Easter!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Easter this year with our family and friends!  Mom and Vern came into town on Thursday night.  We had a couple of relaxing days to hang out with them... and then there was Sunday! 

We went to the 9:00 service at church and it was beautiful.  The sermon was a reminder that "He still appears today..."  The thought reminded me of the book that I am reading and seeing God in our lives every day.  At the end of the service, the choir/orchestra did the Hallelujah chorus.  Mark leaned over and whispered that it was his Mom's favorite song.  Since she has been in the hosptial for several days we called her during the song so that she could hear it and have a little bit of Easter celebration too. 

After church we came home and prepared for our guests.  We had 14 adults and 3 little ones over for lunch and fun times!  Mark and Vern set up tables and tents outside and we enjoyed a beautiful day! 

Everyone brought goodies to share for a yummy lunch together.  Of course, the only food picture I got was cupcakes.

After lunch we had an Easter egg hunt for these 3 sweet girls. 

I love all the commotion surrounding the egg hunt - parents, grandparents and cameras everywhere! 

We then put the girls down for naps and the adults had some fun with eggs!  First up, the ancient art of egg tapping. :-) You tap the other persons egg and see if you can get theirs to break without breaking your own.  The game didn't last long but it was fun.

Next was the infamous egg toss.

I think the guys had the most fun when they had free reign with the eggs though!  They ended up tossing the eggs OVER the entire house and trying to catch them on the other side.  I think we had one catch at the end of the day.  The rest of it looked like the picture below...

This picture includes most but not all of our friends and family that came to hang out.  We are truly blessed to have such sweet, fun friends.  :-)

After all of our Easter fun, we went to The Garden, a shelter for women and children and served dinner to them.  It was a sweet end to a day of celebration.  When we finally arrived back home, I thought I would have a mess of dishes to clean up but Lindsay and Brad came over the house was spotless!!  Yipee!



I know the video is side ways but my new computer does not seem to have the magic of video editing and I was too lazy to research it for too long.  The giggle is all that matters in this video!!

1000 Gifts

11.  Crockpots that make yummy dinners - especially the tender meat.

12.  Leftovers from the crockpot for the next day = no cooking for me!

13.  Healthy bodies.

14.  Quality time with my Mom and sister.

15.  Completing a project...new curtains for the living room.

16.  Warm baths - when the water covers your entire body.

Bee Video

This is probably only cute to me and Mark but I haven't posted a video in awhile so I thought I would share. 

Easter Egg Hunt

Caroline went to her first official Easter Egg Hunt today.  Chad, Noelle and William hosted the hunt in their neighborhood.  Noelle spread out 600 eggs all over the grassy area so there was plenty to choose from!!  We did a little practicing before we went because I thought Caroline may be overwhelmed by all of the kids.  I think the practice helped because she ended up with a full little basket!

Augusta!

I've said it before and I must say it again...I love coming to Augusta.  Mark traveled Monday - Friday this week and I was not looking forward to a week by myself so Gigi (that's her new name) and Grandude graciously offered to have us visit.  At the last minute Lindsay and Kelsey decided to tag along for the ride!  I always feel like I'm on vacation when I'm here.  I don't have to think about work or any other priorities.  We just enjoy time together!  We spent most of our time playing and eating.  :-)

Aunt Lindsay bought a fun sprinkler that we thought the girls would love...

we were wrong.  Even with the encouragement from Lindsay and I the girls really wanted nothing of it.

After the sprinkler fiasco, we ended up with a really fun pool that the girls both loved!  We even had our own personal pool boy.  :-) 

We took them to the little playground that is in the neighborhood.  It's my goal to one day live in a neighborhood that has a playground and pool/swim team.  The girls LOVED the slides and had a great time climbing up and going down.  We sent them down together a few times and they just giggled and giggled!

Since we did so much playing we had to make sure we had some good food in our bellies.  We had Mexican tonight and the girls ate a whole bowl of cheese dip themselves!

Lindsay then told us about the free ice cream for little ones at Brusters so off we went.  It was a treat to see Caroline eat her first ice cream cone. 

We did do a little bit of "work" while we were here.  Caroline and Kelsey both did some modeling of the clothes that Gigi is now making.  The clothes really are precious and it's been fun to see her start this new business venture.  You should check out Sew Divine and see all their cute things! 

1000 Gifts

I am in the third chapter of a book by Ann Voskamp called, "One Thousand Gifts:  A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are."  The book has been really interesting and has gone a lot deeper than I imagined so far.  Of course, you could probably guess that one of the things that book challenges the reader to do is to keep a list of 1000 gifts or a thousand ways that God has shown His love to you.  The author said the list does not have to be "big" things.  I can also do repeats and list Caroline 100 times if I want.  Silly, material things like a new favorite shirt also count.  Ann believes that the act of giving thanks, allows you to experience God's grace in new ways and enables you to live a life of joy.  Sounds good to me.  I'm starting the list on the blog hoping that it will keep me accountable to keeping the list going, although I might not write all 1000 or more on the blog!

1.  Hearing Mark breathe while he sleeps next to me.

2. Working on projects together as a family.

3.  Enjoying the curls, giggles and silliness of sweet Caroline and laughing as she won't take that necklace off!  She even wore it to church this morning! 

