Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a great one with my boys! Both Eli and Brady were so sweet this year trying to take care of me, getting things for me, and telling me to just sit back and relax. Every few minutes one of them would come running out yelling, "Happy Mother's Day!" It was really sweet. Both of them made presents for me at school. Eli's present (on the left) was bath salts and a picture of Eli on the lid. I'm also supposed to get 5 minutes of peace to take my bath. :) Brady's present (on the right) was a picture frame with a photo of Brady and me inside of it. Brady painted and decorated the picture frame. Both boys worked hard and were so proud of their gifts. I have such sweet boys!

Photo 1: My Mother's Day gifts from the boys

Photo 2: My boys and I before church...

Photo 3: Eli, Brady, and I outside before leaving for church. I am 30 weeks pregnant with Major...only 10 weeks left!

Bill got me a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure. I can't wait for my relaxing time...but it is going to have to wait until after we go to Galveston at the end of May. I don't want the waves to wash off all my beautiful nail polish! Bill did such a wonderful job of making me feel special on Mother's Day. He got up with the boys (Saturday and Sunday), got the boys ready for church, took me out to eat for lunch, and let me take a nap in the afternoon. He washed dishes and watched boys and let me rest...it was so nice. :)

Photo 4: Brady playing on Mother's Day...we had to take this shot of Brady playing because this is his new favorite game...tow truck! At all times of the day there is some car "hooked up" to the back of another car and it is being towed to the "car hospital". He plays this for HOURS!

Photo 5: Random photo of Eli before his soccer game. He didn't get to have team pictures this year, so I wanted to be sure to take a photo of him before a game. My plan was to get a team picture as well, but one of the players didn't show up until 10 minutes AFTER game time. I guess we'll have to get a team photo another day!

Easter Sunday at Our House

This Easter was a great one, and we got to spend it at home! The boys woke up about 7 to find that the Easter Bunny had left their baskets outside their bedroom door and the backyard was filled with goodies! We got dressed quickly and ran outside for our Easter egg hunt!

Photo 1: A very happy Brady, he LOVES his candy!

Photo 2: Eli with one of his gifts. Bill and I agree that our absolute most favorite part of the day was watching the boys go on their hunt. And the best part of the hunt was what a wonderful big brother Eli was. He helped Brady find eggs and the other gifts. Eli had already found one water gun, and when he saw another one, he called Brady over to come and get it. It was so precious. He wasn't selfish or greedy, he made sure that his brother got the equal amount that he got. This warmed my heart more than anything else.

Photo 3: Finding eggs around the tree...I mentioned in my last post that it hasn't rained in a long time. Our backyard is further proof of a lack of rain. Today, our governor, Rick Perry, asked all believers to pray for rain. We did that this morning in church. Isn't it wonderful to have a fellow believer as a governor, and one who believes in the power of prayer!

Photo 8: I love this one of the two of them together searching for eggs! What a great morning!

Photo 9: Eli telling us that the Easter Bunny left them both sidewalk chalk. Now he can go outside and play hopscotch like Sister Bear does in the Berenstain Bear books. In fact, that afternoon Eli made his own hopscotch course in our driveway, writing and numbering 20 boxes on his own.

Photo 10: It may be close to impossible to get a good shot of the two of them right now.

Photo 14: Checking out all that they found.

Photo 15: My best 3 boys!

Photo 16: JELLYBEANS!

Photo 17: Our family Easter morning, 2011. I am almost 29 weeks pregnant with Major.

Photo 18: This is my best attempt of getting the boys in their Easter outfits. One day, this picture taking thing won't be so difficult.

Photo 19: After Sunday morning worship, the boys went out to try out the water guns. Nothing says, "Christ is risen!" Like a good ole' water gun fight. :)

We had a great Easter lunch of ham and mashed potatoes and all the sides. Gran Betty, Big Daddy and Sven joined us! We also had round 2 of me attempting a lamb cake. I didn't get a picture of it this year, but I think it came out better than last year's. Before we ate it, Eli told us all about the red cake symbolizing the blood of Christ and the white frosting symbolizing how the blood of Christ washes us clean. He has risen! Glory be to God! Happy Easter!

Dying Easter Eggs

Our Second Annual Egg Dying Eggstravaganza! I only got a few pictures since I was the one helping the boys, but they have been BEGGING for days to do this! Today we finally did it! And now, their hard work is the proud center piece of my dining room table. :)

Photo 1: Brady dying his first egg of the season.

Photo 2: Eli's first egg.

Photo 3: Brady "fishing" his egg out of the dye.

Photo 4: Eli going fishing for eggs.

Photo 5: Let the decorating begin!

Photo 6: Brady's concentration...putting stickers on eggs.

