Spring Break and Happy Easter!!! : )

We have enjoyed some unusually warm weather around here this spring....yeah! : ) But getting a week off for spring break is just as welcoming...whether it's from enduring 2 feet of snow for 2 months or not! As has been for the past 3 or 4 years, Jason had a work conflict during our spring break week but we made the most of it and were able to head down south with him this time (not sunny Florida but Nashville, TN instead!) and take advantage of a few free nights of hotel, swimming at an indoor pool and lots of eating out!!! WOOOHOOO! The girls and I had fun visiting one of the many nice parks in the area, as well as a trip to the Nashville Zoo. Daddy had to work alot (understandably since it was a business trip for him....) but we still enjoyed dinners out w/ him after work and then he was able to take off early Thursday and all day Friday and we spent that time in Nashville at the Opryland Hotel and the nearby OpryMills Mall......yes, I was a very happy girl! : ) Once we were back in town, we celebrated Easter with a wonderful worship service at church and then enjoyed lunch with family at Grandma and Papa's house! Now its back to the "real world" with mounds of laundry, homework and after-school activities.....Calgon, take me away......HAHA! : )

16 years of wedded bliss.... ; )

Jason and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary this past weekend by taking the day off on Friday to extend our weekend to a "three-dayer" and head to Chicago! : ) Although they have been experiencing the same warmer spring weather that we have recently, unfortunately the weekend we chose to go there it turned a bit rainy, foggy and cooler....but still, lots of fun to get away, relax and spend some time together! We were able to: eat out at several really neat local restaurants, watch several of the NCAA tourney bball games (of course!) and most of all, in a nice quiet room with no children interruptions, enjoy a nice cozy hotel right downtown, ran back to our hotel one night in the pouring rain (from the pharmacy where we were getting hot and cold packs for J's achy neck....yeah, we're old!) and enjoy the sights, sounds AND SHOPS of Chicago! Happy anniversary baby......I love you more each year....just imagine what our 50th will be like! ; ) HAHA!

Allie turns 12.....where does the time go???!!!

Hard to believe that.....1) February has come and gone....2) winter has almost passed us up this year with not much snow (and yes, I'm sure I have just "jinxed" us and we will now wake up to 6 in.of the white stuff on the ground tomorrow!)....and 3) I am only 29 but now have a 12 year old daughter.....HA!!! Yep, the hardest to believe would be that last one......I cannot fathom that in now less than a year, we will be parents to a teenager but it is true! About a week ago, we celebrated Allie's 12th birthday! We threw her a "friends" party and headed to the Indy Indoor Water Park for that one........that was a fun day! Then, the next weekend, we celebrated with family here at our house. Again, another fun day as well! Allie started out a mere 4 lbs on the day she was born......our dr. called her "peanut" upon her delivery....she was so tiny I was afraid to hold her! : ) She was tiny but mighty! And still is to this day....although she's grown a bit past that 4lb mark! : ) We are so thankful for her as she is growing into a beautiful young lady......she loves her family and has a heart for Jesus! She is creative, musical, artistic, funny, loud (have no idea where she gets that one from), sweet, kind, interesting, compassionate, and fun! Thank you Jesus for trusting us in raising this girl! : ) Now on to many many many more fun times ahead! Happy birthday Allison Renee!

Katelyn Grace turns 4!!!!

Katie Grace celebrated her 4th birthday this weekend.....and true to her sweet, spunky spirit, she enjoyed every single moment of the celebration! : ) She chose to have a Minnie Mouse themed party.....so mama tried her best to create a Minnie cake along with a few cupcakes as well! And all of our family joined us for a big party full of food and fun! So thankful for her....and looking forward to a gazillion more birthday celebrations for her in the future! : )

Merry Christmas!!!!

Hard to believe that another Christmas has come and gone....where does the time go? Jason and I were just talking about how it must be true what we have been told for so many years growing up....time does indeed go by quicker the older you get.....not that we are getting any older....HA!!! We did have a wonderful Christmas and my most favorite times are the few days leading up to Christmas as well! We try and do several fun and memorable activities with the girls each year right before Christmas. This year, that included......making gingerbread houses (this year we decided to do a Christmas "village" that consisted of 5 small houses so that we each had our own to decorate....a bit more work for mom and dad to put together, but much better during the decorating time!), we went to see a movie together (all of us at the actual movie theater AND get snacks....yes, that is a very BIG deal for us!), we drove around one night and looked at all of the Christmas light displays, which included going downtown Indy this year (done this year with Grammies and Papa in the van with us!), we enjoyed finding Elf on the Shelf (named Buddy in our house!) around the house each morning, we had fun getting "video emails" from Santa online (Mommy especially loves that and has a secret way of reaching Santa in his North Pole workshop email system!), we read "What God Wants for Christmas" and the girls put together the nativity with that story, we took our annual trip to the Childrens Museum on Christmas Eve morning to see Santa, ride the slide and enjoy spending some fun time together and lastly....and the girls don't know this yet, but for the 2nd year in a row, we are surprising them with a little overnight getaway to a hotel later this week to enjoy swimming indoors, hanging out and relaxing a bit! : ) Christmas break is absolutely one of my favorite times of the year....nothing better than spending time with family and remembering how blessed we are!

November and Thanksgiving has come and gone....now on to Christmas! :)

Hard to believe that Thanksgiving, which happens to be my all-time favorite holiday of the entire year...has come and gone. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, especially what it truly means to me as a believer in Jesus, but there is something about the day of Thanksgiving....all about being thankful, eating tons of awesome food, fellowshipping with lots of family and no stress of mall shopping yet! : ) We hosted again this year for my side of the family...then continued our tradition of my sister and I (joined by my oldest niece this year!) heading out to join the craziness of the Black Friday shopping deals! We also decorated our house to the brim with Christmas beauty, then headed to Louisville for the remainder of the weekend to spend time with the rest of our family down there. Another wonderful year of being thankful and celebrating all that we have been blessed with together! I'm including a few pics of Allie's most recent choir performance (and Lauren sang a song with her class as well!), which took place in early November. As well as a quick photo of Katie having fun around here..... : )

Now on to Allie's Christmas choir program, our small group party, our annual CCG Ladies Tables of Christmas event, our church's parents' night out to go Christmas shopping, our ladies family Christmas tea here at our house, our trip to Nashville, TN for J's office Christmas party and all of the other fun events to round out the holidays this year! Lots going on but lovin' every minute of it! It's definitely beginning to look like Christmas around here! : )