March

March

March was a strange month for weather.  It was hot and it was cold.  I even woke up one morning to a thick layer of frost on my windshield.  I had to scrap it off before I could drive.

Dr. Seuss' Birthday
We started off the month by celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday.  Growing up I never really cared for his books but now I love them and so does the rest of my family.  The week leading up to his birthday, we read lots of Dr. Seuss books, we watched the Lorax (on Netflix)and Horton Hears a Who (which was one of the shared gifts from us to the kids).  On his birthday, we had Carter over for a Dr. Seuss dinner of green eggs and ham (an mashed potatoes).  The kids loved it. I think both, Josh and Carter, thought I was a bit strange. But they both said they enjoyed it by the end of the night.  We finished up by reading all the our Dr. Seuss books (5) plus the 2 we borrowed from the library.

Lego Class
Our Lego class is still going strong.  Landon looks forward to it every week, as well as many of the other kids.  I love teaching it, every week :)

Lego Class

 Everyday life

Fun around the house

 Red Robin
Gainesville now has a Red Robin.  I had never been to one but people around here seemed pretty excited.  Josh and I didn't really have any opinion about it one way or another... Until our friend Michelle told me that they were allowing you to sign up for a free meal.  So... I signed up our family.  Josh met us at the mall for lunch.  We had a lovely, yummy meal that was a little over $55 for free!!  How awesome is that?  The food was really good too!  So now I think I get why everyone was excited about Red Robin.  They have great service and awesome food! Plus they gave us some free food and I am always up for that!

Red Robin Lunch

St Patrick's Day
 I love St Patrick's Day.  I always have.  I am Irish. I had an Irish maiden name.  I always get pretty into St Patrick's Day, well I wear green and since Josh and I have been married we almost always have corned beef and cabbage at least once in March.  I LOVE corned beef and cabbage.  Which is kind of funny because I remember it being a big family tradition things growing up and I hated it!  Oh well, I guess that is why it is always good to keep trying things, because you never know when you will start liking them.

St Patrick's Day fun and crafts

Painting
We have been working on the play area in the back yard.  Arabella and I painted the inside of the playhouse/fort.  We used left over paint that we have collected.  So one great part was the project was free :)
There is now a green, red, blue, and purple wall.  While I was painting, a little bird came to keep me company and sing me a song.  It was such a treat!

More Corks & Colors painting fun :)

Family Fun Day
We had to do some work in Niceville.  It was only going to take an hour or so but we could stay.  So instead of dreading a 8 hour drive to and from Niceville, Josh thought we should just make a family fun day out of it.  We went to the Florida Caverns.  Unfortunately, it was spring break so the tickets for the caverns (which you can not buy in advanced) were sold out by the time we got there.  We still had a lot of fun.  We walked on the nature trails and found caves to explore ourselves.  We will be planning another trip there so we can go in the caverns but for a family fun day it was a perfect outing!

Florida Caverns

Easter
The Saturday before Easter/Resurrection Sunday, we joined many other friends at Mrs Jean's house for a pot luck lunch, games and egg hunt.  She host this every year and it is always a blast.  This year was no different.

Lunch, Dancing with Daddy, and Games at Mrs Jean's

Eggs!!!

Enjoying wide open spaces and the goats.  Especially the mommy with her baby.

Anyone interested in a "Apple" that tastes a lot like a potato?!?

 Sally and Jeremiah came to visit for Easter weekend.  We were glad to have them visit although it was much too short of a visit.  Thank Sally for taking our pictures! :)

Resurection Sunday family pictures :)

Easter/ Resurections Sunday 2012

 Easter/ Resurrection Sunday whatever you want to call it is the best day, because our family celebrates our Savior rising from the dead after dying on a cross for us and all of you (whoever you are)!


We had a week long celebration for Easter.  It is fun getting to experience holidays with our children.  They are so excited about it. And we are excited to share what a amazing thing our Savior did for us!  What a great reason to celebrate and enjoy family and fun activities!!

