This never happens...

But when it does, it is so precious!

1. You get a great family picture (out of only two takes!) with no yelling, screaming, or kicking while you are all dressed up in your Easter best.

2. Your two-year-old climbs up on Daddy's lap and says to Mommy,"Can you take a picture of us?" Then says, "Can Graceyn take one with us too?"

She even said "cheese" while looking directly at the camera! (Notice Topher decided it was time for a spring haircut...so handsome!)

3. Your two-year-old and one-year-old play together happily...no taking toys away, pushing, or whining. Graceyn even put her little hand on Esther's shoulder...I almost shed a tear it was so sweet!

Thank you, Lord, for moments like these....and for letting me procrastinate about putting the camera where it belongs!

Easter egg hunt

A week of celebrations!

It's spring birthday time in the Moore household! I've been so excited about letting the Birthday garden flag fly in front of our house for an entire week and a half. Last Saturday, Graceyn turned the BIG ONE! She is amazing and so stinkin cute! That morning, Esther went into Graceyn's bedroom and in her precious little voice sang "Happy Birthday" to her sister. They are so adoreable. Since we didn't have any big announcements to make (like at Esther's first birthday when we let her tell everyone taht she was going to be a big sister!) we decided a small family party would be fun. Please understand, by "small" we mean twenty people, but that's the beauty of a big family! Graceyn seemed to enjoy her cake and even shared with her sister and cousins.      

   

            

As if her party wasn't enough, my fam had a little surprise party for my birthday (the 19th) complete with a pile of Maggie's cookies for my cake. Yummy! I was actually really excited... I love birthdays! Topher has been so sweet this week to wish me happy birthday week multiple times every day! So fun! Anyway, we have celebrated all week long and now get to finish our celebration week by celebrating our Savior's death and resurrection. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving us life eternal...starting now!

                 

PS...In regards to my former ranting, I was able to do this post in less than an hour, but barely! For each picture posted, I attempted to upload it 3-4 times from my computer to the Blog before it would actually work. Crazy. Maybe I just needed to plug in the laptop for more power..that seemed to help somewhat. For my pride, I kinda hope it is more than that, but for my sanity, I hope that is all I needed to do to fix the problem!                     

Retraction to Britt's venting....

I think what Britt means to say is that if any of you can give her a little lesson in how to upload pictures and place them where you want them, she would be grateful. Is it just us or does it take everybody a while to upoload and place pictures????

RANTING

Okay...I thought that Blogging would be a fun way to keep you all in touch with what is going on in our family, but in the time it takes for me to finish a post and include pictures, I could go sit at the one-hour photo department at Walmart, print pictures, handwrite you all a letter, and go to the post office to mail them! Am I just an idiot or what? Both times I've tried to post pictures, it has taken at least 2 and 1/2 hours! I hate this!! So, instead of seeing cute little pictures of Graceyn's 1st birthday party, you get to hear about my frustrations without any pictures at all! I thought that using Topher's Mac computer would make it easier, but I guess I am way out of the technological loop. Why can't I just drag and drop the pictures? I have to upload each one and then strategically place them into my post which causes previously uploaded pictures to disappear...ugh! Then when I finally upload them enough times to get them in the right place, it looks totally different when I "view Blog". This is so not therapeutic!! So, after another wasted evening with nothing to show for it, I'm dragging myself to bed.  Sorry to have to vent to you all, but everyone else in my house and probably yours too is fast asleep. Oops, except for Graceyn. She just woke up so I guess I'll go put her back to sleep. No rest for the weary. Topher can take over the blog site again tomorrow! 

Hair days, hat days, cleaning days, and snow days

So I'm entering the blogging world. Topher agreed that since I finally am feeling comfortable with the 5 remote controls necessary to operate our entertainment system it would be okay for me to try a few posts.     

    Fashion and accessories are apparently becoming an important part of life in the Moore household. Esther is already an expert on dangling earrings, animal prints, and the use of a Chi. Graceyn has also mastered the animal print look, however she is learning the hard way about the tragedy of a bad hair day! 

   We recently had a big change happen in our home...our housekeeper 

decided to quit cleaning houses. I know all of you mommies are seriously

saying "Ohhh, I hate it when that happens!" Like any woman of the house would, I tried to accept her decision calmly and rationally and tore into a new bag of Giradelli chocolates to think this through! Just kidding. As a

supportive wife, I told my sweet Topher that I'd take care of the cleaning for awhile and save us a little money. Then, I proceeded to tackle the cleaning by first teaching Esther the finer points of vacuuming! Divide and conquer, right?! We did okay for like the first week. Then last night I told Topher that his parents were keeping the girls and we could have a date...his first response was, "We can go out or maybe just grab something to eat and then come home and clean house while the girls are gone." Wow! Is our house so bad that my husband would give up a date to clean house?? I'm still trying to decide if I should be excited that he's willing to help or sad that our house is in such need of a good cleaning that he'd forego a date! With very little effort, I convinced him to choose a date and we'd do the house later. Maybe if I "just can't keep up with it" we'll get another housekeeper!!

   

On to a more exciting topic...Is there anything more needed in your fashion arsenal than a really great hat? It's like the little black dress for stay-at-home moms. With just the right hat, no one has to know that you haven't showered or touched your hair. It has totally given me the freedom to have a "I didn't have time to shower this morning but I will tonight...maybe" day while still looking cute and put-together! I'm trying to teach the girls the value of a good hat too. I think they've got it! Graceyn has even figured out how to use a hat to look cute when she can't figure out what she wants to wear!

   Speaking of hats...there is just nothing cuter in

 the winter than a good tuke (that's the Canadian term Topher uses for toboggan, sock hat, stocking cap, etc.). Esther and her daddy took advantage of the snow on Tuesday. She played on her swing for an hour and a half! We've had several snow days here this season, so I guess she was tired of snow angels and snowmen! Sadly, with all the snow days plus a week long ski trip to Colorado, we somehow neglected to let Graceyn play in the snow...ever! What kind of parents are we? Poor child!