My Baby GIrl

Yesterday was Skylars 5th birthday. Crazy. 5 has always seemed like such a milestone to me...and she hit it. We had such a wonderful day. It started with me taking her cupcakes at school. She's really funny, she loves to entertain here around the house. She is constantly singing and dancing and performing, but when she gets around people she clams up and gets sp embarressed. So me taking her cupcakes was, of course, embarrassing....but she loved it. Then I went and dropped the boys off with my mom and just Skylar and I went out to lunch and Red Robin, and then out to Target to pick out whatever toy she wanted. We had sich a great great time with just the two of us.

I forget how sweet and fun Skylar is. I get so caught up in going going going all the time, that its really hard for me to just BE with the kids and spend real quality time with them....so to have had that one on one time with no boys, or cleaning, or interruptions with her was so great, I absolutely loved it.

So shes 5. A whole hand. Instead of calling her Skylar yesterday she said "Mom, how bout you just call me Birthday Girl today". Funny. Here's some pics......

Skylar and her teacher, Mrs. Swanson

So I'm getting everything ready for her Birthday Party tonight. A Baby and Me Tea Party. Gotta go get the centerpiece and table settings all made. Clean the house and make a bunch of mini sandwiches and muffins and scones....fun times :)

Precious Moments

I love when you have crazy, chaotic days and within them your kids amaze you....making all the chaos, all the things you go out of your way doing for them completely worth it.

Last night Ava and Adia (Skyars two closest little friends) spent the night....so much fun. All the girls (and Caleb) having a movie night with popcorn and hot chocolate, staying up late in bed giggling, waking up through the middle of the night giggling......and then up at the crack of dawn......fun times. Then throwing into the mix my sister-in-law and her three kids.....so, 8 kids here for a few hours is just total mayhem. But I love it. We had a great day.

So fast forward to all the kids gone, my kids up from their naps, sitting on the couch holding Ryder and cuddling with Skylar.....Skylar making Ryder belly laugh.....and looking at my all grown up 4 (almost 5 yr old)....thinking, these are the precious moments that make getting up through the night, getting up at 6:30, being asked 33 questions in 30 seconds, cleaning up another spill, cooking pancakes 4 different ways, making hot chocolate just the exact temperature so its not too hot to burn little mouths and not too cold to be just chocolate milk, going for emergency pacifier runs, soothing hurt and embarressed feelings, allll worth it!

Some Pics.....

What a GREAT Easter!!!

Easter Egg Decorating!

Never a clean job.......Skylars face is awesome.... Cooking Easter cookies with Grandma.....

We fed him a pineapple....so halarious!

Easter brunch out at the club....gotta see Sean at some point on Easter :0)

I think Ryder is pooping....

Egg Hunt!!!

New Life

I have always resented Spring. I love Winter, so every year Spring rolls around and steals Winter away, always makes me mad. But this year has been different, I have actually been excited about Spring. New life all around me. Such perfect opportunities to teach my kids about Jesus and Creation. All the blooming trees and plants and flowers. The kids and I planted a little flower garden together. We've been out watering it everyday.....Skylar has loved watching them grow....she gets so excited. God is so good. I love how creative He is, all these little things in creation that speak volumes of the kind of God we serve. He is sooo detailed. So if He's that detailed about a tiny little flower, how much more detailed is He about me and my kids? How much more care and attention does He pour into my family by taking care of us, protecting us...that I miss out on noticing every day. I wonder about what my life would look like if I didn't lift things up in prayer every day. When I put Sklyar and Caleb to bed every night and pray for Gods angels to surround our house and protect us and watch over us.....I fully believe that He does, I believe that so many angels actually come and watch us and protect us all through the night. How comforting.
Yesterday was Easter. The greatest day in History. Best church service yet.....New Life all around me. Talking to the kids all day about God rising from the dead. Caleb told Seans mom, "God wose fwom deadness".....so sweet. Being able to witness Amy, Nicole, Tracy, Melissa and Chrisitian's baptism was just amazing. I have watched a lot of people get baptized, but yesterday was powerful. Maybe it had something to do with it taking place on Easter.....I don't know, but it moved me. Just listening to thier stories and realizing that the Life we have inside us IS so powerful. Heaven is crashing earth through us. I've been learning so much these past few weeks about Heaven. As much as it boggles my mind, it gives me so much excitement. We bring Life to the "Deadness" around us. God awakens what He plants in the hearts that He loves....I want to be a part of that!

Tahoe

We got a dog. Christmas Present. He's 1/2 lab 1/2 Rodesian Ridgeback. We have a love/have relationship with each other......when he's good and minds, I like him....when he comes running accross our beige carpet with muddy paws and jumps on me, and then onto our couch, not a whole lotta love is flowin out of me towards him. And especially when I open the door into our garage and see my brand new white bra now mangled and wrapped around his neck........

Landscaping

Alright, so we moved into our house in October. Experienced Fall, beautiful. All the leaves changing, and then, of course everything dead and winterized. So then Spring rolls up on us and everything starts popping out of the ground, and a crazy amount of Spikey balls continuing to fall from our huge 80-foot tree out front. Now, I am NO gardner....I can't even keep a little green plant in my house alive. I have a black thumb. Literally. Black, not pretty. So Sean and I have been trying to re-do our front yard. Whoever lived here before lived here for 50 years and so everything was overgrown and "old". Camelias, rose bushes (lots of them), wierd bushes. Sean starts going crazy and ripping EVERYTHING out. Rose bushes, gone. Huge Camelia bush, gone. 80 ft. Liquid Amber tree, gone. Mimosa tree, gone. So our front yard is a pile of dirt. And when you have 3 small children, dirt is their playground. Not fun for trying to keep a house somewhat presentable. Skylar and Caleb are a constant ball of dirt. Caleb has all his cars and trucks out there and is making tracks for them. His brand new shoes are now brown. We go through 7 pairs of pants in 3 days. Awesome for my laundry.

We were now at the point where we could finally DREAM about our yard. Every plant and bush and tree I look at and LOVE are Japanese......I have always loved Japanese Maples. I made my mom plant one in her yard years ago, i was living vicariously through her. SO Sean drew up a whole diagram of our front yard and we headed to Lowes and purchased our layout. SO fun!! We came home Monday night and layed everything out. Tuesday we planted. And now I LOVE our yard! Its finally coming together. Sean has been so so amazing. He has poured everything into doing everything. He impresses me all the time. And now our yard is beautiful!

Heres the process:

Beginning the process.

80 ft. Liquid Amber (that little lump in it is Dan)

Gone.

Laying out what we bought.
Finishing planting and laying bark.....now just have to plant grass seed where the dirt it......

MY Japenese Maple!! I love it!!
Its all coming together....so exciting. Now all we have to do is go get our 3 Redwoods and plant those where our tree was and plant grass. I can't wait to watch it all grow. Hopefully I don't kill it all in the process......

Leah Caldwell

So our amazing friend Leah, flew here for the Retreat. It was so great to see her and catch up with her. She came over last night and spent the night and presented us with this present.....

Freakin awesome!! She cross-stitched this, crazy!!!

Leah- Thank you so much, I can't even express how sweet this gift was and how precious to me your friendship is. I am so so glad you flew here and spent the weekend with all us women, we were so blessed to have you here with us. Love you!