Easter (Our Day in Pictures)

He's Got The Little Bitty Babies...

It just doesn't get any sweeter than this!

Prom Night With Dad

One of the things that Abby has always looked forward to in Girl Scouts is the father/daughter dance. She loves the opportunity to get dressed up and go on a special date with Dad. As I was getting started with this post I was thinking about all of the past father/daughter dances. What she wore, how her hair was done...you know, all of the important things. :) I couldn't resist posting a picture from each of the years that she has gone so far! My baby girl has grown up so much and is becoming such a beautiful young lady!
2007 ~ First Grade
2008 ~ Second Grade
2009 ~ Third Grade

2010 ~ Sadly, there wasn't a father/daughter dance this year

2011 ~ Fifth Grade
I love that Abby is learning how a girl is to be treated on a date. So sweet!
My sweet, beautiful girl! :)
This is Abby and her friend, Sam. These girls are inseparable!
I love these last two picture so much! It shows me how much fun she was having at the dance.
I am happy to say that Abby wants to be in Girl Scouts all the way through, so there will be several more father/daughter dances to come. What a precious time for Abby and Dad!

Easter Egg Hunt

Last weekend we went to Luke's first Easter egg hunt. I know...bad parents! We just haven't done it. Thankfully he's only [almost] three, so he hasn't missed out too much. This egg hunt was at the Y, so we thought we would check it out. I hadn't heard about it anywhere other than from a flyer that got put in Luke's bag one day when he was in the child care there, so I thought it might not be too huge. It wasn't huge. It was nice. There were only about 8-10 kiddos in the 2-4 age range.
Luke sat and listened very intently to the instructions.
He looks so little sitting on this bench!
Ready to go find some eggs!
"I found one!"
This is one of my favorite pictures! Luke was excited about all of the eggs in his bag!
Abby was happy to help Luke look through his eggs and see what was inside.
Luke was thrilled when he discovered chocolate inside! He LOVES chocolate!
Luke loved the Easter egg hunt!

Jon and I were so happy that the the child care director, that put the Easter egg hunt together, made sure to tell all of the kids that Easter isn't all about eggs and bunnies. She told them that it is about Jesus rising from the dead! I know that the YMCA was founded on Christian principles, but it doesn't seem like they remember that anymore! It's not often you hear the truth of what Easter really is anywhere. We were very pleased!

Spring Storm

We had some pretty severe storms here last week. It was a bit scary hearing that our county was under a tornado warning! You would think that having lived in "Tornado Alley" for the last 15 years that we would get used to such storms, but it just isn't the case! I get nervous every time! That's not to say that I take cover, although I would if my family and I were in danger, I would definitely be safe! But, I guess in the time that we have lived in Kansas and Oklahoma, we have come to do as the Kansans and Oklahomans and stand outside,
or in this case, inside, and watch the storm! The amount of rain that was coming down was crazy! Not to mention the high winds and the hail.

Thankfully the storm didn't last too terribly long. I'm sure there had to be a rainbow somewhere. On one side of the house it was bright and sunny, while on the other it dark and ominous. I didn't see one, but I am sure there was one somewhere!
After the storm was over Jon went outside to check things out. Of course Luke followed! (We can barely keep the kid in the house!) The boy played outside in a puddle of water forever! He loved it!

The pictures here do no justice to how dirty Luke was when he came in the house! He was filthy!
I love a good spring rain. I do not, however, care for the severe spring storms! I am so thankful that the storms did not become worse here and that we are all safe!

The Three Amigos

One of the reasons that we went to Hutchinson was so that Ben could see his two best buddies. It was Sam's 13th birthday and Luke was due to have surgery the week after we left. I can't even express what great friends these boys are! They are three of the sweetest, kindest boys I know! I know I say this every time I talk about them, but I am SO happy that they have been able to maintain a friendship over the past (almost) three years since we moved away! I think they have the makings of a lifelong friendship!

So...what do teenage boys do when they are together? Play video games, of course! (I'm sure there was plenty of eating involved, as well!)
This is how the three boys always leave each other! They hug all the way out to the car!
True friendship! I love it!

A Visit To Hutchinson

We made a weekend trip to Hutchinson for a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Grief.

Jon was working on his mom's car with his dad and, of course, Luke wanted to "help". The boy loves tools!
This is what Abby and Jeanie did while the guys were outside. I think this looks WAY more fun!
Of course there had to be some normal brother/sister shenanigans!
Luke was such a good boy while we were there! I looked downstairs and this is what I saw. What would we do without trains! (Thank you, Christy, for letting Luke borrow some cool trains from your house!)
Another one of Luke's loves...Toby! He couldn't get enough of this dog! (Once he decided that Toby wasn't going to get him!) Toby got quite a workout while we were there!
We had a nice to visiting Hutch and it was nice to get out of town for the weekend!
There is, however, no place like home! :)