Easter 2014

     This Easter has been our best one yet. I love Easter. I love everything about it. When it's Easter is feels like Spring is finally here, and everything around is reminding us of the new creation we become when we accept Jesus' sacrifice for our sins. Seriously, I like Easter even better than Christmas! :)

      We started celebrating Easter last Saturday by attending Mary's Chapel's Easter Celebration. The kids painted rocks to remind them of the stone that was rolled away exposing the empty tomb. They planted red and white flowers to remind them of the blood that was shed and the purity that is gained from accepting the sacrifice. They also painted crosses and dyed eggs. Then they hunted Easter eggs, and filled their baskets with goodies. Sunday was Palm Sunday and Rylee and Kade learned all about how the crowds praised Jesus and laid the branches in his path less than a week before they condemned him to die.

     Wednesday was the Easter party at Daycare/Preschool. We made cross-shaped peanut butter sandwiches for the kids to enjoy at lunch. Rylee was so proud to help me. They ate lots of goodies and had an Easter egg hunt with their friends. Payton's teacher gave her a book since she's too small for goodies just yet!

     Friday was good Friday and school was out and the daycare was closed, but Mary still had to work, so Bailey spent the day with us. I had so much fun spending the day with 3 precious princesses. We watched Frozen, then played outside, then we decorated glitter eggs, then we had a picnic lunch on the deck, then the girls swam and played in the sprinkler, while Payt and I enjoyed the sunshine, then the girls made a mud pit so I had to give them a bath, then they laid in Rylee's bed playing on her Nabi until Mary and Chuck came to get Bailey.

      Saturday morning, I took Rylee to meet up with Liz and Kade and Mary and Bailey and we headed to Finley Baptist (Chuck's church) to hunt eggs and hear the real meaning of Easter. Rylee got lots of yummy candy! Then we headed to Chikfila for lunch and to let the kids play for a minute.

     We headed home so Rylee could get a quick nap, then we headed to Liz and Brandon's house for fun evening of playtime, an Easter craft and story, and another egg hunt. This egg hunt involved mostly small toys and some coins and a few chocolate candies. Each child got at least 2 dozen eggs, but Kade definitely got the most. He is a super egg hunter!

    Today is Easter. The girls woke me up bright and early, which is pretty typical, so I went ahead and got them dressed up and took some photos of them in their Easter outfits before Ryan got up (he gets annoyed by my picture addiction-haha). Then we got him up and gave the girls their Easter baskets. Rylee got Frozen, a small Frozen doll set, and a new cup. Payton got lots of little toys and teethers because she has the attention span of a goldfish when it comes to toys, and she is teething like crazy! Rylee has wanted Frozen for so long, but she has been good about not being jealous or whiny about how all of her other friends got the movie the day it came out. She as so thrilled to see it in her basket, that we popped it in right away and she and Ryan watched the entire movie together. Then we headed to church, and we had s little drama in the beginning that involved the youth. There was a man on the cross and Rylee and Kade were just going on and on about seeing "the real Jesus" and when he died, Kade said "He died for us," and when he came off the cross, Rylee said "He's alive! He's alive!" It was downright precious. Then brother Roger preached another awesome sermon.

     After church we headed to Granny and Paw Paw's for and Easter lunch and some family time. We all ate until we were beyond stuffed, then the 3 girls opened their gifts from Granny and we headed outside to do a little egg hunt for Jenna and Rylee. They were so sweet. We also had some funny moments when they got out Jenna's pink escalade toy. first she wrecked it into a bush, then Ryan and Granny each took turns driving it. It was quite amusing.

      After leaving Granny's, we headed to Nonna's where Rylee and Payton each got 2 baskets filled with gifts and a gift box filled with super cute  Spring clothes. I love how much Nonna spoils them. Then we went outside and Granddaddy and Ryan rode Rylee on the four wheeler. Then, Rylee played bubbles with Nonna while Payton swung, then Payton spent some time playing with Nonna while Rylee ate some of her candy out of her basket. It was a great day! I loved spending it with people we love and I love that we were able to spend lots of time over the last few weeks focusing on what Easter really means.

