Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter this year. We sure did! We started it out with a trip to the zoo on Friday afternoon, where we were up close and personal with some wolves.

On Saturday we went to an Easter eve concert at the Levitt Shell, where I didn't have my camera, so no pictures, sorry. The concert was great and the boys had a blast, although it did cause a pretty late bedtime.

Easter morning started with church, and then we headed to my parents house for lunch. Caleb got to see his cousins (my cousins kids) who he doesn't get to see often so that was alot of fun. He had fun "holding" the babies. Have I mentioned that he has told me multiple times now that he wants a baby sister?? Anyways, he got to play with his cousins Greta, Evan and Emily and they had alot of fun together.

Here are some pictures of our day.

And coming up, a ... I have a ton of pictures that never made it to the blog because I haven't posted in so long post.

Happy Valentine's Day

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. "

1 Corinthians 13

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and while it very different from last year, it was lots of fun!

On Christmas Eve we spent the afternoon with Charles' family; eating great food, opening gifts and playing with cousins. Then we headed to the Christmas Eve service at church. The music was great, the sermon was wonderful and the congregation singing Silent Night in the candlelight at the end was beautiful. From there, we headed home for a quick dinner and to get the boys in bed since they had gone all day without naps.

(My boys with their cousins, Phillip-Giles and Naomi)

Christmas morning was hectic but fun. Our boys are still to young to really "get" Christmas, although Caleb definitely knew it was baby Jesus' birthday. But there was no waking at the crack of dawn in this house. Ethan woke at his normal 7:30ish, and we finally had to wake Caleb at 8:00 so that he'd have time to open his presents before church. They both loved all their new toys!

We headed to church for more great fellowship and another great sermon and then to my parents house for lunch. After a delicious lunch and quick naps for the boys we opened gifts. And once again, the boys loved all their new stuff. We had a relaxing afternoon just hanging out with my family and headed home around dinner time.

On Monday we headed back out to my parents house to get together with all of my mom's family. It was great to see everyone, and Caleb loved being the center of attention. He kind of steals the show when we're around crowds of people. He definitely didn't inherit his Mama's shyness. He did some dancing, played some instruments, sang some Christmas tunes, and just generally strutted around the house like he owned the place. Sweet Ethan just enjoys watching his big brother, and being passed around for everyone to play with and hold, although he's quite a dancing machine too. I'll have to try and get a video of their moves to post on here at some point. After lunch and gifts, the Christmas festivities were finally over after a long weekend of fun, family and lots of food.

We've finally caught up on sleep and after celebrating Charles' birthday today are getting back into the swing of things around here.

I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

I pray that everyone has a very blessed and Merry Christmas!

sshhh... don't tell Caleb

This is one of Caleb's Christmas presents that I've been working on. It took alot longer than I anticipated, but I finished in time for Christmas!

He loves cars right now so I'm hoping he likes it.

Giving Thanks

I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and I hate that it sometimes takes a holiday like Thanksgiving for me to really think about all the ways I've been blessed. But thats ok. It's allowed me this week to really focus on what's important, my faith, my family, my friends. I love that, because of my faith, thankfulness isn't just something that happens when things are going well. We can be thankful regardless of our circumstances, regardless of whats going on in the world around us.

There's a lot of bad stuff in this world. Things don't always go like we want them to, people we love get sick, even die, but that doesn't change the fact that we are thankful. We are thankful for a Heavenly Father who, despite our constant failures, loves us, and continues to bless us although we certainly don't deserve it.

I'm thankful this year for the man that God placed in my life, to lead me and our family into a closer relationship with Him. A man that works so hard in all that he does, a man that loves me even when I am anything but lovable.

I'm thankful for my two little guys, who are slowly becoming not so little, for their sweet spirits and kind hearts.

I'm thankful for my family and the closeness we share. God has truly blessed me with parents who have always been such a Godly example of the way marriage is supposed to work, and with siblings who is it so easy to have fun with.

I'm thankful for my church and the strong group of brothers and sisters in Christ that I get to spend time with on a very regular basis.

I'm thankful for friends. Friends that are so easy to spend time with and talk to, friends who thank God for the blessings in their lives, and friends who continue to thank God even when things are not going well.

