Happy Easter ~2010~

We enjoyed such a beautiful Easter weekend!

The weather was PERFECT and the celebration was joyous!

It was also my sweet little Hudson's 1st Easter!

Last Easter I was VERY pregnant with him and just about ready to POP!

My sweet Sophie lu!!!

~The kids woke Easter morning and were pleasantly surprised to see what the

Easter bunny had left them.

They enjoyed digging through their baskets before heading downstairs for breakfast.

We started the day off by making these yummy resurrection rolls.

They turned out really neat and were a great reminder to us
of what this day of celebration was ALL about!

CHRIST IS RISEN!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!

After breakfast, we headed outside so I could grab a few Easter pics before heading off to church. We were supposed to leave for church at 8:15am because Shane and I were working in the nursery during the first service. Getting all four kids ready for church, making breakfast, trying to snap a few Easter pics, and leaving the house ready to host guests immediately after church--(all before 8am) is NOT for the faint at heart.

It was CRAZY, but we managed.

After such a busy morning, I was grateful for a wonderful church service where we could truly worship and focus our attention on praising our RISEN LORD.

After church we headed home to enjoy Easter brunch with our family.

All the GIRLS!

How CUTE are these two?!?!

Just hangin' out!

Shane with his Dad and Grandparents.

After all our guests were gone, we took a quick breath and then headed over to Shane's sisters house to celebrate my niece, Makalya's, 2nd birthday.

A Easter birthday wouldn't be complete without an egg hunt.

The kids had a BLAST hunting for eggs.

Sophie was more concerned about what was in the eggs than actually hunting for them.

I know one day Riley will just cringe when he sees this pic,
but I thought it was just too cute not to include!

Riley in his Easter bonnet!

By the end of the day EVERYONE was quite tuckered out!

And even though it was a busy day...it was completely joy-filled
as we celebrated J-E-S-U-S!!!

"He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.
Come, see the place where He was lying.
Matthew 28:6

Just some Easter FUN!

Oh how I LOVE Easter! Our family is so...looking forward to this glorious upcoming weekend. The weather is supposed to be beautiful and we have lots of fun things planned. All our extended family will be coming over here on Sunday after church to celebrate. Instead of a traditional Easter lunch, we decided to have brunch. The menu is all planned and it should be yummy!

Can't wait!

With Easter just around the corner, the kids and I got busy in the kitchen yesterday afternoon.

We had fun baking "Some BUNNY loves you" cupcakes, and dyeing Easter eggs.

The Bunny cupcakes were a HUGE hit with my boys and were super easy to do!

We had fun decorating several dozen bunnies and then delivered them to a few of our neighbors as a special Easter treat.

After our cupcakes were done, it was time to dye some eggs.

This was a much messier task, but equally as fun.

Even little miss Sophie got to decorate a few eggs.

She was lovin' it!

The boys had a great time being creative as they decorated each of their eggs.

I also found this GREAT recipe for "Empty Tomb Easter Rolls" which I'm really excited to try on Sunday morning before church. They sound so..........neat and I know the kids will get a kick out of them. I'll let you know how they turn out!

Happy Easter Everyone!

"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our sins; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds were are healed!"

Isaiah 53:5

Sew Crazy and a "Sip and See"

I have been having "sew" much fun putting together some spring dresses for my Sophie girl. I made her three new pillowcase dresses over the weekend. LOVE pillowcase dresses!!!

(It's about the only thing I know how to make--lol,
and they are just so...easy to put together.)

I also had fun making a few little things for my sweet friend and neighbor, Ashley,
who just had a baby girl.

Sunday, a few of my neighbors and I hosted a "sip and see" for Ashley and her precious baby girl, August Anne. Love her name!!

(Meghan, me, Ashley & August Anne, Dawn)
August Anne was PERFECT the entire time, but we waited until the end of the shower to snap this pic. This sweet baby was DONE being perfect and was ready to EAT--lol!

August Anne is the youngest of Ashley's four children and the third little girl in her family. Her oldest brother, Knox, is in Corban's class at school.
Corban and Knox are BEST BUDDIES!!

Ashely and Robert didn't find out what they were having while Ashley was pregnant. They like surprises, so we waited until little August Anne was born before we had the "sip and see"!
Don't you just love the idea of a "sip and see"?!?!

The two little girls in matching blue dresses (Lucy & Ada Grace) are August Anne's
proud BIG sisters!
The other two girls are my sweet neighbors--Caroline & Julia.

We had so...much fun planning this shower.

As favors, we did a candy bar. Guests could fill a bag with assorted candy to take home with them as they left.

We also had a wish box so guests could leave a special wish or blessing
for Ashely and August Anne.
It was such a wonderful afternoon celebrating Ashley and the sweet blessing of new life!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new life into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
1 Peter 1:3

Doctor and Doughnuts

Riley, Sophie, and Hudson all had doctor appointments this morning. Sophie and Hud both had well checks and Riley had a sick appointment. (Over the last week or so, Riley has developed a little rash on his leg. I've been treating it with over the counter meds, but today it looked worse. I called the doctor first thing this morning to see if he could be seen along with the babies.) I called my mom and asked her to come with us too. With all three being seen, I knew I would need some reinforcement;) Thank goodness for my mom! I don't know how I would have managed other wise. After an hour and a half visit, multiple shots , finger pricks for blood work, multiple prescriptions, and LOTS of tears later, we were thankfully out of there and DONE!

