Drollinger's Visit

I've been blessed with a sweet friend in Rachel Drollinger. We met when we both went to Master's College. We had similar interests in hiking, rock climbing, and anything that had to do with the outdoors all the while having great conversations. Our friendship grew past the college years, as we both became teachers. Then I was in her wedding. Next, she was in mine. Two years after I got married, on July 16 we both had baby girls on the same day: Sierra and Madison. We even had the girls at the same hospital and shared a recovery room. In the Lord's providence, the Drollinger's moved to Washington soon after Sierra was born. So, it's been fun to talk on the phone through the different stages the girls have gone through over the past 2 1/2 years. Well, the girls were able to play together this week, and they had a fun time!

I promise this wasn't planned, but Rachel and I had our next babies 1 1/2 weeks apart! Brighton is just a tad younger than Savannah. They were thrilled to meet :)

Brighton has gorgeous blue eyes!

Both girls had fun clobbering one another as they flailed their arms and legs and rolled around on the bed!

Andrew (the oldest Drollinger) was so sweet with the younger girls. We had a fun afternoon together! Thank for taking the time to come over!

Resurrection Day

I woke up early Sunday morning and enjoyed looking at these gorgeous tulips! Thank you Gale and Homie for sending us this sweet surprise!

We had a lovely morning at church thinking about all the Jesus went through in the garden before His death. It is remarkable to think that He sweat blood over having to take on my sins. What a struggle He had taking on sin in His perfection; whereas I have such a difficult time resisting sin. I am in awe of His redeeming work. Maddie came home so excited from Sunday School telling me that "Jesus is alive!" We then had about 12 people over from our Bible study for lunch. We had such a wonderful time with them!

Doesn't every girl do the climbing wall in her Easter dress?!

Madison was running around the backyard so excited to show our friends the garden we've planted :)

Some of the boys played with Maddie.

Then the girls took a turn and "sailed to Hawaii"!

I had so much fun cooking a ham with an orange honey glaze, carrot souffle, mashed potatoes, and green beans. We had a feast!

We were so thankful that the weather was warm enough for us to sit outside for lunch.

As everyone was setting down their forks, Maddie shouted..."Let's play red light-green light!" So, some of us did!

Ray shared his phone with Savannah.

She really liked looking at the picture of herself!

Meredith played with Sissy Loo and made her laugh. Thank you to Jonathan and Meredith for staying and helping clean up!!

While Daddy was at night church the girls and I read stories from Maddie's children's Bible and just had a sweet time together.

Easter Week

All week Madison has been talking about the people who waved the palm branches as Jesus came riding in on the donkey. Then she would say, "Jesus died on the cross". We've had lots of great times talking about God's gift of His Son and how He died for our sins, but He didn't stay dead. He's alive and lives in Heaven with His Father. This has made it possible that no matter what we've done, God can forgive our sins. Now this is a reason to celebrate if I've ever heard of one! We celebrated many ways this week and here's some of them...

First of all, Madison was thrilled this week when a package came in the mail with her name on it! Aunt Dottie sent Mads new twistable Crayons, coloring book, fairy umbrella, and Easter dress. She also sent Savannah an adorable Easter outfit and summer clothes. Thank you, Aunt Dottie for the thoughtful surprise and cards. We love you!

Can't help being a bit goofy :)

Earlier this week we decorated Easter eggs..the sparkles decorated our entire house!

Saturday morning Papa and Mimi came over for breakfast and stayed for a whole day of festivities. We had the traditional Italian Easter braided bread, hard boiled eggs, and fruit.

Then the girls opened their Easter baskets from Mommy and Daddy. They got matching dresses, sunglasses, and sandals.

Oh yeah!

An Easter egg hunt followed the baskets. Can you find the egg?

Maddie loved finding the chocolates inside :0

All smiles

Papa knows how to make Savvy laugh!

I don't have pics of it, but this week we read about "Jesus and the angels" a lot.

(This is when the angel rolled away the stone from the grave)

Papa and Mimi and the girlies

We had way too much fun together! After this we went for a walk, then while the girls napped the adults played Ticket to Ride, and we finished the day off with a yummy dinner. We're so thankful for the special time we get to have together.

Pictures of our Resurrection Sunday are coming....

Savannah is Five Months!

I love this sweet girl! I can't believe that she's already five months old. She now is completely formula fed. She sleeps from about 9:30pm until about 4am and then comes in bed with us because she squalks so much. We don't want her waking up Madison, plus we like the cuddle time. Then she eats around 7am.

I had some fun this morning in the backyard taking photos of her.

Madison is so good at making Sissy smile.

Thank you, Aunt Dottie, for this cute outfit! She's in 6-9 month clothes already.

Look at my push-ups! Vanna loves rolling all over the place.

And I blow raspberries!

Come and kiss me!

We thank God for each moment we have with Savannah. She is such a blessing and joy!

Quiet Time

I snuck a picture of Madison having quiet time the other day. Quiet time is when Madison sits at her little table and looks at books or plays with a toy while I spend a short time in the Word (about 20-30 minutes). I love having this time in the morning to focus my heart and teach Maddie the discipline of sitting still and being quiet (not a natural tendency of hers :) Some mornings she likes to get her children's Bible and look through the stories she knows while I'm reading my Bible. She'll often ask for a cup of tea in her Starbucks mug, too! I've been studying Colossians with the Every Woman's Grace at our church. I'm learning so much from this familiar book. There are a couple on-line resources that I've enjoyed using as I do my personal study- Blue Letter Bible and Bible Gateway. It's helpful to see the verses in different versions and be able to cross reference easily. Blue Letter Bible even lets you look at the meaning of the words in the Greek. I can get kinda carried away studying! Colossians is all about Christ- having a mind, ministry, and life that is focused on Him. In Him are "hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge". He is the reason we are saved from eternal separation from Him and have an eternal weight of glory. We have been raised with Him! I am so thankful for all that God is teaching me! If you aren't in the Word faithfully, I encourage you to do so. It is where true peace, hope, joy, and life is found. On our church's website you can download the homework we're studying and listen to the messages we're being taught each week.

Check it out here!

Saturday was Filled...

Saturday morning started off with a CSUN ladies event with my mom! She spoke with us about Biblical femininity. We had a wonderful time studying God's Word and comparing the woman that is a helper (God's design) to a woman that is a hinderer (our sinful way of operating on our own). I'm so thankful that God has clearly defined men and woman's roles in Scripture, and I love experiencing the blessing of following those roles in life with Jesse.

Yummy...

We had quite the breakfast feast.

When I got home, Josh and Gracie were dropped off for our first little kids slumber party. Their parents were celebrating their ten year anniversary, so we watched the kids for the day and brought them to church the next morning. I didn't know Madison had so many toys- they covered her floor!!!

We had fun with play dough, freeze dance, the matching game, puzzles, tag, and lots of other outside games. Vivian came over and helped out while Jesse was reffing a soccer game that afternoon. Vivian was so sweet- she came bearing Starbucks for everyone!!!

After dinner we watched a movie and had popcorn. The next morning was a whirlwind with getting 4 kids under 4 years old ready for church by 7:45am. We had a blast!

Videos...

I love these girlies! It's so fun watching them together. Here's a few of these sweet moments...

Madison steps away from Savannah to be loud because she gets concerned when things are "too loud for Sissy".

(Note: we only let Maddie in the crib when we're there :)

Sisters Having Tea

Maddie loves playing with her tea set...almost every day!

Today was special, because Madison asked her sister to have tea with her...aw!

I love how they are becoming "friends" already :)

Savannah loves watching her big sister, and thinks she's so funny.