Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend!! We had a movie night on Friday night (no it has nothing to do with Easter, I just have to share!) and rented "Tangled"... Alex ran to Gary as soon as he got home, super excitedly yelling, "Daddy! Daddy! It's MOVIE NIGHT! We got Wound Up!" (aka "Tangled") So cute!

Anyway, on to the actual Easter festivities! We decorated eggs on Saturday night. Alex was so into it!

Nathan enjoyed playing with plastic eggs and cups!

This was very messy this year! haha.

Gary and Alex dyed and then re-dyed just about every egg. Neither of them wanted to be done! haha. I guess we need more eggs next year! Oh, and Gary cracked about 1/4th of them... lol.

We hadn't made a big deal really about the "Easter Bunny" other than a couple of mentions here and there. So when we had him put grass in the baskets and get carrots out for the bunny, he was SO excited and had a million questions! He couldn't even sleep. We went in twice when he was yelling for us. The first time all he wanted was to know if the bunny was coming TONIGHT? and would he see him? The second time he asked Gary what specifically bunnies eat. Gary told him he had to go to bed or the bunny wouldn't come. And that if we heard him again, he'd be in trouble. So we didn't hear him again... but then when I went in at 11:00 to check on them, he was WIDE AWAKE!! So cute.

The Easter bunny came!!!!

Alex got Eric Carle lacing cards, do-a-dot markers, and a Toy Story shirt! And then a few dollar store things. Nathan got tadoodles toddler crayons and a Percy train (Alex thinks allllll the trains are his and has a hard time sharing them... so we figured Nathan having a highly desireable Percy train would help with the sharing haha! Nathan loooves the trains too!). And then of course some dollar store things as well!

So excited!!

Nathan's favorite was probably this ball!

...and the Easter grass! haha!

A picture of our eggs!

Sunday was a very busy, but fun day! We were teaching the k-2nd grade Sunday School so we had to be there for the 9:30 and 11:00 services. The Easter service was great! After church we went straight to a friends' house for Easter lunch! I'm pretty sad we didn't get any pictures of us all dressed up. It was so hot (in the mid to upper 80s!) that we ended up all changing after church when we got there. Oh well. We spent the afternoon with friends! We had a great afternoon. We headed home around 4ish and ate a light dinner before our family egg hunt! We ended up just doing it in the living room/kitchen. Alex was pretty pumped about the hunt, he said it was his favorite part of Easter. We had the eggs out all week and had been playing games and doing some different crafts related to Easter eggs/bunnies/etc. So he was super excited!

I hid the eggs because Gary LOVES egg hunts! hahaha... he was right in on it with Alex ;)

Nathan didn't really get it... but had fun playing with the eggs anyway!

Excited to see the treats inside!

It was such a fun day! :) Now we're gearing up for Nathan's birthday next weekend! Our baby will be ONE!!! So crazy!

Spring Fun

So I was about to post about Easter, but then I went to upload pictures and had a few others I wanted to post first! I know it's been like 3 weeks-ish now, but my birthday was on the 7th! Alex was so cute about it... he was super excited and fascinated that I had a birthday too! Him and Gary went out together to pick out gifts and a cake. Alex got me some earrings and Gary got me a waffle maker (something I've wanted for a while)! They also brought me flowers :) We went to dinner at Olive Garden, then had this "birthday party"! The kids enjoyed the cake and candles, and even Nathan got a taste!

Love my boys!

We've been spending a lot of time ouside lately. We have had some beautiful days! Alex has always been a bit cautious on playgrounds, but has been getting slightly more adventurous lately. He still isn't a huge fan of slides (he will do them, but he doesn't really like them I guess). He's more into climbing, bridges, running, and collecting and playing with sticks/rocks/sand.

Nathan loves these things!

He hates the swing. He always starts crying when I put him in! I've never known a kid not to like them. I keep trying, but he is just not a fan! It makes it a little tricky at the park because he's not at an age yet where he can really play much. He isn't walking and of course can't crawl all over the place at a park like this!

