It's been a long few days with lots packed in--I am thankful, even for Monday, for life to relax its pace and for things to calm down. 

I can't even remember the last thing I blogged about but we've had--

*the last day of Bible study for the spring. sadness.

*a bunny make its nest in my beautiful-new-growing-garden. now it's a beautiful new-growing-garden with a giant bunny butt print. gah. i don't know how to solve this problem. 

*my husband's friend was here for the weekend so we had a full house and i was a third wheel. he was an excellent house guest though and it was good to see my husband enjoy his friend and relive his youth. =)

*we had a ladies brunch on Saturday and it was so lovely to spend some time with dear friends and listen to the speaker (whose job I took over teaching art before Maeve was born--it was good to see her too!).

*before that I was able to go to the coffee shop with my friend Brie. with NO children. it was kind of amazing. i forget what it's like to not be correcting, chasing, consoling, feeding etc... in public. 

*my husband's music team ran the service at church sunday and that was super enjoyable--great music and my dear in-laws came and treated us to lunch after. what a treat. love them!

*and now...it's monday--we were able to spend some time at the park with friends and took long naps. i don't understand why more people don't nap--it makes me so happy! 

* i cut ezra's hair today-it doesn't grow long it grows FLUFFY hahaha-before fluff/after sleek:

 anyways...not much else is happening. i have been faithfully running for the last three weeks and did a little over 2 miles saturday and 2 miles this morning--making slow but sure progress!

hope you had a happy monday!

Amelie Says:

As a bug buzzed by her ear outside.."Ahhh! Was that a quesadilla? The bugs that make loud noises with their wings?" (quesadilla = cicada)

 Maeve Says:

"I'm going to go to bed and have some dream adventures!"

"I'm so tired. I burned up all my energy." 

 Ezra's starting to speak in more and more sentences but mostly only Mama can understand him. =)

I've been trying to write a new blog all day but I'm not smart enough to figure out Blogger's new format. =) Anyway....I just sent my husband off to Ohio. His Pop-pop passed away and the funeral is tomorrow morning. I'm sad that I can't go myself but very happy that he can go! Although, he's only been gone for an hour and I miss him so much!!! 

Love that husband of mine!!! 

It's been a hard week for me emotionally getting Steve set to leave-I have massive anxiety about traveling in general....and that's really thrown me for a loop. So I had to work my anxiety out through cleaning and scrubbed my house top to bottom and felt marginally better. That's it though--I'll just be holding my breath until my husband gets back and trying to enjoy every moment with my most precious children. =)

I have some videos to post if I ever figure out this new blogging format too! Ha! 

Happy Friday--squeeze your loved ones extra tight!

We've had a great week so far--the weather has been unseasonably warm so we've spent a lot of time outdoors! The kids have even been swimming in their baby pool and loving it! =)

I forgot to post a picture the other day of the girls after their shopping trip with Granny--they're so funny and are so lucky to have one set of grandparents so close by!

And another picture--of all my favorite people--even though mostly Amelie is all feet in it. =)

And last but not least, Ezra boy in the stroller at 7am demanding we go for a walk. =)

We ended up heading out to the park very early and since it was so lovely walking a bit further to the lake and walking the mile loop.

Ezra walked the entire thing while Maeve rode in the stroller. Ha! We had a great time looking at all of the baby ducks, a pair of loons (which I've never seen there before), tons of turtles and lots of fish! We walked back in time to have a play-date with some of our favorites. With long naps and pool time after dinner it was a full but great day!

Today Maeve has preschool so I have to finish rounding up the littles--she only has 6 days left (spread out throughout the next 4 weeks). I can't believe the end of the year is nearly here and that soon I'll have a Pre-K girl and a 2nd grader! Ahhhhhhhh I can *still* clearly remember 2nd grade--how can I have a daughter going into it? Time. Flies. I need to enjoy every moment! Happy Wednesday!

What a wonderful, relaxing, boring (in a good way!!), lovely week we've had together!

I just LOVE spring break--I can't remember the last time we had such a long stretch of days with no set plans and wide open days! Last year at this time my husband was doing a show that took a HUGE commitment so this has been as awesome break! 

We did some projects around the house--planted my garden, set up a new spot for our outdoor furniture and spent lots and lots of time at parks, and taking walks and just enjoying the outdoors. 

The girls get along so fantastically--it's been a joy to have them together playing all day! They are best friends! They decided they wanted to rearrange their room so we worked on that for a few hours the other day--I was so proud of them--throwing out things and stowing away their toys so nicely. Yay for organization! 

