Highs and Lows

WOW the past few days have been so many emotions, so many high highs and low lows.  I am behind on blogging because due to all the storms in our area lately, our internet has been down.  So as I type, I am sitting in Chick-fil-A blogging/paying online bills while my kiddos play on the playground.  There are so many things I want/need to blog about however there are so many things to mention, I don't even know where to start.

Often at dinner time at our house, you will find us playing a game of highs and lows. Everyone at the table will state their high of the day and their low.  So in honor of the randomness of this post and the past several days happenings, this post will be a long game of my highs and lows over the past couple of days.

Low: As you all know, there have been terrible storms over the South since Monday.  I am deathly afraid of tornadoes so these past few days have been very stressful for me.  Trying to be strong for the kids, but turmoil inside me!  Storms passed us by thankfully, but leaving behind MANY inches of rain.  Others weren't quite as lucky and many over the South have been killed and lost everything. The pictures are absolutely devastating and I can NOT imagine.  

High:  I have an appreciation for the house/car/family I have.  Also I became somewhat not as afraid of the storms because there were so many.  The tornado siren became a nuisance most of the time.  I got tired of hearing them and I even weathered out some of the tornado warnings on my couch rather than under the stairs.

This is a screenshot off of my phone during all the craziness.  It wasn't just one storm, it was storm after storm after storm.  Over the course of the 2 days we probably had 10 tornado warnings.  

Low:  The kids were afraid of the storms (along with me) and slept in my room.

High:  I got some great snuggles with these two.  Also they learned to help each other and take care/protect each other.  Brayden was afraid one night and I found Karis with her arms around him saying, "I will protect you Brayden!" Brayden (my prayer warrior) has also prayed many times for us for God's protection.  He prayed that daddy and Lucy would find their "safe place" (storm shelter) from the tornado.

Cool pic I got off of facebook on my phone. It was taken by a girl at Union University (my alma mater).  

Low: My internet has been down at the house.  I needed to pay bills!

High: My internet has been down at the house.  :)  Nice break actually.

Kiddos at Chick-fil-a tonight while I was working on my computer.

Low:  We still have a student loan to pay off.

High:  Tonight I am paying off our credit cards (which we have had for years) with our income tax check we got in the mail this week.  We will officially be credit card debt free as of tonight and I could just scream it from the mountain tops!!!!!  Our goal is to be completely debt free by December and then I WILL scream it from the mountaintops!!!!!!!

Low:  The MANY hours of watching weather this week have cut into some of my fav shows (Biggest Loser, a new show I love The Voice).

High:  I caught up today on them and I love the new Voice show...so cool!

Low: Royal Wedding way too early to watch live, however...

High:  It will be DVR'ed and I will watch.  I am not a fanatic, just curious.  Just interested to see history in the making.  I can't imagine being a normal girl then all of a sudden a princess.  Don't think I would want to be in her shoes.

Low: I miss my hubby.

High:  I am so thankful for Skype.

Low:  Lucy has been at Lolli's all week and I miss my Lucy.

High:  I have had special time with the big kids.  And I have gotten to relax a little and do things I might have not gotten to do with a little one.  We have done something special every night but looking forward to seeing Lucy tomorrow night!

My battery is about to run out and I am out of time, but I am so thankful for these coming few days.  Tomorrow is Karis' Kindergarten program and Brayden has several tball games this weekend.  Hopefully our internet will be back up soon and I can blog from home!

Easter Sunday

MY LORD IS ALIVE!!! He is Risen! 

Happy Easter to you and yours!  We started off the morning with our Easter baskets where we just got them a few little happies, nothing major.  We all got ready for church and the Lord didn't disappoint.  Our service was amazing!  AND I was supposed to work in the nursery however someone volunteered to keep my class so I could go to church with my hubby.  It was so sweet of them and I was very thankful!  We had a full house and almost every seat was full in our NEW building.  I think we had roughly 200 people there!

I knew Easter morning would be crazy and I wouldn't get pics, which is why I took pictures early.  And I was right because I didn't get one good pic on Easter morning.  Oh well.  These are the ones I did get....

