SPRING!

I am so excited that spring is here! I love seeing the tulips planted across campus during the spring. Our groundskeepers do such an AMAZING job - the tulips right now are so big in white and pinks. Just gorgeous!
Spring also means 1) the spring semester is winding down and the crazy college kids will be leaving for the summer (yea!) and 2) more opportunities to go outside and play with Ella Grace & Major who lo--o-ove the outdoors.
So, combining the two I told Jeremy just this past week that I really wanted to take the kids to campus to make their pictures with the tulips. Put on their Easter frocks and make me some pretty pictures! Hopefully we will be able to do this sometime. We have some busy schedules the next month or two, filling up our weekends - some fun, some work.
I am glad that all of the crazy weather passed us by this week. There were lots of tornado warnings around us, but we never saw the bad storms or any damage. Thank you, Lord, for protecting us.

Spring Break

I happened to be one of the fortunate few able to be off for spring break this past week. Jeremy & I took this opportunity to go to the mountains (thanks, Nana, for keeping Ella Grace & Major!). Though the rain came, and came, and came, we still had a great time. We rode through Cades Cove, walked to Abram's Falls and drove through Roaring Fort. It was cold (and wet), nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves immensely. It was awesome to go through Cades Cove and see the deer and turkey roaming everywhere. When we drove out we had counted 144 deer! Isn't that amazing! We jumped at the chance to hike to Abram's Falls to get some much needed exercise. You know how it is on vacation - you eat way more than you need, and not what you need to...so we walked (very) briskly for two hours! I will admit, I was huffing and puffing when we finally got back to the Tahoe. I am definitely out of shape. Here are a couple of the beautiful photographs we took.

When we got back home Major had a check-up with his allergy doctor. His allergies were beginning to act up as well as having a touch of a cold. Yuck. So, we have had to increase the dosages on his nose spray and add the Singulair and Xopenex back for a while. He seems to be feeling better already. We just pray that his cough goes away.

On Thursday, I had to work (I said I was off, didn't I?). It wasn't bad, just an 8:00-2:00 shift. Afterwards I picked up the kids and took them to a park. As Ella Grace got to the side of the play area she turned back to me and said "Mama, I'm excited!" That was enough to make it worthwhile! They had a ball! Major wanted to do everything Ella Grace did. He wasn't a big fan of going down the slides by himself, but when Mama did it with him he had a blast. When Ella Grace saw us going down she decided my lap (and the slide) was big, er - wide, enough for all three of us. I prayed the entire way down that one of us didn't go over the edge!

Guiding Major across the bridge,

seeing herself in the silly mirror.

What a team they are, these two!

My little Monkey! I am SO in love with these blue eyes!

Precious babies

My mom had torn a page out of a local magazine a while back, probably before Ella Grace was born. I don't recall if she gave it to me or if I found it, but it has "Psalm 127:3" written on it. I like to look up that verse pretty often. It says "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." That is so dear to my heart, as a parent, and being able to experience all the joys that can bring.

Last night I flew to a work event, and on the car ride from the airport to the event location with a student's mother she began talking about her son and how she wanted him to be a gentleman. She spoke of a time, not too long ago, that she sat him down and gave him some direction on how to treat a young lady - not to beep the car horn at her to come out, that he needed to go to the door to pick a lady up, whether it was his date or not. She also talked about a time when she explained, "Even though she said this, she meant this." When the son questioned her she replied " You know I am your biggest cheerleader. Name one time I have given you bad advise?"

I hope my children realize that, too. That I am their biggest cheerleader, that I want all of God's wonderful blessings for them. Because they are a gift to me, from Him, I want to nuture them all I can.

I love you, Ella Grace & Major!

Snow?

We had been hearing the "s" word all week, but it was hard to believe it might truly happen. After tornado warnings on Friday and lots of rain between then and Saturday, snow was still in the forecast for Sunday. I woke up around 6:00 this morning and had to peek out the window to see if the white fluffy stuff really fell during the night. Much to my suprise it had, and there was a considerable amount of it! I jumped back in bed (because it was too cold to stay up) and drifted back to sleep until little Major woke up. I brought him back to bed with us, then Ella Grace wandered her way to our bed. We finally all got up (only after Ella Grace turned on/off my radio several times trying to see if "Chicken Fried" was playing...). Church services were combined this morning, and canceled for the evening. It was too wet to get out this morning before we went to church. But, when we came out the sun was already shining and melting our snow away. When we got home, we stayed in the drive-way to let the kids play with the snow that remained on the Crown Vic. Ella Grace loved throwing snowballs and being hit. Major really didn't care for it that much. We had a good time with it while it lasted!

A quick taste, or attempt at a taste. Major was quick to pull away when he sensed the cold.
Ella Grace, on the other hand, LOVED it!

Making snowballs.

My handsome little man.

A birthday shot of my favorite people!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We celebrated Jeremy's birthday Wednesday evening. I had Ella Grace ask Daddy if he wanted a cake, cupcakes or to go get frozen yogurt for his birthday. He decided on a cake. In our conversations in the car on the way to school, I asked Ella Grace what kind of cake she thought we should get him. A truck cake, she said. So, I picked up a small cake for the four of us, we picked out a card from each kid (they both had to have puppy cards for Daddy - luckily there were two different ones!) and found & washed one of Major's toy trucks to decorate the cake with. We sang Happy Birthday and ate cake after dinner. The kids had a big time. Who doesn't love cake?