I also worked seriously on my running this week and am back up to running almost 2 miles, almost comfortably. =)

 I still have a ways to go but I hope to be in shape to run my first 5K this summer! 

Another thing I did was make this awesome recipe featured on Pioneer Woman--

I've been in a bit of a recipe rut so I did some searching for Chuck Roast recipes so I could use the one we had in our freezer. This is called ***Drip Beef--which I've never heard of but LET ME TELL YOU--it's pretty much amazing. We got some delicious rolls from Wegmans and I substituted the sherry for 1/2 white wine vinegar/brown sugar mixed. Divine.

Another fun thing that happened was that I finally got my Ipad! I've been saving money since Christmas and wanted to wait until it went down in price and finally finally got one! Oh my word--I am not disappointed--pretty much the funnest gadget ever. =)

We really enjoyed church today and are getting things geared up for school tomorrow. Just about 8 weeks left and summer will be here! 

*************

In other news, please pray for my husband's grandfather and grandmother. Pop-pop is doing very poorly and is in the hospital. Mom-mom is confused and worried. Please pray for them--they are the absolute sweetest, kindest, most loving people in the whole wide world. Jesus hold them close!

Good night friends.

Our Week So Far

I've been so camera-lazy lately!

Saturday we went to a local town's Easter Egg Hunt and I brought my camera but it was too crazy to take pictures! The kids ended up getting a nice amount of eggs but it was a little wild. =)

After the egg hunt we dropped the girls off at Granny and Pop's house--they helped clean and then went out for ice cream and a little shopping at the mall. They had a WONDERFUL time! While they were having a wonderful time Mr. Wonderful and I took Ezra to Applebees for lunch! It was so fun and easy! It's amazing how much easier just 1 kiddo is than 3! 

 It's also amazing how well behaved Ezra is when there is no one else around to inspire his dramatic tendencies! 

Sunday we really enjoyed church and celebrating Easter with our NJ family--a picture of Granny with some of the grands (Ezra was playing cars inside!).

Pop set up an egg hunt and the littles all had fun finding their special eggs!

 Xander proudly showing off his eggs!

 Ryleigh enjoying the spoils:

***

These past two days have been spent with lots of park playtime, outdoor work and long runs for me. It's been a GIGANTIC blessing to have my whole family home. The kiddos have been getting along so well it's been pretty awesome.

I love spring break!!

Happy Ressurection Day!

So thankful for the family God has given me.

We have enjoyed our Easter morning with eggs and baskets and new books for Amelie and new toys for Maeve and Ezra. 

We went to church and really enjoyed the Easter cantata--soo soo lovely!

Anyways, I like to take pictures of my little people because I love them.

Some of my little people (ahem...Ezra) don't like getting their/his picture taken.

Wailing 

and

Gnashing of teeth.

The other people? Perfectly happy to be photographed:

Hope you a enjoyed a happy day with your family! We're looking forward to Easter egg hunting and *ham* (yum) with our Jersey Family. 

A kind lady, riding by on her bike, stopped and asked if she could take our family picture! What a treat! We rarely get pictures of us all--yay! Just ignore the fact that I'm too smiley and Maeve and Ezra are un-smiley. =)

It Should Be Called Great Friday....

Things that will NOT save your soul:

Going to church

Being a good person

Charitable deeds

Doing good things

***The ONLY thing that saves is***

Grace. 

The grace of God covers our sins and our faults.

***The Only One who saves is Christ***

--(John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.)

and all it takes is:

1. Belief that He is the Son of God

2. Confession of sins

All of the "work" of salvation has been done for us--ours is just to accept the gift that has been freely given. Isn't that wonderful? I'm so thankful for grace and peace and HOPE wrapped up in my future in Heaven with Him! What a miracle! 

So thankful for Christ's sacrifice for me!

We've had a lovely couple of days filled with playdates and friends and having my husband home at night! yay!! Monday Mr. Wonderful took the kids to the park after dinner and didn't come back until bedtime and last night we did the same thing as a family! I love our home and that we can easily walk to a few different parks--what a treat! 

Not much else is new--we're just counting down the days until spring break! It will be so nice to have everyone home! The kids are really looking forward to Easter! Granny of the East got them so really cute outfits (the girls picked out their dress this year--so sweet!) and Granny of the South got Ezra's shoes! Now we're all set except for Amelie's shoes--that girl has hit a growth spurt and needs a new shoe wardrobe. =)

Happy Wednesday! Looks like rain today which will make my baby grass happy! =)