Easter 2012

As always, my pictures are out of order :-/ I'm sure there's a way to reorganize them on here, but I'm not about to try and figure that out. I'll wind up just deleting them all I'm sure. Anyhow...Easter was great this year! We spent time at Chris' dad's house and at my grandma's house. It was such a great wknd!

Grandpa got a bounce house for the kids this year. Unfortunately, it started pouring the minute we got outside, but we were able to get in some slippery slidey fun before the lightening started.

Warming up in the hot tub after bouncing in the chilly rain.

Allie face-planted right into the mud. She was pissed! But only for a second :-) She was back at it in no time.

Three faces looking at the camera!!! And even better...three smiles!!!! It's a miracle!!

Em looks like a little chub here to me.

Donna had cakeballs as part of each place setting. SCORE!

Easter morning at home! The Easter Bunny paid a visit!

I spent 75 bucks on crap! UGH! But I guess its worth it to see my babies smile :-)

Nommie and Poppie make a huge deal about Easter. They LOVE kids and are kids at heart themselves :-) There was more bounce house fun to be had here too!

Look at Emily's face in these. Haha! She was NOT having the group photo opp.

Stay tuned for pictures of Allie and Emily's 3rd Bday party coming in a few days. They had so much fun!!! It turned out perfect :-)

A mix of pix

Heather and I took Landon and Caden to Casa Manana to see Alice in Wonderland this wknd. It was a great performance. The boys had tons of fun! We walked around The Botanical Gardens beforehand and stopped for ice cream afterwards.

Some of Landon's Easter crafts he made at school last week.

We stopped by the park last week to enjoy the beautiful Spring weather we've been having.

Did I just say "beautiful" Spring weather? Well...it has been absolutely gorgeous out, except for Tuesday, April 3. Our area had tons of tornadoes sweep through that day that left A LOT of destruction in Southwest Arlington. Luckily, my side of town was spared, but I know many people who were not so lucky. Although many homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, no lives were lost. Thank you God for answering our prayers! Here my girls are taking cover in the bathtub. Although this was a VERY serious situation, I still have to giggle at these pics :-) Nothing but feet and a ponytail. And the other twinner is under there somewhere :-)

Landon's first dip into the pool this season!

Here we are at Cowboys for Johnna's bday!

And Joe T Garcia's for Claire and Ivy's bday!

Landon's cute baseball picture. This is just a pic of the front of the photo cd we ordered...still gotta print some out. The others are of the team running the bases. My boy won the race! :-)

This is how Emily likes to ride in the car when she has her blanket with her. Every now and then, she'll poke her head out and say Peek a Boo. Goofy girl :-)

My mom took Landon roller skating for the first time last week. He loved it and did great!

Then they went fishing at the marina by her house on Lake Granbury.

Chris and I took the kids to visit the Easter Bunny at the mall. They were thrilled...can't you tell? They preferred riding the Carousel and watching the ice hockey team practice much more.

Practicing golf...in the house. We've already broken a window practicing baseball in the house :-/

And finally, just another day in the Stark house...3 amazingly precious perfect children making a huge mess :-)))))

RIP Haley Waley

Being that I skipped an entire year of blogging, I never wrote about losing our family dog, Haley. Chris and I got Haley when we first started dating back in 2000. We bought her at good ol' Traders Village on a whim and she was with us for 11 years. Last summer, we noticed a tumor growing in her mouth on her gum. She also started to become withdrawn and just not her chipper self. After a few vet visits and some testing, we were told she had cancer :-( It ended up being a very rapid growing cancer, and within about 6 wks, she had to be put down. She was uncomfortable, not eating, becoming incontinent, along with other things that are not compatible with a good life. As hard as it was, it was the best thing to do for our Haley girl. Landon got a good 5 years with her and the girls got about 2. We talk about her and look at her pictures all the time, so I'm hoping the kids might have some memory of their first family pet. She was such a great dog...fun, energetic (yet not too energetic), loving, very tolerant of the kids, and just an all around good dog. We miss her lots!! She passed away on Aug. 12, 2011...just a few weeks shy of her 11th birthday. Her sweet vet office sent us a card in the mail with her photo, her footprint, a lovely poem, and signatures from the office staff. It was so sweet and thoughtful. Rest in Peace Haley Waley...we love you!!