Easter, Delayed

Easter was clearly so much fun that it took us months to recover. So, here we are, just now doing a blog about it...

 Kicking things off with some Easter crafting

 We love getting packages from Grandma and Grandpa, but ESPECIALLY when they contain ginormous Easter eggs to decorate

Here are our finished products, the Princess and the Pirate, who quickly became our BFFS

Gettin' eggy with it

Liam, obviously stunned by his egg dying prowess

Vanna White, modeling our showcase

A big ol' pot of Easter Noodle Soup

 Taste testers give it two thumbs up!

Giant Easter egg cookies save the day after we showed up at an Easter egg hunt that had been canceled at the last minute (whew- that was a close one!)

PEEP-A-BOO!

A little egg decorating at your friendly local Kroger

When you have connections like us, the Bunny even shows up at Kroger 

The annual Easter cupcake eggstravaganza!

 Some bunny likes sprinkles!

DIY Robin Eggs, a late addition a la Memaw

 Basket happiness

All decked out in our Easter best

Liam in disguise

Go go gadget Easter egg hunt!!

Little Bunny Foo Foos

Teamwork.

They made out like bandits!

And then...... the Bunny took a nap.

Liam DIGS Turning 2!

Sniff, sniff. My baby turned two last week. Even though I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around this whole "he's not a baby anymore" thing, he had lots of fun celebrating. Here's a peek for those of you who weren't there to join in the fun.

Birthday eve ice cream was necessary, of course.

HOORAY FOR TWO! (I'm not sure why he's so excited. He got a finger stick and a shot at this doctor's appointment)

He chose Wild Eggs for a special birthday lunch (Mommy and Rylee approved his choice)

The great thing about having your birthday dinner at a Mexican place is the free dessert. They even sang and everything. Lucky for us, the Birthday Boy shared. 

Have no fear: Big Sis was on hand to help him open some presents and cards. 

Now that is teamwork.

This awesome gift is hugely popular for kids of all ages in our house. Liam could not be bothered to pause for a picture, you see. He was focused. 

 There was, of course, a birthday booboo.

That following Saturday, it was time for party day!

Hey, at least he put on the hat.

Fortunately, Liam has some contacts in the catering biz, so his guests were well fed.

Inspecting the balloon choices

 He also had LOTS of help opening even more presents.

Hardhat on, shirt off, ready for cake!!

 "Hey lady, what do I have to do around here to get a piece of this thing?"

He discovered he could drive his construction vehicles in the cake and then lick the icing off. I mean, duh.

 We adore all our new toys, but one of his most favorite gifts is definitely the fabulous new train set from Grandma and Grandpa, which they had to wait a whole day for Daddy to put together.

Here we are, waiting patiently.... some of us without pants....

"Helping"

 "YEA TRAINS!"

We also love our new bike and we are SO anxious for it to turn warmer that we absolutely must ride it around the basement.

 Here's how you can tell Liam REALLY loves a new toy: he escapes bathtime/clothes changing time/etc. to play with it.

P.S. Leftover cake is really REALLY good. Case closed.

Holly Jolly

Yea for Mommy! She (by the hair of her chinny chin chin!) snuck in the holiday blog before it turned 2015! Our holiday season started pretty much the moment we finished eating our turkey. There was a lot to squeeze in, you see! 

Ready, set, go!! 

The official tree lighting at the Paddock Shops (we're feeling festive already!)

How many Hobens does it take to put up Christmas decorations?

Carful o' kiddos off to the underground light show!

 Mommy's favorite lights in the show

Quite possibly the most joyful part of the season, Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake time at Chick-fil-a

(You've heard of doublefisting? We call this doublestrawing....)

Indoor snowballs from Auntie Pea!

Tree hunters

Trimming the Big Gal

The angel putting on the angel

They pretty much didn't stop staring at this tree all month long (and taking ornaments off if your name is Liam)

Writing the uber important letters to Santa!

Waiting in line for a sleighride with Santa isn't so bad when you get to hang out with elves 

Sleighride with the Clauses (Liam was a little too starstruck to smile)

Free holiday themed face painting!

 Christmas crafting

Who needs presents under the tree when you have empty BOXES!??!

Letters to the Big Guy officially mailed!

Christmas movies galore

We did TONS of cookie baking... I mean TONS

Some of us were more concerned with the sprinkles than the cookie baking/decorating

Even Daddy got to help out with a batch or two this year! ("Here ya go, Daddy, you need more sprinkles!!")

Isn't it funny that one person is always hard at work mixing, baking, decorating, and the other seems to always be shoveling decorations in his face?

The whole mini Hoben gang happy to be in on the Christmas cookie baking action....except for Liam, who is clearly saying "WHERE ARE THE FRIGGIN SPRINKLES LADY??"

The No Pants Cookie Dance

Pumped for gingerbread house assembly

Team Gingerbread House, Phase 2

Chief Icing Taster

The Village

Good thing I got that pic of the completed village when I did, 'cause then I caught these stinkers (and Fluttershy the Pony) trying to eat candy decorations off the poor thing the next day

Putting cookies and milk out for Santa and carrots for the reindeer

(Quality Control Expert, Liam Hoben)

Whew, he can get in now!

The annual Night Before Christmas reading

It's always hard to decide which gifts are the favorites because they just love everything so much, but here are just one of each amid the Christmas morning chaos.

The traditional Hoben Christmas Casserole

Liam was all gussied up in a supercute Christmas suit for Christmas dinner, but not too gussied up to try and muck up Aunt Mary's fancy Christmas decorations

Again, boxes....

Dear Santa, thank you for the bath crayons.... I think??

Again, thank you for the M&M dispensers?? (I'm starting to wonder about this Santa character)

Capping off the season with a shopping spree at Toys R Us from Auntie E. Pretty lucky babes!