Spring is Here!

For awhile there, I thought we were heading straight from winter into summer. 80 degree days in February were a little too much for me, but we have finally hit some beautiful cooler spring weather.

This spring, as with every spring, has been crazy busy. Here are a few highlights:

 A has learned to read. It is crazy. A few days before he turned 5, he picked up a book that he had never read and read it to me. The. whole. book. The teacher in me was really excited. He loves to sit and read to his brother. I find them like this all the time.

 And I find them like this all of the time! They love to dress up. I think this time they were firefighters with gas masks and walkie-talkies. Their choice of outfits always cracks me up. A few weeks ago, we were on our way to the park and ran into a girl I went to high school with. After introducing the kids and heading on our way, I realized that A had on his bike helmet and construction goggles! I can only imagine what she thought!

 We have spent lots of time at the park. Starting in February, I would tell the boys everyday, "We have to play outside. It's not that often that it's 80 degrees in February. We have to take advantage of this weather before it gets cold again." But it never got cold again! 

 St. Patrick's Day Parade downtown. We started out in jackets, and by the end of the parade, we were all sunburned! Who thinks to bring sunscreen to a parade in MARCH!?! 

 This one was just too cute. I love these boys. :)

 This is A's preschool class. We had an Easter party, and the kids went on an Easter egg hunt outside. There were 150 eggs. It took about 2 minutes to find them all! A loves his class, loves his teachers and loves going to school! Next year, he'll be at a new school, which he is equally excited about, but I know he'll miss some of these good friends.

 We went down to the Reds' Opening Day parade. It's a city-wide official holiday now, so I figured we needed to go. The boys love the Reds and can name every player at every position. They love listening to the games on the radio with their daddy. Side note: we almost didn't make it to the beginning of the parade. The boys were petrified that Mr. Redlegs (the mascot) would be there. I promised I would watch for him and when he came, they could hide behind me. Before the parade even started, a golf cart came from the OPPOSITE direction with... you guessed it... Mr. Redlegs. The boys freaked out. As if that were not bad enough, the golf cart stops directly in front of us and Mr. Redlegs gets OFF of the cart and starts walking to all the fans to give high fives! What are the chances?!?! I thought we'd have weeks of nightmares over that one!

 Easter egg hunt #4 for my kids. We spent Easter with my family, and had a great time. The boys love their cousins so much and are such good friends with them. 

 C checking out his loot with his cousin, "I I Don".

 This one was from the Zoo. Each spring, they do Zoo Blooms and plant thousands of tulips. It's beautiful, and we were lucky to catch it just as the flowers were starting to bloom. 

 We went to the Krohn Conservatory with some friends to enjoy the Butterfly Show. 

 My sweet, sweet grandma celebrated her 94th birthday! It was super special as two of her siblings came in town from New York. It has been years since she has seen them, and it was a beautiful reunion. She doesn't always remember who people are, but her face lit up when she saw her brother. I know that it was amazingly special for her, as it was for all of us that could be there!

 Our sweet friends, the Ellises came to play one afternoon. As is ALWAYS the case when we hang out with these boys, we ended up getting extremely muddy, dirty and wet! The boys ended up just running around in the water in their undies, once again solidifying our spots as the crazy neighbors on the block!

 C and A are both playing soccer this spring. Sweet C has been practically counting down the days since last fall since he wasn't old enough then. Oh, his precious smile when he plays! He loves every minute of it. And he holds his own. He's one of the youngest players, but you'd never know from watching. He scored the first goal of the game!

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In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

'Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I stand

We're in trouble...

Tonight at dinner, c told me, "when my new brothers and sisters come home, I'm going to teach them how to do lots of tricks!" ha!

What about Jesus?!?

I had a few moments tonight to google some ideas for activities to do with the boys to celebrate Easter. It is the most important day of our faith, for without Jesus rising from the dead, He would be just another good, moral teacher. This is what sets Him apart as Lord and God!

So, I googled, "preschool easter activities" hoping to find some ideas. The first page I opened had a huge list of ideas. Cotton ball bunnies, jelly bean sorting... even songs like "He'll be hopping down the path when he comes... He'll be bringing lots of candy when he comes." Not ONE idea out of many (40?50?) even mentioned our Savior. 

I don't know why this surprised me, but it did. Isn't Jesus the whole reason we celebrate this day as a holiday? Should we at least mention his name? 

I fear that we are a nation that cries "Lord, Lord," and we claim to be"Christians" (Christ-followers). We have it in our Constitution and even engrave our money with "In God we trust", yet I fear that we do not know the God that we claim to follow... that we have somehow lost sight of Him in the midst of the American dream. 

