Easter Egg Hunt

Oh my gosh, squash!

Moriah eating butternut squash for the first time.

Not sure about this mom!

Yum!

All done.

Rice Cooker Success

Last night was just awesome.  Thankfully my rice cooker worked (thanks to a tip from Tanya) and everyone was healthy enough to come (the flu has been running rampant here).  We ate and fellowshiped and the kiddos played.  When bed time came around our house turned into the sleep zone.  We have three bedrooms and so we separated the kids and put them down and had grown up time!  It was such a blessing to just sit around and chat and not worry about this baby crawling there, this one running there, or Moriah fussing.  Time totally got away from us because we were just having so much fun hanging out and before you knew it, the clock struck 12!  I don't think I have stayed up that late since before I became pregnant with Moriah.  It was so fun.  I am really tired today (Moriah decided that 5:30 AM was a good time to wake up) but I still feel refreshed.  Sorry, I know I said I would post pictures but in all the hostessing and fun I forgot.  I hope you enjoyed your Friday as much as I did!     

Family Fellowship Fridays

God has blessed us with some great Christian friends. About a month ago I was talking with one of them and we decided that every Friday we should get together as families and fellowship as believers. I was thrilled by this idea and have enjoyed spending time with our friends and their kids.
Here's what one wrote in an e-mail to sum up the purpose of the night:
"I just thought that if we could have a night a week off from cooking at home and getting in some adult conversation with some encouragment in the Lord, it would be good for the soul."

Tonight it is my turn to be hostess and the theme is ASIAN! Now, we have a rice cooker and frozen stir fry veggies so what could go wrong, right? Well, last night I tried out the rice cooker and it didn't cook the rice! I am VERY nervous that I will have 14 people over tonight and NO FOOD! Ahh! So I am going to try it again today and pray that it works properly this time.
This morning I am cleaning up a storm getting the house ready (thankfully we keep it pretty straightened during the week so there isn't that much to do) and hoping the chicken thaws and praying that the rice cooker functions properly. I will take some pictures tonight and post them later. I hope you are enjoying your Friday!

Mother of 3? Not quite yet.

So, today was a very fun day for me. I have a good friend who is pregnant (yay!) and she had a doctors appointment this morning and so I kept her two boys. They are so cute and energetic. One is 4 and the other is 1, and I had my daughter of course. Needless to say I was a "mom," or rather caregiver, to three children today and it went well. Now I know that being a real mom of three will last longer than two hours, but it was encouraging to know that I could at least do it for that long without loosing it. It was actually, dare I say, fun. I am excited to have a house full of kids one day, until then I am just enjoying watching Moriah grow.
Other news, I am praying about taking a summer job at our church. It would be for four weeks and Moriah would get to go to work with me. I am excited and scared about this possibility so please pray for us and this decision. I would work with kids at a summer adventure camp. I love it that our church reaches out to the community this way and I would get to teach kids all about Jesus! That is one of my passions in life as a teacher and though I love staying home, I have missed the classroom. I don't want to teach full time but I think ministering to the children at church is just such a great opportunity. I just don't want to do something that would add stress to our family. We shall see what God has in store for us this summer.
I hope you are having a great Thursday!

Walkin' and Chattin'

So the weather has held up and is still gorgeous! We headed out on another walk today. This time in the jogging stroller that was given to us. It was tons of fun. I stopped by my neighbors on the way out to see if she wanted to join me and she did. So we took our girls and just walked and talked for over an hour. It was not only great exercise (which I NEED) but really uplifting conversation. Here are pictures of Moriah during and after the walk. Zack meet her at the door because he had just gotten home and she LOVED it. He can always get her to light up.

Watching the World Go By

Another nice day! It actually reached 70 degrees! Moriah enjoyed looking out the window during play time and feeling the breeze. We got to go out and chat with the neighbor too! Can you see Riley in the back ground? He was glad to be outside in the nice weather, a cooped up dog makes for a hyper dog! I hope you are enjoying the weather where you are.

Any Excuse...

TO GO ON A WALK! Praise God the weather today was just gorgeous here. I had it set in my mind that I would spend today in my PJs catching up on cleaning and laundry. I was so excited that today marked a huge change in Zack and I's schedule. He started a new job today with "normal" hours. For those of you who are accustomed to this type of schedule, I have envied you for so long! No more! Now for us this means that instead of crazy unpredictability (and working over night, sleeping during the day~ fun trying to keep a 5 month old quiet for daddy to sleep) we can all sleep at the same time! So, today marks the beginning of a new blissful schedule. I was so looking forward to my hubby coming home to a clean home, laundry done, and dinner waiting (it has been so long since I have had my act together to accomplish this!) Instead, Zack came home for lunch and I realized, as I was saying goodbye to him at the door, what a beautiful day I was missing. And to think the very thing I have been praying about I almost missed because I have my own plans. Well, I am happy to say that after Moriah woke up from her nap we got a great breath of fresh air. We walked around our neighborhood and down the street to my friend Jamie's where we sat outside on her back porch and chatted, while enjoying the weather. I was so blessed by it. I have to admit that I have had a bit of the "seasonal depression" that comes with winter, and having a baby, and a husband whose schedule is opposite of yours...I could go on and on. But, God has heard my cry and brought me a taste of spring! Praise the Lord!! And to think I almost missed out because I was going to clean...hehe, thanks for getting me out of that for today, Lord. I hope you pay attention to the ways God is answering your prayers. I almost missed the whole beautiful day, thankfully I was able to at least enjoy the afternoon.
So, I also took this afternoon adventure as an excuse to not cook tonight. I had taken meat out of the freezer and placed it in the fridge to defrost. Well, it didn't, so we ordered pizza and watched a movie tonight. Oh, today was such a wonderful day. Thank you, Father, thank you for the much needed break and GORGEOUS weather.
Here is Moriah ready for our outdoor adventure.