Funny Pictures

Alex was playing around and made these pictures of the kids. :-)

I have no idea what happened, but Ashton has one eye hanging and he looks a little cross eyed. LOL
Maddie thought this was funy, so she just smiles away! Never too shy for a photo op.

We got a good laugh out of these and so I thought I'd share so everyone else could too!

Easter Photo Shoot

Alex and I love taking pictures of the kids. Here recently, we started using our tripod and the timer more to do some family shots. Alex had mentioned wanting to take pictures out by the barn at his parents' house, so we decided we'd do it on Easter since we were already going to be over there and dressed semi coordinating. I am pretty excited about how well they turned out and thought I'd share some. There were probably fifty or more that we took, but I just picked out some of the best ones to post. :-)Daddy and his girl.....

Ashton is struggling a little with smiling for the camera, so Alex resorted to making him laugh. Maddie, on the other side, always looks adorable in pictures. I rarely get a bad one of her.

Easter

Easter morning, the kids woke up at 6:15 wanting to come down and check out what the Easter bunny had left. They quickly tore through their baskets and took parts of it back upstairs to play with while I got ready for church and Alex laid back down.

I made them blueberry Easter egg muffins and Ashton told me I was the "best ever". :-)

Alex and I worked the preschool class at church. We had 30 kids in there and boy was it wild!! The kids were super excited and we had a jammed packed morning for them. We did a craft which turned in to their snack later, we made little Jesus' for them to take home, a lesson, prayer and then ended the morning with an egg hunt. Whew!!! It was busy, but we enjoyed it for sure.

We had lunch with Alex's parents, his brother, Clint and his girlfriend, Melissa and her sister. As soon as we finished eating, Maddie was dying to get started on the egg hunt. She was excited that Papa had hid the eggs and her and Ashton had already found the golden eggs hidden inside the house.

They wasted NO TIME getting started and within 10 minutes the hunt was over!!

He was all over the place.

Maddie was beat after all that running around!

After the festivites, we headed home. The kids played outside and Alex headed out for the Predators hockey game. Papa Monkey came over for dinner and some friends from church, Nick and Becky joined us. We had a nice dinner and then we all piled up in the living room and watched the hockey game. It was a nice Easter and we hope you all a fantastic Easter too!!!

Easter Weekend Baseball

After a week long break from baseball, Ashton's team was back on the field Saturday afternoon. We got there a little bit before the game, like normal, for Ashton to warm up with his team. After about 10 minutes, we find out that two of the games before us had gone into overtime and so they were currently running about an hour behind. WHAT?!?!? Ashton has an entire cheering section come to watch him and now we're on an hour delay. :(

The game finally got started and Ashton's team was first at bat. I thought this was a great picture of him hitting. I love the face!

This picture is for KK. Ashton is playing first base with his tongue hanging out of his mouth!!!! (This is such a Dillard thing!)

Ashton's close call at first base. Alex is still working on getting him to run HARD to first base and stop worrying about where the ball is at.

He was just too cute all hot and sweaty standing in the dugout!

Of course, I had to get a picture of the cheering sister too! Maddie is sweet when she tries to cheer Ashton on when he is batting. :-)

Easter at school

Today, Ashton and Maddie had their Easter activities at school. I'm one of the room moms for Ashton's class so I went to his and Alex went to Maddie's.

This is Ashton's class with their little bunny bags to collect their eggs in. I've always known his class was predominately girls, but this picture definitely reminded me. :-)

Ashton did not waste ANY time taking off when Mr. Bevis gave the signal to start. He was full force ahead. Most of the kids stopped as soon as they saw the first egg, but Ashton grabbed a few then took off toward the back of the yard for those. I got some great pictures of him running for them and he has the biggest smile on his face.

Maddie was pretty excited that "her daddy" got to help her at her Easter egg hunt! She is becoming more and more of a Daddy's girl over time. She still has her moments of being a SOLID Mommy's girl but I think its becoming less and less. Alex got a few pictures of her and her friends.

Holding her basket before the hunt.

Taking off

This is both of the pre k classes at her school all together after the hunt. She told me in the car on the way home that they each got to have one special something out of their basket while they sat there for the picture. How funny?!?! Bribery is a great thing some times! :-)

Nashville Zoo field trip

This week, I accompanied Ashton's class to the zoo for their second field trip of the year. Each parent that went was asked to keep up with their child and one more. I had Ashton and Miguel. Ashton's best friend, Evan was paired up with Thomas and Evan's mom, Kristen was their chaperone for the day. When it was time to take off and explore the zoo, Kristen and I decided we'd keep our four together to help each other keep up with the kids. We had a good time with the boys.

Ashton with the zebras. Miguel wanted to see the zebras so badly and wanted to make sure I got a picture of Ashton with the zebras behind him. It was cute!

I couldn't resist posting this one because I was taking a picture of Ashton but Miguel wanted his picture made too and was cheesing back there! :-)

Ashton and Evan

Ashton taking a break to sit down.

We're going on a bear hunt....gonna catch a bear

While we were in Gatlinburg, Alex was told about a park that you could commonly see bears, deer, fox and other wildlife at dusk. So, he was telling the kids and I about it and the kids immediately got excited. They wanted to go on a "bear hunt". In their preschool class at church, Katrina used to sing songs with them at the end of class and "We're going on a bear hunt" was one they did a lot. So, we all thought of it right away. While we were at the park, Alex wanted to get some family pictures and some other snap shots, so here are a few.

You can't really tell, but Maddie was crying just a few minutes before this because she was so afraid she was going to fall in the water. :)

I thought both of these with Alex and the kids turned out cute.

Alex and the kids.

He is such a great daddy!!!

Here are a few of me with the kids too.

Mommy's girl for sure!

Just for the record, we didn't get to see any bears! :(

Roller Skating & Go Carts

Since this was supposed to be a "family fun weekend" as Alex and I commonly call it. We told the kids they could choose things they'd like to do for fun. Ashton wanted to go roller skating and ride go carts. Maddie pretty much jumped on the wagon immediately, so that is what we were off to do. I wasn't really sure either were going to be easy for them, but I was surprised.

Ashton tried to help her a long at first. Then he was too fast for her and so it was Daddy and Maddie time, which she more than loved!!!!

Ashton did a great job and before we left he was going pretty fast. He wouldn't admit it, but he was secretly trying to keep up with another boy there. :-)

Go Carts were next and the kids looked so big standing in line.

Maddie was so excited she ran to her car.

Once she got behind the wheels she was a little more unsure, but Ashton was all gas the entire time!

I think he's trying to get her to speed up here. It was cute!

She said she loved it afterwards and was happy to pose by the car. LOL

Aquarium

Saturday, we took the kids to the aquarium. Alex teased them a little bit about the sharks and that sparked Maddie to ask a million plus questions. Imagine that?!?!

As usual, I took a ton of pictures. These are just a few of random things I got. I was amazed at how good this seahorse picture turned out.

These sharks were just unbelievable to me.

Just before we left, we watched a diver go down and feed some of the fish. It was wild to watch just how many fish were swarming around him and he didn't seem the least bit phased. I can't imagine.

Ashton and Maddie being silly.

Ashton and Maddie are sitting in front of a GIANT crab and I love her face.