Jesus Has Risen

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.  The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.  Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.  Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”  Matt 28:1-10



For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.   John 3:16



We made shaving cream dyed eggs.  It was a super cool project!  You place paint on a cookie sheet or some sort of flat surface that will clean easy after you are done.  put in it different areas of the surface.  Once you have several colors take a toothpick and swirl them around until you have the desired look. Take the card stock once you have cut it into whatever shape you want and put a layer of shaving cream. then carefully place the card stock shaving cream side down straight into the paint.  It turns out the best the less you move the card stock around.  Once you have the card stock on gently apply a little pressure to ensure all the sides are touching the paint.  Then lift as straight off as possible.  Let the shaving cream painted card stock sit for a few minutes.  Then scrape off the shaving cream- I have a squidgy for the shower so we used that.  The swirled paint remains with a nice smell of shaving cream.  We just "re-dipped" each egg after adding a little more paint and didn't redo the paint.  I would recommend starting fresh each time for the best effect, although I think all of ours turned out great. 

Easter Crafts with Landon and Arabella

The Main head quarters library had a children's story time event  of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane  so I took the kids to it.  The ladies who did it did a super job.  The girls really got into it so the kids did too.  The crafts seemed to interested both Landon and Arabella which is always a plus.

Story time and Puppet Play: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

We took the kids to the Alachua County Egg Drop.  It was a neat spin on the typical egg drop.  A helicopter dropped eggs to start the hunt for each age group.  Landon was super sweet, as he general is, and made sure his sister collected some eggs.  There was some fierce competition in the 1-3 year old egg hunters, which is not really some thing Josh and I look forward too.  Landon did great and we were very proud of his attitude and behavior.  The kids got to meet the big pink Easter bunny and do some other fun games and things.  Afterward Josh took us to a restaurant he had been wanting to take us too for a while.  We ended the morning by stopping by Hitchcock's the local grocery store.  It was a Saturday well spent ;)

Josh, Sally, Landon and I dyed eggs for Easter.  It was Landon's first time.  Arabella wasn't really interested in any of it.  Landon loved having colored eggs to eat.  Bella, a big lover of eggs also enjoyed the hard boiled eggs but I think she really didn't care about the color. 

Dying Easter Eggs

Sunday before going to service we had the kids get their Easter baskets (we had intended on doing this Saturday morning but forgot due to a  busy day and a late evening the day before).  Landon got a car, a growing insect, some pairs of Sponge Bob character socks and candy.  Landon helped pick Bella's goodies out which were dress up shoes, a necklace with a Disney princess on it and candy.  We also had several egg hunts in our house through out the week.  Some were just for fun and some I used to help with school.  I hid letters in the eggs and had Landon name the letter and place it on a picture which started with that letter.

Happy Easter Baskets!

After Sunday service, Sally came over for lunch.  She took some family pictures for us as well.  We had a super day!

Resurrection Sunday with family!

A thoughtful thought from my sweet boy

A friend of ours recently was killed in a motorcycle accident. I am good friends with his wife. Landon was friends with his 4 year old son. We had just spent a morning and lunch with them less than a week before this happened. Our family was saddened by this tragic event. We were telling Landon that his friend had lost his Daddy and won't be able to see him. His daddy had gone to Heaven to be with Jesus. Although his friend would be very sad, his daddy is in a very great place since he is with Jesus. Landon was so concerned for his friend. I was some what surprised with the emotion that he seemed to have for his friend. He has asked about how his friend is doing almost everyday since then. He also asks to pray for his friend every night at bed time prayers.
Landon: "Help (his friend's name) not be sad. His Daddy love him and he happy cause he with Jesus. Amen." It is really hard for me to not cry when I hear this. Although Josh did pray with us all the day it happened this was not something Josh and I told him to do or what to say. It was something he came up with on his own. I am truly blessed to have such a great example of Christ's heart sleeping in the bedroom next to mine.

Events such as losing a loved one before we think it is time always makes me think about remembering to live everyday to its fullest and to treasure all of our blessings each and every day. I have had several close friends and fmaily members die but this one has been truly hard for me. I know and saw the love a wife had for her husband and the love and admiration a son had for his father. This time I also have a son who reminds me of something very important. Only Jesus can heal these wounds and we need to always be seeking him not just in times like these. Also remember that death is not the end for those who walk with God, just a wonderful beginning to their live in the Kingdom of Heaven. Hope you take the time today to strengthen your walk with God and love on your loves a little extra.

He Is Not Here, He Has Risen!

Matthew 28

 ¹ After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.  ² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
 ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
 ⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”


Thank you LORD for your precious undeserved gift!