Easter

He is risen!
We have a Saviour who is alive!
And sitting at our Father's right hand.As always, the kids were so happy.
To get their picture taken.
Ha!It was a beautiful day.Jobie took this picture of my hubby and me.The family that God has blessed me with.Thank you, Jesus.
For becoming a sacrifice for me.
For loving me.
For desiring a relationship with me.
Amazing!

The Weekend

We had so much fun this weekend.
Lot and lots of time with family.

Friday night.
Dinner.
The Keeper of the Plains.
Dessert.We put together an album for Mom and Dad.
Just a little story of their life.
And we each wrote a little message to them.

I had to break into their house a couple of times.
To find pictures for it.
I thumbed through 40 years of pictures.
That takes awhile.
But brought back some great memories.

The 7 grandkids.
My brother and sis-in-law.
The Keeper.We had a hotel for Mom and Dad Friday night.
The rest of us went home.
And swapped some cousins around for sleepovers.
Then back to do more with Mom and Dad the next morning.

Saturday.
Bowling.
Lunch.
A little museum.Jobie was the funniest to watch.
He is soo competitive.After he would roll the ball,
he would go stand by the ball return and watch.
It sometimes took a LONG time.
For the ball to reach the pins.He would jump up and down.
Hands in the air.
When he knocked down pins.
If he missed.
Look out.
He was frustrated.
We let my parents have the actual evening
of their anniversary
(Saturday night)
to themselves.

Hope they had a good time.
We sure did.
Saturday evening, Brookelynn kept saying:
That was so much fun.

Sunday.
Church.
And lunch with Ryan's family.
7 grandkids there too.
(Brookie is the only girl.)
But in June that number will be 8!
I'm going to be an aunt again!
Ryan's youngest brother and his wife.
Kid #3 coming.

Brookie with the current youngest.
Great weekend.
I'm so thankful for all of my family.

40

Today.
My parents have been married 40 years.

We're spending time with them this weekend.
Just being together.
Our family of 13.It might be time for another family photo.
Don't you think?

It all started out like this.Just the 2 of them.
Dad thought Mom was cute.
Asked her out.

Then before long.
They were married.
Headed off to their honeymoon.So cute.

Can't believe 5 years have already gone by.
Since this picture was taken.
40 years filled with lots of love.Happy anniversary, Dad and Mom!
Thanks for giving us a beautiful example of love.

Two Things

Hi.

Hanging out with the family tonight.

Watching Over the Hedge for the millionth time.

So, since I have the movie nearly memorized,

thought I'd pop on here.

To tell you two things.

1) The poinsettia is still in my living room.

I have walked by it a few thousand more times.

And still not thrown it out.

My excuse today?

It's raining.

Raining buckets.

Which we need.

But I'm fairly certain I'm made of sugar.

And would melt if I happened to step out.

So, for the sake of my family,

the poinsettia stays.

Don't ask me about the other three days this week.

I have no excuse.

But I do feel better admitting that it is still there.

Since I told you I was getting rid of it.

2) I finished Mockingjay.
You know.

The last in the Hunger Games Trilogy.

At the risk of angering some of you...

Not crazy about it.

Loved the first book.

Really liked the second until the last 25% or so.

But this last one.

Not so much.

Not quite able to put a finger on the why.

Maybe it's too violent?

Not character-driven enough?

But I can now at least say I've read them all.

My older two want to read them.

I'm leaning toward no, not yet.

Even though many of their friends have.

If it means I'm the ridiculous mom,

It means I'm the ridiculous mom.

I'm ok with that.

I'm off to pop popcorn.

And make orange julius for the family.

That will redeem myself a bit in their eyes.

Have a great weekend!

Our Christmases and Hoodies

I'm sorry.
I am so behind.
But here's a little look at most of our Christmases.

December 23.
Christmas at my parents.
Christmas Eve morning.
There's always plenty of new things to do
after a Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma.

Christmas Eve evening.
It seems to have become a tradition
to wear pj's all day on Christmas Eve.
Except for when you get new Under Amour hoodies.
Those must be worn with the pjs.Shouldn't it be easier to get a decent picture
as they get older?I cannot look at this picture
without laughing at Ezzie.And...we gave up.After these pictures, Brookie stood up.
And the chair was stuck to her rear.
I guess she's getting older.
It's tradition to take their pictures with their chairs.
May have to come up with something new next year...

