Caution: Men at work!

These make me smile...

B was Dad's little helper. I pray my boy(s) always have a great relationship with their dad.

Notice our ugly yard with no grass. :( Dang dog. We did plant some seed this year but with a toddler and a dog, we'll see if we see any results!? There are signs of green patches here and there, but it's sparse.
I'm happy with Jamie's landscaping work with re-creating our patio. We used what we had (all of the brick tiles were there when we moved in, it just looked horrible with they way the previous owner had them laid out). So now we just need a patio set...which are NOT cheap. Even on Craigs List, people like to sell them high. Booh.

He is Risen

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay..." - Matthew 28:5-6

Happy Easter!! HE is risen; He is risen indeed.

This year I made some sugar cookies and we distributed them to our neighbors. In hopes of being more evangelistic (which by nature, I am not), I attached the verse above to each package. It's one small seed that will hopefully be used to encourage them.

Here's B's Easter basket. You'll notice we wrote "from Dad and Mom" and not the Easter Bunny. To me the Easter bunny is hokey (sorry for those of you who do the bunny). Plus, the bunny's are always freaky when you see them at the mall. But above all, we hope and pray that we raise B in knowing the TRUE meaning of Easter and not just candy, eggs and bunnies.

I didn't do much candy for him, and the little that he did get, I have eaten or hid most of it. :)

Here he is at church this morning. The kids all gathered in one large time for the Bible story and then craft time. After that they split the kids up in ages and let them hunt for eggs. B's age group was in a small classroom and the eggs were just laying around the edge of the room. So much for "hunting" for them. Nonetheless, he still had fun.

And don't judge me on his outfit. I know it was pretty cold outside this morning, but I had already bought the outfit so I figured he might as well wear it. Plus, the egg hunt was indoors. And as for the shoes w/ socks...I didn't know what else to put with it (but we do LOVE them - thanks Ash!!)

And then of course a typical family photo on the big holiday. Not the best, but it was the best out of the 4 pic's taken!!

For lunch we had other people who are also "displaced" here in Denver. All of them live out here on their own and don't have family around. So we did our Easter lunch together at our house. All the cooking wore me out. Not to toot my own horn, but I made:

• Deviled eggs
• Ham
  
• Green bean casserole
• Potato's (diced w/ seasoning)
  
• Crescent rolls (Pillsbury, obviously)
• Salad (spinach leaves, strawberry's, mandarin oranges, w/ candied pecans & strawberry poppyseed dressing)
• Southern Style Strawberry Cake (recipe from Theresa)
  

gardening, partying and dating

That pretty much wraps up what we did this weekend: we babysat, worked on the garden, went to a birthday party, went to church and had a wonderful date afternoon/evening. Except it did end in me losing my cell phone. :( So I'm back to my old one.

Oliver turned 3 so we partied it up at a park. Breeson and Oliver are friends b/c we swap date nights with his parents. It's a great trade off.

this park was a bit advanced, although there was a part for smaller kiddo's. But doesn't this slide look scary!? Breeson only did it a couple times before he learned it was too big for him. I'm glad.

We had our date afternoon on Sunday. We just walked around an outdoor mall and stopped for ice cream. We originally thought we were gonna do a movie, but we couldn't find anything we really wanted to watch. So we tried to think of things that we could do without Breeson. And that was leisurely walk around without chasing him and telling him "no" or "stop". It was nice!! We then met up w/ the Oliver and his parents at a restaurant and ate together.

Raise the Roof

Our house got a facelift this weekend. We got a new roof!! About a month or two ago, we had a door-to-door salesman stop by asking if he could check out our roof to see if we had hail damage. If we did, then we could claim it to the insurance and maybe get it repaired for free. I would have just turned him away, but Jamie was willing to listen to him. I'm SO glad he did now.
Long story short - our roof was a "total loss" and so we got new shingles (almost) for free - I think we're paying $70 out of pocket. !!?

A few days ago, we woke up to them delivering our shingles...

