Easter

Happy Easter.
We wanted to share with you how we celebrated with our family and friends this year.

Our celebration started on Thursday-with my three little ones. We started off making resurrection rolls. I found the recipe on Pinterest and was able to tell the kids all about Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead while we baked them.

They were such great helpers. 

Lyla and Easton were so faithful to wait by the stove until they were finished. 

 After their nap, we had a party...complete with our rolls, cookies, cupcakes and chips (everyone's favorites!)

Afterwards we colored and painted and then they all crashed on their little couch. 

My parents got here Friday. We were so excited to have them for Easter. They were such a big help getting things ready for our big egg hunt saturday!

 Saturday, we invited Lyla's friends over for some treats and an egg hunt. I think everyone had a great time:)

She cracked me up opening up each egg one at a time to get the candy out first!

Easter morning, the Easter bunny came...

 We had such a great weekend with my family...it is always so wonderful to have them here. 

Since Addi and her family were there this morning, we decided to recreate our pictures from last year...crazy how much they have changed in just one year. 

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. The candy and activities are fun, but remember today we celebrate our risen savior. So thankful that He loved me enough to die for me-He loved you enough to die for you too...no matter what you have done, or where you have been, He loves you!!! Happy Easter everyone!!!!

A new adventure

This past Friday marked the end of the long term sub position I had taken back in December. It came with many challenges, but it also felt so great to know that I could balance being a mom and a full time teacher again. It was a great 10 weeks, but I must say that I am excited to announce that I have agreed to keep two friends' babies until the end of this school year. This will allow me the chance to stay home again with Lyla (which I missed terribly!) and still make a little money. Today was my first day and we made it!!!! It is definitely A LOT different than having just one baby, but we had a great day! The kids are still adjusting to being around each other and Lyla is having to adjust to her mommy hugging and loving on other babies. Please pray for me as I continue this new journey. Here are some pictures from our first day together. (hope their mommy's won't mind!):)

All 3 sweeties

E-Man (Easton)

Lyla

Rayleigh

Here are also a few pictures from Valentine's day. We got Lyla a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal and a new back pack (ahh, she has graduated from her diaper bag) She LOVED all her new things!!!!

Jeff planned a very special night for us-booked private dance lessons! We had THE. BEST. TIME. laughing and just enjoying each other and of course learning how to dance together without doing the high school prom style of dancing (you know, the basic side to side..haha!) I am one lucky lady, I know:) 

 

Happy Monday everyone!!!!!

It's been a while

Hello friends! It has been so very long since I was able to actually sit down and write. It feels good. So many things have changed over the past few months and I figured it's about time for an update.

I have started back to work. For the past 2 months, I have been filling in full time for a teacher who is on maternity leave. It's been good to have the money, but it's a lot of work-even as a sub, I am grading papers, calling parents, preparing lessons, TEACHING, discipling, going to all the meetings...It's been really hard for me to step back into this lifestyle...and this time around, I have Lyla. Being a full time working mother is no joke. It really wears on your emotions. Somedays I feel like I give all my patience and love to the kids at school, then we I get home, I have very little left to give. I am sure many out there can relate. And then there are days when Lyla is so exhausted from her fun day, that she is only with me for 2 hours before she goes to bed. That's tough. I am so used to spending every second with her...2 hours just isn't enough! So, ALL that to say, I haven't had much time to sit down and just write and more importantly update on all the things that Lyla is doing! So, here goes!

Lyla turned 18 months (a year and a half) a few weeks ago! She changes everyday! It has been so much fun watching her say new things and make connections to things she is learning. I wish I knew how many words she can say, but I really don't know. Over Christmas break, she started repeating things we say...that's fun:)

Some of our favorites word are:
baby (she loves Justin Beiber's song baby and literally tries to sing it. She calls everything baby: stuffed animals, her toys. She likes to look at pictures of babies too. We have a bulletin board at church with the baby dolls we made to send to Africa and every sunday she stops in front of it and shouts "baby"!

