Easter Weekend

Wes had Thursday and Friday off before Easter so we headed to the beach for the weekend to meet up with my parents and our kiddos, who had been staying at my parents all week. I sure enjoyed the break, but I missed those little rascals!

It was great weather and the kids enjoyed some special treats from the ice cream man a couple of times. 

The water was pretty chilly, but that didn't keep Ethan from running crazy and splashing in it.  He would come up shivering, but go right back and do it again.  Love this spunk!

Hannah drew this in the sand and said it was a jellyfish.  It though she did a good job!

We headed home from our fun time at the beach on Saturday to be back for church on Sunday.  We just love our church and the "community" we have there and didn't want to be anywhere else on Easter.

Sunday evening the Hayes crew came over and we hunted eggs. I was too busy helping kiddos find eggs to snap any pictures.  It was a fun time! 

Uganda friends

The PCM Uganda choir has been in town for a few weeks and we have been able to spend some time with them.  It's always amazing to hear them worship. They are so grateful and so in love with Jesus. It's so encouraging.  We had the honor of hosting Godson & Mathew in our home last week. It was a lot of fun.  Both are quite good at playing guitar. 

We had some down time with them during their stay and I took them bowling.  This was a completely  new adventure for them.  They had never heard of bowling, but they caught on quick and were really good at it...with the help of the bumpers on the sides!

We brought the boys to Orange Leaf to have icecream and they were pretty amazed that you could choose any flavor of icecream you wanted and then it just came out of the wall. It's so fun to see their expressions!

I just love these boys. They are so kind and polite and are just all around sweet.

They said for the cost of our icecream, they could have bought a new dress shirt and dress pants in Uganda.  Talk about put things into perspective.  So glad we are party of this awesome ministry!

A visit to kindergarten

Hannah will start Kindergarten int he fall (gasp! tear!) It's hard to believe that it's already time. She's been very excited to go and we have driven by her soon-to-be school several times.  A friend of mine has a first grader at the school Hannah will attend, so on Friday we tagged along to eat lunch with our friend, Caroline.  Caroline has a sister, Emily, who will also start kindergarten in the fall with Hannah.  Emily and Hannah are good buddies and also take dancing together. I'm already crossing my fingers that they end up in the same class.

Here's me and my baby waiting on Emily to arrive.

Before we headed to the lunch room to meet Caroline, we stopped at the super cute library.  It was decorated so cute and when I walked in I felt such a peace. It was weird, but comforting. 

After we checked out the library we headed to the lunch room.  I wanted Hannah to buy her lunch so that she could get the whole experience. This was such a bittersweet moment. I was so proud of this sweet girl for carrying her tray and being such a big girl, but I was tearing up inside because I just can't believe she's so grown up. 

Here is Hannah eating with her friends. This is such a foreshadowing of what is to come next year. 

Next we took a little tour of the school and Hannah got to see the gym. 

One of our last stops was the kindergarten hall. Hannah was ecstatic! She's SO ready to be here next year. 

This girl melts my heart. 

Ready for summer

We have enjoyed some warmer days lately, but we are back to our sweaters and scarves for a few more days.  We are so ready for consistent warm weather. I told Wes this week I was ready for it to be be in the 90's. He thinks I'm crazy, but I just love the Texas heat!

Hannah got a cute new swimsuit in the mail this week and she's ready to try it out at the pool!

Ethan has been playing in the dirt every opportunity he gets.  Every time I buy him something new for spring I think "I should be buying his stuff at goodwill because it's all going to get covered in dirt every.single.day this summer."

When we can't go outside, Ethan finds plenty of entertainment inside.

This boy wore this helmet most of this afternoon. Including in the car.

We have never been big toy buyers for our kids, except at Christmas and birthdays.  However, I'll admit, I've given into a few extra toys this wintery season to help with the home entertainment. On Saturday Hannah was begging to get an Elsa doll (from the HUGE move Frozen). Instead of just buying it for her, Wes and Hannah sat and counted all her pennies and dimes from her piggy bank (and the bottom of my car) and came up with just over $10.  Elsa was $13, so we had Hannah do some chores around the house to earn the extra money.  She was SUPER excited to make the trip to pick out Elsa.

