Easter Day

Easter day started with church and all three choirs and the worship band singing together.

The sight off all those people singing together with the video of all the work our church has done around the world to spread the gospel brought me to tears. It is clear that our focus as a church is in the right place.

After, the kids finished singing in second service, the boys and I headed home to get a few things and spend some time with my mother and grandmother.
Easter basket time! After a couple hours, the boys and I met Eric and Kaleigh at his parents house for lunch. We were thrilled to be able to spend the afternoon with Eric's grandparents from Rhode Island.

Of course, the kids couldn't wait to get outside and hunt for eggs.
Then the boys enjoyed a few games of BUMP on the basketball court. Four generations of basketball players! At 6pm, we all headed back to the church to perform in the final night of our Easter production. We were very excited and hopeful, because a dear friend that I had been getting to know, and had talked frequently about Jesus, over the past year was going to be attending. After the show, our Pastor always gives a salvation message and my family was elated when Mr. Sally, our friend, found us and told us he had said the prayer and accepted Jesus. Kaleigh was so thrilled she must have brought about ten of her friends over and told them all. He is eager to learn and will begin joining us on Sundays. So pray for his walk with the Lord.

A Day With Cousins

This was the third year of our 'Cousins Get Together' over April vacation. This year it was Glory's turn to host and we were happy to have Marsha and Alyssa join us in the fun!


Parker was thrilled to be able to bring his quad and go out riding with Mikey.


The rain did not stop Charlotte and Blake from cruising on bikes.


Kaleigh and Meredith stayed inside and ventured out for a bit to climb trees with Alyssa.

Old Friends

Monday, April 18th I had a long overdue visit with my friend Shea. It had been three years since we last saw one another. She is special to me because she was bold and cared enough to share the love of Jesus with me 13 years ago. You see we have been friends since freshman year of highschool, in 1989. Infact, we used to party together. Then, after graduation, she found the Lord and got all weird on me, well that is what I thought at the time. She was always talking about Jesus and what he had done in her life. Going to a bar was no longer something she was interested in. Although I believed in God, I wasn't ready to give up on my FUN. Years later, after a bad breakup, I decided I wanted to speak to Shea. The number I once had was not in service anymore, so I had no way of getting ahold of her. Three days later, my phone rang, and it was Shea. The first words out of her mouth were, "Connie, the Lord has impressed on me to call you". God now had my attention! He knew I was ready to hear how much he loved me. He loved me so much, that he died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, past, present and future. I never had a problem believing this about Jesus, but I had never reached out to Him and given my life over to Him. On November 17, 1997 I accepted Jesus as my Savior and have never looked back. All the weight of hurts, unforgiveness and sins were lifted off me that day. I could pysicially feel my burden of sin being removed. Over the past 13 years I have seen God do amazing things. I could probably write a book about them all. I have found pure joy and fun in life that I never thought was possible. So thank you Shea for your friendship and obedience to follow the Great Commission.

Project 365-Week 16

This week was busy with rehersals and baseball, but I did manage a few pictures for the week.

Monday April 18th
Got together with an old high-school friend. Our kids had a fun playing together and Kaleigh did well mothering the youngest so Shea and I could chat.


Tuesday April 19th
We headed to RI to get together with Glory and kids. I did post more on our day in a seperate post entitled A Day With Cousins.


Wednesday April 20th
I got nothing!

Thursday April 21st
I picked up a craft at the dollar store that we could do when Ryan came over. They came out cute!


Friday April 22nd
Opening night of our Easter Show

Lord I Lift Your Name On High

This one is for you Aunt LeeAnn! Parker can't wait to jam with you in October.

Ranch Rodeo Round-up

This past Saturday, (April 16th) Word of Life students that run the summer camp there, came to our church to run a special youth event. They had carnival type games...




bounce houses.....


pony rides.....

face painting.....


a petting zoo....


and a salvation message...

After the event, we had the privilege of hosting two of the young men from the group. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their company and were sad to see them off on Sunday afternoon. They are now looking forward to seeing their new friends this summer at camp.

Monday Mania

Monday April 11th was sooooo busy I decided to write a separate post just to document the craziness of the day. We got up and did our morning routine and were out the door by 9am for a Lego engineering class that I had signed the boys up for. I made a few stops along the way, on our 40 minute drive, and we were at the museum by 9:50. While the boys were in class from 10-12, Kaleigh and I sat in a nearby room and did her school work.


