Garden, Play, Dragons

 We decided to plant a garden again this year since last year was so much fun.  Yes, it is hard work, but oh so worth it to have all that fresh produce.

 Matt, Leah, and the twins came over to play.  We love having them around.

 We attempted a dragons game with the church.  We got there, got dinner, and then left due to a rain cancellation.

Brent keeping Elli dry under the umbrella on the way back to the car!  I love her sweet face here.

Happy 5th Birthday, Madilynn!

 Adorable Hello Kitty cake.

We are so thankful to have so many wonderful friends in our lives.  We love you, Madilynn Joy and cannot believe what a sweet big girl you are!

Elli's Spring Choir Concert

 Looking oh so pretty, ready to sing.

This is the kindergarten class singing during Cedarcliff's Elementary Choir Concert.  It was cute:)

Happy Birthday, Fergusons:)

Brent and Lance, April 14th, Elli April 25th, Kyle April 30th, and Jenna May 1st.  Calls for one huge celebration:)

Last Visit with AnnaBelle

 AnnaBelle has been in our family, as Heather's dog, for 15 years.  She was the best dog I have ever met and is greatly missed.  She was really sick and we knew she wasn't going to be around much longer, so we went over for a little visit.  Elli sure loved this dog and I am sure it is one reason Elli loves animals so much.

"Family" picture.

Ellianna's Birthday, April 25th

 Good morning birthday girl.  After school, we went to Stony Creek to get a frozen hot chocolate, Elli's favorite sweet treat in town.

 Afterwards, we went to the mall for pictures and other fun adventures, chosen by Elli.  Riding this horse was one of the chosen adventures.

 "Chickenese" for lunch, better known as Terryaki Chicken from Sarku.

 Playing with the doggies.

 This adventure was not planned, but I hit a curb in the parking lot and we got a fun ride in a tow truck to the Hyundai Dealer:)

 Daddy home early with flowers.

 A trip to Toys "R" Us to spend birthday money on squinkies and pet shops. Both turned out to be excellent choices as she plays with them all the time!

 Dinner and dessert at Red Robin.

 Coming home to presents of a new Bible and Bible bag, swim suit and beach towel, and a new scooter!

 We kept it in the basement and let her ride down there.

This is her first night as a 6 year old.  We had a great day celebrating by doing many of the things she loves.  She was worn out!  Somehow though in this picture, she does not look 6.  She looks more like my sweet baby girl that I just gave birth to.  Boy, how time flies.

Thoughts on my son

I was talking with a couple friends last night about this pregnancy and arrival of this precious baby boy.  I have a few thoughts to share on this topic, so here goes.
1.  The pregnancy itself has been tough.  Lots of scary moments early on with bleeding and cramping, episodes since 20 weeks of contractions, and most recently a trip to the hospital at 30 weeks thinking I was in early labor.
2.  The excitement of this coming baby has not been tough.  I simply cannot wait and get very excited everytime I think about meeting this little boy.
3.  My first time being pregnant, I was anticipating a baby.  This time around, I am anticipating my son.  I have realized after having Elli, that there is a person inside me, not just a baby.  He has a personality, a mind, a body.  He is letting me know things about himself already that I love figuring out as we spend more time together.
4.  Along the thoughts of number 3, I have realized that our son will be active, he will love apples, he may not be a snuggle bunny as he kicks back when he feels squished.  He will get the hiccups after he eats, he will come alive when we laugh, he will come alive at night:) 
5.  My son will change as he grows, but these things are true of him now, and I expect will be true when he arrives. I cannot wait to meet him and get to know him even more.
6.  I have been incredibly blessed and the miracle of creation is happening currently inside of me.  God is knitting his little body, developing his mind and spirit, and blessing me with all of it.  What an icredible experience I am able to be part of.  Again, I cannot wait to meet him.
(Now if God would just reveal to me what his name should be, we'd be all set!!)

Elli's 6th birthday party, April 21st

 She asked for a hula hoop for her birthday and she is really good at keeping it going.  Awesome!

 We had a rainbow color theme along with little girl games.  We danced to cotton eyed joe, jumped rope, had a pinata, and wanted to do hopscotch but missed that one.  It was a blast.

 Kids getting ready for their jump rope lesson:)

 This pinata was actually broken wide open by Caleb and Andrew.  Candy really flying everywhere!

