Bently's Baptism...

If you want to feel good about yourself, go back to your home church.  My brother and his family go to church where we grew up so there are of course many new faces I do not recognize but there are LOTS of faces that I do recognize, and they were like you look so good, your kids are beautiful, etc, etc.  I walked into church feeling pretty good about myself...ha ha!!!  Anyway, that of course was not the "highlight" of the day.  The "highlight" was we were there to see Bently be baptized.  Such a good feeling to know not only are we family, but we are now sisters in Christ.  

Jake's Senior Party...

 For his senior party, Jake wanted a fish fry at Uncle Terry's and Aunt Pam's lake...

We tried our best to give him what he wanted, but the weather forced us to change to an indoor location at the last minute...

What happens when 4th grade Anna Lauren writes on the chalkboard instead of your friend, Leah...nobody noticed but me...I'm sure!

Dessert and gift table...

I can tell you what I want, but I cannot do it no matter how hard I try.  Thankfully, Nanna can and she did an amazing job with the centerpieces!  They were exactly what I had in mind and everyone commented on them...

Yes, we were in just a plain/boring recreation building and not on the lake, but I thought it looked great!

The food table, and I loved this arrangement too...



Jake asked for cupcakes for dessert...

Jake arriving with hostess presents...

This little boy LOVES Jake!!!

See what I mean?  He was not leaving his side...

Aunt Pam was right...they come, they eat, they leave...pretty much what they did.  But...it was a fun night honoring Jake!

The little girls having their own little party in the back of the room...

Baseball...Baseball...Baseball...

Cooper is the middle of baseball season, and he is LOVING it!!! Always fun to watch your kids do something they love.  And Anna Lauren, well, she is a great big sister/bat girl at the games...

9 LONG Weeks...

Nine long weeks later, Anna Lauren was released from the doctor!!!  She still has 2-3 more weeks of physical therapy, but we are most excited to be slowly getting back to normal and wearing both shoes (it's the little things).  We are practically having to sit on her to keep her from tumbling but hopefully not much longer and she'll be back in the gym doing what she misses and loves the most. I could not be more proud of her though...her attitude through this whole thing has been incredible!!!

Easter...

This past Sunday, we celebrated Easter.  On the way to church, I talked to the kids and explained to them that the Easter Rabbit and the egg hunts are all fun, but I want them to always "understand" that we are rejoicing on Easter because we have a RISEN Savior.  It warmed my heart that both of them could answer the questions I asked.  Matt and I by no means are perfect at parenting, but I want to make sure that if we do nothing else we tell them the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

And yes, the Easter Bunny did leave each of them a few treats...

They both were so patient and let me take their picture before they started tearing their baskets apart...

This boy just wanted to play ball...

Matt was multi-tasking...connect 4 with Anna Lauren and throwing the ball back and forth with Cooper.

All dressed for church...he doesn't spike his hair on Sundays.  This is his "nice" hair...he is SO funny!

Thanks to Nanna being with us for Easter, we were able to get a "family" picture...

After lunch, the neighbors came over for a little egg hunting...

Counting to see if they found all the eggs...

Nanna and Anna Lauren made a cake for us to eat after the egg hunt...

And we ended the day planting a few flowers...Anna Lauren was all about planting the flowers this year.  Planting not my favorite so I was thankful she and Nanna were doing it for me.