4.  Watching Caroline and Mark play on the swing set that he built for her.

5. Watching Caroline go down the slide by herself.

6. An air conditioner that is limping along.

7. Sunshine with a nice breeze.

8.  Spending time with family!  They invited us over to cook out and eat popsicles. 

9.  A blog to keep up with our little life...it's been so fun to go back and look at pictures!

10.  A baby that is having quite the party in my belly right now.

Whew...I've got a long way to go!

Opening Night!

For years now I have wanted to go to opening day/night of the Braves season but have just never had the opportunity.  This year I marked it on my calendar and as the date neared I started making plans.  Those that know us well, know that we are not the best planners!  We are great at planning things when other people are involved but, if it's something for just Mark and I to enjoy we normally wait around too long and miss out.  I was pumped that I had scheduled a babysitter two weeks early!  Now to get the tickets...I wanted the ultra cheap seats...the game looks the same to me from most anywhere in the stadium, plus parking, food, babysitting all add up quickly!  We looked for tickets two weeks before the game and the cheap seats were sold out.  We waited another day to make a decision about what to do next and the whole game was sold out!!  I was so bummed but started checking stubhub everyday.  I saw the prices go up, up, up and we waited, waited, waited.  To make a long story short, the tickets went down in price and we bought tickets at 5:15 Friday night before the game.  Yipee!! 

I was so excited on the way down there!  However, we got to the stadium and all of the parking lots were full of tailgaters!  We sat in traffic for a good 45 minutes passing a few open parking lots that wanted $30 to park!  One guy even told us he wanted $50!  No, thank you.  We eventually headed back towards the way we came in and one of the permit parking lots had been opened up to non-permit holders and they charged us $12.  My smile may have diminished for a few minutes but our persistence finally paid off with a cheap parking spot right across the street from the stadium entrance.

Once inside it was all worth it!!  Mark asked me if the great baseball players or the atmosphere made the night so fun.  It's a combination!  The  music, the crowds, the cheering, the great hits and catches.  There is nothing better than watching someone hit a double, knock in three runs and then watch as the sold out crowd jumps to their feet and does the tomahawk chop!  It was a fantastic game and we won 6-3!  Go Braves!

Mark's home!

Mark just got in town tonight and boy am I thankful!!  Monday to Wednesday is doable most every week but Monday to Thursday just wears me out!!  It's crazy how that extra night just takes it out of me!  Tonight Caroline and I ate dinner at Chick-fil-a and I can't tell you how thankful I was for the lady that walks around the restaurant and asks if you need anything.  We didn't need anything but after spending many days by myself it was so nice to have someone ask repeatedly if she could get anything for us.  She smiled and talked with Caroline.  She got Caroline a drink refill and brought her a cow hat to wear.  All of the extra attention made me feel so cared for!  If going to Chick-fil-a makes me feel loved it's obvious my love tank must be a little low!!

I've been trying to have something planned for everyday so that it will make the days go faster but this week was a bit of a challenge.  I did not have work or life group this week because of spring break.  However, we did find some other trouble to get into.  :-)

Caroline "painted" for the first time ever.  It's really crazy all of the stuff they have for kids now.  This paint is magic!  It is clear and only shows up as a color when you put it on this special paper.  No mess to clean up and a happy Caroline for about 30 minutes.   Yipee!

Caroline still surprises me every day with the things that she is learning.  We've been potty training for what seems like an eternity now but this week we have hit a new high and I think we are just about done!  She's been wearing panties every day!  She's also talking a lot more!  She is able to put two words together too.  Although she has been saying these for awhile, her favorite words are hi, bye and no.  When I go to put her down for her nap, I try to say, "Sweet dreams, love you, see you soon" etc. but she will have none of it.  As we walk into the room she says, "Bye" very matter of factly.  I slip in a quick, "I love you" and down she goes!

Tonight after arriving home from dinner, I got her out of the car and told her we were going to take a bath.  She told me she wanted to play and ran out into the driveway. I said no we were going to take a bath and I headed inside, hoping she would follow.  Of course, this was not the case, I turned around a few moments later and she had already made it all the way around to the front of the house and was sitting on the front porch.  We "play" on the front porch every day.  :-)  

Thankfully, Daddy arrived home right after this little stunt and she got in lots of good play time and giggles.  As we were telling her it was just about time for bed, she layed down on the floor like she was going to sleep and Mark copied.  Soon she was patting Mark on the back to wake up and saying, "hi."  Of course, that was not good enough.  She soon put herself back to "sleep" on the floor and proceeded to pat herself on the back and then pop up with a "hi."  I love watching her play with Mark in the evenings.  She always gets so silly and giggly!

Nothing new

There is not much new going on around here.  We are just trying to enjoy the spring weather and be outside as much as possible. 

We've had a few play dates with friends and look forward to some more this next week.

All of the kids posed for group picture, except for Eli.  He was playing for Mark when this photo was snapped.   

This is the group picture from our last play date in August!  It's hard to believe how much they have grown!!

We are also trying to get our house spruced up a bit.  We are doing a tiny bit of re-decorating and also just trying to get the house organized as we prepare for the new babe.  I think the next few months will be rather busy but I'm looking forward to them.