Easter and more!

Easter was fun. I've finally gotten some pictures up of the kids in their Easter outfits. We made a quick trip to Wally world when we realized we didn't have anything for them to wear. Both kids had to try their new clothes on over their old clothes while we were wandering around Walmart. Kate had a hard time taking off her "princess" dress when we had to check out. I think she was willing to go through the scanner! Kale is all boy. He picked out a t-shirt that had trucks on it. He was very handsome. We also have a picture of Kate's little friend Lily. Aren't they beautiful?





























The next picture is one of Kale up on Pilate's throne on our Passion play set on Easter. He begged dad to take him up there way up high. He was pretty proud of himself.





Kale and Kate decided to pose for a picture on our back deck in front of our old hot water heater still sitting on our deck. I think it looks like a JC Penny pose or a senior picture pose. I sent it to Mark and he asked if it was a hint that I wanted him to take the hot water heater to the dump. It wasn't my first intention but I liked the idea!!!



One day last week Kale, Kate and I went to an appointment to see about getting him into preschool. While we were there the kids found the bin of toys and Kate came into the office with the Viking hat on. Couldn't resist the photo opportunity.



Lastly, my family came to visit us this past weekend. My parents came into town Wednesday afternoon and two of my sisters came on Friday. We had a great time playing outside, going on walks, going to the park and McDonalds, playing games and of course watching Transformers. Kale couldn't wait to watch the movie and show off his Transformers to everyone. I captured them on the couch together. Kate will watch for a while but gets bored easily. She's seen it before :)

Family all left today. We were sad to see them go. We had a blast. Mark led worship today and will do it again next week. He did a great job but he said it's definitely been awhile. He's wiped out. Thank goodness that Sunday's are the day we just sit back and relax. It's wonderful!

beautiful sunshine and the newest disciple

It's been sunny for almost two weeks now and we're finally able to go outside and enjoy the weather! It's been wonderful. The mud-pit of a driveway is finally dried out so we took the bikes and trikes for a spin. I didn't realize how challenging it would be for me to teach Kale how to peddle a bike and push Kate at the same time. I can't wait for his grandma and grandpa to come down and his aunts and uncles so they can push him. I also told him that they love to play t-ball (his next favorite pastime) so he can't wait to play with them and wear them out

On another note, as I've said before, Mark has been spending every night this week at the Passion Play that is running at our church. It's been an amazing production and they've seen hundreds of people come through our sanctuary and dozens giving their lives to the Lord. A big success. Well last night was my night to go see the play. It was my good fortune that this was the night that Mark was in it. The first part of the week he'd been helping with lights and overall production. Then last night one of the cast members got sick and had to go to the hospital and they didn't have
anyone to replace him since there also was a highschooler (another cast member) who was grounded. So anyway, Mark became a fill-in disciple. Simon I think. I had to chuckle because he wasn't able to wear his glasses of course so I think he was the little known blind disciple :) He also didn't have time to grow a beard. Other cast members have been growing theirs for 8 weeks or so. So he was the clean-shaven, blind disciple. And he did a great job. I had to loan him my facial cleanser when we got home so he could take off the make-up. That's never happened before.... Mark is second from the right in the picture. The only camera I had was my phone so it's not a great picture but you can get the idea. He just left a little while ago for tonights performance and I think he's doing it again. He had fun I'm pretty sure. We're excited for him to be home at night again.

Happy Easter!

My political blog

I'm sure this blog will get some eyes rolling or some heads if I'm lucky but it's something that's been on my mind a lot lately and I think I've started to realize and remember some important things.

First of all, I'm a Republican. That doesn't mean I am anti-Democrat, it just means I agree more with what the Republicans stand for then the Democrats. Not in all issues but most issues. That being said, I've been very interested and somewhat annoyed at all the political wars going on in America recently. Who is real? Who is right? Who will do the right thing and make the right decision when the time comes? Who has an understanding on the realities of actually being the leader of this country? Who will lead us in the right direction? Who will fight to not only protect this country and what we stand for (at least what we stood for when the constitution was written) but for all the citizens, including the unborn? Who will unite this country and not continue to divide it? Who will act morally and responsibly as a very public leader? Who will hold people accountable when they break the law? Who will tell the truth and not just say what they think people want to hear? And who is accountable to God and lives that way?

None of the front runners in either party are my first choice for President. So it's going to be a very interesting vote for me come November. But here is the realization that I have come to. I can not put my hope and my future into any of the candidates. They will all most certainly fail me. Some already have. I can only put my hope and trust in my God. He is the only One who will not fail me, Who is right, Who does the right thing and makes the right decisions, Who has an understanding of being a leader, Who leads us in the right direction, Who fought, continues to fight and died for everyone, including the unborn, Who has the power to unite, Who is the definition of moral and the Truth, Who is just and fair and will always tell the truth no matter what people think. He never fails.

