Happy 1st Birthday….

NATALIE JULIETTE HURT!!  It's hard to believe she's been enjoying life with us for a year now.  She's growing so fast and is still super happy.  We are going to the doctor for her 1-year checkup tomorrow, but I wanted to get some pictures posted.  My friend Trisha has more pictures, but these are super funny.  We invited close family and friends to her birthday celebration and after dinner, she was ready to open presents.  She scooted straight towards the car that Gracie, Aunt Nerned and Uncle Ry-Ry gave her.  After her appointment tomorrow, I will post her statistics along with pictures when I receive them from Trisha.  

Natalie, I hope you know and always remember how much we love you!  You are a special girl and truly a gift from God.  Our prayer for you is that you always trust in him and never waiver from your faith.  

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter weekend!  I think I'm getting old, but I kinda like the late Easter years because the weather was GORGEOUS this weekend and we spent most of our weekend outside.  On Saturday, we went to our Church's Easter Eggstravaganza and the kids frantically searched for Easter eggs.  It's funny to watch the different age groups.  Kianna was more concerned about the candy inside the eggs, where Kyle wanted to collect the most eggs.  Needless to say, I'm on Kyle's wavelength!  You can worry about the candy later.  Natalie enjoyed spectating from her stroller.  Unfortunately, John is working most weekends, so I'm single parenting the weekends.  I told him that next year with THREE kids hunting eggs, I'd like for him to skip work.  We ran from there to baseball practice.  Then we spent the day preparing for our Easter celebration the next day.  My mom and I made a beautiful cake that we ate the next day.

On Sunday, we went to the early service and enjoyed breakfast afterwards.  We then hunted the eggs and baskets the Easter bunny left at our house.  Then it was on to eating and playing at Aunt Nerned's and Uncle Ry-Ry's house.  It was very relaxing, but a nap was in order afterwards.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my munchkins on this special day.

I just realized I don't have pictures of my littles from church, so when I get those from my sister, I will post them.  He has risen, He has risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

P.S.  I'm happy to report that I gave up sweets for Lent (although, the last time I ate sweets was on my birthday) and I succeeded!  I even lost 12 pounds and feel great!  It's amazing how bad sugar was making me feel.  I did indulge on Easter and the next weekend, but I'm giving it up again.

A Little Bit of Easter, oh wait-Palm Sunday

Kianna and I had a bit of fun this morning at the Gladstone Pool.  She ventured out with her swimsuit, Easter basket and her Ariel coverup.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect, so I wasn't as prepared as I would've liked, but we had an hour of fun with Aunt Nerned and Gracie-Lou!  These girls are definitely little fishies, so this summer will be fun!

P.S.  Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and it's my favorite church holiday-they kept saying, "Happy Easter" today!

Baseball and Kyle

As I'm sitting here at Kyle's baseball practice, it brings back a lot of summer softball memories.  You see, baseball (softball) is one of my favorite sports and I love going to cheer on the Royals, even though we are a house divided (we have a few Cardnals fans in our house).            

  Getting back to my point, we tried a different league for Kyle last year and he hated it.  The last thing I wanted to do was kill his love for the sport.  So, I made an executive decision to enroll him into NKCA-despite the financial burden we would encrue this year.  

It's very bittersweet, because this is the same league my Dad played for when he we just Kyle's age.  My Dad coached softball for my sister and me.  I've been very impressed with the coaches Kyle has.  They are teaching him more than John or I could.  I can't help but think how would my Dad help Kyle if he were still here.

After Kyle's first practice-he hopped in the car and said, "I love this, I hated last year"!  Let's hope he still feels the same way in July!  

Until next time, "BATTER'S UP"!

Frozen

As John and I were getting the kids ready for bed, he told me some statistic about the movie Frozen.  If you know John, he's full of statistics.  He stores them somewhere in his brain, but when it comes to daily tasks-oh wait, this is a family blog!  :)  I love you, John!

Anyway, the girls love to play Frozen.  For awhile, Kianna was Anna and Gracie-Lou was Elsa.  Then, Kianna was Elsa and Gracie was Belle-don't ask!  Then, they were both Elsa.  Now, it's back to Kianna being Anna and Gracie being Elsa.  

Here is a video of Kianna imitating Anna.  I don't know why I love this so much, but I do!  I captured it on video, so I can listen to it whenever I want-I mean, NOW!

P.S.  Don't pay attention to the macaroni and cheese packet on the floor.  She was helping me make it for dinner on Gymnastics night.  Yes, I can be THAT mom-don't judge!  I do occasionally give them mac n' cheese for dinner once every 6 months!  :)

The last few weeks

Now that the weather is beginning to turn around, we've been out and about more often on the weekends.  It's been fun to play with the kids, but I'm not getting anything done around the house.  Oh well, in about 16 days (thank YOU jobshare), I can work on my house.  As I've said before, we like to venture out and about.  Here are a few photos of the last 2 weeks.  One of my favorite activities was going to the Jazz Museum.  They have story time every Friday morning.  The girls had a BLAST!  They do a great job of keeping the children moving and engaged.  This Mama Teacher loves keeping kiddos engaged!  There are also a few pictures of Kianna with her "womb" buddy.  We went to Chuck E. Cheese with some very dear friends of ours.

***A sidenote:  I blacked out the faces of our friends.  I know as a mom (and wife of a lawyer), I wouldn't want my child's picture on someone's blog.  Just ask my sister about her McDonald's experience!

Until next time…..