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!

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for HEALTH. Seems funny to say that since this week my whole family has been sick ... but this is my train of thought ...

Yes, we have had sickness
Yes, we have had colds
Yes, we have even had a few minor ear infections and strep throat
Yes, I have had a couple trips to the ER (a few yrs back - long stories!)

(NOT ALL THIS WEEK! JUST IN GENERAL)

But despite all that, we have been very blessed by good health. None of us have suffered any ongoing conditions, none of us have suffered lengthy, difficult sicknesses in which we required meds and/or Dr's visits.

So many people I know have children with ongoing or recurring illnesses. I feel so bad for these parents! It's so hard to see your kids when they aren't well. And it's so hard to parent when everyone is not getting enough sleep.

I know that life offers no guarantees. I know that at any moment any one of us could be diagnosed with something serious, or could suffer a bad illness. I know this, but I choose not to dwell on those thoughts and I choose to be thankful and grateful for the good health that we are all enjoying right now.

Thank you Lord for good health! Thank you for protection from serious illnesses and for keeping me healthy this week so I could care for my sick loved ones. Thank you for your constant care and concern for each and every one of us. Please be with those who are hurting or suffering at this very moment. In Christ's name, Amen.

I {LUV} Land's End

I love everything about this company ... I love their clothes, I love their shoes, I love their children's clothes and shoes ... I love that even though they are a little pricey, they have such high quality products that you know you are getting your money's worth!

I just ordered a few things for myself since we are heading south next week and I needed some summery things to wear ... I felt like a kid in a candy store when the box arrived through UPS today! It was like getting a really awesome present in the mail ... even if I did have to pay for it myself! :) .... Good thing I worked all those hours around Valentines day ...

In my box came a catalog for their kids clothes too and I have to tell you ... I am ready to order EVERYTHING! I have done a little looking around for kids swimsuits and think that I will now order from LE ... they had the most adorable, comfortable, modest, and SPF of 50 swimsuits for little girls. I have a couple of their suits myself and let me tell you, they really do last so much longer than other companies!

And how cute is this Easter dress????
Oh how I love Land's End!!

Patience

I will admit, I have a real lack of patience when it comes to my kids. I often find myself shouting at them to 'hurry up and get in the car!', 'hurry up and get dressed!', or 'hurry up and get eating your breakfast!'.

It's not that we are running late, it's just that I have this need to be in control at all times, and to have everyone else follow my agenda for the day. I often find myself getting frustrated and impatient when the kids don't do things exactly as I want and when I want.

This morning while doing our Bible time I saw my faults staring me right in the face ... our subject for the day was, you guessed it, PATIENCE!

Last night I was busy doing something when H kept bugging me about watching a TV show, she nagged and nagged and nagged until I finally yelled at her to 'BE PATIENT!!'

So this morning as we read in our Bible lesson about patience, I felt such guilt over my own lack of patience. I feel as though I fail my kids so many times when it comes to modeling good behaviors and self control. After all, how can I expect them to be patient when I myself can't control my own impatient attitude?

Being a parent is definitely a real eye opener. Daily I am faced by my own inadequacies and guilt over the many ways I have messed up. I'm truly thankful that my kids forgive me, time and time again. Even more, how much more does God forgive me ... and He knows all the hidden thoughts and faults that no one else even sees!

This week, my prayer and my mission, is to work on being more patient with my kids. Our verse this morning was from Lamentations 3:26 "It is good to wait quietly". I wrote it out on some index cards and posted it in several places in my home ... it will be my daily reminder to watch my impatient attitude.

5 years ago ...

My heart grew by another mile. My second daughter was born. We'd never expected to have another baby so soon, but 17 months after H was born we were at the hospital again welcoming another little baby girl into our family.

I was doing some scrapbooking tonight and looking through some old photos -- because of course I'm VERY far behind in my scrapbooking! And it just struck me how fast life moves ... especially after having children! Scrapping some pictures from 2 years ago I kept feeling like the events had just happened ... how could it be that they actually happened 2 whole years ago??!!

Somehow these thoughts had me looking back into my photo files on the computer where I came across some pictures of J when she was a newborn. These were pre-digital days so forgive me if the photo quality isn't that great ... hope you enjoy some before and after pictures of our sweet little J.

Also, my niece Rebekah was born just 8 days before J. Over the years we have always liked to take their pictures together to see how much they have grown and changed. At the bottom you will see a picture from when they were newborns (all snuggled together) and then a recent picture from Becca's birthday last week.

J, about a week old.

The photo I took to use for her birth announcement.

And look at me now! I like Hannah Montana and bowling. I'm a great swimmer. I can draw a self portrait on the chalkboard.
Becca and J, Becca was 2.5 weeks old, J was 1 week old.
Becca and J now ... both turning 5 years old!

We love you J and Becca!!