No matter who becomes the next president they will need tons of prayer. They will fail at some things and they will succeed at others. It will be interesting to see who this country puts their hope in. I am definitely a fan of George Bush. Not because he's been the perfect president. As I said before, only God can make those kinds of promises. Bush, like others, has failed at somethings and has succeeded at others. I am a fan because he is unashamed of Who he is accountable to. He is upfront about his belief in God and in prayer. He has said that he prays daily and reads his Bible. He is still a man, but he is a man who is doing his best to follow God. I trust that. No other candidate has shown that kind of trustworthiness to me.

Who is real? Who is not? I guess next year at this time we'll see -- when the rubber meets the road.

Kate sings the ABC's

So the other day while we were driving to town Kate started singing her ABC's to herself so I decided to try and catch her on my phone while still driving responsibly of course :) At the end she tells me what she really wants....her "fire" (pacifier).

Preparing for Easter

We had a great time with Mark's parents last weekend. They came down on Thursday afternoon and we opened birthday presents and played. Then we went to Mama's Boy for a yummy pizza dinner.

Friday, Kale and Kate got haircuts at the beauty shop/barber shop, depending on who you are. Kale was great and was patient and sat still. Kate was fine watching Bubba go for it but when it came time for her she was not so sure. She wound up sitting on my lap and cried for the first few minutes then announced to the
whole shop that she was getting her hair cut. It was pretty funny. Afterwards we went out for a doughnut and chocolate milk - their special haircut treat.

Saturday was spent just hanging out at home and playing. Grandma boiled eggs so we could dye them for Easter. We had a great time. The pictures are from the dye-ing adventure. One of the eggs was held a little too hard (Kate is still learning) so Kale ate it. He's showing us how much he stuffed in his mouth at one time. Lovely.... In the next picture Grandma is trying to keep Kate from drinking the vinegar dye. We don't understand her fascination with it but it was quite gross. Kate had fun with stickers and Kale and Mark stop and pose.

Grandma and Grandpa had to leave early Sunday morning to beat the snow. We were bummed but glad that they could come for a visit.

This week is the Passion Play at church. Mark will be gone every night this week. Very busy.

Be sure to check out the video of Kale explaining how to dye eggs!

Learning how to upload videos

Each of these videos were taken in the last couple weeks but I wasn't quite sure how to upload them. I hope they work!

My testimony

I have to start off with a quick testimony. It may seem silly to some of you but it's pretty cool to me. My vacuum broke a week and a half ago. This vacuum is one that should never break. Mark and I gave into a salesman and bought the coolest vacuum ever. I've had no regrets but we did pay a lot of money for it. It has two lifetime guarantees. That's how good it is. Anyway, it broke. I did all I could do including calling the company and doing all that they told me to do. I even waited and had Mark look it over and do all he could do. Nothing worked. The company told me I'd have to mail a part to Colorado Springs and they'd work on it for me. There is no where in Durango that I can take it. Not good. Well getting to the post office is incredibly hard. Taking the two kids and a huge package is a challenge. Not impossible but not easy. So I decided a couple days ago to pray for my vacuum. It seemed silly but I know that God cares even about my little vacuum problem so I decided to trust that knowledge and go for it. My floor has not been vacuumed in a week and a half and it's getting really gross. I can get up the big things (the dog loves dropped food) but I can still see how dirty it is. So I was considering today calling my friend and asking to borrow her vacuum so I can have some sanity. But before I did I decided to try my vacuum one more time. I prayed again and put the thing back together. I did the exact same stuff as I did last week and plugged it in. I closed my eyes and turned it on.....and it worked!!!! I couldn't believe it. I called Mark and had him listen to it. I don't care if I looked stupid. I was just so excited. I was able to vacuum my whole house! It felt wonderful. There may be another explanation but I'm choosing to believe that God healed my vacuum. I did nothing different. And it's so cool to know that God cares about my little vacuum and my having to go to the post office. He's so good to me!

So there's not much else to report this week. Kale went to his first birthday party alone last Saturday. A milestone for all of us. He had no problems and loved it. Mark and I were fine to. We took Kate to lunch with some friends (went to Pizza Hut and the service was horrible - I remember why I don't go there...). Kate probably had the hardest time. She didn't want to leave Bubba. Poor thing. She was okay with us but would've rather stayed at the party. The picture of Kale and Mark is showing off the lovely fake teeth that he got in his goody bag. We tried to get Kate to try some on but she wasn't interested.


The pictures of Kate are of her on the couch snoozing after church last Sunday. She fell asleep on the ride home and didn't move when we laid her down.















The other one is of her in time out on our back deck. We finally had a little sun and a little heat so we hung out outside for a bit. She kept eating snow. Not a big deal right after it snows but disgusting when you're having to watch for yellow snow and brown snow. Gross! She didn't understand this.

Kale asked me to take this picture of him so he posed for me. I think he looks kinda cool. He thinks he does to. He's wearing his new spiderman sunglasses.