Easter is NOT about a Bunny!

    Monday when I picked Rylee up from school, she was telling me all about the Easter Bunny and how he's gonna give her presents and throw eggs on the grass for her to pick up and put in her basket. I just listened until she was done, and then I turned to her and asked her, "What's Easter really all about, Rylee?" When she answered, "The Easter Bunny!" I felt my heart sink. I knew they had been talking to her about Christ's sacrifice in Sunday School, she knows the real story. If you asked her what happened to Jesus on Easter she will tell you all about how he died on the cross and "woke up." But in our society today there is so much emphasis on the fictional characters made to represent our holidays, that most kids don't think twice about the true reason we are celebrating. 

      Friday, I passed out letters for my students to take home about the Easter Egg Hunt our wing is doing with our students next Thursday, and of course they were all excited about the upcoming event and began to talk about Easter. Then one little boy jumped up and said, "Easter is the Easter Bunny's birthday, and that's why we get to have a Easter Egg Hunt!" My heart sank to the floor when he continued with, "And Christmas is Santa Claus's birthday, and he is so nice because he brings all the kids new toys because our old toys are broken and just aren't fun anymore! And he teaches us that it's good to share because not every kid in the world has toys like I do." What made it even worse is no child corrected him, they all just listened and nodded in agreement like everything he was saying was true. I corrected him about the history of Easter very quickly, then it was time to go home.  It angers me and saddens me at the same time. So if my child tells your child that the Easter Bunny is just pretend, so sorry, but I have had enough of the lies this world tries to tell our children! God has entrusted my children to me until they make the decision to become His, and I will teach them about Him in the way that He guides me to do.

       What does a story about a man that was killed on a cross for our sins have to offer in comparison to a giant magical bunny that lays eggs filled with candy and sends you baskets full of goodies? What does the willingness of our God to become human and be born as a helpless baby in a manger have to compare to magical flying reindeer and a fat man who gives every child in the whole world anything they ask for?! In a small child's mind? Not much. Especially when everything they see on TV and everything they hear at daycare, preschool, or school is all about the fictional character and not about the amazing true story! Easter is a Christian holiday. If you do not believe Jesus was fully man and fully God and that he came to this Earth with one purpose: to live a perfect life and then die for our sins, then you do not need to celebrate this holiday. If you do believe, why do you need another reason to celebrate?! Why do you need the Easter Bunny?! Why do you need to take away from the amazing true story by telling your child lies?! Seriously, rabbits don't even lay eggs, people!!! The Easter bunny, chicks, eggs, all of it come from the Pagan holiday, Eoster, which celebrated Spring and fertility. This has NOTHING to do with our Savior! 

      We celebrate Easter in our house, too; we wear nice outfits, we hunt eggs and get Easter baskets filled with goodies, but that's not what I want my children to remember most about Easter. What I am struggling to teach my children is that these are just things we do to celebrate that our Savior died for us, and then he rose again to give us new life through him. There is no Easter Bunny! There is no need for one. We have Jesus to celebrate! He is more than enough! When I think about the priorities of our nation, I can just see in my mind Satan smirking saying, "Even when they say they are celebrating You, You are not enough for them. They have parties in Your name and don't even tell their children about You. They use You as an excuse to indulge even deeper in their sinful ways. It's not about You; it's about whose child has the best Easter outfit or who can give their kid the biggest basket filled with the most expensive gifts. They don't care about the gift You gave. They never will..." It's so easy to get caught up in the celebrations and forget WHY we are celebrating.

      Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Our sermon today was entitled "What Makes the Crucifixion Special?" The preacher's answer to that questions was this: "A special person did a special work to solve a special problem." He went on the explain that God had a special problem because He is a holy god who must punish all sins. In His holiness, He cannot ignore sin, He cannot let one single sin slide, He must punish all sins. Punishment for sin is eternal separation from God. We all sin. Every single one of us. We all deserve to go to Hell and be eternally separated from God. I strongly believe that you cannot be saved until you realize that you fully deserve to go to Hell. The preacher continued that explain that because God is not only a holy god, but also a god of grace, that he wanted to find a way to keep us from Hell. It would take a special work to save us. This is when Jesus spoke up and said, "I will go. I will take their punishment for them, so that they may be saved." Jesus came to this Earth as a helpless newborn and lived a perfect life only to die a death that we deserved to take our punishment for our sins. But how could one person's death atone all of our sins? Because Jesus was a special person. He is 100% unique, truly one of a kind. Because Jesus is fully God and fully man, he is an infinite person. We are finite people. "As an infinite person, Jesus could suffer in a finite amount of time, what finite people would suffer infinitely." This is why he cried out, "Father, why have You forsaken me?!" He was suffering OUR eternal separation from God. Because of his death, we no longer have to face separation from God for our sins. There is no way to earn this gift. You will NEVER deserve Heaven. You will always deserve Hell. You can simply accept this gift to receive Heaven, and in God's sight you will be blameless. If that does not give you a reason to celebrate, I don't know what will! 

Ryan's Birthday Weekend

     Today is Ryan's 24th birthday! We celebrated all weekend long. Admittedly our household usually revolves around our girls, then me, and Ryan last, so I always try to make sure he knows how much we love and appreciate all he does to keep his girls happy. His birthday is just a chance to change our priorities for a day (or a few) and make him the top priority! We started out Friday by dropping the girls off with Nonna and Granddaddy and heading to Jackson for a date night, We had a delicious dinner and just some quality time as a couple. It's good to go from "mommy and daddy" back to just "husband and wife" every now and again!

      Saturday, I kept the girls, and Ryan headed to Millington with Brandon to have some "boy" fun at the shooting range. Bailey came over to play while Mary worked that morning, and not long after she left, Kade and Liz came over. Rylee asked, "Is it MY birthday?!" She was so excited her friends came over to play with her! It used to happen a lot more often than it does lately, but we have all been so busy! After the boys were done at the shooting range, Liz and I brought the kids to Millington to meet them for dinner. It was a lot of fun.

     This morning, as soon as Rylee got up, we started on "Daddy's birthday breakfast surprise." She chose to make him blueberry muffins "because blue is his favorite color." And then she wanted to make him a card. While the muffins were baking, I got her ready for church, and she could barely stand waiting to wake him up and tell him all about his surprise. When the time finally came, she woke him up with 24 kisses. It was downright precious. She was so proud to show him the breakfast she made for him and they ate together while she talked nonstop. :)

      After church, we went to lunch with Ryan's family and have enjoyed a gorgeous, restful day at home since then. I hope his birthday weekend was everything he wanted because he deserves nothing but the best. He constantly treats the girls and I like princesses  and a queen. We love him to the moon and would be so lost without him!

Half Birthday!!

     I cannot believe my sweet baby is half a year old already!!!!! Why must time fly by so quickly?! She is about 18 lbs (90th percentile) and 26 in. long (75th percentile). She wears size 6-9 Month clothes. Shes transitioning from size 2 diapers to size 3 diapers. She wears size 1 (0-3 Month) shoes. Little miss tiny feet! She is on an eating and sleeping schedule and has started consistenly sleeping through the night in her crib in her room from about 8 pm - around 5 am every night! I miss our middle of the night cuddles, but I knew it was important for her to self-wean from middle of the night feedings before 6 months, for developmental purposes.

    She has started solids and she has loved it thus far! She eats 4 tbsp rice or oatmeal cereal and a stage 1 food for breakfast, 2 stage 1 foods for lunch and 4 tbsp rice or oatmeal cereal and a stage 1 food for dinner. She drinks about 5-6 ounce bottles or nurses in between meals, and I've started letting her have a little bit of water in a sippy with her meals just for practice. She averages less than 1 full oz of water per day; the maximum amount of water that is safe for an infant her age is 4 oz per day. She has about 4 oz of formula per day mixed with her cereal, otherwise she's still mainly breastfed.