Sophie is still a peanut! She was barely on the charts for her weight. She weighed in at a mere 20 pounds! She was in the five percentile for weight and the fifty percentile for height. Hudson on the other hand was off the charts too, but to the other extreme! He weighted in at whopping 23 pounds and was in the 50 percentile for height. He's just a big boy. My other boys were too. Love em that way;)!!!

Well, after our crazy morning we came home to a WONDERFUL surprise waiting for us on our front porch....DOUGHNUTS!!!!

My Grandpa (aka- the doughnut man) left us this sweet surprise.

The kids were so...excited!
Riley couldn't wait to dig into his Boston Cream!

Sophie LOVED her pink sprinkled doughnut!

And Hudson is a fan of a good chocolate doughnut!
What a sweet way to brighten our day and lift our spirits!

How sweet the taste of your promise is! It tastes sweeter than honey.
Psalms 119:103

"One of those days"...

Today was just an ordinary Monday at our house. The weather was rainy and cool--a stark contrast from the warm sunny days we had over the weekend. Because the weather was so dreary outside, I was grateful that we didn't have anywhere to go. After our weekend, the house was in need of some TLC and the laundry was calling (screaming) my name! And although we didn't go anywhere special or make anything neat, we enjoyed our day just the same.

Oh--- that I would always cherish days like this.
You know...days when the ordinary seems a little extraordinary and the simple can be so sweet.

Here's just a peek at our oh so "ORDINARY" day...

~Baked chocolate chip cookies with my Riley

~Two little boys, who spent the entire afternoon outside playing in the rain.

~They found two earthworms...

named them Butterfly and Rock n' Roll
(not quite sure how they came up with their names- lol)
and built a little home for their new "pets".

~Played peek-a-boo with this guy

and got lots of wet, drooly kisses from him!

~Watched as these two played so sweetly together!

And enjoyed the sound of those precious belly laughs as we played "airplane"!

YES...Today has been one of THOSE days!!!!!

"I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalms 34:1

Unexpected Blessings!

Just yesterday, I stepped outside to get the mail, and as I opened my front door I found this HUGE box sitting on my porch.

I brought it inside and opened it up only to find it FULL of beautiful clothes for my Sophie girl.

Oh. my. heart. So many BEAUTIFUL dresses!!! Also, stuck in the bottom of the box was this pair of shoes.

PERFECT for my Riley. He was in need of a new pair of sneakers for the summer
---another blessing!

In the box was this card...

and this picture...

I met this precious family about 10 years ago. I was working at our church as a preschool teacher and had their middle son, Luke, in my class. At the end of that school year, this sweet family asked me if I would be interested in coming and being their full time nanny. Shane and I had just gotten married and were talking about starting a family of our own. I knew I wanted to be a stay at home mommy, so this job was perfect for me. If and when we did have a baby, I could just bring the baby to work with me. Well, I was with this family for about four years. I LOVED their kids like my own. During the time I was with them, they adopted their beautiful daughter from China. I was with them as they went through the entire process and believe the Lord used that experience and gave Shane and I the passion to adopt also.

When they brought their precious daughter Abby home from China she was about 11 months old. My Corban was just six months old at the time. I had the privilege of taking care for their three children and of course, Corban too. It was the perfect job for me!! I know the Lord used this experience of caring for two babies so close in age and their two older boys as a way to kind of prepare me for my life today.

Well, when I found out I was pregnant with Riley, I decided it was REALLY time to be a stay at home mommy. Their kids were getting older and it wouldn't be long before they would all be in school.

We still keep in touch and celebrate birthdays and special occasions together. Corban and Abby are BEST friends. They say their going to marry each other one day--ha! We'll have to wait and see about that one!

The Lord is so...good and has blessed us time and time again through this family!

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

John 1:16

Another Month Gone By {sigh}...

Well...my babies turned another month older this week!! Sophie is now 18 months old and Hudson is 11 months!!!
WOW---that's so hard for me to believe. They are PRECIOUS and I just adore them.

Sophie is truly a trip and a half. She is such a little girly mess, and I just LOVE every ounce of her. Everyday I notice little things about her changing.

She's turning into a little girl right before my very eyes. Just the other morning I found her in her bedroom, all by herself, playing with her baby dolls. I just stood in the doorway (with out her knowing) and watched her play for a while. She was cooking in her kitchen, feeding her babies, babbling to herself, and rocking her babies to sleep. It was so... precious.

There's no question---Sophie is still a tried and true mama's girl. She prefers me to anyone, and I LOVE that. Shane is trying to win her over, but as for now...MAMA still rules!!!

Whenever my sweet Sophie gets hurt, she will come running to me, point to her boo boo and say "self". She's trying to tell me she hurt herself and will show me where the ouchie is so I can kiss it. I love how my kiss can stop the tears and make it better. Melts my heart!!!

Hudson is my little man and I am so in LOVE with him!

He is climbing up on EVERYTHING these days and is all over the place. He's not walking yet, but he's getting really good at walking behind his push toys.

He is definitely getting more and more steady on his feet and I know those first steps are just around the corner!

Hudson hasn't always been a great eater, but as of lately he is getting much better. He totally skipped the baby food phrase and went straight to table food. Some of his favorites are spaghetti, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, and green beans.

As you can telly by the pics, Hudson

isn't lacking in the calorie department;)!
He's got plenty of sweet, yummy rolls all over his little body. Gotta love it!

Oh how I adore this little guy!!!! He is my soon to be ONE year old. Crazy!!!

I am trying to savor EVERY sweet moment with these two.
Every moment is a true gift and I am grateful!

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
James 1:17