Our Happy Easter

He lives! He lives!  What a reason to celebrate.  And boy have we done that today! It’s been a great family day for us.

The kids just waking up.  They were getting a bird's eye view of the goodies the Easter bunny left them…even though it doesn’t look it, they were pretty excited to get downstairs!

Checking out their baskets...

Then we had cinnamon rolls (a treat in our house!) and fruit for breakfast…

“Happy Easter Bunny” – as Jagger would say

Sloan just couldn’t part with her cool sunglasses and water shoes the Easter Bunny left her during breakfast

And I would say Rocbunny was enjoying his ears a little more this year …

Easter 2010                                          Easter 2011

Then we went to church where we had a wonderful worship service.  Until today, the kids have been doing great when we drop them off for Sunday school.  This was our 3rd Sunday back since RSV season ended and today they were a lot more unwilling to go in on their own!  I really hope that gets better soon.

We came home ate a BBQ lunch with my family and then napped.  Ahhh…who doesn’t LOVE a Sunday nap!  After naps, we had our annual Easter egg hunt on the compound.  Even Grandmama and Grandaddy came over to watch/help!

That Easter egg hunting is serious business! Ha!

All the participants

Madden’s a pro now

Sloan looked like an Easter egg herself!

“Score!” – Rocco

Jagger decided he was only out for the golden egg (which he found by the way, with momma’s help) and ditched his basket!

After our hunt, we put on our swimsuits and played in the yard.  It was such a pretty day.

Rocco

This cracked me up…Jagger was trying to drink the water sprinkling from the tree!

Oh and we have an exciting addition to the compound!  The geese that have decided to take up residence here…I call them Gary and Gloria, had two goslings this weekend!  It’s been so fun to watch.  The names are still being debated.  Any ideas? I tried to get a close picture, but I didn’t want to scare Gary and Gloria because they are real protective of their little ones right now.

If you look real close, you can see a little one behind the mama and one behind the daddy.  They are SO cute!

Well, that’s about it for our day today!  Hope y’all had a wonderful celebration with your families as well!  Happy Easter from us…

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” 1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)

He lives indeed!

Love,
Kami

Crazy Coupe

Nick laughed as he watched this little situation unfold yesterday and he managed to get some pics with his Iphone for me to enjoy too! I thought it was too funny NOT to share!

FYI – we have 3 other vehicles similar to this one.  A cool fire engine that squirts water, a Buzz Lightyear Spaceship that makes neat sounds and a Police Car.  Can anyone explain why it is they ALL want to ride in the pink princess coupe?!?

Hmmm…this ought to be interesting.

Madden - “This thing got room for 3?”

You think this is what they had in mind when they named it the cozy coupe?

Jagger – “C’mon guys, let’s rethink this!”

Now that’s more like it!

Hope you have a great week!

Love,
Kami

The House That Built Me

If you are a country music fan, I’m sure you have heard Miranda Lambert’s hit The House That Built Me.  In fact, the song won three CMA’s on Sunday night’s award show for single record of the year, song of the year, and video of the year.  The very first time I heard that song, I thought of the houses that “built me.”  I lived in only two houses from the time I was born until I was 20.  We moved to the second house when I was 11.  Both great houses with so many memories. 

The Park Drive house.  It’s the playhouse in the backyard that my dad built for me.  It’s my first slumber party.  It’s where I learned to ride a bike and swim.  It’s where I lost my first tooth.  Got my first puppy.  It’s crawling in bed with momma and daddy because I had a bad dream.   It’s my first best friend, Tara,  living a few doors down.  It’s the scar on my left arm after putting it through a window.  It’s cinnamon toast and cartoons on Saturday mornings.  It’s playing outside til dark.  It’s so many things!

My playhouse on Park Drive

The West Tampa house (Sorry, my pictures of this one are in storage)  It’s my own bathroom.  It’s the game room with the ping pong table.  It’s hangouts with my friends.  It’s talking on the phone for hours and hours.  It’s where I got my first car.  My first boyfriend.  It’s getting ready for prom.  It’s losing my first dog.  It’s my first heartbreak.  It’s being home by curfew.  It’s graduating from high school and starting college.  It’s Nick asking me if I ever thought we could date one another (a whole other story – for another time!) 

Houses are special!  That song really got me thinking and I am so excited to know that our kids will only TRULY know one house.  The house we are building now will be the house that “builds” them.  But I know it’s not just the walls and rooms in the houses that make them special…it’s the love that fills those rooms.  And my parents did an awesome job of making our house a home filled with love, respect, and most importantly, Christ.  It is my prayer that we will/do also create such a loving, Christ-centered home  for our kids to grow up in.  Really…we feel so overwhelmingly blessed to be able to build this home!

Here are some pics we took this weekend of the kids in front of each of their rooms, looking out the front door and their tiny handprints that will always be impressed in our garage. 

Love,
Kami

Here we go ‘round the Mulberry Bush…

Or in our case the Mulberry tree.

Oh how I love this tree!  I was so happy it survived when my parents built their house…isn’t it so pretty!?!  There’s always a lot of activity under/around/near this tree.  It’s great for climbing too!    I can just hear the kids reminiscing about their memories of this tree 50 years from now. 

Since the weather has been warmer lately, we’ve been spending a lot of time outside.  Last week, I took the kids on a “nature” walk.  Sure…it was just around the compound, but hey, there is a lot to be seen here!

We smelled flowers(J & M)

We found pine cones…and yes, Miss Priss had to go on our nature walk with her pink blankie and her purse!

We hiked (front to back R, J, M & S)

We played with sticks

We talked about how tall some of God’s trees are!

We even picked some flowers

And when we got back to G.G’s we found a frog on the front porch!

And oh…if you could see the top half of this picture…I'm bummed I didn’t capture it.  Little priss was SO not in to the froggy touching her! (By the way, are those some legs of a little girly girl that LOVES to play outside OR WHAT?!?)

And then last weekend was so warm, we got out their swimsuits and their new water toys that they got for their birthday.  One loved it (Sloan), One liked it(Madden), and the other two wanted nothing to do with the water (Rocco & Jagger.) 

If you look close, you can see Rocco (in the middle) and how much he didn’t like getting wet

But don’t worry, he enjoyed sitting on the sidelines watching the fun…

So sweet!

She loves the water!

Madden & his pants on the ground – he’s checking it out too!

I can’t say enough how much I love that the kids get to grow up right next door to some of their big cousins.  And it amazes me how much THEY (the big kids – ages 7-10) seem to love it just as much.  They really are great with the kids and often times are cheap entertainment! Ha!

Evan, Griffin & Nate (front to back)

Gotta love that brotherly love…Nate & Evan

They are getting smarter about some things though.  Like for instance, you want to eat a snack, you better hide it under a blanket or eat behind a tree, but one thing is for sure, you NEVER bring it out in the open!

Griffin sharing his snack…he learned the hard way!

Rylee and her beautiful smile!

Hank even enjoys the shade of the Mulberry tree

Jagger watering G.G.’s tree

Oh and the new toy on the compound…

Is this trouble or what?!?

Happy April everyone!

P.S. We made it through our second RSV season!  Thank you Lord!

Love,
Kami