Apparently, if you divide the kids in 2's
pictures turn out much better.
Christmas morning.
Jake's already dressed for church.
Way to go, Jakie!
Christmas Evening.
Christmas at Ryan's parents.Jobe's hair is awful.
I finally cut it this weekend.
Looks like a brand new boy now.
And for some reason,
Jobie thought he needed to show us how old he is.

December 27.
Christmas at Ryan's aunt's.
Always lots of family.
And great food.
Our first stop at her house on Christmas is the den.
For a family picture.
The kids love that tradition.
Ha!See the hoodies again?
Yah...
They have harldy been off the kids.
Especially the older two.
They did not wear them to Ryan's parents.
Only because we fry latkes.
Lots and lots of latkes.
And you come home smelling greasy.
EVERYTHING smells greasy.
And I told them I would not be washing them the next day.
I was on strike for a day or two over Christmas.

There are a couple of plusses to these hoodies.

1) They are never lying on the floor.
Because:
a) They are always on the kids.
or
b) They are on my washer.
As a "subtle" hint that they need washed.

And 2) I now get thank you's for doing the laundry.

Pretty cool, huh?

Guess What!?

We found the camera!
Woohoo!

I'm not going to lie.
I was starting to get a little excited.
We were beginning to talk about getting a new one.
We're going on vacation soon.
You need a camera on vacation.
I was looking forward to getting something a little nicer.
But dreading spending the money right now.

Saturday morning Ryan decided to REALLY look for it.
It involved taking the sectional apart.
Lifting it up.
Feeling all along the fabric at the bottom.
And vwah-la.
It's magic.
I felt that small little rectangular shape.

You all are so lucky.
Now you get to see more pictures like this:And this:And this:We all went shopping Saturday evening.
Target was our last stop.
Ryan, Brookie and I had clothes to try on.
The boys were parked in the dressing room area.
Jake on the floor.
Playing with my phone.
Ezra in the back of the cart.
Playing with the camera.
And Jobe in the front.
Trying to avoid getting his picture taken.
It was...entertaining.It looks like there is a another woman.
In the dressing room with Ryan.
I guess I shouldn't say another woman.
Since I wasn't in the dressing room with him either.
Had a seperate one.
Our kids were with us, you know.

Jobie spent a lot of time inspecting his new flip-flops.
He's never had any without the strap on the back.
It's adorable to watch him walk in these.
But he is so proud of them.Maybe someday I'll get a nicer camera.
(likely)
And be an amazing photographer.
(not likely)
But for now you all will have to put up with my witty writing
(ha! not true)
and my point and shoot's fuzzy photos.
(so true)

She Did It

Lara went thru an American high school graduation Saturday.Apparently she was really excited about it.Ok. So now the excitement is building.We had to sit a mile away from the graduates.The other kids were really happy to be there.
Ha!
At least they looked happy here.
Probably because it was over.
And we were going out for ice cream.So proud of Miss Lara!
What an accomplishment.
A year of school in another country.
Not to mention putting up with our family.
That deserves another award all together!

My Happy

Just looking thru some old photos.
This picture makes me happy.My family.
My happy.

Three in a Row

We woke up Christmas Eve to the pitter patter of little feet.
And Jobie saying:
Mommy, Ezzie is stuck behind the tree.We skyped with Lara's family.
And opened our packages to each other.
Our traditional Christmas Eve supper.
Hummus, grilled chicken, fattoush salad.Then the annual picture with the rocking chairs before gifts.
Brookelynn and Jake are beginning to get a little big for them.Ezzie could barely contain his excitement.He had everyone laughing.I have absolutely no idea what he is doing here.Christmas Day was with my parents.
Levi apparently had a hard time containing himself also.
You would think by now we could get a decent cousin picture.
Ridiculous.
Ezzie was pretty happy with his bike.The day after Christmas was spent with Ryan's family.
For some reason we only got a picture of these 3 together.And the two youngest.
Four weeks apart.
Amazing how much they change in that amount of time.
I think they look nothing alike.
Great memories once again.We are so blessed.