Easter 2011

Whoa, I guess I am a little behind. Life has been full, but good. We are really enjoying watching our girls grow up, although we wish we could slow down the process a little. Our Easter was great. Marian and Jon were both off for Good Friday, so we were able to spend good time as a family together and go to the Good Friday service at our church. During the week before Easter we look at God's Word each night and follow the last week of Jesus' life leading up to the cross. We have an Easter mountain that we use to act out our story (with pipe-cleaner people =) and then on Friday we put Jesus in the tomb and leave him there until Sunday morning when we roll the stone away and show the empty tomb. Our girls wake up and call out "He is Risen!" It's such a precious time for our family to reflect on Jesus death and resurrection that makes it possible for us to have a relationship with Him! Then on Sunday we do an egg hunt with our resurrection eggs. It's basically a way to tell the story of Jesus' death and resurrection by including items in the eggs that represent all that went on during His betrayal, crucifixion, etc. The last egg is EMPTY representing the empty tomb that the disciples saw that blessed Sunday morning. I always have my camera ready to see their faces when they open up the empty one. We can rejoice because we worship a RISEN Savior. Enjoy the pictures surrounding our Easter week.

Decorating Eggs

Somewhere in the decorating process those little
egg dipper things got ditched, and they went to the
finger-dipping approach! =)

So proud of her "Macy" Egg that Daddy helped her make.
I'm so glad we decorated eggs with Jon this year.

Arts on Fire

After the Good Friday service, we went to Arts on Fire to use a gift certificate

that Marian got from Nana and Papa for her birthday. 

It was so much fun for us to do this as a family. 

Thanks Nana and Papa for the gift certificate! 

I totally forgot to take a picture of the end result. Oops! =) 

I LOVE this picture.
They must be in a serious conversation about
what to do next on Macy's kitty. =)

Marian chose a dolphin.

Macy did such a great job on her kitty!

Easter:

It was a little chilly for our girls and we had to hurry 

because we needed to get to church, but we snapped just a few before church. 

At Grammy and Grandpa's for Easter lunch.
We were praising the Lord for a beautiful sunny day!

Marian cut out the letters "He is Risen"
on the apple pie we made together.

A little curtsy. =)

This picture totally cracks me up!
It looks like we did an easter egg hunt on the side of the fwy.
My Mom and Wayne's house is along the fwy, so that
is why there is a billboard in the background.

Going through the resurrection eggs.

The empty egg!

Newborn Photoshoot

Meet Kenzie Mae. She is my good friend Carisa's baby. There is nothing like a newborn baby....their smell, their sweet face, the sounds they make, and of course my favorite-- their feet. Let's just say I catch "baby fever" very easily these days. =) Anyway, I had a blast taking her pictures and wanted to share some of my favorites with you. I couldn't believe how alert she was until the very end. 

Isn't her face just the sweetest? 

With one of her big sisters, Reese. =) Unfortunately Taylor was at school.

I love the way Kenzie is looking at Reese. This one has a vintage action on it

and I really like how it turned out.

After I was done, I ended up just holding her for a while 

(it was painful, really...haha =) and she fell asleep. 

I'm so glad I took my camera back out. 

This ended up being one of my favorites. 

Marian's Party Froggie Style =)

Marian wanted a frog themed birthday party. Thanks to the internet I was able to find lots of fun ideas for a TOADally great time....ha ha ha! Often times it seems I am so wrapped up in getting great pictures of the day that I forget to be apart of the memory and enjoy it all. However, I was totally "in the moment" and didn't even remember to take my camera out! Very unlike ME. =) THANKS to my awesome husband, he got out the camera and started capturing some memories. And I must say, he did a great job and really enjoyed it. Here are a few pictures from the day: 

I found this idea on line and knew we HAD to makes these.
Marian had fun helping. =) She cut all the tongues.

The Birthday Girl

We started out decorating the frog cookies.

Macy and her "twin." These two are so much alike.

Macy and Mrs. Lambert.
This is one of my VERY good friends and Macy just LOVES her.
I'm so glad she stayed to help. =)

Pin the tongue on the frog!

Not even close! Love that Jon got their expressions after
I pulled the blindfold off! 