Photo 7: Eli decided to get out his paintbrushes and paint his eggs. He didn't paint objects on his eggs, he just used colors. But he had a reason for ever color, and it was really neat to watch him. He'd say, "This one is white because Jesus makes us white and pure and clean." "This one is purple because purple means kings and Jesus is the King of Heaven." "This one is brown because Jesus' crown of thorns was brown." As well as statements like, "This one is green because of the new green grass of spring." So we have several multi-colored eggs in our basket.

Photo 8: The end result in our basket before it went on the table. Brady was just too cute in this picture for me to get rid of it.

Photo 9: A better view of the eggs. Happy Easter! :)

At the Car Wash...

Cornerstone has Friday and Monday off for Easter, so we spent Friday cleaning up! While I cleaned the inside of the house, the boys cleaned the cars, inside and out! They started out with Bill's Focus. I can't believe that this car is almost 10 years old! It is the first car Bill and I bought together and I hope it will stay around for a little while longer!

Photo 1: Eli did a great job cleaning. He was very serious in his task.

Photo 2: Bill having to put more water in the bucket since Brady thought his job was to dump everything out. :)

Photo 3: Brady and Eli cleaning the hood.

Photo 4: Brady

Photo 5: All 3 of them cleaning.

Photo 6: Now time for the Stratus...Brady is getting it ready.

Photo 7: Eli getting his turn with the hose.

I'm so sad that I didn't get a picture with all 3 of them and their clean cars. I went back inside to continue cleaning and forgot the finished product. Oh well, you'll have to take my word for it that I had 2 very clean cars. :)

School Easter Egg Hunt

It's Easter time! Our house is filled with plastic eggs and bunnies and flowers and animals and all the signs of Spring. The boys have been very excited for the Easter Bunny to visit them and for dyeing eggs and all that Easter goodness. We have also made it a conscious effort this year to be sure they know that Easter is the day that Jesus rose from the dead. We will make a lamb cake and Eli already knows that the red cake represents the blood of Jesus and the white frosting represents how we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus. Candy is great - but the real reason for Easter is so much greater and more powerful!

This first Easter related post is of the boys' Easter egg hunt at their school. The actual hunt lasted all of 10 minutes, but they had a great time!

Photo 1: Eli about to nab an egg.

Photo 2: Brady finding eggs the others have left behind.

Photo 3: Brady talking to his friend, he doesn't understand yet the intensity it takes to get a proper amount of candy filled eggs before your friends do. :)

Photo 4: Brady finding an egg in a bush. The "garden" he is in is usually full of flowers and beautiful plants, but it hasn't rained here in about 2 months, so everything is dying. It is so sad.

Photo 5: I just love this little face!

Photo 6: Brady showing off his haul. However, he did have to share with some classmates since they only had 3 or 4. That's my boy!

Photo 7: Brady's Penguins class, pre-K age 2. Sadly, I don't know the kids in his class, but you can see him front and center showing off his egg. His teachers are Miss Hala on the left, and Miss Evelyn on the right. They were WONDERFUL! Brady really loves them and we will miss them next year.

Photo 8: Can't get enough of this precious face.

Photo 9: It was pretty easy to follow Brady around and get pictures, but following Eli was a different story. By age 5, they understand that it is every man for himself out there and there is a mad dash for the eggs. I was able to get a couple of pictures of Eli, but almost as soon as I tried to take a picture, he was gone. Eli is in the red shorts and white shirt.

Photo 10: Eli counting his eggs. Each child was only allowed to have 12, so he was sure he was following the rules. Of course, he got well more than 12, so we had to put some back out in the field for other children to get.

Photo 11: Eli showing off his eggs.

Photo 12: Our family, Eli, Rachel (28 weeks pregnant with Major), Bill, and Brady. If anyone is wondering where my hair went, I got it all cut off last Thursday for Locks of Love, and organization that accepts hair donations to make wigs for children who have lost their hair due to cancer. This was my 5th time to do it!

Photo 13: After the egg hunt, the boys enjoyed playing the in the water fountain in the church courtyard.

Photo 14: Eli's Bears class, pre-K 4. It is hard to name all the children, but you can see Eli in the back row right next to his teacher, Mrs. Drake. Riley is in front of him with the pink dress, with the bow on the front, and blond hair. You can see his best friend, Max, in the back right center in between the two teachers. The other teacher is Miss Nermine. Eli had wonderful teachers this year as well. Eli is always coming home and telling us the things he has learned...the life cycle of bugs...the planets in our solar system...different books they've read...just such a vast amount of knowledge for a 5 year old! He can even sight read many words. They are beginning the reading process that will be completed in kindergarten. Eli can't wait to start kindergarten next year and I know he'll do great!

Photo 15: "Hear dat, Daddy?"

Photo 16: Best brothers after the hunt.