Precious moments

 

 

 

     This one photo captures so much for me. It's what happens at the end of every day for JT. Our bedtime routine consists of brushing our teeth, JT making a mad dash to his room to "hide" from John I, choosing books for each of us to read,and kisses/prayers. At that point, John leaves and JT will always ask, "Mommy can you sing me some songs and stay for a while?" I always respond with a "Yes of course sweetie."

 

     I'm sure some of you reading might think that I'm spoiling my little guy or that my four year old should  go to sleep without his Mommy by his side. Perhaps, but with JT being our last child and having over a 16 year span from oldest to youngest, I realize that these moments pass so quickly. The time that my son will want nothing other than his Mommy will fade. The stories, the songs, and snuggles will all too soon not be needed. Why rush it? So I can get back to the duties that being a Mom requires, a few extra minutes in front of some type of screen, or than extra 10 minutes in bed? All of those things can wait.

 

     The time that I spend with JT as he falls asleep is typically 5-10 minutes. To be able to watch that sweet face fade away to sleep is priceless. Most parents know just how angelic their children look when they are sleeping. The hectic day, the tantrums, messes, and struggles all don't seem to matter as much when looking at that innocent face peacefully sleeping. I get to experience that every night and as much as JT loves it, I do as well. Trust me friends, cherish these quiet moments, the requests for one more song, hug, or kiss. I know that before too long the request for me to "stay for just a few minutes" won't be asked. So for now, I sit and hold that soft little hand every night.

 

    

Easter Celebration

     On Easter Morning, the Apedaile6 kids were all happy to see that the Easter Bunny had visited.

4 baskets all in a row. Arranged youngest to oldest.

 



JT quickly found one of his gifts- Mr. Bubbles, a character from Angry Birds. This is a stuffed animal that has a noise button that makes the soaring "weee" sound he usually makes during the game.

 



JT was also excited to get a new board game- Hi Ho Cherry O!

 



Courtney was very excited to see this item in her basket.

 



Very, very excited. I love her expression!

 



None other than her favorite band One Direction DVD.

 



More happy faces! What could this be?

 



Insurgent! Courtney had been asking for this book for weeks.

 



Lindsay started off with a new kite. She has been mentioning how much she was wanting a new kite. So the Easter Bunny spoke to her inner child and brought a Cinderella kite.

 



Awwww...yes! That is what this face is saying.

 



A double pack of yoga pants! Our poor girl was the only female in the house without a proper yoga pant. She has been suffering for some time as you might imagine. Well, more like borrowing Mom and sisters when they let her;)

 



The last "kid" and her basket. When exactly does the Easter Bunny stop delivering baskets? When they are married or on their own?

 



An adorable chevron bag for our busy nursing student.

 



Also in the basket were several books Sarah will get to enjoy during her summer break. Not much time right now for pleasure reading.

 



One of the good photos from the kids during their official egg hunt. I'll get back in the swing of taking photos, I promise. Each child had their own special design of egg and could only find their designated eggs.

Most of the eggs held candies for each person to add to their basket. Though in a few there was a bit of money to be found. When JT found this dollar bill and quarter he declared, "My first green money!" He was very excited!

Eggs!

    In true Easter tradition, we all gathered at the dining table to dye some eggs. All of the family was eggcited ;) to get their fingers messy and make some beautiful designs.

John helped prepare all of the dye cups. We decided to use lemon juice for traditional colors and vinegar for vibrant.

As I was getting all of the supplies out, JT took a photo of me. Good job, buddy!

JT started by using the egg dippers but quickly converted to the fingers option.

Courtney used some thick rubber bands to create stripes on her egg.

Lindsay thinking about making an ombre effect.

Using his fingers is clearly more fun, right?

The classic "Dad" egg.

We also had a few paints, sponges, stencils, and mini brushes.

Sarah was so excited to be looking at something besides her nursing textbooks.

With me being more involved with the dying of eggs, my photo taking skills were lacking for this activity.

I called this creation of Courtney's the palm tree egg. I loved it!

Lindsay combined the stripes and bunny sponge stamp. Adorable!

Not all creations turn out the way we expected.

Sometimes the disappointment can bring us to tears. Poor little guy. I don't even remember what exactly went wrong here, but it was devastating for a moment or two.

As quick as the tears started, they stopped. By the way it took a good two days for they dye to wash completely off.

My favorite technique was the marble. The photo doesn't do it justice- it was very cool looking. The trick to this effect is to add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil to the dye. Then just roll the egg around to get the marble look. I did this in two different colors and it was my favorite.

 

With getting back to my blogging I have to get back into the proper groove of taking photos. I failed to take any group shots of all of the eggs and clearly missed a few photo opportunities of a few family members. Good news is that I have all of the photos I need in my memory bank from our fun night together :)

Playground fun

 

     This past weekend we celebrated Easter as a family. We had perfect weather and the entire Apedaile6 crew under one roof. It can't get much better than that! On Saturday we went to our church's Easter services- we had 9 to choose from running from Friday-Sunday. After we finished, JT asked if we could play on the playground. It was a great suggestion and we all had a great time!

 

 

Rocking on the ladybug.

 

My two favorite men even dressed alike in their brown Polos and jeans.

 

My beautiful teen girls soaking in the sun.

 

Oldest and youngest getting ready to slide.

 

John helped JT with the rock wall.

 

He did it!

 

Lindsay didn't need any help to reach the top.

 

Sarah decided to make the trek up the rock wall. Sorry for posting a closed eye pic, Sarah! It was the only one of you two here.

 

Nothing more than the simple joy of swinging.

 

JT giggled in delight with John's big pushes.

 

 

Even I took a turn on the swings.

 

Loved the freedom of gliding through the air.

 

The Apedaile kids took a brief safari drive before we headed home.

 

The Epic Beard

     It's been just over 2 months since my last post- crazy! A laptop that kicked the bucket along with a move to a new house all aided in my hiatus. What John and I like to call #firstworldproblems.

 

    I'm happy to say that I should be posting much more regularly and hopefully getting back keeping you all updated on the Apedaile6. I'm still trying to figure out how to work in Windows 8 land and I have a bazillion photos to sort, so be patient.

 

     I'm starting out with some major news in our house- John's beard! The past several years John has had some fun that usually starts with "No Shave November". This year, he extended the no shave by a good 5 1/2 months. It helped when he worked extensively in Columbus, Ohio most of this winter. Apparently spring has officially come to stat and John announced last night it was time for the beard to go.

 

Here is what his beard looked like last night. Despite the "no shave" he did in fact shave a bit underneath on his neck otherwise I think his beard would have been even longer and more dense. In fact for the first 3 months John regularly trimmed his beard.

What was fun to witness was just how many comments the beard  received over the months, more so when it reached epic status. "Man, I love your beard!"  "That thing is killer" "My wife would never let me grow that!" were among some of the top phrases. Also many references to Duck Dynasty were heard- Quack, quack.



 



John started out with cutting several sections off the sides of his long beard.

No turning back now!

 





I see a face under all of that hair!

 

 

He then took the clippers to get much closer before using the razor. I call this look 1/2 beard.

 

After both of the sides were trimmed. When John showed the kids before doing the final trim they just said, "No Dad, No!" I think he looked like he belonged in a gang or something.

 

The final result- back to being a goatee man. John commented that he should have at least smiled a bit for me ;) He was happy with the result though it does feel and look a lot different!

 

Before and after side by side. Do you have a preference? I think its fun for John to have some fun with his facial hair and I'm sure we will see the return of the epic beard this winter.