i just had to do it

i have been "meaning" to blog for days, since Easter really, but as I have said before, pictures inspire my posts. Unfortunately, we do not have a single picture from Easter Sunday (on MY camera), because #1, Brad had to work the outage on Sundays so my hands were completely full all day, and #2, Brice stripped down and put on his new spongebob pirate jammies as soon as we walked in the door from church. Brice had a stomach bug all day today (throwing up and worse) so again, today was not the greatest time to blog, but I am doing it now! The following picture of Kaitlin was in fact taken ON Easter. She LOVES her new Little People sunglasses that Mamaw put in her Easter basket and Bella's paci (she has never taken a paci, but for some reason, both of my girls are obssessed with Bella's- they think it's funny).

I took the kids through the carwash yesterday because I lacked the energy to wash it myself, and finally discovered something that Kaitlin fears. I remember Jaeda being the same way. Kaitlin is a very tough little girl and isn't afraid of anything until now! Poor girl.

Early Easter Fun

Our Wednesday playgroup had our Easter Egg Hunt and birthday party yesterday. Aunt Caitie's birthday was yesterday, Mikela's is today, and Rylee's is tomorrow!

Last Minute Project

We are going to a Pirate birthday party for two of Brice's friends this afternoon, and he insisted that I make him a pirate outfit...if you remember at the time of Brice's party, he refused to stay dressed up when his friends arrived, but he is very excited about dressing up for other people's parties! So I just put this together real fast (cutting and ripping up an old t-shirt and drawing a skull & crossbones) while Jaeda slept and KJ made an amazing mess in the family room AND dining room (Splenda packets on the floor, etc). It's impressive what a 20 pound little 17 month old can do in such a short amount of time!

Thanks Aunt Caitie!

Kaitlin received her first haircut today! Caitie cut her hair into an adorable little bob with little bangs, I love it! She is like a new person-she can see without having to have a clip in her hair at ALL TIMES! Thanks Auntie Caitie, you did a great job!

a new lesson to learn

I am learning to carefully pick my battles. With Brad working so much these days, I have to. Today was the first day that I have been intentional about this. I have a new rule (inspired by my mother-in-law): If it isn't hurting anyone, let it go (paraphrased). So I put that into practice today, and at the end of the day am noticing that my muscles aren't as tense, my head is not aching, and I smiled more. I prayed before opening my eyes this morning that God would help me with this new practice. So, He gave me a little assignment first thing. I am not a fan, personally, of children throwing the cushions off of the couch, building forts with them, jumping on them, and such. So we have never allowed this in our house. However, what do you think was happening when I walked in the living room this morning? ALL cushions and pillows from both couches were all over the floor, and all of my kids were giggling and having fun. No one was getting hurt (I made groundrules of course that if people get hurt, we don't play this game anymore), and everyone was happy. I allowed it. Actually, I enjoyed it. I liked seeing my kids in disbelief that I was even letting them do it...I think this added to their fun. And you know what? It took 3 seconds to clean up. Thank you God for teaching me, and humbling me.

A little bit of catch-up

This slideshow is a quick glance at our last month (as I have not been on top of blogging these days). You will have to click on the pictures to read the entire caption as I have explained them fully (sorry I am so wordy!)
Brad resigned from the church last month and started working at the Diablo Canyon power outage in January. He is gone from 4:45am until 7:30 pm six days a week (Thursday is his day off). SO, as you can imagine, this has been quite the adjustment for our family. This job will be over at the end of April, and we will be able to decide what is next at that time (the job will provide plenty of financial cushioning as we prepare for our next step). He will also be able to take off a month when our baby arrives! I am so incredibly thankful for friends and family who have been incredible supportive
and helped me out with the kids, etc, while Brad is working so much.
Let's see, it may be easier to update you in list form:
1. Brice started soccer a few weeks ago
2. Jaeda started ballet about a month ago
3. Kaitlin says, "I want to get down."
4. family devotion time has been really precious lately...Brice has been asking lots of questions about Jesus dying on the cross, singing songs with our little songbook and CD, Jaeda and Kaitlin are pretty charismatic in their worship style :).

a new thing.

Well, two new things. Jaeda just started taking ballet and tap classes, and is SUPER excited about it...going to "ballerina classes" is a majority of what she talks about these days. She loves her teacher Miss Julie, and her new little friends in the class. They are SO CUTE! I am also trying out a new editing program for my pictures...