H2H and Reading Together

Last night as I was cleaning up the kitchen, I could here Mackenzie say to Josiah, "Do you want me to read you a story?" He excitedly said yes, and the two climbed up onto the love seat together to read. Josiah sat and listened while Mackenzie read to him. It was so precious that I grabbed the camera to capture the moment. Too bad I didn't think to grab the video camera! Her reading abilities amaze me daily.
Here's some pictures of our H2H (home Bible study) group that I snapped last night. I thought the kids were so cute all circled up in our living room! They were listening intently, at least when I took this picture, to Cindy M. and the lesson. Fun group! That's 14 kids, in case you're trying to count them. :)

Zoomed in on our two. Josiah was holding the ball that had been tossed to him as a part of the lesson about being thankful for our blessings.

Here's a picture from the other direction of our group. We are thankful to be a part of this neat group of people!

Our Yard

Our yard is looking better by the day! We are enjoying the gradual process of planting things in various and asundery locations. This post might bore you if you're not family. Just warning you! (Actually, even random readers might enjoy the froggy pictures at the end of the post!) Josiah, while playing with me in the yard today, asked for me to get the camera out and take a picture! Needless to say, I RAN for the camera. You have to be fast or you might miss that photo opportunity with him. :) I was delighted that he sat still long enough for me to snap some new pics of him. So, above is a picture of my cute little boy who is growing up too fast!!!
Here's a couple of pictures of our garden boxes. These are the same ones we used last year. We just added a little more compost/topsoil to top them off this year.

David has added some nice stepping stones in between them, and I planted cucumber seeds, tomato plants, yellow squash seeds in the box on the right. On the left, I planted okra seeds, green bean seeds, and a couple of pepper plants. It feels good to have the planting done! Now for the watering and watching it grow....(the kids were great little helpers in planting, too!)

If you look closely, you'll notice a new Autumn Princess Encore Azalea in the corner of the fence, just beyond the swing set.

And, in the corner by the gate, we have another one just like it! The two new azalea's add some much needed color to the yard.

Here's an up close of the blooming azalea.

Here's my crepe myrtle from my Grannie New's yard. It is still in winter-mode but will be pretty before too long! I took this picture because I have a surprise from my Grannie's yard...the heart shaped leafy plant with tiny purple flowers that sprang up at the base of the crepe myrtle!

Here's an up close pic of the surprise plant.

Last fall, David and the kids planted tulip bulbs on one side of our house. What fun for all of us to see them growing this Spring! (Also, notice the lights David added along side of our house. They are a nice addition to the yard. He put some across the front of the house, too.)

I love the pretty purple tulips! I was pleased with how this picture turned out, if I do say so myself! The fact that we have a Creator God seems so obvious in the Spring, doesn't it?!

Here's Josiah checking the mail box. Notice the daffodils we planted beside the mailbox. That crepe myrtle will look better this summer. :)

And...this afternoon the kids found a frog! Josiah named it "toad." He wanted to keep it, but we talked him into setting it free. ;)

Up close of Josiah and his new friend, "Toad."

Mackenzie enjoyed holding "toad," too, but he jumped right out of her hands. She was happy to let Josiah hold him after that! :)

We are enjoying the wonderful weather these days. I hope you are, too!

Weekend Getaway!

David had a nuc med conference out of town this weekend, so while he was in one city, the kids and I headed to another! We totally enjoyed a weekend getaway with my mom. We stayed Friday and Saturday night in a hotel and thoroughly enjoy our time together. (Though we missed David and Mark!) We spent Saturday morning at the zoo. I think the kids favorite part of the zoo was the playground. It is huge and nice! Josiah's precious little face was very determined as he climbed!
Mackenzie was so proud of how tall she has become. She can jump up and reach things that she could not reach just six months ago.

Josiah was brave as he climbed on the ropes. Last time he was a bit afraid of the ropes...but not this time! Watch him go! (I was too slow in getting over there to get a picture of Mackenzie climbing the ropes. She was already to the top!)