And ultimately I'm thankful for a God who loves me so much that he sent his Son to suffer the punishment that I deserve for the wickedness in my life and heart. And on top of that, a God who blesses me beyond what I could ever imagine.

Like I said, I have a lot to be thankful for.

I hope everyone has a very happy thanksgiving!

Weekend Recap

We had a very busy, fun-filled weekend this past weekend. So I thought I'd do a little recap. I wrote last year about Halloween and how our family chooses to celebrate, which you can check out here, if you're interested.

On Fridays Caleb goes to Mother's Day Out and this past Friday they had a Halloween party. They all wore their little costumes and looked adorable. Caleb went as a baseball player. He loves baseball, and it happened to be quite timely with the world series going on. Apparently it was a huge hit with all the people in the church offices upstairs.

On Saturday, Charles got up and went to participate in "Jesus Loves Memphis". I stayed home with the kiddos but I heard it was a great time of work, fellowship and prayer with a bunch of local churches, all working together to love this city we live in, by cleaning, building, painting, and I'm sure lots of other stuff as well.

Saturday afternoon we headed to a barn party at my great aunt and uncles house. It was lots of fun getting together with some extended family that we don't see all that often, and Caleb had a blast, once again dressed in costume (this time a bumble bee).

He got the chance to play with some distant cousins and he was the life of the party. Running, dancing, and just generally capturing the attention of everyone in attendance. Shy is one word that does not describe this child. Ethan had a good time too, being passed around from person to person, and he looked adorable in his froggie costume.

Ethan and his Aunt Rachel

Caleb and his Aunt Rachel or Ray Ray, as he calls her.

Sunday began with church and ended with a community Reformation service at one of the local presbyterian churches. I sang in the choir along with several hundred other choir members from churches all over the city. It was quite an experience and the music sounded amazing, if I do say so myself. The paster of our church preached the sermon and was, as usual, outstanding.

So that was our busy weekend, lots of stuff but lots of fun. And now, while we won't be trick or treating tonight, I do have my supply of candy ready to hand out to the neighborhood kids who come knocking on our door. I'm just hoping Caleb is ok with sharing his stash of "treats" that I've been using as potty training rewards, which he's doing very well with, by the way. There will be a post on that coming soon, I know you're thrilled ... potty training adventures, what more could you want?

4th of July

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.

We sure did!

Eating, swimming, fishing and fireworks...a full weekend.

Unfortunately I was too busy having fun to capture the weekend in pictures except for a few mediocre pictures from my phone, but take my word for it... We had a blast!

Easter Weekend

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."   1 Peter 1:3-5

We have had a wonderful Easter weekend, very busy, but very fun.  We started the weekend on Saturday by going to an Easter egg hunt with lots of friends from church.  Caleb had fun gathering eggs, although he really wanted to open each egg after he picked it up.  Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead on Saturday so the only picture I have from that day was taken with Charles' phone and it's not great, but as some of you know, it's hard getting a good picture of 2 little ones!

After lunch and the egg hunt, we headed home for naps before going to a live outdoor concert.  It was an absolutely beautiful night. We again, got to see lots of friends from church, and Caleb got to run, play and dance, dance, dance to the music.  Have I mentioned before that Caleb really loves dancing?  Well, he does.  I'll have to get a video of him dancing before he outgrows this stage.  Ethan loved watching all the people, and getting passed around from person to person.  I love that he's such and easy baby and that we can take him places like that and not have to worry about him being a problem.

Sunday, we woke up early and headed to church.  I had to be there early, so I took Ethan with me.  And Charles and Caleb came a little later.  The service was great, the music beautiful, and the sermon excellent (as usual).  

After church we went to my parents house for lunch with lots of family.  This was the first family function where Caleb was old enough to actually enjoy playing with some of his older cousins, and he was hysterical.  He thought he was being so funny, and the older kids were just cracking up as his goofiness.  I've said it before ... he's quite a character!

Thankfully I remembered to charge my camera so I have took lots of pictures.  I'll end this long post with some pictures of our Easter weekend.  

 Ready to hunt for some eggs!

 Checking out the goods...

 Caleb loves his Aunt Rachel!

 Ethan trying out his new toy, and Caleb watching in the background.

 Ethan enjoyed hanging out, watching all the people.

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!