porch!!

The hunting has begun!

Emily found a Green One!

And Haley found an orange one!

Emily was pretty happy with all of the eggs that were in her basket!

Walking around with their loot!

"Easter Egg, are you in there?"

I sure love this silly little Monkey!

Coloring Easter Eggs at Mema's House!

The kiddos and I went to visit Mema today! And to our excitement and surprise she had boiled about 9 eggs and had an Easter Egg Coloring kit ready for the girls to put to use when we got there! Needless to say, Emily and Haley were REALLY happy about it! They enjoyed everything!! First they chose the colors they wanted to make, then watched as I put the little tabs in and the water changed color, to coloring the eggs with Mema, to playing while the eggs were drying and then finally decorating the eggs!! Oh and we can't forget demolishing some of the eggs in the van on the way home (good times!!) and having a mini Easter egg hunt with the remaining eggs when we got home!! It was a Great day all the way around!!!

Mema and Haley coloring the first egg of the day!

Patiently waiting for her egg to turn pink!

Emily watches as her egg goes from white to blue!!

Gaining Confidence!! Coloring Multiple Eggs at the same time!

Haley is Proud of her Pink Egg!

As Emily shows off her blue one!

I know her eyes are closed in this one, but I LOVE her expression!

Deciding How to Decorate these colorful eggs!

This little princess LOVES stickers!

Once Ethan woke up, he got some cuddle time in with Mema!

Adoring One Another!!

Our Little Pacifier Baby!!!

I think I have written before about how Ethan is our first pacifier baby! We declined giving one to the girls (even though I am sure Emily would have LOVED one), but a wonderful nurse told us while we were in the hospital when Ethan was born that there was no harm in pacifiers and since Ethan seemed to LOVE it, we gave in and he has been our little pacifier baby ever since:)

Well, My Dad (being the Steelers Fan that he is) was SO Excited when he found Steelers pacifiers that he bought a pack of 2 for Ethan!! And we have been slowly introducing them to him for a couple of weeks now, but he is finally starting to like them now....I think simply because it is a different brand of pacifier than he is used to! But the other day we decided to snap a few pictures for "the books" and for Pop, so that we can all see this little man supporting his Pop's Favorite Football team:)

Apprehensive Cuteness!

Full Cute Body Shot!

And a Close-Up....Still making those fists:)

Haley's First REAL Haircut!

So, Sunday evening I decided to take the plunge and give Haley her first REAL Haircut!! I will have to admit, I was pretty nervous about it at first, nervous to cut it and even more nervous to how she would react while I was cutting it! With Emily we gave her a brownie during her first haircut to keep her occupied and looking down so that I could get the job done quickly. But with Haley, Micah had the idea to let her brush her teeth, since she likes to do that a lot:) And it was a Great idea at first, but it quickly faded and it was really hard to get her to keep her head still, but when it came time to look down, surprisingly, she was REALLY good at that:)

Overall, it went well and I think Haley actually really enjoyed the whole experience, Micah did a great job taking pictures and I am proud of myself for giving her a cute little do:) Emily and Ethan were great bystanders as well!! So, we can definitely describe Haley's first haircut as a family affair, even though we didn't snap any pictures of Emily or Ethan:)

About to Begin (and not ready for a picture!)

Making the first snip!

Being as still as a 2 Year Old Can Be!

LOVE the expressions!!!

And the Blank Stares!

See what I am saying, she was a PRO at looking down:)

And she thought it was really entertaining when I was standing right in front of her and cutting her bangs!

All Done!

Our Little Poser and her new Do!

Big Smiles!! I Love this little Haley Boo!