At noon we packed up and headed back toward our neck of the woods. We stopped at a Chinese restaurant and had lunch then headed to Kaleigh's horseback riding lesson at 2pm.

She was all done about 3:45 and we headed on to choir/bible study at the church from 4-5pm. From there we stopped at my in-laws up the road and shoveled in some food so I could get the boys to their baseball practice at 6pm.

At around 7:30 the boys finished practice, I stopped and picked up Kaleigh, who had stayed at her grandparents and we headed home. We arrived home around 8:30 pm and headed straight to bed. I DO NOT enjoy these types of days but it seems to be what our spring is like. The good news is that the boys love their Lego class and I have signed them up for another session in May. The time is different so we will see what our Mondays look like come May.

Project 365-Week 15

Saturday April 9th
I was too busy between church cleaning and baseball practice to even think about a picture today.

Sunday April 10th
Parker has learned his first praise and worship song in chords...Lord I Lift Your Name On High

Monday April 11th
The boys had their very first Lego engineering class, which they LOVED!


Tuesday April 12th
With a cat, a dog and a ferret roaming the house, I invested in this! It is much easier to pull out for those little accidents than my big carpet cleaner.


Wednesday April 13th
This is where my mother puts bad boys AND dogs. JOKE!


Thursday April 14th
Mac's Lyme Disease has been flaring up this week and Parker was sure to give him lots of love to try to make him feel better.


Friday April 15th
Eric used his much needed day off to cut more brush and burn the brush pile he had started this past fall. The boys were very eager to help.

Project 365-Week 14

Saturday April 2nd
I attended the wedding of a dear friend of mine from church. She looked absolutely gorgeous!


Sunday April 3rd
We had the teen service at church. They did an amazing job with music, skits and preaching.



Monday April 4th
Kaleigh has been working on her photography for this year's 4-H contest.



Tuesday April 5th
Brought the kids to church for Choir practice.


Wednesday April 6th
Blake had a dentist appointment.


Thursday April 7th
Parker was enjoying Chesney's bike. LOL!


Friday April 8th
We had rehearsal for Easter Cantata at the church. It is a family affair with the kids and I acting and Eric running sound.

April Fool's

April Fool's is usually a big pranking day in our house. Luckily, I had arranged the prank on Eric the night before because on the actual day, I wasn't feeling good at all. I sent Kaleigh out to video tape the prank but it is hard to tell exactly what I did to my darling husband. First, I put tape over the key hole so that he couldn't get his key into the ignition easily. Then, I made sure that everything was on full blast in the car for when he did start it. And finally, I set up bubble wrap under the front passenger tire so that when he began to back up he heard this loud noise. As you can see from the sudden stop of the vehicle, he wasn't expecting that! LOL! "Wait until next year", is all he keeps saying. I say, "Bring it"!



Parker needs an honorable mention for his prank. I thought he was being sweet making pancakes for his sick mommy. But I should have known better. He put in an insane amount of salt and pepper that made the pancakes unedible. You just wait till next year buddy when I'm not sick and can get you back!

Project 365- Week 13

Saturday March 26th
While the boys were at a birthday party, Kaleigh and I spent a few hours with my grandmother at the convalescent home. Kaleigh did Mem- Mem's nails and make-up. Kaleigh said, "You are the cutest senior in the building". These are the memories we are both going to cherish.




Later that evening, we picked up the boys and headed to church for Triple T Night. The kids sang with the band and played some percussion, had some yummy treats, and gave testimony to what God was doing or teaching them in their lives. It was a great day!

Sunday March 27th
We had a baptism at our church with 35 people being baptized, from ages 6-86! What a blessing!

Monday March 28th
I hadn't really taken a picture for today so I decided to take a picture of my new hair-do I got last Friday. I didn't want to completely dye my hair so my hairdresser put in some strategically placed highlights to hide the gray. LOVE IT!


Tuesday March 29th
Ended up taking Blake to the E.R. for breathing trouble and high fever. Posted all about it in a separate post.

Wednesday March 30th
No picture today :(

Thursday March 31st
Last day of March! Time to decorate for Easter!



Friday April 1st
This is where I spend most of the day. I was sick with a terrible sore throat, headache, dizziness, and chills. I ended up perking up a bit in the afternoon, after breaking down and taking some Tylenol.