Molly's Easter dress 2022

This year's Easter dress collaboration with Molly and I was a lot of fun. Molly knew she wanted a blue dress and helped pick out that fabric. I picked the floral to go with it. I chose the sleeve length, and she decided she wanted to have a stripe along the bottom of the sleeves to match the bottom of the dress. I added the tall ruffle collar and tie in the back. I didn't have a pattern for the collar or tie and sort of had to wing it with those elements (along with adding the contrasting stripe in the dress) but thankfully it all worked out and I think it is so cute! She loves it, too! I think we make a good team and I love this tradition of ours. 

 

I made matching bowties for the boys, too. I let them each pick which coordinating fabric they wanted theirs made out of. 

Easter 2022

Our tradition of dyeing eggs and going to the Pleasant Grove Easter egg hunt continued this year. The egg hunt was great. This was the first year all of our kids had graduated from collecting eggs off of the tennis courts. Our dyed eggs included gnomes and robots, along with the traditional dyed ones. We were so busy with spring sports and birthdays this year we almost ran out of time to dye eggs. We dyed them just in time the day before Easter and a few hours before Bode's birthday party!

The Easter Bunny came!

All dressed up in their new Easter bowties and dress for Easter Sunday.

Bode turns 11!

Bode had a great birthday this year! After his soccer game we went out to dinner to Asado (his choice) and then home for presents and cake. He still requests the same chocolate bundt cake each year, and I love making it for him. He was excited about his gifts, especially the new dirt bike riding boots and a splat-r-ball gun.

A few days later we had his birthday party. He wanted to invite so many friends I was having a hard time figuring out what we could do to accommodate so many kids without destroying our house or having it cost a fortune to go somewhere. We came up with the idea to have it in the church gym and to do a series of challenges for prizes. It ended up being a HUGE hit and the kids were really into it. We did basketball challenges like half court shots and playing speed. They also played the game where I wrapped a bunch of candy, cash, and gift cards in a giant plastic wrap ball and they got to keep whatever they could unwrap before the next person rolled doubles. They also played "shocktato" which is a plastic potato that plays music and will shock you when the music stops. It was hilarious. Finally, they finished with a game of fugitive (where they try to make it to our house from the church without being spotted by Sean and I driving the car). 

I feel very, very grateful Bode is surrounded by so many friends. His friend circle has expanded greatly in the past year and there are so many boys (and girls) who are such great friends to him and support him and each other. 

I love this picture of Bode when he was a toddler and decided to recreate it on his birthday this year:

And here are a few photos I took for his birthday. 

Bode's 11-year questionnaire:

I love this boy like crazy.