Gary and Alex enjoyed skipping and throwing rocks one afternoon!

Other than that, a couple of other noteable things...

Nathan has been sleeping GREAT for the past week or so! If you are a parent, you definitely understand how big of a deal this is!! He started having a lot of sleep issues when we went to Nashville and they continued when we got home. He was waking up at night again, and getting up around 5-5:15 every morning. This made for a grumpy baby and a grumpy mommy and daddy! We tried letting him cry, but it seriously wasn't working. Anyway, one night last week he literally just started sleeping well again! One morning we left him to cry for 15 minutes and he went back to sleep... and other than that he's been going down by 8:00 and sleeping until 6:15-6:45 again! YAY! And he's doing his normal 2 naps/day again (his nap schedule was off due to weird night sleep!) - usually at 9:00 for 45 min-1hrish and afternoon nap at 2:00 for an hour and a half ish. Hopefully this post doesn't jinx it ;)

Alex finally spent is chore money last week! I have to admit, it's been a little hard to keep up with since he doesn't really have that many "chores" and the money doesn't add up that quick. I may need to adjust how it's done a little bit. But, we counted it all up and he had $15 (some of it was Easter money he got from grandma too). He was so excited and I loved the sense of accomplishment he felt! He picked out a police car (after MUCH deliberation) and paid for it himself! It was pretty cute :) He has a few dollars in his "Give" bank to take to church, but we forgot it this past Sunday, oops!

And my favorite kid quote from yesterday, Nathan started fussing and Alex dropped what he was playing with and came running to his brother, "I'm coming, Nathan! I'm coming!!" It was so sweet! He proceeded to play with him, and give him toys. I love them :)

Just a few memories...

A few memories I want to save from the past week-ish :)

*Nathan LOVES goldfish. He asks for them allll the time... he has his own version of the word (that doesn't even come close to "goldfish", but he knows where they are and points to them constantly!

*Alex to Nathan (as Nathan played xylophone and danced to his music!): "you're too cute, little buddy!"

*Nathan discovered his birthday present waaaay up high in the closet. He asked for it over and over "this, this, this????" pointing and looking at me with the biggest eyes and little legs kicking! He went to it again the next day and asked for it AGAIN (I forgot to re-hide it, but he didn't forget it was there! haha)

*Alex: "Can I pleeeeaaaase play with NaFan in the living room???"

*Alex: "I'm big and I have to keep my brother safe."

*Alex currently loves playing superheros. He and his buddy run around with "capes" (blankets) tied around their necks with play swords looking for "bad guys". Where do boys learn this stuff??

*We picked Alex up from Sunday school the last two weeks and he was running around with lego guns. (He wasn't the only one... but we were still a bit embarassed!) Boys will be boys I suppose!

*Nathan loves to hide and play "peek-a-boo!" His little giggle is pretty cute :)

*Nathan breaks out some serious dance moves EVERY time he hears music. I really need to get a video and figure out how to post it!

*I've been blocking Nathan in the living room or the kids' bedroom a lot lately because he's ALL over. Alex frequently reminds me that we need to "cage him in" LOL

*Last week we were on our way to church and Alex says "There's a loooooot of traffic. Everyone's on their way to church I guess." Then a couple of days later we were heading to the park and he says, "Lots of kids heading to the park today!" I guess that's an ego-centric three year old's logic!