    The weather has started to warm up, and she LOVES being outdoors. She loves spending time with Rylee whether it's indoors or out. Rylee loves to slide down with Payton in her lap (I catch Payton at the bottom of the slide). Payton laughs and laughs the whole time, so Rylee does, too. These two girls love each other more and more each day. I cherish it now before they get older and start getting on each others' nerves. They are so precious together now its hard to believe there will ever come a day...

 I got her a new swing for outside as a gift for her half birthday! She loves it so much! The other baby swing we had was a hand-me-down and the rope was fraying so it kept leaving little rope burns on Payton and that did not make me happy, so I was happy to get her a new one that was safer for her that she can enjoy at least this year and next! :) I also moved her to a convertible carseat. I want to leave her rear facing until she's 2 because all research has shown that that is the safest way for infant and small toddlers to ride, so a convertible carseat was the bets choice for us. She hated her carrier and was getting to heavy to carry around in it for much longer. She LOVES her new "big girl" carseat!

   She can sit up completely unsupported now. She has also started scooting around when she's on her belly. She has started chattering away and "talks" nonstop. She has also moved up to MAM size 6 Month + pacis. She LOVES them. She liked her MAM 0-6 Months pacis okay, but she really wasn't that attached to them. From the very first time I gave her the 6 Month + size, she has been HOOKED! I am glad she has gotten hooked on a paci, because she was beginning to try and suck her fingers. Rylee is still a finger-sucker even though she desperately wants to stop, so I don't want Payton to pick up that habit. Pacis are a much easier habit to break because you can take them away, but not til she's around 2! ;)

     Payton Joy, you sure do live up to your name. You are so full of joy, it pours out of you and fills everyone else's life with such joy just to know you. Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know. Big sister says your are her "cute little peep"! We all love you to the moon!

Spring Break 2014

     Today wraps up our Spring Break, and we have had a blast! After having a week out of school due to yucky ice 2 weeks ago, you wouldn't have guessed all the beautiful sunshine-y days we have had this week, but that's just the way Tennessee weather goes... We have had some adventures, spent lots of time outside, and spent every minute enjoying our time together!

     We kicked off our Spring Break last weekend by heading to Middle Tennessee to visit Grandma and Grandpa. While we were there, we had a mini birthday party for Mama and Liz since their birthdays are both in Mid-March. The kids had a blast playing and eating and jumping on the bed. The long ride is definitely for the birds, but we always have a good time visiting and the kids LOVE Grandma and Grandpa's "tree-house"!

    Monday was St. Patty's day and the weather wasn't so lovely, so Liz and I dressed the kids up in green and headed to the Children's Museum of Memphis. It was Rylee and Payton's first time to go there, and both of them took everything in. Rylee had a blast going to each section and trying it out. Her favorite part was catching the fish. Payton's favorite part was the wind machine. It had these scarves you could put in it to watch them blow through the pipes, and she thought the scarves were the bets thing ever!

 Tuesday, Mary had to get her wisdom teeth cut out, so Liz took her to the dentist and I kept Kade. We had a lot of fun learning to write our names, blowing bubbles and playing jump rope. After Mary was at home in bed, Liz met us at the park with pizza and we had a picnic and played and played some more. When we got home, the girls and I played outside even more. It turned out to be a gorgeous day.

   Wednesday, I cleaned the house and did laundry (oh boy!), but Thursday I spent the entire day at home just playing with Rylee and Payton. I didn't touch my phone or computer, and I don't even have a single picture from that day, I just focused 100% on my sweet girls, and during their nap time, I relaxed and read a book. It was a perfect day! I have been spending a lot of time getting Payton on a schedule this week since she is approaching her half birthday. I thought it would be difficult, but she took right to it, and even has started to put herself down for her naps without being rocked or nursed to sleep! It's a little bittersweet, but I'm proud of her.

