FRIDAY FIVE PHOTOS

Ok, I am posting 5 photos for my good friend Carrie's challenge. These are all photos taken this past week. We have 2 boys in baseball and one that loves to rip apart flowers - hehe! I never realized how much time baseball can take up even with just a 1st grader and preschooler! We have 4 games a week. I can't even imagine how busy we will be when Ezra can play!!

PS - Can I just tell you how much I love my camera and lens? I just love taking pictures - I just want to learn photoshop more so I can enhance the photos!

Ahhh..... TULIPS

TULIPS are one of my very favorite flowers! We planted these purple/white ones a few years ago and they are so pretty! I got a few shots of Ezra with them. I love the bottom one where he grabbed one and is picking it apart. Reminds me of "she loves me, she loves me not..."

FINALLY!!!

While I was in St. Louis Andrew finally lost his first tooth. It has been loose for awhile but with the help of Dad the tooth is out! He is almost 7 and has been waiting for the day he lost his first tooth. Almost his whole first grade class has missing teeth. He already has another loose one! Dad did a good job of taking before and after photos for me!

BEFORE

AFTER

St. Louis Baby!!!

Yes, Carmen and I are back from our trip to St. Louis. We actually were in Illinois most of the trip but did make it to St. Louis for a little sight seeing!

Thursday - We left around 2pm to begin our journey. We ALMOST missed our plane and to top it off I accidentally left a pair of scissors in my carry-on (oops) so it took a little longer. We finally arrived to St. Louis around 10:00pm (their time). We picked up our car at a very deserted looking Enterprise Rent a car and drove to our hotel (about 30 minutes away). We ended up going to Steak n Shake for a bite at 11:30. This was our inside joke the whole trip.

Friday - We met Kara (Martinimom) for coffee with her friend. After coffee, we hit the CK show for a little bit. It was really crowded. We then made our way to an Archiver's and then got ready for the show. We had a blast Friday night. The crowd was lively and everyone was so friendly!!

Saturday - We went to the Arch. It was a great experience!! Despite the rain we were able to see a lot. We rode a tiny little car that goes inside the arch (only 5 seats). It goes to the top and you can look out these little windows. The arch is 630 feet in the air. After that we had lunch, rested and then did the show Saturday night. We had a blast!!!!

Sunday - Up at 4:30am (2:30 our time) to get on the plane. Great trip - Great memories - New members !

What are the chances that....

Our boys would get their picture in the newspaper 2 years in a row for the same event?? You would think we know the photographer (we don't). Last weekend, Andrew and Cameron helped Larry at a clean up the city event out church (Grace Chapel) puts on. It was raining and they still were so excited to go help! The best part for them was lunch and new gardening gloves! The cool thing is that they got to help clean up their own school (well Cameron will be there next year).
Here is this year's picture. It was the only picture showing the event in the paper, I love it!!! Then I have posted last year's picture with Brendan up front! Now I definitely have to scrapbook this!

Ok, now for a few Easter pictures. I did not take any pictures of my boys with their baskets (gasp) oh well! We did a few family shots

My Mom, Grandma and I!
Ezra with his new toy from Grandma and Grandpa (and the boys watching):
Ezra with a birthday cake his grandpa made him!
Ezra with Grandma and Grandpa (the other boys were jumping on the trampoline in the back)
Andrew took this picture of Larry and I - I like it!

We had a wonderful Easter - Hope you did too!

Had a Bad Day?

Ever have a bad day? Sure everyone has! Today I had one and I am glad the day is almost over. It is one of those days where I have a huge list of things to do but have to put out so many fires that my list seems to get longer. I did cry a few times today but at the end of the day and several prayers, I have told myself to cheer up. Life could be a lot worse! I have a healthy family, a home and friends -these are all things that do make me cheer up.

Blogging is funny. Even if no one ever reads my blog, it feels better to share news (good, bad and boring). It is a way to vent!

On a good note, my 6 year old went to Good Friday service with us. After we left, we were a little worried they were too young for it. But today I realized that he went with us for a purpose. They had an interactive part where we did things at each station (i missed most of it because Ezra was not doing well in the nursery) but we got to a part where we wrote on a stone, things that we need to let go of and work on. For him, we wrote down holding a grudge. Today he brought it up again and is working really hard on not doing that. He has learned a lot for Jesus! I am so thankful for that.

Some Scrappy Time!!

There is nothing like a little scrapping to bring some sunshine in!! I stayed up til 1am last night scrapping and it felt good. I did a 2 page spread from when Cameron was a baby, a page about the boys, and a page about me with Andrew and Cameron.

I used Crate paper, chatterbox and Cosmo Cricket:

I am pretty excited. I have now done 37 layouts this year! This is an accomplishment for a mom of 3 active boys and a business owner! I am making sure that I am using my kits every month and then doing some extra! It is fun to feel like I am preserving my own memories and not just talking about how important it is!

My sweet baby Ezra is now 1 years old!

Happy Birthday Ezra! Wow - this year has gone fast! I love you more and more each day! you have such a fun personality and make me smile! You love your family, especially those silly brothers that make you laugh and push you around on your Tigger toy. You love going outside, taking walks, getting into things you shouldn't, petting Buster, playing with your toys, playing with your brothers' toys and so much more! I love to kiss your head and snuggle with you! you get so happy and love to laugh! I love to hug you and crawl after you making you laugh and crawl faster! You get so excited when your daddy gets home from work! Thank you for coming into our life and completing it! You and your brothers mean the world to us!

Here are a few pictures of your 1st year! I love you!