"Mom...

...is it summer time?"

Kind of felt wrong telling him, "not yet".

It is in the 90's and time to cool off by breaking in our little pool.

Didn't take Brody long before he figured out the hose while it was filling up and turned on his own flesh and blood...

first me, then...

Run, Collin, run!!!

When the Oregon rains hit...

We opt for playdough. With boys, this means trucks too! Here's a few picks from our lazy rainy day afternoon! :)

Treasured Tradition

It seems like I am behind the curve when it comes to making my traditions focus more on Christ. Slowly but surely I am learning how to change things little by little to reflect our God and not get lost in the hype of the season.

This tradition of ours started a couple years back when a family friend of ours who although doesn't have the official title of god parents to Collin definitely plays the role. This book was passed onto them when their children were little and they felt it was time to do the same. They handed us a treasured, well used Easter book that tells the Easter story in a kid friendly way. Their only request is that we use it as long as we want and then pass it on to someone else. Each year, we pull it out during the season and read it through several times.

It wasn't until this year that things started really sinking in with Collin about Jesus' death and resurrection. In fact, even being apart of church my whole life, I get caught speechless by some of his questions. But it brings me such great joy to hear him working through some of these thoughts. Praise God!

Here it is my friends (at a very reasonable price)! Happy Easter! What are your traditions?

Collin's Birthday Bowling Bash

The invite! Yes, I know, I am a bit obsessive about making my own invitations.

The cake...Collin had so much fun helping with this one! He couldn't wait to put the Hot Wheels that he picked out on the cake. It was funny; the cake decor store was charging $2.50 for these plastic cheesy cars so we opted for the $.99 Hot Wheels instead that he could play with afterwards! The crowd is little teddy grahams, the race track is crushed up choc. graham cracker...all ideas stolen from a book (although I don't know the name - sorry!).

And, Oh, the presents! Collin knows all about birthdays and presents! :)

Prayer for the little ones

Check this out! A must read for moms...do you pray for your family?

Birthdays

It seems I've been suddenly submerged into the birthday scene. My four soon to be five year old has definitely grasped the concept of birthday parties. He's got his own ideas and not as open to my promptings as before. I suggested getting some healthy dried fruit bars for his birthday party at school. Before, he would have surrendered and wouldn't have thought twice. After a half a second of silence he tells me that he didn't think his friends would like that! No, instead he wants the Oreo sticks you can dip into the cream for his class party...ugh! Today we got the last of the treats for the goody bags for our party. He is bubbling over with excitement. He even told the Target cashier all about his bowling birthday party. Yes, we are doing bowling - actually glow in the dark bowling. We've bucked the system and didn't invite his whole preschool class. We just invited a few of our close friends he regularly hangs out with and family. Grammy is actually really excited about bowling *giggle*. He even accompanied me to the cake store where we gathered some ideas, fake trees, cars to create our race track cake...stay tuned, there may be pics! :) We have a race car theme! Perfectly fits my little guy right now!

Oh, five years old, where did my baby go...

We got bit...by the flu bug!

The flu bug hit our house and slowly but surely it's making it's way through the family. Collin got it first - I was having flashbacks to me insisting he finish the last few bites of dinner as he puked all over our bedroom floor at some ungodly hour of the night. Then Brody got it and it has seemed to hang on with him and now it's me...I HATE throwing up! Ugh! Kids handle the whole thing so gracefully! So as for now, we are quietly buckling down trying to get better. I'm so thankful for my husband today who stayed home despite a huge workload to take care of us! Despite the quiet here - I have not deserted the blog; just trying to get through the holidays and now this. Shortly, I will be returning a little more.