Easter 2011

This year, Easter found itself embedded in the chaos following a crazy month of March. I had all of these elaborate plans, and even started early--building our Easter Bunny House over Spring Break. Regardless, it was Brooke that ended up coloring eggs with the kids (thanks, Brooke) and making the resurrection rolls while I was helping at my Mom's and finishing up plans for our family dinner. Oh, and the incredible scripture lesson I had carefully prepared and placed in Easter eggs....still sits uncracked. All ready to go for next year. Yes....Mother of the Year Award, right?

Regardless, we did still find ourselves completely enjoying the actual day. Easter is always such an amazing day! At church, the hymns were amazing and the messages were so uplifting. I love dressing the kids up and Don loves trying to get them to pose for pictures even more ;) right..... Our friend, the Easter Bunny, came and left the kids some baskets full of wonder at the end of a trail of jellybeans. He also hid all of the beautiful eggs that the kids colored. It was such a fun morning!

We were celebrating my Mom's birthday as well, so we hosted the family here at our place and enjoyed a wonderful Easter/birthday dinner together. All of my siblings were here except for Greg and his wife Julie (they were so missed!) Sydnie thrilled in her opportunity to host the cousins, and set and decorated a kids' table all by herself....complete with gift bags. She was pretty proud ;) (I promise, I do not encourage the perpetual need to hostess....it truly comes naturally for her. She loves it!)
Afterwards, the kids hit the grass looking for eggs. There were many, many eggs to find this year. I think each cousin ended up with a literal bucket-full of candy. Add that to the gift bags from Grandma Wendy and Nana Judy and I truly think we had enough sweets to last for months. The kids were so thrilled. It is so much fun having these cousins all together!

At the end of the day, the kids collapsed--in spite of the sugar intake. They said beautiful prayers expressing thanks to Jesus--and the Easter Bunny. We hugged our family, took one more breath of that fresh Spring air, turned to rain, and all of us went to bed with smiles on our faces....and visions of jelly beans dancing in our heads.

Seeing Green....

Our kids were so excited for St. Patrick's Day this year. They had leprechauns come and mess up their classrooms and leave them treats, there were green offerings for all of the day's meals, and even a "Shamrock













Hunt" with rainbow treats at the end. Of course, we couldn't make the day official without being outfitted appropriately. So, it was a great opportunity for a green-tinged photo shoot, and for the kids to wrestle with Dad. I love that the kids get so excited to celebrate the holidays with me, and I love an entire day celebrating being oh, so lucky to have these green little monsters happy and healthy!

Lots, and lots of love!

We had a very Happy Valentine's Day in our Hickman Haven. The kids had a great time preparing Valentines for family and friends. We celebrated the morning with fun Valentine gifts, new "red" heart filled outfits, treats, stuffed animals puppies, flowers, heart shaped pancakes, etc, etc. Later that day, the boys and I surprised Sydnie in the lunchroom by setting up a Valentine lunch on one of the tables. We set out a red tablecloth, heart plates and Happy Meals all around with heart shaped cakes to share with all of her friends for dessert. She walked in and was so excited to see us waiting for her! And, I was amazed how many first graders we actually fit onto that one lunch table ;)
I got a chance to relax with my sweetheart and enjoy an amazing lunch out that afternoon, and we returned home to celebrate with the kiddos and heart-shaped pizza, "love juice" and more calories to top off the day.

One of my favorite parts of the day was when I was sending a few emails and Sydnie came in with her Hello Kitty lotion and told me she had noticed at church that my heels were very dry....and so her Valentine present to me was a foot massage with lotion. My favorite! We all giggled as Chase walked around with his new puppy hugging it, kissing it and saying over and over, "wuv you..." Kade was his sweet and sneaky self and left a beautiful colored heart Valentine under my pillow that he had made. Oh, how grateful I am for all of the love...and many blessings we have as an eternal family. So, from our love to yours....hope your day was heart....and love filled....

lots and lots of love from the Hickmans!

"Yo-Ho" Hickman Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We had ourselves a handful of Hickman pirates for Halloween this year. We kicked off the holiday with a fun party at Grandma Wendy's house complete with cousins, games and lots of "pirate booty" (candy, that is). We then headed to ward "trunk or treats," a dance, trick-or-treating and all of the usual fare. Thanks to Tea for use of the adorable Pirate Princess stuff! By the end of the holiday, it was only Mom that was ready to "walk the plank"--and that was by choice. :) The Pirates Hickman were ready to go and find another buried treasure or cast off on another adventure. I suppose we'll have to wait for another year, another Halloween, another treasure. As Kade would add, "Aaaarrrgh!"