Sweet Ella Rose

Our crazy boys keep us so busy that sometimes Ella doesn't get represented well on our blog!  These are some of my new favorite pictures of her.  She has just started pursing her lips together, it's so cute!  The boys still are MADLY in love with her.  When I get her up in the morning I can't hardly make it out of her room without them at my feet trying to kiss her.  We put her in the swing for the first time last week, Haynes initially was not thrilled to have to share but loves pushing her now.  Ella is such a blessing to our family!

Snakes

Snake #4

My Tough Men

We don't have spiders, ants, moles...we have snakes!  This is the 4th snake we have found this year and I haven't even got in our flower beds yet!  

#1- Our Bathroom Floor!!!

#2- Under College Students shoe in the front yard

#3- Front yard

#4- Back Patio under table...where Brian was sitting:-)

They are doing a lot of construction in some fields around us, which is what we are believing is the problem.  All I can say is my boys are getting much tougher...specifically my sweet husband!

Three kids, Hartley, and Thumper=Hartsock Zoo

One of our concerns for Thumper was Hartley's reaction.  We had good reason to be concerned since Hartley is completely obsessed with getting to Thumper.  We put Thumper in the top of the boys playhouse, thinking she would be pretty safe...After about five minutes Hartley learned to scale the playhouse steps.  The rest of the night the boys fought her off!

Friday morning we host Mom's Prayer at our house.  I was running around trying to clean, get kids fed and dressed, when I realized the boys let Hartley in the backyard.  Ell and I ran up the playhouse and had to physically push Hartley down the slide....about that time I thought, "I really do live in a zoo!" 

Brian lets Thumper out of his cage so the boys can chase him around the yard.  All day long Haynes comes up to me saying, "Thumper out!"  While Port refers to Thumper as "Sumper" :-)

Thumper

The boys and Thumper

Meredith...Thumper's future Mommy (hopefully)

This year for Easter JuJu bought all of the families a pocket bunny.  Due to a few unfortunate incidents we had to wait to get our bunny...Tuesday night I was surprised to see that Brian not only brought home our kids from JuJu's but a new member of our family!  I was meeting with Meredith and Catherine, and Meredith fell in love! She plans to be an elementary school teacher, so we are encouraging her that Thumper is exactly what she needs.  

Good Fruit

I was getting ready for our trip to Disney World.  I looked out the window to see what the boys were doing and had to take a picture.  They had secretly taken the Resurrection Eggs out to the play house and were going over them together.  We tend to loose parts to toys quite easily around here, so we usually only pull these out at night before bedtime.  Thank you Jesus for sweet moments like this that remind me we are producing "Good Fruit!"

Last night at Disney

Jenny and Haynes

Our Family

Josh and Jenny

Our last day at Disney we had breakfast with the characters, spent the afternoon at the pool, and ended our day at Magic Kingdom.  One of the funniest stories is of Haynes and Jenny.  On our way back to the hotel Jenny held Haynes on the bus.  He was still eating his sucker from the parade, but quickly fell asleep.  He was so tired he stuck his sucker to his shirt, and it stayed there.  We laughed so hard, we are still working on putting the video on here!  Josh and Jenny were awesome, the boys LOVED them and we loved having four extra hands!

Day 3 at Hollywood Studios

Bike races 

Tired Kids

CrAzY HaYnEs

Lolli and Champ riding the boat

Our third day we went to Hollywood Studios.  We got to have lunch with the characters at Hollywood and Vine.  Champ loved the Rockin' Roller Coaster so much he stole the extra FastPass!  While we were waiting for the parade, I looked down to find Haynes in the bottom of the stroller!  After spending the whole day at the park we enjoyed an evening at the Boardwalk.  We did race bikes (Brian, Sarah, Granma, Jenny & Haynes...v.s. Josh, Lolli, Champ, Port, & Ella)  it is still up for debate over who actually won the race! 

Day 2 at Magic Kingdom

My Little Tigers

Ella and Lolli

This day was my Granma's birthday!  It was so much fun celebrating her actual birthday at Disney World.  The kids love Magic Kingdom, but I think it's everyone's favorite firework show.  My mom, Granma, Josh, and Jenny spent all day and night there!  

Lolli let the boys get their faces painted, the rest of the night they growled at anyone who walked by them.  After the parade and  fireworks we tried to push the boys to stay awake for magic hours, but Port told us he was too tired to ride anything!  Brian and I took our kids back on the bus while everyone else stayed and played.  We graced the people on our 11:00 a.m. bus ride home with three screaming kids...welcome to the Happiest Place On Earth!!  (We did hear multiple comments about what horrible parents we were for having our kids out so late...oops!)

DIsney Day 1

PoP PoP'S with Lolli

Disney Here We Come!

We only had Wednesday through Sunday to fit in as much as possible, so we hit the ground running.  On Wednesday when we got to Orlando we went ahead and spent the rest of the day at Epcot. 

Gingerbread Hay Ride

Port had a field trip this week was a Hay Ride.  He had a great time and is constantly saying, "YEE-HAW!"  

Happy 50th Lolli!

Happy Birthday Mom!

