Sometimes you just need a nap...

Play Group

This year we hosted a play group at our house every Wednesday morning. Some mornings, it was just Hannah, me, another adult, and child. Some mornings there were 21 people at my house! Either way it was a great way for young Christian women to get together, swap parenting stories, encourage each other, and let the kids play. Thanks to all the ladies who helped make this possible!

Emma and Abby sharing some flowers

Sydney and Charlie

Hannah and Aubrey

The fake cry

There are some things that girls master that boys just do not see the need for. Take the fake cry for instance. Neither David nor Jeremiah ever saw the need to make themselves cry. Hannah, however, has this down to an art form!

Easter

I love Easter and the fact that we celebrae Jesus rising from the dead - conquering death and sin! How awesome is HE! I love Easter Sunday worship. It really makes me feel renewed.

We also enjoy some of the other Easter traditions, even when they are just different ways of having fun.

"For me?" "Is this for me?"

Can I eat all of that?

Ready for church. I didn't catch that Jeremiah made a face until we were all home and changed and Hannah was down for a nap.

After church, we had our friends, the Busseys over for Easter dinner and a little fun!

Sydney Easter egg hunting

Hannah finding some eggs, too.

Rock band - Daddies and daughters!

Now, where were the mommies? Making dinner, of course!

It was a great day of fun and fellowship...I love Easter!

Playground fun

Living next door to a playground can have its benefits. We do not have to buy a swing set, we don't have to walk to the park, there is always a clean potty, and when Hannah has friends over, there is always a place to go.





Photos courtesy of Jeremiah.

Loving on his sister

David...loving on his sister!

Being Cute

Cuteness abounds!

Messing Around

Some picture are worth a thousand words...some have no words at all!

Winning the Patriot Pen Essay Contest

Not very often would one expect Jeremiah to win an essay contest. As an auditory learner, he has difficulty putting thoughts into words. Yet, he placed second in the Patriot Pen Essay Contest for his middle school! What an amazing young man! Here is his essay:

Why American Veterans should be Honored

Honor is a gift that we can give every day but we chose not too. Some people deserve it and others do not. Like in the Vietnam War, we never gave the veterans any honor when they came back. We should have given them honor but we were to mad at them for fighting. I think that we should not have dishonored the people who fought because the deserved better for the hardships they faced.
War, poverty, and death, these are what American veterans have seen. They should be honored. Not spat on like they are some dogs nipping at your heels. That is how the soldiers got treated when they came back from Vietnam. Why was Vietnam different? WII had more deaths than Vietnam. Today, military members are getting better respect, when they come back, than in Vietnam and we are doing the same thing we did in Vietnam. In Vietnam most of them were forced to fight while in the other wars they had the choice to fight or we were attacked first. WWI we were attacked and in WWII we were bombed.
We can give honor through love and support. Some veterans need medical supplies or clothes. When they get to the hospital all they have is on their backs. You can also remember holidays and birthdays. That makes them happy because they know that they are still in your hearts. Still some veterans need help with finding peace because they have flash backs of the past and go into convulsions. Also some never got better. I believe that veterans can get honor from fellow soldiers. I also believe that soldiers need respect to fight because without it they feel no importance. I bet that many veterans still need help and respect and we need to help them.

Jeremiah receiving his award

Playing on the Playground

David playing with Hannah on the playground.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful young men in our family. Almost every day one of them offers to take Hannah outside and play on the playground with her. It gets her outside and gives me a break! What an awesome family!

Jeremiah's Musica Nova Concert

Jeremiah's choir at school had a concert tonight. His singing is really getting better and the choir is actually quite good. Next year, he will be in the high school choir and may get to actually sing before a different audience besides a group of parents! The pictures are only so-so...the lighting in the auditorium is not conducive to good picture taking!

The middle school choir...Jeremiah is on the front row, right.

Singing!

Hannah entertaining herself while the band plays.

After her brother left the stage, she kinda lost interest!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We had a little fun with St. Patrick's Day. Obviouosly we are not Irish or Catholic...but hey, it is just fun! Although you cannot really tell in the picture, Hannah is weraing her green jingle bell earrings. They jingle when she shakes her head, so all day long she was shaking her and and singing "Jingle Bells". Not exactly Irish!

Here she is in all her splendor!

Later she changed (on her own, of course) to go outside. Quite the fashion statement!

Little girls (and boys) are definately a blessing from God! She is such a charmer, and yet so devious at the same time. However, each evening, she is the first to say her prayers for all that she knows. They are sometimes quite lengthy depending on who all she feels led to pray for, and everyone reading this can rest assured that at sometime she has prayed for you!

Oh, Hannah!

The guitar...it haunts me! Kidding aside, it is one of Hannah's favorite toys. We have to put it away when her friends come to visit because she just cannot seem to share it! I believe in teaching our kids to share, but there is only so much you can expect from a 2-year-old. She shares most everything else really well, so we are not dwelling on the guitar.

Here she is this morning, dressed a mere 10 seconds before she picked up the guitar to sing to me. Yes, she is left handed, and we had to re-string the guitar to be a left-handed guitar.

Hannah and Jeremiah

Jeremiah and Hannah have a very unique relationship. One minute they fight like cats and dogs (Who would have thought that a 13 year old and a 2 year old would have anything to fight about?), and the next they are playing together. Hannah knows just which buttons to push to set her brother off, and I swear that sometimes he antagonizes her. I know, say it ain't so...but it is.

Here are some pictures of them hanging out. Jeremiah took them while they were playing "handyman".

Snow Princess

Bunny Tracks!!

Hannah helping to shovel snow

Shoveling goes so much faster when Hannah helps Daddy. You know he couldn't do it on his own!

Starting the snow man

Two Snow Princesses in the same picture

Hannah, Mommy and the Snow Princess

What a beautiful day God has blessed us with today. We got snow yesterday and then last night, got even more. It was a beautiful winter wonderland. The bunny had come in the night, so we put more food out for it. It is a mostly tame, domestic bunny, but lives wild behind our house. With all the snow, there is not much for it to eat.

We decided to go out and build a snow man. Mostly due to our inexprience...it didn't look very manly, so about halfway through, it changed into a Snow Princess, much to Hannah's delight.

Too Cute for Trouble!

Hannah took David's glasses - which, of course, she should be in trouble for! Instead he grabbed the camera...

But for good measure, he threatened to hang her upside down if she did it again! What a threat!

I hope that everyone's Valentine's Day is special.

Budding Rock Star

There are just not enough words to introduce this video.

Can I just say that my daughter is multi-talented??

Sydney's Princess Birthday Party

Sydney and Hannah are absolutely best of friends and yet fight like sisters! They can't wait to see each other, then fight over who has what or who bit who. You gotta love it! They do love each other, though. Absolutely.

Princess Hannah

Princess Sydney - three years old

Princess Ella Rose

Princess Eden

Sister Princesses Lilah and Aubrey

The Princesses enjoying their cake and "tea"

You are in Time Out!

Why do you obey Mommy? Because I love Jesus. That what Hannah says, anyway. Teaching obedience to a 2 year old, no matter how smart, can be a challenge. Being obedient, as a two year old is even harder. Here is my sweet Hannah...in time out!

Bubbles

Kids and baths...you gotta love them!

I'm sure Jeremiah took this photo. He loves taking pictures of Hannah...well, anything, really. i always know when David has been taking pictures, because he usually includes a shot or two of his own foot. Now, what is that all about??