Pics now, comments later...

SAVINGS FOR ALL

For those of you who don't know, I DID decide to go with "blog2print.com" back in early January...I had a year's worth of my blog printed and sent to me in a book---it's GREAT! I love that we will have that as a diary-type-deal and that we can look at a whole year in a nutshell and see pictures as well as the comments with them. I highly recommend this to you all. My only suggestion would be that you preview it well before you order it--make sure that the pictures you uploaded are the right size and not too small...otherwise they will print blury. That happened to a few of mine. :(

If you DO decide to do it, and you enter this code:
MyBlog31MAR05770
THEN...you will recieve 15% off your purchase AND I will receive a gift as well.

Just thought I would throw it out there. If you are considering blog2print.com, then put that code in. We will both get hooked up!

Thanks and let me know if you decide to do this, I would love to hear your thoughts on the final product... :)

Perspective from a 4 year old

I'm tellin ya---El always teaches me new things. And she humbles the crap out of me.
Wonder what it will be like when Em is doing it too. I tell ya- God is good.

I have been reading in Luke 18 when Jesus says that we must be like children to enter the Kingdom of God. In Matthew it says we need to be humble like them. I've been wrestling with that for a few days...trying to figure out exactly what that means. Just seems so abstract- hard to wrap my mind around. So I've been praying that God would show me more of what that means. Cause typically my view of children these days consists of lots of "I WANT," lots of whining and pulling on my pant bottoms, lots of "I don't want this for dinner." Hmmm----be like children to enter the Kingdom of God?

Today we have been getting a BOAT load of rain in T-town. Our street is flooded; most are. We live in a 1927 home so you can imagine (despite our brand new concrete driveway) that our basement is a target for issues. Um yeah----we currently have buckets down there collecting faucets of water leaking in from the walls. (how do WALLS leak??) RD wants to sell the house, El got to go to bed late cause we have been cleaning up water, and I'm just trying to keep everyone calm. :)

As I put El to bed tonight she said this to me:
"Mama, when will we die and go to Heaven? Cause people go to Heaven when they get old right? Everyone has been telling me that I'm getting old (she just had a b-day). So does that mean I will die soon? And are you old? Does that mean you will die soon? I don't want you to die Mama."

I surely didn't know how to respond to this little girl...especially with tears comin down my face. But I said something. But more important than that- it sure put this day into perspective. STOP freakin out about a leaking basement or a house that isn't all we want it to be. Just appreciate what we have and how precious our girls are. We are blessed and who knows how long we have, right?

Like I said, El teaches me so much!

Build a Bear and the Mitchells!!!

RD and I took El out to a fun restaurant (Pocco Piatti) on her actual birthday. We let her pick whatever she wanted on the menu. So a big girl lemonade and a chicken/pesto pizza it was! It was such a fun evening with her. But man we wish we would have had the waitress take a pic of the 3 of us. Ugh!

Then came build-a-bear (at the mall) with Nana, Papa, and Kiki.

WOW...4 is the perfect age to do this. El ate it up!!!

I have never seen her so proud of something. She wanted to walk AHEAD of us with her new bunny.

We are sticklers for getting sucked into those nasty dirty germ-infested "rides" at the mall that cost $1 and last for 30 seconds. Oh well- the girls did LOVE it! :)

And Today...The Mitchell family surprised us and came to visit us for the afternoon. 6 hours of hangout time---4 + hours of drive time for them. MAN did we feel loved!! :) The kids had a blast and we had some good talk time, shared a yummy Italian meal together (cause that's what we do best) and loved every second of it! El learned how to do a summersault (thanks to Uncle Josh) and we all enjoyed RD's famous chocolate peanut butter smoothies. What a day, what a day. Thanks guys for making that trip--we are so thankful for this friendship.

RD says he thinks El is posing for Cosmo or something in this picture. Hilarious.

One big happy family. Except for that it's CHRISTY in the picture and not me. HeHe----looks way too comfortable, huh? Especially since her and I look alike. Yikes! :)

I mean c'mon! What a pic!

Silly faces---I love it!!

Hard to get a good pic of 4 (tired) squirrely kids!!

Happy Birthday Peanut!!!

El turned 4 on Tuesday. Her b-day was celebrated over the course of a few days. Monday we had pizza and cupcakes with my family. Tuesday RD and I took her out to a fancy restaurant for her big birthday date...she ordered lemonade and a pesto chicken pizza. She was in HEAVEN! Today we go to Build-a-Bear...if she feels ok. (She spiked a fever last night and isn't going to school today cause she's fightin something).

The fact that miss El turned 4 about makes me crazy. She just all of a sudden feels so grown up. She talks like a big girl, writes like a big girl, eats and sleeps like a big girl, gets dressed all by herself (picking out her own clothes is a HOOT)...she has friends and has feelings and has giggle sessions----like a big girl. Last night I was putting her to bed. We always sing two songs. Sometimes I sing the song "Amazing Grace" to her...she just listens. I've told her what the song means before, not certain she really hears what I'm saying. Well last night I started singing it to her. She chimed in and sang the first two verse WITH ME! To hear my little peanut singing that song with me...possibly understanding what it mean...that was stinkin cool. (And it made me cry).

Then I started singing one of her favorite worship songs. She said "Pause Mommy," (i say that all the time)---, "remember when I was three and that was my favorite song? Yeah, that was when I was three. I'm four now."

Then she grabbed my cheeks and said "Goodnight Rosy, Rose. (that's what we call Ems). I know you're not "Rosy" mama, but you're MY rosy. I love you."

Ahhhh- happy birthday to my sweet little girl. El, you are growing up too fast! You don't understand what that means when I say that to you. All you do is ask me if I'm sad. Then you tell me that you're gonna be 5 soon!! No I'm not sad, but I want to soak up every single minute I have with you sweet girl. I love you too!!!

Bath Day

I guess it's (DAVE) who put a ring on it...

Here is our weekend in a nutshell!!!!
(Pictures are compliments of Sarah Moan...www.sarabethphoto.com OR http://sarabethphoto.wordpress.com/)
She was hiding behind a tree and took these pics without Katie knowing).



Now a few pics that I took POST engagement...lil' celebration at our house. :)