Easter 2012

We spent Easter at home this year! Picture roll begins with the Easter Egg Hunt and party at Pumpkin Shell Preschool. Their favorite P-Shell song: "Here comes Peter Cottontail". Big deal: NO TEARS from the Jankowski twins! First party in 1.5 years where they didn't cry when Mommy or Daddy came!! Yay, they are really growing up!

G&A with G's schoolmate "girlfriend" Halle.


On Saturday, we attended our church's annual Easter Egg Hunt which G&A loved! Hunting eggs with their friends, big indoor inflatables, decorating cookies & picnic lunch...doesn't get much better!

The foursome...Cache, Abigail, George, & Asher

Twin slide!

lunch on the greens...

Dessert, round one!

Daddy & Abs


Big highlight was Miss Abigail waving hi, high 5-ing, hugging, and taking as many pictures as possible with the Easter Bunny! First time in her life!! Her motivation: we told her we would not consider DisneyWorld for her to meet the Princesses until she was consistently not afraid of costumed characters. It worked....guess we have to pony up with that trip...

We attended a gorgeous early morning service at McFarlin MUMC, then returned home for Matt to cook an amazing feast for us, Nana, Pop, and the Pollans. We enjoyed the time with our family & friends and stayed outside the remainder of the day!



George & Asher


The Kids' Table!


The Easter Bunch


The "real" Easter Bunch...


And this is what Matt spent the next five hours doing...when he gets a gumption to do something, watch out! He dug up four 48-year-old holly bushes from our front flowerbed & re-planted on the side of our house. Guess that was his workout for the day!

Awesomely amazing bit of grace: G&A understood Easter this year on a much deeper level. Since our dear friend Mark died recently, they understand death and funerals. They joined us for big church and loved the music. Abigail was caught singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" several times yesterday....makes my heart so happy and I know the Lord is pleased with her as well!

Spring Break in H-Town!

Can you see a little bit of sass?

Beautiful irises...


The kiddos and I drove down to Houston to spend Spring Break with the Morris clan. We enjoyed a new park in Dallas en route for our picnic lunch (the irises were as big as G's head!). We loved being with Cliff, Evie & Kirby, and of course Aunt Go-Go and Uncle Kevin too! We also were lucky to see Uncle Brad for a little bit as well. Just a low key week...I snuck in a few runs to prepare for my big race weekend....a big haircut for A...daily trips to local parks and the grocery store...watching Kirby dance and act...and swimming at Aunt Go-Go's gym. I also got to have a Drew & Amy fix...love you two! Relaxing vacay yet busy with 4 year olds in tow!

Last pic with long hair!

Evie's hair stylist helped Miss A acheive her desire of "short hair like Snow White".

The new 'do! She's adorable!!!!


The kiddos loved getting to watch Kirby at ballet class. She is so graceful and poised and has worked very hard to be a fabulous dancer!

Love that ballerina!


Hanging out at the pool with Evie! Lots of smiles!

Reading books with Cliffy...

...and more classical teenage literature with Evie.

Lovin' on their Evie!

Walking Jack...

"Thanks Awfully"...a one act play at Spring Forest Middle School starring our favorite actress Kirby Morris!

The two stars of the show, Kirby and her friend Darwyn.

Kirby & Uncle Braddums

Kirby & Uncle Kevin

One of Kirby's biggest fans!

We then traveled to Spring Branch, Texas to drop G&A at Grammy & Grandpa's which allowed me to continue on to Dallas to run the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon with friends. We had the most BEAUTIFUL drive as the hills were painted with my favorite Texas wildflowers...prettiest I have seen in 10 years! We captured some great shots amongst the bluebonnets.

Of course, G&A HAD to make their funny faces!

My handsome little fella who is normally camera shy WANTED to take more pictures!

"Winter"/ Early Spring 2012

"Winter" is in quotation marks as this has been the mildest winter we have ever had in Oklahoma. Only one small snowfall and the temps have been pretty warm, considering what we're used to. We made the most of it and spent as much time outdoors as possible!!

Here is a glimpse of our Jan- March Jankowski experiences:

We spent Matt's 35th birthday Jan 7, 2012 in Spring Branch, TX at Grammy & Grandpa's. Enjoyed a gorgeous afternoon watching Matt paddle a new-to-him solo canoe on the San Marcos river. George and Abigail loved getting to see their Daddy go down the rapids up close!


Snack time!
Look at that form!

Future paddler?

On the morning of his 35th birthday, Matt ran a 25K Trail Run in Bandera, TX. "Harder than any marathon I've done" he said. We awaited his arrival home and had a little surprise for him!!

WAR!!!!!
I'm defeated!!!

With Grammy & Grandpa

Fam photo...

What a huge accomplishment! We are so blessed that Matthew has given himself and us the birthday present of dedication to this health and wellness for his 35th year and beyond!

Looking forward to Matt's favorite chocolate sheet cake recipe!

Thunder UP!!


We put our backyard fire pit to use this winter and experimented with LOTS of different kinds of marshmallows! Mint Chocolate is still our favorite! Yum!

Grammy & Grandpa were in Oklahoma house hunting and we took advantage of a sunny day to hike at Lake Thunderbird.

King & Queen of the Hill!

And we HAD to introduce them to our beloved s'mores!


Happy 76th birthday Pop (Jan 2012)! A rice neck pillow and Ensure for you! Ha!!


Mother/ Daughter PJ Party at McFarlin MUMC, March 2012:

Abigail loves Miss Hannah!

All made up with Reese..

Ms. Amanda and Ms. Stephanie help Ashlyn and Abigail with their handprints.

Decorating cookies with Grammy.

Painting Nana's nails....Nana is brave! ;)

Watching a Veggie Tales movie about being beautiful with what God gives us...sharing popcorn with Ashlyn.

Celebrating Bill & Debbie's move to Oklahoma in Feb/March with a winter's hike at Elk Mountain in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge.

Grandpa, Pop, Matt, George, Abigail, & Carrie

Borrowing a little shade for snacktime...


Cresting the summit!!

Posing with Pop!

Abs & Daddy

What a sight!



Uncle Robert, Aunt Nee Nee, and Rebagrace came down for a visit in mid-March! We loved having them here and it seemed as no time had passed since we were all together last. Love our Leekowski visits!!

Having fun at the park with Grandpa Bill!

Robert's brother Michael and his kids Mason and Kara drove to OK for a quick visit with the Lees.

What a busy winter!! Loved every minute of it! Watch for more pics to come!