Crazy Love

I just finished a study on the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. If you haven't read it - you should! It is a quick, but very challenging read. Although I feel that I've always known that "Jesus loves me", truly grasping what that means and how I should respond if I claim I love Jesus is something that has taken a lot of time (something that I am still learning and will continue to learn throughout my life I am sure). Reading this book helped put in perspective how extremely selfish and hypocritical we are as a culture, and especially as Christians. When I call myself a Christian, I am saying that I love God - that He sent His only son to live a sinless life and to then die on a cross for ME - so that I can live and be forgiven, and live forever in eternity with my Savior. How easy it is to say that and just keep on living the way that I do... but if I sit and truly let that sink in and try to grasp even a hint of what that really means, how can I go on living the way that I do?? Yes, I know that we are all sinful creatures and will continue to sin, and that we live under God's grace. None of us can be perfect, but we are called to imitate Christ - striving each day to be more and more like Him. This book is an amazing resource to help in understanding what a Christ-like life can look like and what kinds of big things can be done through normal, everyday people. Chan says, "...when you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything." Does loving God change EVERYTHING for Christians - for me? Or do we still blend in and look much like our unsaved neighbors? What am I doing to radically be different? So I wanted to record just a few realizations and goals that I have right now, in hopes that I can look back on this in two weeks, two months, etc. and remember what I learned throughout the past couple of months. So that I can use this post as a reminder of how I want to be different.

1. Spend significant, quality, daily time in the Word, studying and learning more about Christ. Who am I to think that all of the trivial things that I "have" to do are so significant that I can't pause and spend time with my creator?
2. Pray. Prayer is not a "waste of time", prayer is powerful and important and essential. I spent an hour in prayer this past week for our church - we have an event going on the week leading up to Easter where someone is praying at church every hour, 24/7 leading up to Easter. It was truly amazing to spend an uninterrupted hour in prayer.
3. Look for opportunities to serve people around me. Sometimes it is easy to use young children as an excuse for not being able to serve more. But what better time to serve? I can show my children what it means to live a life of service, even if through small things.
4. Serve regularily at our local church.
5. Fix my attitude and practice patience. When I think about my daily life, I realize how incredibly selfish I am - with my time, money, thoughts, etc. I need to ask myself daily what my motives are, check my words before they come out of my mouth, and stop worrying about what I want or think I need. I need to ask myself often if what I am doing is glorifying to God.

Nashville "Vacation"!

So it wasn't technically a vacation, since Gary was on business, but it was a week away from home!! We had a BLAST! Gary had a conference in Nashville Tues-Fri and we decided to join him for the week! On the way we stopped in Knoxville to visit his brother and sister-in-law for a couple of nights! We enjoyed hanging out at their apartment, playing games and cards, visiting, and eating out! I somehow managed not to take a single picture, but we had a great time! We got to see some old college friends on Sunday night! We went to Emily and Karl's house and got to meet their sweet new baby, Brinley! It was so much fun to catch up and meet their beautiful girl! I'll have to add a picture later because they are on Gary's phone, not my camera :) Early Monday morning we drove to Nashville. We spent Monday afternoon at the Science Museum there! It was very cool - much of it was over Alex's head of course (more targeted at school age kids) but Alex still had fun! There were lots of hands-0n exhibits and buttons to push, which is right up his alley :) Here are just a couple of photos from our day:

After the museum we checked in to The Gaylord Opryland Hotel! It was amazing!!! Waterfalls, greenery and gardens, 13 restaurants, huge pool, etc! What a great place for a business trip :)

Tuesday Gary's conference started, so the kids and I headed to the Nashville Zoo. It's nothing compared to the Cincinnati or DC zoo, but we still enjoyed it!

Alex was our little tour guide! He carried this map almost all day :)

Nathan's favorite animals were the inside ones (especially the turtles and fish). They were much easier to see!

Both kids enjoyed the petting zoo! Even Nathan got to pet the goats and camel (It was a little tricky to get a pic of him though since I had to hold him haha).

They had a HUGE playground there! So big that I had to follow Alex everywhere or we would lose him for sure! It was a blast though!!

This is about 1/4 of the huge castle playground - so fun! This and the carosel were probably Alex's favorite. Alex was SO pumped to ride the carosel all day, and then we went to get on it and then (of allll the animals to choose from) he just wanted to sit in the chair... that's my "adventurous" little 3 year old for ya ;) He loved it though!

Tuesday night we went out to dinner with our sister-in-law's parents who live in Nashville! We went to a catfish place (again, I managed not to take a single photo!) where you could actually pet the fish and roast marshmellows! We had a lot of fun!!