     Friday, Rylee, Payton, and I spent the whole day with Liz and Kade at their house. Rylee and Kade had a blast. They played trains and cars and firetrucks and pirates. The squirted chickens with water guns and rode with Liz on her new bike. And Payton had her 6 Month pictures made! She was so stinkin' adorable! After Ryan, Brandon, Mary, and Chuck got off work, they headed over and we had a cookout. The 3 amigos were excited to be reunited and have time to play together, and we enjoyed some amazing food with amazing company. It was a perfect Spring day.

    Yesterday, Liz and I did some major damage on a full day shopping trip and the kids had fun days with their daddies. Today, I am putting up clothes, getting the girls stuff ready for daycare tomorrow, and just spending time with my little family. I am excited to see my sweet kindergartners tomorrow, but I am very sad to leave these 2 precious girls. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with them, and I have had lots of time with them for the passed few months because we have had so many snow days and such. Hopefully all the snow and ice is behind us now, but it was good to get so much time with them. Ryan has been working 52-60 hour weeks lately and it seems it will continue for the foreseeable future. Ryan is an amazing partner and is awesome about helping out with housework and caring for the girls, but when he's not home from 630 am - 730 pm, there's not much he can do. It's hard for me to work and take care of everything at the house and care for the girls, too, all by myself. But this week, I actually felt like I had everything under control. I am sure that feeling won't come back until June, so if you happen to drop by between now and then and my house is a mess and there are piles of laundry to be done and I'm chasing after 2 energetic girls, just ignore the mess and embrace the chaos. ;)

A Hard Winter

     It has been a cold, icy winter thus far. Technically we only have 2 1/2 weeks until Spring, but I'm not sure Spring is going to come on time this year. Our winter weather started in late fall-early December-with sleet and ice. We used 1 "snow day" on that yucky mess. 

     In January, it was one thing after another. We missed several days in January: 2 due to just plain COLD weather. With windchills below zero, we couldn't risk our precious students freezing at the busstops waiting on busses that may or may not start in such harsh temperatures, or some of our older students, who walk to school each day, freezing on their way to school, so we had to call off school.

    In February, we had a nasty ice storm that left several without power for hours, in a few cases, even days. That put us out of school for 2 more days. We also got some snow one Saturday, but it didn't last long at all.

     Today we have about 3 inches of ice under about an inch of snow. It looks beautiful outside, but it is a nasty MESS! So again, no school for us. This is the 8th snow day we have had this winter (not even counting days that we had to dismiss school early due to yucky weather), and it looks like tomorrow will be our 9th. Hopefully we will be done with this yucky weather after that.

     I like a snow day as much as the next teacher, but I feel like all these snow days are making it hard to really teach, and that is what I love to do! Plus, I'm just plain ready for warm weather and sunshine. But we do live in TN, so Spring usually means thunder storms and tornado watches. Fun, fun, fun! Can it just be SUMMER already?! ;)

The Circus

     Saturday we took the kids to Memphis to see the circus. It was a blast. The girls were so good, especially Payton, we didn't hear a peep out of her the whole time. I think she was just taking everything in!

    When we first got there, we jumped right into the chaos. We got Rylee and Kade circus t-shirts (they didn't have anything in baby sizes for Payt), and each got a little toy. Kade got a trumpet and Rylee got a wand that lit up. Then Kade went for a pony ride and Rylee went straight for this slide. She had a blast. By the end of the circus, the guy selling tickets for the slide knew Rylee by name. Haha! She really, really wanted to ride the ponies but she didn't like the mess when we first got there and during intermission there was no mess but the line was too long. She still had lots of fun, though!

    I think its safe to say these 2 had a great first experience with the circus! They smiled and laughed and yelled and talked the whole time. It was so exciting and there was so much too see. They got a little antsy just before intermission, but we had been sitting a long time. After intermission came both of their favorite parts...

     Rylee's favorite part was the elephants. She has been telling us that when she grows up, she is going to be a girl who rides on elephants at the circus! Ha! And you can guess what Kade's favorite part was... But I'd have to say, those dirt bikes were my favorite part, too. It was an awesome show!

       All in all, it was a fantastic day, and we all had a wonderful time. I honestly think I had just as much fun as Rylee did. I love making memories like these with my sweet babies. Being a mommy is such fun!