dinos & lories & kangaroos, oh my!

yesterday, we headed down to kentucky to hang out with a special birthday gal on spring break.

we had a fun filled day at cave city!

we went to dinosaur world...

dinos everywhere!

going for a ride wooly mammoth.

gracie & one of her many meltdowns of the day. 

the other 2 enjoyed climbing the t-rex's tail.

lunch at a&w was a special treat.  ben & gracie got to have rootbeer!

then we headed to kentucky down under.

miss grace loved the lorakeets.  she was thrilled when it climbed onto her arm.  one loved brad so much, it went potty.

the kids got to pet a kangaroo. 

then we went on a cave tour. a lady had a panic attack inside.  not fun. 

heading home, the gals passed out.  but not ben, he was ready for more!  he's been asking all morning to"puleeze go back today & dig for some dino bones!"  soon, my son. 

easter at the movie church, poppy's birthday & family easter part deux

in their sunday best.  ben had to wear a tie.  it was a tie i bought at a second hand store with fish all over it.  but he had to wear it. 

momma & sis in our black & white.

sunday, we went to the "movie church" to celebrate christ's ressurection.  i just love the church we are attending.  they have a sign outside that says "no perfect people allowed."  the perfect place for me & my family.  the music rocks & every sunday i find myself in tears after hearing pastor trey's message.  this is the first church i have ever felt like i fit in.  i can't find the words to describe it, but it's great.   discovery church gets me excited about god and sharing his love!

the kiddos outside our church.

mr. joe cool there.

after church, we headed to namaw & poppy's for some more easter celebration.

namaw made some awesome food, as always.  we missed you, auntie jen & mike!

we also celebrated poppy's birthday!  happy birthday to the best poppy in the world, we love ya!

what a lovely couple!

our family easter picture. 

who is that masked bunny??

once the food had settled, time for the easter egg hunt.   it is always an intense competition for the eggs there!

gracie was on a mission!

get the eggs!

with the chocolate!

mission completed.

 ben with some of his haul. 

all that hunting wore out poor grace. 

my sweet guy picked flowers for the ladies there.  just because.

made my day.

and namaw's.

& harmonica's.

later on, we went down to the creek for some good ole fun skipping rocks & playing around. 

gracie found a worm.  she was so proud.  she was trying to show how long it was & broke it in half.  oops.

ben launching a rock. he's mighty fine at skipping rocks & splashing us all!

happy gal.

happy guy.

happy us. check out gracie's smile.  goofball.

happy easter to all!  jesus loves you!

my mamaw's birthday, egg decorating & family easter part 1

easter time is such a special time.  we've been reading bible stories & some activities for the kiddos to help them understand about the ressurection & for us to learn more along the way too.  right now the main thing they understand is that we are celebrating jesus' love for us and others.  they understand that we should share the excitement about jesus' love with everyone.  & i think that is pretty great. 

friday evening, we went out to papaw's for some egg coloring.  we have kinda made this a tradition to go out to his house for coloring.  he loves watching the kiddos.  i & love the memories we are making for the kiddos when we are there.

we did it outside & either him or daddy stood behind them the entire time to make sure they didn't fall. 

what a pretty egg  & a messy gal!

big bubby sharing his egg with sis.

which color to put it in?  decisions, decsions.

what an egg!

the finished product

& the messy hands!

the third was my mamaw's birthday. oh, how i miss her so. we celebrated easter (& her birthday, even though nobody wanted to mention it) a day early at papaw's today so a lot of us could be theresaturday, we went out to pap's again (a bit late due to a dog fight outside.  thanks, rotten dog zak!).  damaw, aunt peg, josh & sara, izzy & kern were already there!  kristen, sam, luke, nathan, heidi, aron, angie & kiddos, ritchie & paula - we really missed you all!   

the boys palyed ball, just like when i was a kid.

the girls played guns.umm, ok.

we ate some good down home food & then the kids were ready for a hunt. 

the hunt is on!

found one!

lots of eggs in every basket and bucket!

big brother helping his little sis out. 

the crew & their finds!

checking out the goodies inside.

hoping for chocolate, i bet.

in the morning, i'm looking forward to celebrating easter at our new church & then heading to namaw& poppy's for family easter part 2. 

peace be with you

on the computer late one night, i came across a quote which "got me".  i had to put it up on our wall to remember. 

i love the handmade art, so the kiddos & i went to work painting a canvas.  they mixed some lovely shades of green, silver and white together & i added a faint peace sign to it after all their work was done.

next came the words.  i wish i had asked to borrow cousin's cricut, but instead decided to go at it with a marker & my hand.  i was trying to go for the pharmacy font, but didn't turn out so well free hand.  my words letters are quite imperfect, but hey so are we.  someday, we may have a repaint & a redo with the cricut, but we'll see. 

the back was decorated by my favorite artists, benj & grace. 

they worked quite hard on writing their names & tracing body parts. 

i love the back as much as the front!

peace!