Easter weekend 2012

My kiddos.

Carrington got this pillow for Easter instead of an Easter basket.  My kids get PLENTY  of candy all year long, so I decided to give presents for Easter.  Clayton got a ladybug garden.  We have to send off for the larvae.  He will definitely have fun watching them turn into ladybugs.

My sweet Dad.   You can barely tell that he had hip surgery in December.

Easter egg hunting with cousins.

Carrington looking for eggs.  My nephew was just hanging out watching.  :-)

My 9 year old!!!

Decorating eggs.

On Friday, we celebrated Clayton's birthday.  I can't believe he's 9!  It has been really neat to see how his faith has grown in the last year.   I have been praying for my children to really be on fire for God.  I hope that they won't just be luke warm Christians.  There is too much of that in the United States.  Clayton is developing his own faith.  I am often convicted by things he says.  It is amazing how much our kids can challenge us in all kinds of ways!  He started doing karate at a church near us recently.  He loves it!  The men that teach the classes are very nice Christian men.  Karate is teaching him self-discipline, respect, and confidence.  Every age has been fun with both of my kids and I love seeing the people that they are turning into.

On Friday evening, we went to a Good Friday service.  It was really fun!  I have always wanted to do something special to comemorate Jesus' sacrifice for us, so I jumped at the chance to go to this.  It was well worth it!  We got to hear a great speaker and it was really fun to worship Jesus with thousands of other people!  We went to the service with some friends of ours, and it was so neat to see how our kids were worshipping too!  On the way home, Carrington said, "Mama, I want to do this again next year!" 

We went down to my Mom and Dad's house yesterday for Easter and to hang out with my sister and her family.  My kids always have a blast with their cousins.  Unfortunately my pictures were pathetic from yesterday.  All of the kids got an Easter basket from my Mom and Dad, and they got to have an egg hunt. 

I had ordered a Tim Hawkins dvd for my kids for Easter, but when we left on Saturday, it hadn't come yet.  When we got home tonight, it had come in the mail.  My kids and I watched it before bed and laughed hysterically!  He is so funny!!!

Spring Has Sprung

Carrington took this picture.

We've been doing a lot of school outside.

Our Easter garden.  Yes, we got the idea from Ann Voskamp's blog.  :-)

Easter cupcakes for my little class at church last Sunday.

School Stuff and Crafts

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We had these sweet kids over to play recently.  They decorated cupcakes and then ate them.

The girls made various creations with mini marshmallows and colored toothpicks.

I love this series of historical fiction picture books!  This particular book was pretty sad though.

My kids love this book.  U.S. geography.  :-)

I use these all of the time!  I write Bible verses and notes to the kids on their bathroom mirror with them sometimes.  I also write notes to myself on my bathroom mirror.  :-)  It comes off very easily with Windex, and even with just a dry erase board eraser.

My kids have had a lot of fun with this world map on our kitchen table.  There is a plastic table cloth on top of the map and the striped table cloth.  I bought the plastic at Hobby Lobby.  It's so handy!  My kids can make messes and the clean-up is easy.

Kentucky Roadtrip

Larry has been a permanent fixture in our car for quite a few years.

Driving through the hills of Kentucky.

I love all the trees in bloom!

Getting gas at a truckstop.

Time to say "goodbye".

I hope my sister Kellie doesn't kill me for posting this pic.  I think she looks great for 15 weeks.

Lily Kate and Abigail

Doesn't he have pretty eyes?

This was the first time I have ever lit fireworks.  I can be talked into a lot of things!!!!

We forgot to sing "Pass It On"  and "Cumbaya"

Mighty Hunters

Smore making time!

He can still carry me on his back!!

Lydia is always ready to go somewhere, even if it's just to the IGA.  :o)

Warren made green tea on St. Patrick's Day.

Warren being silly..........it happens occasionally.

These pictures are posted backwards.  I should have known better than to put them in the right order!  Computers confound me.  :o)  We went to Kentucky last week to see my sister Kellie and her family.  Warren even went with us.  It was fun to visit Kellie's church, because her preacher is really on fire for the Lord.  That is always inspiring!  We had fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day together.  In recent years, we have come to embrace our Irish heritage a little bit.  My aunt, who died recently, told us about a castle in Ireland that was named after our ancestors.  Both of my sisters and I have an interest in geneology.  We also came to appreciate Celtic music because of the group "Celtic Thunder".  Hence, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day, complete with green balloons, green food, green tea, and green necklaces for everyone.  There were a lot of tears when we left on Monday, but there will be many more fun visits in the future.  :o) 

Monumental OFFICIAL TRAILER

This looks like such a great movie!  It's going to be in theatres on March 27th.  Check it out!

Blogging again!!!!!

My babies.  :)

My sister, Kellie, and I.

My niece, Abigail and I.  I'm a dork for posing like that.  :)

I have been wanting to take some pictures of this little church for a while now.  I love it.

I have really missed posting on my blog!  I haven't posted since before Christmas.  Things got a little crazy for our family the day before Christmas Eve.  My Dad fell and broke his hip, so we have made a lot of trips to my parents' home to help out a little bit (and also try to keep up with homeschooling my children).  My brother came for a visit also.  We had not seen him in 11 years.   I have made a few attempts to post pictures and I couldn't post them for some reason.  I thought I would try one more time.  This time it worked!!  :)