Happy Mother's Day

I do not get to spend many Mother's Day with my mom, but I sure soak it up when I have the opportunity. She has always been such a servant to her family and to others. She loves us all unconditionally and would drop everything to be there for us. I pray I will love my family well as she has loved her family.

I just love this pic of her.

And oh how my heart is so full of love for these three. They are the ones who made me a momma. Life would be empty without them!

After church, we came home and grilled out. Then these two did the dishes.

That afternoon we got some face time with my brother.

 While JD and I were out of town the kids (with Mimi and Pop's help) decorated my front porch. It makes me happy!

Easter Weekend

We started the weekend with an egg hunt with some friends. Lots of candy and games.

Sat night I got the kids' baskets all ready.

Sunday we headed to worship. This year I had an "a-ha" moment and decided to make an Easter playlist. We always play Christmas music, so why not musically celebrate Easter too?!? We worshipped the couple of weeks prior to the holiday every time we got in the car. It was awesome to celebrate for more than the hour at church. That is what we are to do, right? Our lives should be continually worshipping God. Amen.

Family pics.
I tried to get one before church. That did not work. Gotta love having a spitter.

Reinforcements came to the rescue.

Before adding the baby, I wanted to make sure I had all the settings right on the camera...and this one turned out so good.

Added the baby.

Each year we spend the Easter afternoon with our "lunch bunch". Love love these families God has allowed us to do life with.

 All the kiddos.

All the Mommas.

You can never have too many egg hunts with candy or time with friends. We are blessed.

Day of Love

My hands are full, but my heart is overflowing!

*Bless that poor baby. He was not having it. 

New Years Eve

We decided to go with a family party this year since Mimi and Pop were in town and it was their last night with us.

I went with the count down bags and had an activity for every hour.

5:00pm
Review the past year via the blog.
Using all the blog posts from the past year made a great count down to 2014. We needed to review the year in order to accomplish another activity later on.

6:00pm
Eat
We love party food in our house!

7:00pm
Memories of 2013 and Predictions for 2014
We had the kids "fill out" the sheets. Lily did a great job. Max enjoyed writing on his too. The adults even filled them out.

8:00pm
Game Time
We pulled out my Clue Master Detective game from my childhood and enjoyed the game. It lasted a lot longer than expected, but still fun none-the-less.

9:00pm
Happy New Year!!
At least to the youngest member of the late night party goers.

10:00pm
Share time
The adults then shared what we had written on our questionnaires and enjoyed getting to know each other better and what happened during the year in our separate locations. I really enjoyed just talking with Mimi and Pop (and JD too). We then toasted to the new year and hit the bed. Mimi and Pop needed their sleep as they headed home on the 1st.

Family's Here

Mimi and Pop make the long drive out to spend a few days with us after Christmas. It was great timing as all the hustle and bustle was over and we could just enjoy the down time together.

When they arrived, the kids just wanted to play.

Then, the next morning, we had Christmas again.

Then of course, more play time with the new goodies and lots of reading.

We tried to get a pic of the kids with them. It didn't turn out very well. And we forgot to try again. Oops. Next time it will be with all THREE kiddos!!