If you look closely at the above picture, you might get a glimpse of Josiah in his bright orange shirt. Yeah, he's the little dot climbing high in the ropes! I think this picture gives you a pretty good idea of the elaborate nature of this playground.

Here's Mackenzie climbing/crawling across the green ropes. Both kids loved climbing and exploring the playground.

Josiah, Nona (my momma), and Mackenzie watching the African elephants.

A trainer had it pick up a huge log while we were watching.

And, of course, the giraffes. Aren't they elegant?!

Josiah, Nona, and Mackenzie.

I had trouble deciding which one of these two I liked the best, so I uploaded them both! This picture is in front of the giraffes, though you can't see them because I was zoomed in on my mom and the kiddos! :)

Then, on Saturday afternoon, we swam! The kids swam 3 different times over the weekend. While they swam with Nona on Saturday, I got to go shopping all by myself! Thanks, Momma!

As you can see, the kids LOVE the water.

I have enjoyed seeing how much improvement they have both made in their abilities to swim over the past few months. We hope to get some more lessons this summer. For now, the extra time in the pool was great practice for them! I am thankful for a fun and safe weekend. I am thankful for the time with my momma! :)

Our Easter Weekend...

Here's a picture of Zac, David's brother, with his green egg. This picture was in a different order, but I accidentally backspaced and deleted it...so, here it is, in a totally random order now! Ha.

...was a lot of fun! Uncle Zac came down for a visit, which was tons of fun for all of us! As you can see, we all enjoyed dying Easter eggs yesterday. It was a beautiful day, but far too windy to dye them outside, so we put an old fitted sheet over the table and dyed them inside! I love this aerial picture David took of Mackenzie, Zac, and Josiah at the table together. Cool angle! Below is a picture of Josiah with the cracked shell of an egg in his hand...and lots of cracked egg parts on the table below! He completely enjoys destroying the eggs just after he finishes dying them. Notice all the blue and green color on the table in front of him, right along with the destroyed eggs. He is ALL boy!

The next picture is of David and his "radioactive egg." While this one is not actually radioactive, he does cook eggs with radiation in them for patients to eat during certain procedures at work. :)

And here is what the Easter Bunny brought to our house this year...

Mackenzie holding up a purple egg that she found from the Easter bunny this morning. (She has a couple of new dresses that would have been perfect for her "Easter Dress," but she insisted on wearing this one instead! Funny girl.)

Josiah was hardly still long enough for me to take a picture of him during the egg hunt. Here's a pic of him holding up his Easter basket to show me what he'd found so far.

I love this one of Mackenzie holding up her two big eggs!

And, Zac took some pictures of the four of us together at church this morning.

Thanks, Zac! I love how the new pic of us turned out. I had fun editing it, too. :)

And, here's one I snapped of Zac and both kids at church today. Obviously, we have all enjoyed our time with Zac this weekend. :)

Happy Easter, Everyone! Praise the Lord for His sacrifice for us. Stand in awe of Jesus as He conquered death for us. Kneel before Him, humbled, that He would do that for us. Now, get up and rejoice that HE HAS RISEN and IS ALIVE. We serve an Awesome Saviour and an Amazing Lord. May you all have a blessed Easter.

Our Easter Bunny Cake

Update: Yep, we all enjoyed the cake! :) Here's a pic I snapped of the kids and the cake just before we all dove in! Now the poor bunny is missing an ear, and Uncle Zac isn't even here yet! I bet he won't mind, though. ;)

Here it is! Our Easter Bunny Cake, 2010. :) As far back as I can remember, my momma made an Easter bunny cake every year. We loved it and looked forward to it. Now it's my turn, and I truly enjoy getting to carry this tradition on with my own two children. The kids played nearby while I iced the cake. When it was time to add the jelly beans, Mackenzie placed them while Josiah got to pick the color for the bow tie! Both kids really seemed to enjoy our time together making the cake...and licking icing off the beaters! After Uncle Zac gets here tonight, we'll enjoy some bunny cake!

I hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend.