Easter 2015

Easter is one of our favorite holidays to celebrate in our house. We started with Palm Sunday at church and all the kids bringing in palm branches to the sanctuary. 

 Easter weekend we dyed our eggs. This year we used kool-aid and they turned out pretty awesome.

 We always try to find a unique way to tell the kids the resurrection story and this year we made cookies and every ingredient made up a part of the story.

We made our cookies and sealed the oven (the tomb) shut until the next morning.

On Sunday morning we woke up to find our cookies were hollow. (The tombs were empty)

 We had a fabulous Easter Sunday. We woke up early for Sunrise service at our church followed by breakfast, Sunday school and main service. All of James' parents joined us at church, it was a powerful service.

We came home and gave the kids their Easter baskets.

the look of pure excitement!!

 When all of James' parents were here for dinner the kids hunted eggs.

We live in West Texas where there are more stickers and cactus than grass so you don't hunt eggs in your pretty Easter shoes!

 The kids checked out their egg hunt loot.

We had a fantastic Easter dinner with everyone. James made a brisket for the first time and nailed it! It was so good. Dinner was followed up by horseshoes, jumping on the trampoline and conversation on the front porch. It was a truly great day.

Matthew 28:6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

Spring Break trip 2015

Today brings Spring Break to an end and it has made me long for summer!!

We took a trip this week to South Texas. Our first stop was James' grandparents in Harlingen.

This is James Henry on the drive down, awake and excited!

 The boys love their PawPaw Enos and he scored big points when he took them for a ride on his golf cart! You would have thought James Henry was riding in a race car.

 The boys had a blast driving the golf cart, too!

 We had a wonderful visit with them. We spent most of our time just relaxing and talking. We really enjoyed going to church with them on Sunday. The service was wonderful and everyone was so nice. I know MawMaw enjoyed showing off her family!

MawMaw and Makayla 

 We spent two nights with Betty and Enos and then drove up to New Branufels where James taught a kickboxing class at their location of Extreme Martial Arts. The kids were able to take the class while I was on baby duty.

Our little warriors!

James teaching his class! 

Chris sparring with Mr. Poole the chief instructor in New Branufels.

Chris ready to fight!

 After the kickboxing class we checked into our hotel and had dinner at Montana Mike's.

 The next morning we drove the short distance to San Antonio but first we stopped at the best gas station ever, Buc-ee's. I am really sad I didn't get a picture of that gigantic gas station.
Our first stop in San Antonio was The Alamo. The kids have been studying about it in school and really wanted to go.

The day we were in San Antonio was St Patrick's day.

 It was a really neat experience and a crazy feeling to stand in the same place where something so historic took place. We toured the inside and the grounds surrounding it. Then we hit up the gift shop.

 We had lunch on the Riverwalk at our favorite "travel" spot, Rainforest Cafe.

 We finished the morning walking around the Riverwalk area and doing some shopping. It is pretty neat down there!

 Then we made the drive back to Amarillo. Remember how awake and excited James Henry was at the start of our trip? Here he is on the way home, I think our vacation was a success!

James Henry lost his first tooth

Yesterday morning right before we left for school James Henry lost his first tooth!

 It has been loose for weeks and he has really been wiggling it. He has been filled with anticipation waiting on this tooth to come out!

He took the tooth to school and his teacher gave him a special tooth necklace to keep it in. It's a big deal at school when you lose your first tooth!

This morning he woke up to find the tooth fairy left him $5.00! 

Valentine's 2015

This was the most laid back & fun Valentine's we have had in a long time!

Friday the kids had their parties at school.

This year was so laid back I store bought the class Valentine's instead of making them! (Gasp!)

James came home Friday night after being gone for a month! It is the longest we have all been apart since he was in the Marine Corp and we sure are glad to have him home. 

So Saturday was spent very low key with quality time together! We played outside, James and Chris shot their bow and arrows. We played board games...

and had Cupid floats...

Then we watched a family movie together. It was a day exactly how we wanted it, just spending time together!