Wednesday I took the kids to the FRIST art museum downtown while Gary attended more classes! Alex absolutely LOVED it! They have a really nice kids area where families can explore different art materials and make lots of different projects! I have to admit we didn't actually go into a single exhibit (we did look at some art on the way to the kids area though!)

My little artist!

Here is Alex in front of the museum with his hat and bag of projects!!

Wednesay evening we went out to eat in the hotel at a (super expensive and way overpriced) mexcian restaurant! We enjoyed fajitas, margaritas, and terrible service hahaha. But it was great food! :)

Here we are waiting for dinner in front of one of the many waterfalls!

After dinner we went on the (VERY long anticipated) boat ride through the hotel! Alex was SOOOO excited for this! He was asking about it Monday, Tuesday, and up until it was time to go Wednesday! He could hardly eat any dinner because he was so excited and said the boat was "about to leave! we have to hurry!!!" allllll through dinner!

He had a blast! We'd briefly mentioned maybe getting ice cream after the boat ride, and of course Alex didn't let us forget it! We even let Nathan eat some ice cream! He got this face after every bite, but then opened up wide for the next one! Ha!

yum yum!!!

Thursday I took the kids to the train yard. They had a small train museum and exhibit to look at. I thought there would be more to it, but Alex was incredibly excited with the small area they had! He absolutely loves trains!! He is usually fairly quiet around new people, but was talking the heads off of everyone there! There were a few old men that collect and put together model trains that were there and they were showing him all of the cool stuff!

And we lucked out because a preschool field trip was coming and they let us join in!!! We got to walk out to the train yard and get on a train! It didn't actually go anywhere (which was slightly dissappointing for Alex), but we did get to get on it and look around!

That evening we spent some time wandering around the hotel with Gary! We got pizza, watched the huge fountain show (awesome water show put to music!) and then went swimming!

Nathan absolutely loved the water!!!

And Alex wouldn't leave the steps...

I guess it's been a while since he swam and he was just overwhelmed... hopefully it won't take long for him to warm up to the idea of swimming again when summer arrives!

Friday morning Gary just had an hour or so of class and then we packed up and headed to the Smoky Mountains!! We mini-golfed in Pigeon Forge when we arrived... it was sooo fun for all of us!!

Alex would announce how many tries it took him and ran around hitting the ball many, many times to get it in.. it was pretty cute :)

And Nathan enjoyed crawling around the greens and playing with his very own baby golf club and ball! He watched the first few holes, then was ready to put his ball in too!

After mini-golfing, Gary and Alex went go kart racing!! Alex was super excited! He got right in, buckled up, and was off for a very bumpy ride! He was a little unsure afterward and said it went too fast and the hill was scary (to his credit, Gary said it actually was a very very steep hill and was a little scary for him too haha!)

After mini-golfing and racecars, we met up with Gary's mom, dad, brother, and oma for dinner and to spend the weekend with them in Gatlinburg! We stayed in a cabin in the mountains (that took us two hours to find in the dark LOL)! It was absolutely beautiful!!

Nathan met his great-oma for the first time! The boys had a blast with her... she sang to them in German, spoiled them with treats, and enjoyed holding and playing with both of them!

We spent Saturday in Gatlinburg! We went to Ripley's Aquarium, which both boys absolutely LOVED!

My camera broke when I dropped it at the museum, which is super sad :( Looks like I know what my birthday present is going to be this year! Haha. I fixed it later, but it's still not completely repaired and will probably die again soon. Anyway, this is my last picture of the trip... (there are a few on Gary's phone that I'll have to add later) but anyway, the boys had a great time! We also did old time photos and ate lots of shrimp at Bubba Gump's! We spent the evening relaxing and hanging out at the cabin before our long drive Sunday. Nathan had a rough evening/night/morning throwing up and had a slight fever, but luckily it was gone by Sunday afternoon and the drive wasn't too bad!

We had such a great time and squeezed a lot in!!! Now I'm drowning in laundry and trying to "re-train" the kids how to eat normal food (after eating out allllll week), follow the rules, and sleep/nap regular hours again! It's always tough getting back into the routine after vacation!!