The house before:

during...

and after:
(this shot doesn't really show the difference - it's darker than what we had before - more of a slate color)

I am very pleased with how it turned out. I'm especially thankful that we have raised the value of our home considerably and we didn't have to pay for it. Thank you Lord!!

Jamie's Ordination Service

Here are pic's from Jamie's ordination service into the Diaconate from last night.
It was a great service. Thanks to all who made it.
**to see even better pic's - click HERE
And a big thanks to all of you who have played a part in our ministry journey up to this point.
God has used a lot of people in Jamie's life to affirm his calling into ministry
and we are thankful for God using such people.

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Most of you reading this blog know who this couple is. But if not, it's Clint and Theresa. They are special to us b/c we all went to the same undergrad (Southeastern Bible College), were in each other's weddings and now we're both living out here in Denver (came for Denver Seminary).

Some might say we just like to copy them b/c they were at SEBC first, then they got married first, they moved to Denver first, then Clint got Ordained first. But...that's not entirely true, because we have kids and they don't. :)

The weekend...

beware: this post is random and I may jump around from one topic to the next, all within the same sentence!!

Nothing too significant happened this weekend - but it's been nice. We've hung out as a family, had a breakfast date with a girlfriend, went to our friends' open house last night, and then today we're just laying low. Breeson had a lot of sugar last night, so I was up with him maybe 4 times during the night. No more sugar that late at night!! I really should be napping right now while he is, but instead I am updating this. You should all be thankful! Not really.

Yesterday I felt crafty so I went to Hobby Lobby and got some Easter stuff. My sweet hubby surprised me with a bouquet of gardenias when he got home from work. The color is vibrant and I love how spring is here (or about to be)!!
I was lazy all day yesterday - didn't clean a thing, nor do any grocery shopping. Now I regret that. Boo on me. Well, that's about it. I'll end this short post with a few pic's...

I'm officially 33 weeks now.

I just had to add this cute pic of my handsome boys. Jamie decided to gel B's hair today for church. He looks SO grown up now.

Play Date

Today we had our friends Mary and Lilian come over for a play date. Breeson and Lil did pretty good. There was only a few squabbles. It's funny how kids always gravitate towards other kids' sippy cups. !? At one point, Lil was playing in Breeson's room while Breeson was in the family room watching t.v. So much for social interaction!?! Ha. But it didn't last long. I think they enjoyed themselves and wore each other out.

Snack time:

so sweet:

So ready

We've really been enjoying our time outside lately (except when it snowed yesterday. Go figure?!). Homeboy really likes being outdoors and hates it when we say he can't.



I tried a new chicken enchilada recipe based on this: Recipe is on the back.
I actually got them free b/c they were advertising them at work and left a few boxes worth in our work refrigerator. I'm not sure if I'd pay for it. ?? Jury is still out on that one.
They were okay. They weren't like the best I've ever had, but they turned out decent. I made a double batch b/c we were supposed to take them to a friends house, but then she called to cancel b/c she went into labor. What an excuse!!?



Here I am at 32 weeks. I know this is a super flattering picture!! :-) But I don't care. What makes it even better is that when B and I were outside playing (in the privacy of our fenced in backyard), my shirt hardly stayed down, so eventually I just gave up and sat on a chair and got my tan on.
Went for my routine 2 week F/U this morning. Everything's on target. Due date is still May 30th. I've had 3 dates given to me (27, 28 and 30th). I think my chart says the 30th though - Memorial Day. It may be a day to remember!!? We'll see...
It's hard to believe we're already this far. Last night we worked on the baby's room a little more. The crib is up and so is the changing the table. When we did the remodeling downstairs, we got a lot of dust accumulated and that room has still be dusted. I did vacuum this morning though, so we're making progress. The office stuff still needs to be organized and put somewhere else, or just placed in boxes so that it doesn't look so cluttered.
When Breeson was born, he had to share the room w/ Jamie's office. Well this room is still the office, but we have less office-y stuff in there. I doubt I'll paint this time around. I would like to get some pic's up though.