Although precious, not picture frame worthy haha!

Me and my sweety

After church we went to Lolli's house for the day.  Some friends came over and we had an egg hunt also.  Kids being silly while waiting on men to hide the eggs....

Karis, Kinsley and Cam

Kinsley, Addy, Karis, Cam, Brayden and Isaac

Kinsley

Me and my Lulu

Before the egg hunt...ready....set....

GO!!!!

Lucy getting into her candy...

Kinsley was FULLY enjoying her candy!  She had a mouth full!

And her sister Addy showed me what was in her mouth ha!

Brayden and Isaac

My parents have the most perfect yard!  It is huge, fenced in and the kids can just run and play with no worries of other people, cars or streets.  And her huge porch is just icing on the cake!  The kids had a blast!

They climbed trees...

Then we went to a playground around the corner from her house because it had cooled off a little and the weather was perfect!

Brayden enjoyed throwing things into the lake of course!

It was a great Easter to celebrate my Savior and spend with family!   

Easter Egg Hunt and more..

Today we went to Cedar Hill Farms to have an Easter Egg Hunt with the family.  I found out that it was voted one of the top TEN best Easter Egg Hunts in the country!  Can you believe that...comparable to Washington, DC, New York, and Miami?! Pretty cool!

Petting the baby chickies...

Chicken show in Education Station....

Lucy loved this turkey....she kept saying, "hey turkey!!!!"

 The kids loved feeding the goats!

The chickens were running around everywhere and they kept chasing them!  Lucy liked them as long as they kept a little bit of distance.  And yes, we let her out of the stroller but she kept wanting back in because of all the animals.  I guess she felt safe.

The fattest pig ever!

ALL my kids are scared of dressed up things (Chuck E. Cheese, bunnies, anything!) but I was proud of Karis for not being scared and took a pic with him all by herself.  

Brayden and Lucy wouldn't go over there unless I did.  Hence the pic of ME with the Easter bunny. Ha!  And notice Brayden wouldn't stand on the other side.  I had to be between him and the scary creature.

We went on a hayride to get to the egg hunt...

Lucy loved it.  She kept filling her bucket up and then pouring them out and starting all over.  Then she started handing them to me saying, "Candy!"  Smart girl.

They had 3 playgrounds and here we are at one of them.

They loved the sand of course and actually it didn't get everywhere.  I didn't see a trace when we got to the car thankfully!

Hay maze

We took the kids on pony rides and there was a pony named Lucy!

Karis rode on Oreo and Brayden's pony's name was Suzy!

We bought a ride for Lucy but she was NOT having it!

We had a great time!  It was a fun place, especially for the littler kids.  We even packed lunch and had a quiet picnic just the 5 of us.

We came back just in time to give Lucy a nap (and accidentally on purpose Brayden too ha) while Karis and I went to shop a little.   I loved shopping with my little partner.  Then we went out to the docks to fish/fill up the fish feeders for a few minutes.  In just about 10-15 minutes, Brayden caught enough fish for us to add to our grill for dinner.  He caught 2 huge ones, lots bigger than daddys!

We rode back home in the back of the truck with the flopping fish and Lucy had a death grip on me ha!  Don't worry, it was on our property and not on public roads.  Karis here was holding the fish and it was flopping everywhere.

We came in and immediately took baths to get the fish smell off of us yucky!  Then daddy grilled us out some steaks and the fish that Brayden caught.  

Then we dyed eggs and I had lots of helpers!

We tried the kit that came with them but our eggs were too fat to make that work so we got out the good 'ole Sharpies and they went to town1

Loved this one!  I didn't tell them what to write and Brayden drew a cross with Jesus on it and blood dripping down.  I think he got a little help from his sissy.

Karis wanted me to write, "Jesus died on the cross" on hers.  Then she wrote above that, "I love you Jesus."

Then before bed we did our Resurrection Eggs I made last year.  It is great because it tells the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection in a way that they can understand.  If you want to make them you can google them but last years post is here.

What an incredible day!  We are so looking forward to celebrating at Riverbend tomorrow with our church family and then going to my moms house for a day of fun!  

HE'S ALIVE!