When you're heading to Disney World in a few short months, what kind of birthday party should you have for three little girls? A princess party, of course!
Hannah, Faith, and Juli were born in March, April, and May, so they had a combined birthday this year while Hannah was here. They got these gorgeous princess dresses, suitcases, and spending money for Disney.
The day after Easter, the kids and I had the day off. Since Hannah was in town all week, we thought we'd take her and Faith (Juli didn't fit in the car) and take a springtime trip to the zoo. To make it more fun, I let the kids do most of the photography. So I'm actually in a few of these shots. 
The whole zoo was blooming. Philly is just south enough that the trees and flowers have a good head start on the ones in the Lehigh Valley.
We didn't let the girls pick any flowers, but picking fallen flowers off the ground is okay.
I think Nicky did a nice job of composition with this shot of the statue. Although the subject matter is a bit violent.
And since the lion really was THAT close, I can see why this shot got blurry.
See? Really close up with nature!
The prairie dogs were really active in this weather.
And apparently, it was just warm enough to ride on the swan boats!
Kairi and Hannah did a great job steering themselves, too.
I snagged the camera back to take some shots of the traditional face painting.
Then it was time to hope the birds didn't mistake colorful faces for food in the lorikeet feeding cage.
Speaking of food... where's lunch?
Another Nicky picture... he might end up being a pretty good photographer!
But I don't think Kai aspires to sheep farming.
But when adults see kids taking pictures, they sometimes offer a shot "all together". Too bad we can't all look in the same direction!
After a long day at the zoo, everyone was tuckered out. I wish I could have slept on the way home instead of fighting traffic on the Schuylkill!
Cyndy had a plethora of Easter fun planned for after church. After a delicious dinner, everyone ran out for a color coded Easter egg hunt.
The weather was just a bit chilly at first, but enough running around and you'll work up a pretty glow like Hannah. Isn't she beautiful in her Easter bonnet?
The kids made quite the colorful bouquet of pastels at Easter Sunday service. We are so blessed to have such beautiful, healthy children!
The flowers in the Serenity garden were in bloom, and it was a perfect spring day.
One of my favorite Easter hymns is "Because He Lives". One of the verses contains the following lyrics:
Every Easter, it's a joy to remember that because of the resurrection, I can trust that my children are safe in God's arms no matter what happens to them in this life.
The Easter Bunny delivered, as always, great presents and candy for both kids.
But sheesh, that bunny is going to have to work on finding harder places to hide the eggs. The kids are getting way too quick at finding them!
With all the running around we did the day before Easter (especially me, when I realized what I was going to wear for Easter was stained...), we were still preparing for Easter late into the night. Fortunately, Nicky and Kairi were fortified with sugar coated bunny cakes!
Our eggs were far from works of art this year, but hey, we had fun.
We all played a role in this year's cantata. The kids sang (beautifully, of course) and Scott and I were in charge of the slideshow. Of course, no one told us we were in charge of the slideshow until the morning of the cantata!! We had thought we were just supposed to make a slideshow for one song in the cantata. Turns out there was a slideshow for each song, and we were supposed to coordinate the changing of the slides with the lyrics of the songs (which we hadn't heard!). Well, there was laughter, there was tears - and there was a really rocking cantata. But OI! What craziness! Here's the video of the slideshow we created. It was to go with a song about "Calvary's Love" and since our church name is Calvary, we used pictures of our church family.
Nicky got everything he wanted for his birthday this year - except a party. It's technically his year for one, but we're a bit cash strapped with the huge Disney vacation we have coming up, so we bargained with him to move his party year to next year in exchange for "the party of the century"! ;-) Fortunately for us, the most that will probably mean is a party at Rascals or Bounce U. Still, he looks like he had fun on his birthday, party or no. Here he is opening his gifts:
Daddy was so helpful with the present opening:
Later, he had to go to cantata rehearsal:
But then it was time for more presents from the extended family:
And of course, birthday cake! Or, actually, Cookie Dough Ice Cream birthday cake:
Happy Birthday, Nicky!
