Baylor 6 months,Easter,& Betsy's Birthday

Yes, I braved the photo studio once again. I think I must enjoy self torture to continue to do this to myself. Really it is not as bad as I make it sound, it's just kids only have about a 15 minute attention span in which to capture those beautiful memories to last a life time and the lovely photographers really want you the parent to do all the work while they just stand there and snap the picture :o). I've really not found any place that I just love since we moved here to AZ almost 2 yrs. ago, so I stuck with Kiddie Kandids. The prices are reasonable and they will take the picture the way I want, and not stick some stupid prop in and insist on certain backgrounds they are to use. These are what I got along with some pictures of Baylor and myself as I have done this with all the boys so far. Baylor was so happy and delightful for all of his pictures and we easily got his 6 month photo, which was the main reason for the pictures in the first place. Everything else was a bonus!

My sweet, sweet boy. Can you believe he is already a half of a year old? My where has the time gone? This is all three in there Easter attire. At first I was a little disappointed because we could not get the baby to smile and his head is a little more in front of Bennett's than I would have like, but after I got home and looked at it, it captures my sweet little boys and I think it is absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad I bought it. I love my SONS!!! I look at them everyday and say GOD is so good. I also can't help but to think to myself they have the most beautiful dark brown eyes.

Some beautiful spring daffodils I bought at Trader Joe's to place on the counter. They smell so good and I really love looking at these little yellow beauties. This is Baylor sitting in his highchair as we were dying eggs. He loves to be in the kitchen with us no matter what we are doing. If he is able to see us, he is happy! He is such a good baby and such a joy to be around. Rarely does he complain, such a laid back and easy going little soul.

The eggs we dyed. We did some with rubber bands, almost like tie dye. I got the idea from Wonder Time magazine. They we a lot of fun to make. I must admit, I probably love dying eggs more than my kids and a lot of what we do, is based on my love for it. The eggs in the dye, the boys loved to pull them up and see if the right shade had been acquired.

Our finished basket. I bought this basket several years ago at the Southern Spring show. The purple egg with the bands removed, looks like a cross, my favorite egg this year. The boys also had Spiderman tattoos for some of the eggs as well. The little yellow crocheted egg was from when I was a little girl,handmade by my mom :o).

On Saturday we took the boys to IHOP. They had seen an advertisement on TV for these Horton Hears a Hoo hoocakes. Can you believe we let our kids have this for breakfast? They did not eat the sucker for breakfast and had some bacon along with the cakes, we tried to limit the sugar intake :o). They really enjoyed them and it was a fun time.

After breakfast we went to the Easter party at our church. Here are the three boys with the Easter bunny. This has been our tradition for the last three years, with this being one of the first things we did after arriving in AZ almost 2 yrs. ago! Brayden at the egg hunt.

Faith(Lt.) and Hannah(Rt.)Peterson They were our first friends as well when we first arrived here in Arizona. They will be soon adding a new brother being adopted from Ethiopia, named Mathias. The three boys after the egg hunt.

Daddy holding Baylor, and Baylor holding his little Easter Basket :o) Baylor just being a mellow little fellow in his stroller. Mommy and her boys. Easter morning just after service. The boys were soooooo awesome during church. They did not have child care, so we had to bring all 3 in church and we sat on the front row. We did not have to call anybody down the entire 1 hr. and 15 minutes. It was so enjoyable to have them in there with us celebrating Christ's Resurrection. The music was wonderful and the message was perfect. What a great start to the day! Another picture of the McKinstry 5!!!

After church we went to the Musgraves for lunch and the kids had a Easter egg hunt in the greenway just by their house. Here is Brayden stopping to see what is inside an egg he found! Silly boy. He had put several eggs in, and by the time he got to the other end of the greenway, his eggs had fallen out and his basket was empty :o(. Poor guy, he quickly refilled it though. Bennett and Brayden chasing after some eggs.

Looking inside the eggs to see what treats were inside. Brayden saying CHEESE!!! I try to tell him to just smile and for some reason, he always says cheese! I think he has a piece of gum in his mouth from his Easter egg.

At last when we came home Bruce, Bennett, Brayden, and Baylor had gotten me the prettiest cake, cards and a new pair of Coach sunglasses.

This was one of the earliest Easter's in some 100 years. The last time Easter Sunday fell on March 23 was in 1913.

The next time Easter will occur on March 23 will not be until 2160. I don't know about you, but I plan to be watching from from above :o).

Today was such a great day to celebrate my Birthday!!!