Texas-Dallas

We took the kids out of school for a few days and headed to Texas for Easter. Emalyn did a great job on our flight to Dallas and only fussed a bit when we were descending. Maddi and Cade were great too and didn't ask too many times how much longer! They are getting so big and helpful. They loved how we got to go in the fast and short line for security and board early because we had a baby. I made a commment to the kids that it was good that we had a baby so we could skip lines and Cade said "Mom, we love her too. Not just because she gets things for us." How sweet is that?

Our flight turned out to be very expensive because our camera lens broke and now won't stay attached to the camera, Maddi left her Nintendo DS on the plane with Cade's game in it, and Brett's computer got scratched. I have to say that I hate that the airlines charge so much to check bags because now everyone (us included)tries to bring everything on board with them and then it takes forever to board and everything gets shoved around in the overhead bins. Our camera broke because a man shoved his bag in so hard against Brett's bag. Ugh... Since the camera was pretty much broken, we didn't get many pictures in Dallas which is a bummer, but we still had a great visit with friends and family while there. Brett bought a new camera in San Antonio so we have more pictures from there.

Cade with his cousin Will. Last time we saw Will (in July) he was much more of a baby and this time Cade and him had more fun together. Will is 20 months old and he is full of energy. Makes me dread having a toddler again. Not that he's bad, he's a normal 20 month old, but it brings back memories of the struggles at that age.

While in Dallas, we went to Magic Time Machine. Here are Maddi and Grace with their bubbly drinks. We went on April Fools Day and the kids and Grammy had some tricks planned. The kids put an ice cube with a bug in it in Jesse's water and some thickening powder in Chris's margarita. Earlier that day they had decorated cupcakes with Grammy and then also decorated dog treats for a prank. Poor Jesse ate a dog treat! The kids love April Fool's Day and poor Jesse was the butt of many pranks this year.

Uncle Joel with the girls. Grace looks up to Maddi so much and copies her every move. Maddi seems to enjoy all the attention from her and is so sweet to Grace. One day Emalyn will probably adore Grace in the same way that Grace adores Maddi. It's so fun for the cousins to get together.

Grammy and Emalyn hanging out together. Grammy had eye surgery a few weeks ago and doesn't wear glasses anymore. She looks so much younger! It was so fun to see Grammy and the McDonald crazy family.

Emalyn sleeping with sweet Aunt Rebecca. It was really an easy age to take Emalyn because she just went with the flow and went along with whatever we did with her.

Here's Emalyn sleeping again. This time we're outside at Kim's house. We had a great visit with Kim and Dusti and their families. I need to get some pictures from Kim of our visit with them.

The kids had a blast jumping on the trampline, driving the car around and playing together.

The kids were all worn out by the time we left that night. They were all hanging on by a thread on the stairs as we were gathering our things to leave. I'm not sure where Zach was in the picture, and Reese was home sick, but this is the rest of the gang.