The Girls

Happy Easter!

Today we celebrated the fact that Jesus is alive. He willingly submitted to the God the Father's will to die for our sins. But, on the third day after he died, Jesus rose from the dead. Now, through faith, we are sons and daughters of God.

Yesterday, we celebrated with an Easter Party at our church. Here are some highlights...

Hudson loved the clown! Anna Kate was absolutely terrified!

Showing his teeth for the tooth fairy (who handed out tooth brushed and talked about the importance of brushing with all this candy)

He was totally pumped about the pirate eye patch in an easter egg

Hunting eggs

She didn't participate in many activities, but looked cute crawling after eggs in the grass

A Girl on the Move

This sweet little girl is always moving

Her main mode of getting around is still crawling

Well, it's actually getting someone to pick her up and carry her, which we love!

Broken, Faithful & Fighting

My heart is broken for my friend, Ange, who was recently diagnosed with stage IIIa breast cancer. We met last year in Dallas when I taught her daughter at our church. Ange is a sweet, caring woman. She & her husband have 3 kids- ages 4, 2 and 5 months. She just had a mastectomy, is getting a port put in soon and meeting with her doctor April 18 to finalize chemo plans.

Please join me in praying boldly that every last cancer cell would be wiped away from her body. They've asked prayers for them & their precious children. They are broken, but faithful & fighting.

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

Tad & April

Meet Tad & April. Since they are such a part of our daily lives, I thought I should introduce them on the blog. Here Hudson, Tad & April are studying a butterfly in the grass. These 3 do everything together.

They eat meals together, they all have their own seats in the car, they make jokes, play trucks & ball. Tad is 3 like Hudson, but April is 7 and in first grade (her age changes, but she's always school age).

We've had fun getting to know Tad & April and their personalities. They are the most well-behaved children and such good influences on Hudson. :) I hope the power I have of "using" them lasts a long time. I can compliment Tad & April on their manners and Hudson immediately uses good manners or I can comment on how quietly they're going to sleep and Hudson does the same. It'll be interesting to see how long Tad & April stick around.

The Little Houdini

This little cutie could take the tray off of the original high chair we had. She could also climb out of the original high chair when she was fully strapped in. So, some friends let us borrow their high chair that they're not using right now. The new set-up is working well. No Houdini moves yet.

Her favorite place in the house is the dishwasher. She loves it when the dishwasher is open (& to bang on the door or open and close the little soap lid).

She also loves it when the door is closed. Since our fridge isn't magnetic, we keep our magnetic letters on the dishwasher. Anna Kate loves them!

Hudson is Three!

We had a great time celebrating Hudson's third birthday today! The highlight was definitely our family trip to the fire station. Hudson loved sitting in the big ladder truck.

His outfit wouldn't have been complete without his fireman's boots

Just after we left, we watched the truck Hudson sat in drive away

This evening we enjoyed chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles (the birthday boy's request). Blowing out the candles here

so proud that he finally got the candles blown out

We got him a little Thomas drum with drum sticks. This boy loves to drum and uses anything to drum, mostly he's used 2 toy golf clubs since last July. Every night when we sing a hymn before bed, he gets his "drumsticks" to drum along while we sing.

He was ecstatic! The bummer is that he opened it just before bedtime and we're hopping on a plane in the morning to head to a friend's wedding. So, he'll have to wait and drum when we return.

Happy Birthday sweet boy! We love you so much!!