Getting ready to hit the piñata. I love Macy's expression
in the background. She just adores her sister and love that the camera
captured that!

This green parrot was as close as I could find to a green frog!
She loved it and it really was so cute.

Okay, this was definitely one of Jon's "proud moments" as a Dad.
Macy beat that thing to death! I couldn't believe how hard she swung the bat.
I'm thinking we should seriously look into T-ball for her. =)

So glad Jon thought to take a picture of all the girls.
We are so blessed by all the wonderful friends the Lord has
brought into Marian's life.

Present time! Lovin' Jon's angle on this one. 

We didn't get a great picture of the games, but it was probably everyone's favorite part!
We did "Hoppity Frog" which was like Hot Potato and Musical Lily pads.
I'm so thankful to Grammy who stayed to help and to my friends Cara and Deanne.
Couldn't have done it without them! 

Happy 7th Birthday Marian

7 years ago all my dreams came true! 

I became a Mommy to a beautiful baby girl. 

Happy Birthday Marian! 

Seven years ago you made Mommy and Daddy 

the happiest people on earth 

and you continue to bring us joy each and everyday. 

You truly are a gift from the Lord!

Marian, we are so thankful for your sweet spirit 

and how you have a soft heart toward the 

things of the Lord. Your kindness to others and

 desire to obey make you a true delight for all who are around you. 

We will continue to pray that you will grow to be a 

woman who loves and follows Jesus. 

I know you have been looking forward to me doing

 this blog post of pictures from when you were a baby....Enjoy! 

My big girl...you are becoming quite the piano player.
Nanny would be so proud of you!

 Rewind the tape 7 years...

Here you are--just a few days old =)
I can remember just staring at you for hours
because I could not believe how beautiful you were
AND that you were MINE.

1 1/2 years old-- CAUGHT in the act! I remember Grammy 
showing me this picture that she had taken when she watched you one night.
I hated to have to tell her that you were not allowed to be in there
and you knew that rule pretty well....I guess you pulled one over on Gram! =)

On your second birthday at MacKenzie River Pizza Co.

2 years

3 years old sitting in Grandpa's airplane!

Turning 4 with your butterfly cake!

Your first ride in Grandpa's airplane for your
5th Birthday!

Your 6th Birthday "fish" cake. =)
Hard to believe another year has gone by! 

Reflecting back on my precious miracle

I am going through some old pictures on my Mom and Wayne's external hard drive since I didn't have a digital camera when my girls were babies. I was looking for pictures of Marian as a baby, but came across these pictures of Macy's very scary first few days. When this picture popped up on the screen my heart literally skipped a beat. It was like I was right back there in that room watching my precious baby girl hooked up to all those monitors struggling for life and not being able to hold her, feed her.  YET, I could PRAY fervently for her and sing praises to Jesus for her to hear. I remembered how scared we were and how unsure we were as to whether or not she would make it. I remember the sobering reality of nurses and doctors who told us how very sick our little girl was and that she may not make it. And yet, I do remember God's grace that was more real to me than ever before and how He totally carried us through that entire time. Thank you (five and a half years later) to ALL of the many friends and family members who literally put their lives on hold to come to our rescue in so many different ways. I couldn't even list all the ways God used you to be the very hands and feet of Christ to us. 


I have always regretted not taking any pictures of Macy like this (I don't even think I've seen this picture in 5 1/2 years), but I just couldn't bring myself to do it at the time because it was such a heart wrenching time and I've always associated taking pictures with "happy memories." I am SO thankful for my parents and that they took pictures so I could have this as a memory of God's grace to us in preserving the life of our precious girl. As I just put Macy to bed I told her what a miracle she is and how much I thank the Lord for her. 

Hard to believe this is the same healthy 5 year old that
blesses us (and challenges us =) every day! I remember her pediatric specialist
telling us that she was quite feisty. When I asked what she meant she said "Not
sure you're gonna like it in a few years, but it's going to really help her fight for life."
I guess I should be glad she's such a "fire-cracker" some days! 

My Mom was such a rock to me during this time.

 

I am thanking the Lord through tears tonight for his gift to us!