A couple of projects and a few pictures

As most weeks are, this week has been rather busy one. I was able to do a couple of projects that I've been meaning to do for quite some time. Our palm tree died about a year ago, and I've been meaning to get a new one. While I was shopping at the Commissary on Thursday, believe it or not, they had one for $5.99. Since I already had the pot, which is the biggest investment anyway, I was able to get this project off of my invisible checklist and add a nice shade of green to our living space. I hope I can keep this one happy for endless enjoyment, hopefully, and for making my days just a little brighter.

Yet another project on my invisible list was making some granola bars from scratch from things I had in my pantry.  Kelsey and Kayley are my two granola bar eaters, they are also the very picky eaters, and I often have to supplement their meals with these. We go through so many every week that I can barely keep the pantry stocked with them.I found the recipe in Taste of Home's latest bar recipe book. It's at most grocery store checkout stands. Here are 24 homemade granola bars with chocolately goodness, bagged and ready for school and home snacks alike.

 We had a friend and her two kids over for a dinner a couple of weeks ago, and Kelsey got to sit in the big girl chair instead of her own high chair because their little boy was younger than her and he needed a high chair. She hasn't wanted to sit in her high chair since then, and I finally gave in to her wishes. So here she is, our "big" little girl sitting at the table eating her meal. She is liking it so much better and her appetite seems to have picked up since the change. Here the girls are enjoying their leftover Ham and AuGratin potoatoes and devilled eggs, the only two things they liked on the Easter Menu.  

I peeked outside yesterday when I was working on the granola bars, and this is the sight that I saw. Kayley was swinging Kelsey in her lap. She was being ever so gentle so that Kelsey would be safe, and they were laughing and enjoying themselves.This is the first time that I've seen them play like this on the swing, and it made my heart so happy to see Kayley being the little nurturer that she is and Kelsey loving her big "sissy" so very much.

A Cole Kids Easter

These are our dyed Easter Eggs. All of us pitched in to get them dyed in these vibrant colors. Samuel and Kayley did most of the painting on our eggs. They are quite the little artists.

  

All of the kids were super-excited to finally get outside and put some eggs in their baskets. Gabriel and Samuel took it slow to allow Kayley and Kelsey to get some eggs. Kayley thought she was supposed to get all the eggs including the "MONEY" egg. She did not find it, Samuel did, and it ruined the rest of her egg hunting experience as you will see in the rest of the group photos. Kelsey loved running around the yard carrying her purple basket. She loves carrying things around. She adores carrying purses and baskets. You can see her exuberance in the photo below. It is priceless. . .

 The rest of the photos were taken after the egg hunt. Notice the amount of eggs in each basket. Kayley totally took advantage of the boys taking it slowly. We'll have to do something about this next year. . .

Kelsey is trying desperately to get her egg open so that she can get to the candy inside. Kayley gave me a little bit of a smile because I told her if she smiled she could have a cookie when we went inside. The things we do to get our kids to smile for the camera.

Kelsey wasn't quite ready to go inside, so I took advantage to take a few more shots of her cute smiling face.

Mostly happy kids after our Easter egg hunt.

Easter Morning before church, we were able to snap a few shots of the kids in their Sunday Best.

My Beautiful Little Girls

I was finally able to get a few shots of the girls all dressed up in their church clothes. What a blessing it is to have beautiful girls, inside and out. Kayley and Kelsey are the girls I always dreamed of having. They love dresses, shoes and jewelry.

Keesler Air Show

Last month, as a family minus Aaron, we had the opportunity to go to the airshow, the second since Hurricane Katrina. Here are a few of the best pictures. The kids so enjoyed seeing all the cool sights, not only airplanes, the boys especially liked the awesome motorcycle, racing car, electric car, and the guns.  Gabriel even got to show off a little by doing push-ups for a water bottle from the Marines. Way to go Gabriel. Samuel did a smash job of shooting a pretty big gun, without the ammo, of course.