Happy Easter

I hope you had a wonderful Easter - celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!! We had a really nice day! It was so beautiful here - the sun was shining, there was a slight breeze, and the weather was perfect! I love California! After church and naps we headed out to the park for dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt - the kids all had so much fun . . . of course, there was candy, candy, and more candy! Lily was convinced that everything she found was "canny"!

We are blessed to attend an amazing church, Grace Community Church, to sit under the teaching of our Pastor/Teacher, John MacArthur, and equally blessed by the musicians. Today, one of my favorite singers, Jubilant Sykes, sang "Were you there" (one of my favorite songs) - it is such an amazing song - you gotta here him sing it - he is truly amazing!

Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Oh were you there when they crucified my Lord
(Oooh sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble

Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross
(Oooh sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross

(Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Oooh sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Well were you there when the stone was rolled away
Were you there when the stone was rolled away
(Oooh sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble
Were you there when the stone was rolled away

I am completely overwhelmed by what my Lord did for me on the cross! Ellie's favorite song of late it My God is an Awesome God and I can't help but shout that from the rooftops - my God is an AWESOME God! I am forever grateful for His death on the cross so that I might have life eternal with Him in heaven.

I hope that this Easter has caused you to look at your own eternity and I hope you have the assurance that I do of where you will spend your eternity.

Ellie's tea party

This has been a fun and CRAZY week! Ellie's birthday was tuesday and on thursday she had her first ever friend birthday party! She wanted to have a tea party and that we did! She invited six little girlfriends (and her sister) and they had tea. The girls were so cute - looked like little ladies at high tea. I am not sure who had more fun, Ellie or me?! I thoroughly enjoyed (although equally exhausted) preparing for this tea party. Ellie helped me bake the cakes (each little girl had there very own little heart cake), she helped my make the heart sugar cookies, she helped decorate and prepare for this special birthday party.

Last night, after the crazy, fun, exhausting day, Ellie wanted me to snuggle with her in bed for a bit, so there I lay, with my precious 5 year old, remembering the days, five years ago, when we would lay in bed together - only she was so tiny and would fit in the crook of my arm, she would sleep and I would lay in amazement and this precious gift from God. I thanked God right there for my precious girl - she is such a blessing.

ps - I could not have done half of this without the amazing help of my mom!! She came and helped me clean on wednesday and was my all around Cinderella!!! Thanks mom for all you do!

five years ago . . .

Where were you FIVE years ago today???

Well, I was in the hospital holding my little girl! Yep, Ellie Grace is five years old today!!! It does not seem possible and yet, here she is . . . no longer my little baby who was so totally dependent upon me for everything - food, clothing, clean diapers, happiness, and so much more. Today she is a very able five year old - who, can run and jump, fill her own cup with water, get a snack out of the cupboard, buckle herself in the car, ride a bike (with training wheels), write her name, draw pictures (mostly of Ariel), color, sing, dance, play games, and so much more.

Of all the things she is capable of doing - my most favorite would have to be when she asks "Mama, can you come sit with me?" No matter what I am doing I love to stop and sit with my little girl! How special those times are on the couch or snuggling in her bed or wherever . . . as long as my girls are around us we are happy parents!

Ellie Grace,
From the moment you were born you have been a complete and utter joy to your daddy and me! It seems like only yesterday we were presented with this beautiful little girl. I remember looking at you in disbelief . . . you were really ours! We had waited so long for you and finally you had come! You were born with that little tooth - so cute and funny! You have made me laugh and cry, feel such pride and joy. We are so thankful for you and that God brought you to our family five years ago. We pray, more than anything, that God will be the center of your life and that you will serve Him all the days of your life!

We love you sooooooooooo much!

I changed my music arrangement around - the first song is the song Flavio picked for Ellie when she was just a few days old . . . so sweet!

a little bit much . . . don't you think!?!??!

I was cleaning out the closet - taking all of the shoes out from the floor to vacuum and such and this is what I found . . . these are just Flav's tennis shoes!!!! A bit excessive . . . maybe?

If you counted there are 11 pairs!

BTW - most of these were given to Flav from sponsors on the PGA Tour - thankfully we haven't bought all of these!!!!

$151.20

Interesting title . . . I know! So what does it mean???

Well, our dear, sweet, adorable (dripping with sarcasm!!!) cat has been urinating outside of his litter box!!! YUCK!!! Cat urine is the most disgusting thing I can think of! We first noticed it in our bathroom downstairs - thankfully we have tile there so it was fairly easy to clean up and remove the odor (I hope!) then we noticed that he has done this in a few other areas of the house. I was (and am) ready to kick the cat to the curb . . . sorry to any of you animal lovers . . . I went to my trusty computer and googled this fabulous topic - most of which came back that he probably has a urinary tract infection - oh goodie! I told Flavio what I had found out and he suggested I call the vet - which I did - they all came back with the same - you need to bring him in for an evaluation and probably a urine analysis (in the neighborhood of $100). Flavio was NOT going to spend any money on this - I was right there with him, but I felt we needed to at least see if something was wrong with him - be responsible for the pet. Yesterday, the girls and I went to our vet they suggested the urine analysis, blood work, and antibiotics (while waiting for the test results) - I call Flav sure he is going to say "NO!!!" - he had been so against spending the money in the first place - I tell him it is going to be about $150-165 - Mr. toughguy says - do it all!!!! Totally flaberggasted (me, that is)

Long and the short of it - $151.20 later we have a cat that appears to have nothing wrong with him!!!!! Oh, except for the fact that HE IS URINATING on the floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone want a cat???????????

weekend update

Well we are back in town! Ellie told me today that she was glad we were back in town! She kept asking, yesterday, if we were "in the valley, yet?".

We had a great time! It was fun to see "old" friends and catch up. It was really nice to just be away for a few days with our family - just the four of us! I got to read a book!!! That was fun. The girls played - made some new friends and Flavio got to play a little golf! He was in heaven!

I'll just run through our fun time.

Thursday:
Lily bear turned two and to celebrate we woke she and her sissy up at 5:15am and put them in the car for our trip to AZ. They are really good travelers - Praise the Lord and thank goodness for the entertainment system in the car (a real treat since they are only allowed to watch movies on trips!!).

Friday:
Build-a-Bear adventure and a baseball game! The girls had just as much fun "building" their bears as they did playing in the dirt.

Saturday:
Breakfast with the Crutchfields - well, Carol and Bekah - the rest were unavailable . . . for varying reasons (love you Walter :o). We had the rehearsal and the dinner - the girls really enjoyed "practicing" their flower girl job (Aly, you will be happy to know that your cousins did a great job - no doubt as a result of your careful teaching!)

Sunday: The Big Day!!
I was giving the girls a bath before we headed out to the wedding - Ellie asked if this was the real wedding or another practice?! She was happy to find out that she was getting ready for the real deal - no more practicing, the time had come to perform!

Jessie, the bride, was BEAUTIFUL! She is one of those people who looks gorgeous without make-up, after a long run. She is just stunning and more beautiful on the inside! We had so much celebrating their big day and it was such a treat and joy to be involved.

Jessie and Tim were so sweet to include our girls and put as at such ease - she didn't care if they made it down the aisle or not and Ellie is in love with Princess Jessie! If Jess was around you were sure to find Ellie!

Monday:
Flavio got to golf :o) and then we loaded up and came home. Sad to say good bye to our dear friends in Arizona, but glad to see our own beds - although our accomodations were amazing - thanks to our dear friends