She hasn't let Elsa out of her sight since Saturday.

And lastly, today was a GREAT day. Ethan has been going through and extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY fussy stage. Each day is a battle from sun up to sun down...Wes and I have just felt so sorry for him because it just seems like he just hates life..haha! Well, today this sweet boy was SOOO happy. It was a miracle..and and answered prayer. I didn't make him nap because I was worried he may wake up grumpy! I just enjoyed today so much!

Here's to hoping tomorrow is another HAPPY day!

McDoodles

We have been cooped up inside the past couple of days with icy weather.  Public schools were canceled because of road conditions and it's just been blah.  Monday was exciting, though, when Hannah slipped on the ice and busted her chin open. Luckily, the Dr. was able to glue it up and she didn't need stitches. 

Today was still cold, but bearable, so we headed to McDonald's to play off some energy and get rid of cabin fever. Ethan begged for icecream. Guess who got what he wanted?

Of course when Hannah saw this icecream cone as large as Ethan's head, she had to have one, too. At least she ate lunch before hers.

Sweet siblings. 

I'm not sure what Ethan's going to do next year without his sidekick when Hannah goes to kindergarten. 

I almost cried when I just typed that my baby is going to kindergarten. 

Love these fun days "at home" with my kiddos. 

Back burner

Blogging has obviously taken the back burner these days. I'm so sad, because I love my blog and reading stories from months ago. I'm not giving up yet. I'm going to try to be better! We have been living life...and we have been freezing. Someone started wearing big boy underwear. 

And failed. We are now in pull ups just to make me feel like we are one step closer. 

Hannah got a new swim suit and wore it around the house when it was 20 degrees outside.

On a warmer day, (still about 45) the kids played in a sand area in our backyard. This has become something they love doing when it's warm enough to go outside. 

On a warmer day a couple of weeks ago I got the kids dressed and took some pictures in the yard. 

This boy just has my entire heart. I get weak in the knees when I look at him.

And this girl. OH. MY. WORD. She's just beautiful to me and looks 12 in this picture.  Can't believe she's starting kindergarten this year! Life is about to change drastically. 

Here's wishing for warmer weather and more blog posts to follow! 

Random Happenings

Hannah and Ethan got giftcards to build a bear for Christmas.  I took them a couple of weeks ago. Ethan was having a clingy/pitiful morning so I will have to take him on one of his happier days. Hannah, however, LOVED her first experience.  We had looked at some of the animals online before we went so that it wouldn't take an hour to pick that out, so right when she walked in she spotted Fluttershy, from My Little Pony.  She got a noise put in it, shoes, skates, a leash and an outfit.  She is in love with her new friend!

Also after Christmas I had decided it was time to potty train Ethan.  His first few hours in big boy undies we had some success, but that same night I spiked a fever that lasted a few days so that all went out the window and we are all content in diapers for a few more weeks! I'm waiting on the day that he decides he wants to use the potty all on his own...that happens, right?!

The other night my nieces spent the night.  When these 3 girls are together there is lots of laughter, squealing, twirling and signing. Bedtime never comes early and on this specific night at around 10:00 they decided they wanted to sit by the fire and read the bible.  They were discussing the pictures and telling each other the stories. IT.WAS.PRECIOUS. How do you make those sweeties go to bed?!

And lastly, we have seen the new movie Frozen 4 times! Yes, 4. I don't even want to know how much money we have spent at the movies in the last 2 months - ha!  But my sister and some friends went to the drive-in to see it this past weekend and since we had never been to the drive-in we thought we would tag along.  So, we bundled up and headed out for fun. 

After some late nights or giggles and signing and movie watching, this is my thought at the end of everyday..

I wouldn't trade it!