'men (this means amen-funny story about that: Jeff started a prayer before dinner the other night and before he could get the first line out, Lyla said "MEN" real loud. Jeff had to just stop because we were laughing so hard)

piece (this means she wants another "piece" of food-or maybe she's saying "please"????)

cookie (she thinks everything yummy is a cookie-i think she learned that at Mrs. jenni's house:))

no (well, this is not a favorite of ours..more like a favorite of hers)

go (this is what we say anytime we are about to leave...she also likes the word BYE and has started putting on her purse that Gammie and Papa gave her and saying bye, bye, bye)

aww wee (my mom always says this when something sweet hapens and so I started saying it to lyla. Now, anytime Lyla hugs someone she will say "aww wee". I am not really sure what it means, but it's so adorable.

ahhhhhhhh (this cracks me up. Anytime we take off Lyla's socks and shoes, she will let out the biggest "AHHHH" *Think like the coke commercials after they take a sip of the coke..ahhhh.)

papa (she calls for her papas quite often! I know my dad (papa) and Rick (papa G) just eat that up!)

Goo (This was a new one for her over Christmas break. My sister is Aunt Goo and to watch lyla say it, just warms my heart!)

cold (whenever we go outside, it's always "cold")

Lyla loves to dance. (wonder where she gets that from:)) Anytime we need to calm her down, we just turn on some music (usually Justin Beiber) and she settles down and starts dancing. I am so glad she loves music so much.

She loves bath time. The Bonds gave her a basketball goal for the bath and Lyla LOVES shooting hoops with Jeff.

She's such a sweet loving child. She can be rough, but only occasionally, and if you tell her to "just be sweet" she will immediately give you the biggest hug. I love those moments when we are cheek to cheek.

She's getting back to being a great eater. She usually eats just about anything. She loves PB and J (that's always a win) and she is getting to where she will eat meat. yay! She still loves loves loves fruit and anything sweet!

Here are a few pictures from the last month:) 

(already loves baby dolls)

(such a smiley, sweet girl)

(learning to slide on her new slide from Gammie and Papa)

(Lyla's first pigtails at 18 months old)

Until next time friends...hopefully it won't be as long next time!

You always want what you don't have...

I remember my mom telling me a few months back..."You always want what you don't have."
She told me this during a time that I was really struggling with being a stay at home mom. I actually missed working if you can believe that. I missed contributing financially and feeling successful at something. Let's face it. Being a mom is the job that pays nothing and gets little respect. I was discouraged at the way "others" viewed my position as a stay at home mom. Why did everyone always think it was easy?!
Anyways, that was a few months ago. I longed to work. And so I started back substituting in the district schools. (That was also around the time that I took on a few more responsibilities at the church too) Even though I only work 2-3 days at the schools, (I wasn't ready to give up THAT much Lyla time) to say that we stay busy is an understatement. We have been going and going and going. I caught myself thinking today, even as I was washing dishes, how great it felt to be at home today. I cannot remember the last time I had a day off where me and Lyla just spent it together at the house. The Lord quickly reminded me where I was a few months ago-disliking being home everyday. And now, here I am thanking him for a day at home. He reminded me to be thankful. Right where I am. Whatever my situation. Be thankful to Him. We (ME!) are always so quick to wish for a different situation-one that we feel would make us happier. That's where I was. I wanted change, and then I got it and realized it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. So, today, I am thankful to be home. With my sweet girl. Washing dishes even. :)

What are you thankful for today?

Happy Fall Ya'll!

It has been quite a while since I have blogged (as usual) and we have been up to so much. I will definitely have to do a camera cleanse soon! But, I wanted to share what Lyla and I were up to today! I am finally starting back to work (subbing) tomorrow and am leaving for Honduras in 2 weeks, so I really wanted to go ahead and get my fall stuff out. Okay, maybe I am just making up excuses as to why I wanted to get it out, because the truth is I LOVE FALL! And I was just plain ready to get it all out. Good thing I had my little helper handy today! She was pretty fascinated with it all. 

She has carried this pumpkin around all morning. I decided to put it in her room-seemed fitting!

 Not sure what to think about this one..good thing it goes outside!

She LOVED the scarecrow...probably because he was just her size!

And maybe because she liked picking all the leaves off of him...sorry Mr. Scarecrow.

She found her trick or treat bag from last year! Crazy how much she has grown!

 

She may or may not have been scared of the light up pumpkin....

...And that's about the time my little helper quit on me and decided to take an apple juice break! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

HAPPY FALL YA'LL!!!!