 Lots of gifts, including this globe from Gonga and Papa.

Grandma got Elli the hula hoop and showed of a bit.

Celebrations

 This was one of the craziest birthday parties we had for Brent.  Lots of family with lots of crazy kids:)  Happy 35th, Precious.

 Luka is smiling like crazy while Wesley is trying to figure out how to make it bounce.  He finally decided to just flap his arms and make it go.  They loved the trampoline!

 Playing on the swing set.  Lots of swin

 Wesley loves his Aunt Lori. I had a dream about him reaching for me and calling me "mommy" and he really does reach for me and call me "mama."  Love these adorable boys.

We celebreated Papa's birthday on April 20th.  He got some fun gifts including a computer game to teach him how to fly toy airplanes and helicopters:)

Hard Parenting and Funny Story

I can tell in many ways that Elli is simply getting older.  She is obviously growing physically, her vocabulary continues to increase, she is able to do more on her own, and she is giving responses that show more thought.  One hard parenting thing happened this week which I will attribute to Elli getting older. Brent had placed a $20 bill on the counter for me.  I left it there that evening but in the morning when I went to put it in my purse, it was gone.  I fretted a bit, then decided to ask Elli if she had seen it.  She replied, "Oh yes.  I did.  I sneaked into my room and put it in my store part of my bank."  I told Elli it was not her money to take and that she needed to ask before taking things that weren't hers.  She replied "Well, mommy.  I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to know."  OK, so I love the honesty of this response and the fact that she owned up to what she had done.  However, the hard part is seeing a sinful choice lived out with the selfiesh reasoning explained.  We talked about her choice and what it reflected of her.  She agreed she needed to ask forgiveness and did so of me and God.  Still, it was hard to come face to face with this decision of Elli's.
And now, the funny story.  Elli wanted me to get in her tent and play today.  I am continuing to grow, so I told Elli it was hard for mommy to get into her tent.  She promptly replied, "Well, I see you brought that big booty of yours with you."  Yep, Elli.  It seems to follow me wherever I go:)   

Easter Sunday

 The Masters, Raymonds, and Ferguson kids all dressed up for Easter Sunday.  The service was wonderful with music designed to point us to the resurrection truth and scripture passages describing Christ's love and sacrifice in terms of truth from Corinthians.  

 After arriving home, Elli commensed looking for her basket.  Her riddle said, "Play the piano, sing a tune, I am hiding in this room."  She found her basket under the piano.  She also had 16 eggs to find, filled with candy which she was quite effiecient at doing:)

 Family picture in front of our house, with newly mulched flower beds.  I am 28 weeks pregnant here.

 Easter brunch at mom and dad's was a little untraditional this year.  We skipped the ham and made breakfast foods instead.  Delicious!  Heather is taking the picture, Gloria is playing in the other room, and Leah is at the "kid's" table with Wesley and Luka:)

 Elli found her basket at mom and dad's.  It had some fun things in it.  (It was on the dryer)

 With another beautiful day, we had to get outside.  Lots of playing.  The adults however ended up being more worn out than any of the kids.  How does this happen?

 Luka gave me a big grin.

 Wesley was having so much fun with Papa...

 and then he gave me a sweet little smile:)

 We thought we would try for a picture of all the kids, but it is rather difficult with their ages right now:)

 Not too bad of all of us.

 Happy Gloria.

This is my favorite picture.  Mom really wanted a picture of her and all her grandbabies.  As you can see, it didn't go as planned!!!

Egg Hunt at The Club, April 7th

 The bunny this year was not nearly as scary as two years ago:)

 The eggs were hidden inside this year due to the wet frost outside.  At first, it appeared all the eggs were gone, then Brent noticed there were a ton in the locker room.  Elli found most of them:)  Then, I told her there were some kids that didn't get any eggs and she proceeded to dwindle her basket from about 20 down to 7 by checking all the other kids' baskets and giving them away to kids who didn't have any.  I love to watch her compassion.

 All of us with the bunny:)

 We didn't want to waste this sun on the course without golfing a bit.

 My first time watching Brent golf this year.  Looking good.

Elli has really been wanting ti improve and here she is getting a little coaching from her daddy on putting.  She put it in the hole!