We have company coming tonight and staying through Sunday. Kale and Kate are looking forward to seeing their grandparents (Mark's folks).

I get to spend a day in Farmington on Saturday. Some friends and I are planning a baby shower for another good friend who is having twins so we're going to NM to shop for the shower. It may not sound too exciting but a day shopping with no kids is really amazing. There are two babies going with us but they are easy. We're going to have lunch and just take our time. I can't wait! I have to say that it isn't that place we are going (New Mexico really isn't that enchanting - I don't know who said it was the land of enchantment) but the fact that I am going. Mark has such a great attitude about parenting that I am truly blessed. He doesn't see it as babysitting. That always bugs me when dads say they're babysitting. They are just as much of a parent as the mom! They are parenting :) And Mark does it very well.

Their amazing differences

I am amazed daily by how different my children are. I knew they would be but I am honestly constantly surprised. It definitely proves to me that my parenting isn't the only factor in how my children behave. They process things differently, respond to situations differently, play differently etc....

For example, Kale has always been fine going to the Dr. I don't understand why. It was nothing I did. He just doesn't mind the Dr looking in his ears and eyes, poking his belly or even taking his blood pressure. I don't get it. Kate on the other hand cried when the Dr came into the office. I had to laugh when the Dr took her instrument to look in her ears (she hadn't even made an attempt towards her) and Kate covered up her ears. So the Dr thought she'd take a different approach and look in her eyes - and of course Kate closed her eyes tight. She's a smart little booger. I wound up having to hold her while she was examined and it took some serious distracting to get things done. It turned out that Kale was the only one who needed a shot and he surprised me by saying he was fine with it and he was looking forward to getting a sucker afterwards. Well his mood changed quickly when the nurse came in to actually give him his shot. I've not seen him fight so much. I had to hold him on my lap, pin his arms and the nurse had to hold his leg so she wouldn't hurt him. I don't think that Kate watching all this take place helped her get over her fears of going to the Dr......

They play differently. Kale will take his army guys and put them in war positions and shoot them and throw them etc. Kate will take the same army guys and put them to bed.

They are hilarious though when they play together. Their latest game is sleepover. A friend of theirs (an older friend) had a sleepover and Kale was fascinated by this. And since he couldn't go he decided to make up what it meant and bring Kate to his sleepover. He puts her to bed on his bottom bunk, covers her with pillows, blankets and stuffed animals and makes her stay in bed. For some reason she is okay with this. They can be entertained by this for like a half an hour which is an eternity for me!

Just this morning we had a lesson on how the washing machine works. They helped me load some clothes into the washer and then watched as it started moving the clothes around. They had a blast trying to identify all the clothes that came up. Kale was keeping a close eye on his blanket (who was getting a much needed "bath"). They probably stood there for 5 or 10 minutes. Then I got bored to tears and had to say that the show was over. They were bummed but now can't wait till we put the clothes in the dryer. Too bad they can't watch the dryer spin.

Mark just walked in the house and there was a race to get him. I love it.

Happy Birthday Kate!

Monday, March 3rd, was Kate's 2nd birthday. Again we are amazed at how much she's grown and what a little girl she is. So sweet and funny and very much has her own personality and opinions! She can be hilarious and loving and melt your heart in two seconds right after a major fit! She's a joy. We celebrated her birthday with a small celebration Monday night. I made cupcakes and we had a couple over for dinner who have a daughter her age. Next year will be bigger :) But she didn't mind at all. She loved her presents (lots of crayons and markers), a tea set, some clothes, a cute pair of pink fuzzy crocs and a tea set. She dressed herself that morning in a princess dress (an adorable dress that twirls). She kept telling people that her birthday was coming up and when someone wished her a happy birthday she said happy birthday right back. Lots of laughs. There's a picture of her in her Mexican dress from Bob the Great (my grandpa who lives in South Texas). She immediately wanted to put it on. So we took off the princess dress and she posed for pictures :)






The rest if the pictures are random ones of my children being silly. Kale the fireman cutting paper and making faces like his dad and squishing his face (he thought that was hilarious). And my princess talking on the phone to one of her grandparents or aunts or uncles. It changes daily. Can you tell she's on the phone a lot?

We have been busy lately with birthday's and anniversary's. In the next couple weeks we'll have lots of grandparents coming for their spring visits. It's been a couple months since they've seen the grandkids so I'm sure they're looking forward to it. I know we are.

We still have two feet of snow. It's melting slowly. Too slowly for me. I'd love to get outside and burn off some energy - or at least burn off some of the kids' energy. Unfortunately there's a ton of mud that we have to deal with now. I can't wait for summer!!!!

Mark sang at church last Sunday and did amazing. He sang In Me by Casting Crowns. He's a rock star. I wish you could hear him. He really is so good.

Alright, Kate just told me she's poopy so that's my cue to sign off!