Having a "Zoo"per time with Braden!

What a beautiful day to go to the zoo! Braden's class had a fun day at the zoo. It was hard to keep up with him and his buddies, but we made it. :) They were so busy running from one animal to the next. We got to spend an hour learning about all sorts of animals from one of the zookeepers. Braden did a great job answering lots of questions. We ate our picnic lunch by the goldfish pond, played at the Children's zoo, and rode the carousel. Having ice cream topped off a great field trip to the zoo! :)

My 1st Friend Comes to Town!

My 1st friend, Beth, and her son, Jake, visited us during their trip to TX! How awesome to spend time together and reconnect. The boys got along great too! If only the visit would have been longer. We took them to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Pappisitos, a fun day filled with a yummy picnic and play at the beach (where we got totally sunburned!), to Rocket Park to see some rockets at Johnson Space Center and more Mexican! We had a great time staying up late and sharing memories of "back in the day"! After I told the boys that Mrs. Beth and Jake live near Gramby and Pa Pa and Nana and Opa they were thrilled and made the sadness that they were gone a little easier! :) We're so excited to see them this summer in MO!

Holy cow... we've know each other for 34+ years! "...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Go Aeros!

What a pleasant surprise when my friend, Lisa, invited us to the Houston Aeros Minor League Hockey game on Easter afternoon! It was our 1st hockey game as a family and we had a blast! We all go into screaming and cheering and hangin' out with our friends! The funniest part was when we were watching the cheerleaders (who had little clothing on) and Colton said, "Why do they have their tummy on?" Meaning why is their tummy showing and not under cover like normal! :)

Thanks, Lisa, what a great game and the Aeros won to make the event even that much cooler! :)

Happy Easter!

Easter morning the kids slept in a little! Yea! Then they found that the Easter Bunny had come and left TONS of eggs all over the downstairs for them to find and their baskets filled with all sorts of goodies! It was a really rainy morning, but the boys had so much fun finding eggs and sorting through all the contents of their eggs and baskets! We had breakfast all together, got ready, and had an awesome worship time at church! Riding the golf cart to church from the parking lot and back is always a big hit!

Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross and raising from the grave to save our sins! We love you!

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

Braden's long awaited day...

Braden got his cast off! Yes, this is outdated, but the event was special for him and he was so brave and so excited! I pray he doesn't break anything else... but in my heart-of-hearts I think there are many more casts in his future.

You are sure one-of-a-kind, Braden, and we love you so much! Now if we could just get that energy focused... :)

Coloring Easter Eggs!

Again... it comes back to traditions! As always we enjoy dying Easter eggs every year. Each of us design several eggs. Usually I write all our names on one, Tom draws the Space Shuttle, etc... But the past couple years the dye wears off the wax crayons. Bummer! But none-the-less they were still beautiful eggs. We did a few Clone Wars egg wraps too. The night before Easter the boys enjoy carrying on the tradition that Tom had when he was a little boy of putting out "nests" made out of Easter grass around the house so that the Easter Bunny will know where to hide some of the eggs.

Just as the egg brings new life, we too, have new life in Jesus! :)

Eggstravaganza!

Our church did not host their Eggstravaganza this year. Instead, they encouraged everyone to have a smaller version in their own neighborhoods. Many of us teamed up with the Swiggards for a fun morning of Eggstravaganza excitement! There were TONS of eggs to be found, lots of cute faces to paint, sweet Easter crafts, so many yummy treats, bounce houses to tip over, a Veggie Tale to watch, Resurrection eggs to tell the story of Jesus death and resurrection, and games to play that got rained out... All that fun was followed up with a fantastic hot dog bar lunch with plenty of dips and other sweets. A few brave souls even stayed for some chilly swimming!

What a fun way to bring the Easter message to our friends! Thank you, God, for the Swiggarads and their gift of hospitality! :)