I don't mean to sound preachy. I am challenging myself here, too. Do I really know the Jesus that I claim to follow? Or do I mold Him to fit what into my own comfort zone? 

Oh, God! May we know you. May we truly see you. Make yourself visible in the midst of the Christian-ese things that can cloud our vision. Make yourself known to us, even if it knocks us to our knees in worship and awe! Amen.

Indian Summer

When we moved into our new house nearly 5 months ago(!), it was in great shape. There are very few projects that need to be done to make it feel like our home. On the inside.

SO, that has left us to a whole lot of yard work. Luckily for us, we've had a beautiful Indian Summer in the middle of March and two little "helpers" to make the work go...faster? Or maybe it's just more fun with a little help. We borrowed two little wheelbarrows and A had gotten some gardening tools for his birthday, so they really look the part of gardeners.

Here's what we have done so far:

-Tilled an area for the garden.
-Decided it wasn't big enough, so tilled more.
-Then realized that it wasn't going to get enough sunlight, so tilled a different patch of land.
-Dug out about 50 wheelbarrows full of dirt from one area of the yard to flatten it and carted it to another to raise it up.
-Dug rocks out of the "flower" gardens. By rocks, I mean everything from river rock to 200 pound granite boulders. The previous owners apparently tried to grow a rock garden and were extremely successful. We now have a huge rock pile in the back yard that will be repurposed for something else that has yet to be determined.
-Cut down several bushes and tree branches.Enough to have two huge wood piles that surround the rock pile. (Is this sounding like boy-heaven or what!)
-Moved slates from a patio to a pile on the driveway. These will be repurposed for another patio in a different location. Apparently the previous patio was built prior to the existence of a HUGE walnut tree in the neighbor's yard. Enjoying dinner while getting pelted with falling walnuts doesn't sound fun at all. We've picked a new location and just need to till and then flatten the land to get started on the patio.

So that pretty much recaps the last two weekends! So much work, but it's starting to look really good. We still have a pretty long to-do list but are hopeful that this weather will hold up and we'll have lots of time to get our stuff done.

Birthday Pics

Here are a few pics from A's bday parties. Yep... two. I had planned on only having family over to celebrate, but A came home from school one day bubbling with excitement as he explained how his friends at school couldn't wait for his birthday party. He had invited them all over, and they were wondering when it would be. He was so excited that I didn't have the heart to say no.

 A's sweet friend, C, invited us to a hockey game to celebrate A's bday. It was a High School Cyclones game, which was perfect. High quality game so it was fun to watch, but not professional so it was FREE! It was a fun way to spend the morning. 

With one of the hockey players. You can't tell from their faces, but they were SO excited to meet a real hockey player!

Birthday party #1 - celebrating with family.  

 Birthday Party #2- Celebrating with friends. Super hero party! The kids all decorated capes and masks and we played lots of super-hero-themed games. Very fun!

Opening presents was a group event :) Everyone helped! 

Super heroes getting ready to save the world! (or play a game...whichever comes first)

Five years ago...

It was a Tuesday. I had spent the entire day teaching and felt so special as the sweet ladies I worked with threw a shower to celebrate the coming additions of 4 new babies to our staff. We hung out, enjoyed conversation and snacked on cake and other treats.

In my mind, I still had 5 weeks to prepare. The nursery was under construction and we still had to organize all of the gear that a new baby  necessitates, but I wasn't stressed out by anything yet since I still had so much time. I was totally oblivious to just how soon I would be welcoming our new baby.

That night, I was woken at 1 am when my water broke, and to the shock of EVERYONE, our sweet baby boy was born 15 hours later.

Sweet A, I can NOT believe you are five years old. That is no longer a toddler or even a little kid. That is full kid status. When I look at you, I can barely remember the chubby big baby that stole my heart five years ago. Now, you move at the speed of light on your scooter or climb fences with ease.

I love your curiosity. You ask so many questions, and though it can be exhausting, I love that you have already gained so much knowledge in your little life. You want to know the truth, and you love to share what you know with anyone that will listen.

I love the sweet heart that you have. You know how things are supposed to be and you want to fix them when they are not the right way. Because of that, you pray often for God to help people that don't have food or kids that don't have mommies and daddies. You know it's not how it should be and you want so desperately to make it right.

And above all, I LOVE that you are the perfect mix of big kid and little boy. You soar around the house in your superhero cape, but you'll still cuddle up on my lap to read for hours. You'll play tackle football and wrestle your friends to the ground, but you still won't go to bed with out a hug from your mommy.

Happy Birthday!