Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  The reality of what we celebrate on this day just always seems difficult to grasp. This year I've been thinking more about what the disciples and people of that age felt on the days between Christ's death and his resurrection. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that after Jesus died, they didn't know that he would rise a couple days later, they didn't understand just what was being fulfilled, and that Sunday's a Coming. Just like in our  life, it's amazing to look back and get the full realization of everything that happened after an event, but during it, it's difficult to make out the reasons behind what's happening. I just praise God that we can rest in Him and His eternal plan. I continue to pray that His word be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105) to guide me in the steps I need to take each day.  I hope that you were able to enjoy Easter with a knowledge of how precious God's grace is. That is the reason for the cross, and I am forever grateful. I ended up picking up a night shift at Deaconess from 7p-7a Sat night, so I came home and slept before I really started me Easter day. We went on an egg hunt at a local church with some friends on Saturday, did a mini-hunt in our front yard (Isaiah is at a good age to pick eggs up and put them in a basket). We attended church with both Ray's sister and my sister (and Matt), then had dinner with them after. I snapped a few pics along the way, but none I feel as cute as his Easter pic from last year..   **The above pic almost gives me baby fever it's so cute! (which I don't get often.. good thing there's one comin'!) Here's Isaiah this year taking in the scene at the egg hunt on Saturday

We joined his buddy Franki and her family there!

At home he wasn't quite as distracted

and even found the 'hidden' eggs that fell in the bushes!

Loading up

"I see you mom!" 

Look at that tongue of determination-

He learned yesterday there can be goodies inside, too bad I didn't hook him up..

Here's what a pregnant Easter bunny with a camera looks like

(ps, I couldn't believe the number of DSLR's at the egg hunt yesterday, it is a total 'mom camera' now!)

A couple of his fav's: Aunt Kacey and Uncle Matt

:c)

A Visit to Gigi and Papa's-

My sister and I made a trip to Odessa to visit my dad and family last weekend. We decided to leave the hubs' at home so that we could make the trip a few days longer. It was a great trip and I was happy to spend the time with my sis and get to see my family! But I don't think that anyone enjoyed it as much as Isaiah did. He gets all the attention at Gigi and Papa's house, and he revels in it :c) Here's Isaiah on the last day out to breakfast with Gigi and Papa.

 3 sisters :c)

 Isaiah and the dogs teamed up to find a way to get them inside... sneeky sneeky...

He also found some geese

 My parents hosted dinner for the boys varsity soccer team Friday night, we cooked a huge batch of shrimp, corn, and potatoes in this BIG pot (which was the smaller one, my dad talked my stepmom out of the bigger one!) thanks to some help from my grandpa

 Isaiah thought he was one of the soccer dudes!

But at the game the next day, he had his eyes on this cute little girl (who kept giving him all her food, she already knows the way to a man's heart!). Guess he is acting like a teen already...

But just so I don't get too far ahead of myself, here's the little man tuckered out at naptime :c)

We made it back in OK just in time for Isaiah's second to last day of swim class! We finished up yesterday and this kid is ready for summer time swimming! (Ray is giving the "Isaiah smile" there, if you're curious..)

So glad we were able to make the trip, next time down there, Isaiah will have to share the spotlight with baby brother!

It's a....

With Isaiah, I wanted to wait to find out the sex until birth, but thanks to a car accident and not very shy baby.. we saw that Isaiah was a boy at 13 weeks. Even though we didn't make it to birth, Ray let me decide to wait, so with baby #2, I let him decide to find out (which is exciting as well!). I will be 20 weeks tomorrow and had my big anatomy scan today. We had the sonographer put the picture with the sex of the baby in an envelope so we could find out at home. Ray certainly did not want to have a gender reveal party, but I wanted to have fun with it somehow. I did not want to do something I had already seen all over pintrest, so I had the 'awesome' idea to put confetti in balloons, and pop them to find out. Too bad I didn't find opaque balloons.Even though we got a sneak peak, we had fun trying to create a fun picture (everyone even played along with me and allowed us to try several different versions. I'm thankful my husband and sister-in-law are nice to pregnant people :c) Thanks to Judy for snapping the pics for us! Here are the out-takes

Our pre-pop pic (trying not to actually look at the balloons).

But we knew before we popped (which we were pretty sure he was a boy anyways)

Ray is an excellent balloon popper

 Mine never did burst..

 Next, we threw some in the air

Then we had just Ray pop a balloon

Ray's face is not so much reflective of having a boy (he actually said he is relieved... girl hater..) but is a post glitter-fied face

We threw one more time

 Then tried blowing the glitter- this pic had good glitter, but Isaiah was blinking

And here we have open eyes, but less glitter

It's all right, we had fun!

 So, even if my creative "confetti in balloons" didn't work out quite as planned, we still had fun and are excited about adding another sweet boy to our family! And the awesome thing about him coming just 23 months after Isaiah, they will be in the same season of clothes, we are stocked and good to go! Now I just need to vacuum up this mess in the office..

Gavin's 1st Birthday Party

I loooved last Saturday- the weather was perfect, I got to do a good outdoor workout with my sis, buy some items to start my square foot garden (I'm attempting to garden this year!), shoot a lovely engaged couple, and see me good friends at Gavin's birthday party! Gavin's parents threw him a circus themed birthday party, enjoy-
The adorable table set up

from another angle

Note: Isaiah is pointing to this pic and saying "mmmm", and it was "mmm"!

If Ray were here, he'd be pointing and saying "mmm". The man doesn't like popcorn and isn't into sweets that much, but loves this white chocolate covered popcorn!
Hotdogs, chips, and some animal sandwiches, the prefect circus food!

The goodie table and monthly pic banner

Gavin with uncle Josh

Gavin's parents, Sydnie and Jeremy (yes, Jeremy has a twin brother, and it just might have Gavin confused ;c)

Me and my name twin, Ashley!

Isaiah in the bounce house

Cake Time!




This guy wasn't afraid to get all up in it!
Gavin's "mmm" face!

Love this shot, such a sweet stud!

He left us with a slight mess to clean up

Isaiah's telling secrets about Grayden, Max isn't so sure about it....
And they were definitely done by the time we tried to get all 4!
Happy 1st Birthday Gavin!
I hope that you all enjoyed your Saturday as well!   p.s. In my purse sits and envelope with the sex of baby #2.... We will be finding out when Ray gets home from work tonight!