Easter pictures

We had a wonderful Easter this year. My Mom, Bob's parents and his brothers and their wives all came. The girls had such a ball playing outdoors with their cousins Thomas and Jonathon.

I had a heck of a time finding Easter dresses that didn't break the bank, but finally came across these at Walmart and these are the ones that the girls chose. I was so surprised at the yellow and blue choices since there were plenty of pink and purple dresses in the store and those are the colors that the girls usually choose. But, this is what they chose, and I thought they looked just beautiful in them. Here we are, me and my girlies.
Daddy's girls ...
It was still a little chilly out ... but the sun was shining and it was such a beautiful day!
This is my favorite one ...
With Grandpa and Grandma ...
Family picture ... Jonathan, Andrew, J, Thomas and H after the egg hunt with their bags full of eggs. =)

Thankful Thursday

Today I am so thankful that spring is on it's way! The girls have been able to play outside every day for the last week and it's been wonderful! After so many months of feeling cooped up in the house it has been great to send them out for some fresh air and fun. They have been loving it too and every day start asking me right after breakfast when they can go out.
Also, I have to add that I'm thankful for a HUGE answer to prayer ... more details will have to wait till later but we had literally just begun praying about a certain change for our family and within 2 days came a huge answer and blessing. I am blown away by how quickly the Lord has answered our prayers! There is a lot more to be decided and confirmed which is why I won't go into the details just yet. {AND NO, IT'S NOT ABOUT HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!!!} =)

You're going to miss this ...

Yesterday I had this great conversation with some friends about having babies. More specifically about when you know that you're done having babies, or when you still feel that desire to have more. It's taken me a few years to finally come to terms with the fact that I am done. I feel as though our family is complete and I'm so perfectly and totally content with that. It feels really good to know and to have a strong sense of contentment about it.

During our conversation I was sharing that I didn't really love the baby stages. Sounds like a horrible thing for a Mother to say, right? But I always worried too much about everything when they were babies. And I always felt overtired and like I wasn't really enjoying my kids.

Now that they are both a little older I find that I am enjoying them SO much more. If you browse back through my older posts you'll see that I love to do stuff with the girls. I love to bake with them and take them places and create lasting memories for them. This is such a fun age. Yes, we still have our battles somedays and we daily have to deal with and address attitudes, but it's still been a fun and rewarding age.

There's this new song on the radio that brings me to tears every time I hear it. I posted the whole song but the part that touched me the most was the verse about the young mother apologizing for her screaming, crying kids ... and then the repair man telling her not to worry because someday she's going to miss this stage. I found that so encouraging as a Mom.
Somedays I can't even complete a phone call or a quick visit to the bathroom without someone interupting, crying, or screaming ... but these days will not last forever! And someday I will look back and say "wow, I sure miss when they were that little, when they needed me so much." So enjoy the song! And enjoy your kids!

You're Going to Miss This by Trace Adkins

She was staring out the window of their SUV
Complaining, saying "I can't wait to turn 18"
She said "I'll make my own money, and I'll make my own rules"
Mamma put the car in park out there in front of the school
Then she kissed her head and said "I was just like you"

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In a one-bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by
He tells her "It's a nice place"
She says "It'll do for now"
Starts talking about babies and buying a house
Daddy shakes his head and says "Baby, just slow down"

Cause you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
And she keeps apologizin'
He says "They don't bother me.
I've got 2 babies of my own.
One's 36, one's 23.
Huh, it's hard to believe, but...

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this"

Decorating Easter Eggs

The girlies and I had a fun afternoon ... they helped me bake bread, make a cake, make baked oatmeal, and then we did the fun stuff - decorating Easter eggs!

They loved adding all the colors and then decorating with glitter and stickers. Thankfully they love to eat egg salad since we have LOTS of hard boiled eggs to eat!

Dunking the eggs in the dyes...
Just a little bit of help from Mama ...
Bread machine was working hard while we had fun!
Two dozen beautifully colored eggs ...
Happy Easter!!

Thankful Thursday

I'm so behind on my blogs!!!! UUGGHHH! I feel as though I'll never catch up!

But for today, I'm thankful for ... Jesus Christ. This week being Easter I've been reminded time and time again of the ultimate sacrifice He made when He died on the cross for me, and not just for me, but for the whole world. How awesome is that!?

Thank You Lord Jesus! Thank you for the eternal life you give and the forgiveness of sin that you offer because of Your death on the cross. Thank you that You took my sin and paid for it by dying for me. Even me, the lowly, wretched, sinful person that I am! Thank You Jesus!!

Going green

I know, I know. I've been a blogging slacker. I have so much to update and so many pictures to add that it feels overwhelming to me! So for now, you get a quick post about St. Patrick's day. Let me just say that my hubby rocks. He loves to cook and since Monday is his day off he often chooses to cook for me on Monday nights. The kids were at Grandma and Grandpa's house so it was just a green dinner for two.

Bob made these awesome pork chops, corn and the yummiest twice baked potatoes (that he dyed GREEN!). Then we dyed our drinks green too, threw a green tablecloth on the table, and I brought home green balloons and green carnations from work ... it made for a fun and festive St. Pat's dinner!

I know what you're thinking!

Someone has hijacked Kathy's blog, changed it all around, removed all her cool lists and links and she doesn't even know it because she's in Florida!

Ha Ha Ha, just kidding. I'm still here. We leave tomorrow. I'm packed, planned and prepared. Just thought I would try a new look to my blog ... but adding the new look made all my cool elements go away. So when I have more time and patience I will start adding them back in ... but for now I'm signing off (again!)

Getting ready to head south ...

I am beyond excited. We are just 2 days away from leaving for our trip to Florida. The girls and I will fly down on Wednesday so that I can have a few days with my two very close friends Sarah and Angela ... then Bob will join us on Saturday so we can spend a week in Orlando with our friends Stacey and Rob and their kids at a rental house.

I have been packing and planning and making lists and checking things off for days now! I am almost done, and tomorrow I will get some time alone to finish things up. It's been so bone chilling cold here lately that this trip could not have come at a better time. And I will be sure to bring back LOTS of pictures and stories to share here on the blog. So until then, I'm signing off ... see you in a couple of weeks!

So proud of my honey!

Bob signed up to run in a 5k race recently. So today was the race and even up until the last minute he was thinking about backing out ... but we all went with him to cheer him on and he did great! I was so proud of him for following through. And since I can hardly run from my front door to my mailbox I was quite impressed with him running 3 miles!

Here are some pictures ...
BRRRR, it was so cold, we were all bundled up!
Thankfully there was a Starbucks nearby so we ran in for some hot cocoa while waiting for the racers to come back!
Working out the Pre-race jitters...
Warm up stretches with Daddy - I thought it was SO cute that H did this with Bob!
Go Bob Go!
Keep going, you can do it!
Almost to the finish line!