In case you haven't noticed, life has been CrAzY the last few weeks!  April 12th was Easter, Brian's birthday and my Mom's 50th birthday!  We have been planning a surprise trip to Disney World for my mom's birthday.  On Sunday night we gave her the present through a scavenger hunt.  My brother was AMAZING and created the most amazing clues, I am always impressed by his creativity! It was probably the one of the greatest thing watching my mom and kids figure out that we were actually going to go to Disney World.  Mickey Mouse here we come!!!

Wright Family Easter

hunting eggs in the rain

Hanna, Lilly, Port, & Haynes

Poppy and Ella

Ella and Eli

We always go to our family "farm" for Easter...ALWAYS!  This is the first year we had to cancel because of the rain, so we met at my mom's house.  My boys love playing with Hanna and Lilly (my cousin Tommy's girls) and I have to admit they do a great job entertaining the boys too!  We hunted easter eggs in the rain and the guys watched the Masters.  We always enjoy our time with family and friends, hopefully next year we will be back at the farm!

Greek Cluster Easter Service

CrAzy KiDS!

Millie and Ella

Easter Sunday we combined the two Greek clusters from our church.  We love it when we get a chance to worship with some of our closest friends and the boys love having some extra kids around.  Kerri, Catherine (one of our students), and I watched the kids this week.  We went through the story of the Last Supper with the kids.  We got to wash each of the kids feet and pray for them, and they quickly joined in with us and washed our feet.  It was a really sweet!  I know that everyone enjoyed our combined service, but it was definitely something I will not ever forget.  

Easter Baskets

Boys with their baskets

Ella's first Easter

My mom has created a love for family traditions in me, so much that Brian is often asking is this a holiday that we do gifts?  To this day, my mom still makes an Easter basket for me...and I love it!  We forgot to tell the boys about Easter baskets until we were taking them to bed Saturday night which lead to lots of questions.  Port asked if everyone (Daddy, Braxton, Sutton, Haynes, Ella, etc) would get a basket.  As I left the room he asked if I would get one, and I told him that I wasn't sure. (Brian and I hadn't really talked about this part of Easter)  On Sunday morning, after we celebrated Brian's birthday and then everyone opened Easter baskets, Port came over and hugged me and said, "the bunny must have dropped yours mom, sorry!" 

I want to clarify that I tell this story not to  take a shot at Brian but for two reasons.  First, I know my family is extravagant...nuts! (as some have said:-)   Second, if you question how observant a three year old is...beware!  I am blessed abundantly by my sweet husband with or without a basket!

Liddell Easter Egg Hunt

On your mark....

My sweet family

Brian's family used to have an annual Easter Egg hunt for all the kids in their neighborhood.  They would always talk about how much fun it was, so last year we decided that our kids were the perfect age to bring it back.  The Saturday before Easter we all meet in Nancy and Danny's backyard and hunt about 2500 eggs!  It is so much fun getting together with all our friends and family, and praise Jesus for beautiful weather!

I don't have many pictures because when I turned my camera on to take pictures the battery died...oops!  Then after it was over Port said, "Mom you should have come, we had a great time!"  Hopefully I can get some of Grandad and Lolli's pictures!

Easter Eggs

Port with his winning egg

Haynes drop dying his eggs

My favorite boys

We always do Easter eggs on Saturday night before Easter.  I laughed the entire time!  Brian made dye with Apple Cider Vinegar and White Wine Vinegar because he couldn't find the other.  Then trying to teach Haynes to be gentle with the eggs is one challenge, but keeping the eggs in one color was a completely different challenge.  Finally we gave in and made a huge mess, it was great!!!  (Notice dying eggs without clothes was necessary)  We told Port he won the competition because he had the only solid egg at the end of the night, maybe we'll do better next year.  We made a memory...right Mom?!? 

Happy 29th Daddy!

Brian blowing out candles

Haynes got creative with the games

Brian and Champ

Lolli and Ella

This year for Brian's birthday we decided to take our families out to HeyDay.  We thought it would be fun to play golf and eat pizza.  We weren't prepared for the 50 miles/hour wind gusts....so we just played in the arcade.  The kids loved playing games and the daddy's didn't mind much either.  The guys got to play laser tag at the end of the night as well.  I made yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing and ordered Brian's favorite cookies from Ruth's.  Thanks for coming to celebrate Brian!

Gingerbread Easter Egg Hunt

Port had an Easter Egg hunt last week.  I got to go help with the party, which is always so much fun.  We got to hide the eggs at the park and set up snack.  The teachers brought the kids over and let them hunt for 4 eggs each.  It was fun spending the morning with Port, his friends, and his teachers.  We sure do love Gingerbread!!!

Happy Birthday Crew!

Crew getting ready for his cute cake

Ella and Blakely

The Musketeers

We all got together to celebrate Crew's 1st birthday.  All the cousins had a great time playing together.  It is always a fun thing getting our families together.  Kevin and Bailey brought Blakely down too, so Ella had a little buddy.  We are so blessed by such a great family!  Happy Birthday sweet Crew!  Your sweet smile brings joy to all you meet!