Springtime Fun

 Just as the weather started to turn warm, we took a mini weekend vacation down to Florida. We love the beach this time of year with all the blues & aqua's running through the ocean. It was SO calm & the kids had a blast as usual. 

Every day was beach day at some time or another =) 

We met up with friends a couple times & got to take a little excursion to West Palm Beach to this beautiful garden to feed the coy fish. The kids loved it!! 

We got to attend a play production, The Little Princess,  put on by Hobe Sound Bible College & Church participants & the skeet shooting fundraiser that took place that weekend.

As spring started to blossom,  I got out bunnies & floral arrangements for Easter.

Leading up until Easter Sunday, the kids made these cute little magnet bunnies for Nana & Papa's Easter box & also had fun decorating sugar cookies in the shape of bunnies & eggs.

Saturday morning, our church had an Easter egg hunt for the kids in our community. We had several little toddlers in our class & lots of older kids & teens that participated in the hunt & also hiding the eggs to begin with. We started off each class with a story about the reason we celebrate Easter & a small craft.

Then it was time to hunt the eggs! We forgot our buckets this year, so walmart bags to the rescue =P

After all the eggs were gathered, everyone got a goody bag full of gifts & prizes! Rilynn wanted to show Aunt Cinda her new little puppy dog. 

It was cloudy & overcast, but after the egg hunt Matt took all of us with Uncle Jac & Aunt Cinda to the ZOO! 

It was quite the excursion & everyone had lots of fun =) 

We couldn't get the guys away from the flamingo pen. They were fascinated haha 

This tiger took a swim & had fun playing with a branch...just like a little kitty cat!

I'm glad I get to do life with this girl...she is like the sister I never had! We are constantly asked if we are sisters & hear comments all the time about our hair =P

We got to finish off the night with dinner at PF Changs. Couldn't get any better than that! 

Easter Sunday arrived with lots of goody baskets from me...the Easter Bunny. haha 

Dinner was held at Gmama's house. Even though she didn't get to go to church, we all came to her & kept the tradition going complete with Easter pictures in front of the house =)

Our reason for the celebration this Sunday morning! 

The next week, we celebrated Matt's 33rd Birthday. It has even fallen on Easter a couple times being right at the end of March. We had a few family members join us at our house for dinner & birthday cake & presents =)

Matt's aunt made his favorite Lemon cake.

Poppie got him a neat cowhide shelf that will hold several belt buckles he has won over the years. It will look nice in his newly renovated office one day!

There were several other nice gifts from the family members around the room. I always fail to get pictures of everyone when there is a lot going on. =P 

When we were in Jackson, MS, they had a shaving booth at the Dixie Nationals. I thought it was a neat gift idea so Matt is now the proud owner of this shaving kit & while it has taken some getting used to, he is really liking it! =) 

We have had a great year so far. Lots of family time & celebrations aren't always included in the blog, but I try to condense EVERYTHING we do down to a few highlights. I still have a lot to share, but I have found over the last couple years, my kids are growing up & social media/blogging gets pushed to the back burner! I am trying to do better at sharing our memories, but these babies don't stay little very long! =) We have been very blessed already this year & I am thankful once again for God's faithfulness & protection this far. We have so much to look forward to & I wouldn't want to do this journey without Him! 

God Bless,

Valentines Day 2016

Valentines Day is always a fun Holiday for me. I know it's always expected that the guys in our lives do something special, but after I had kids, it usually becomes more about them than us =)

After Christmas, I tend to leave out some red decor in preparation for Valentines day... adding a few little hearts & words of Love around our home.

Since Valentines Day was on Sunday this year, we went out for a fun little family dinner date, just the 4 of us.

Nana sent a little Valentines box to the kids that had these adorable shirts in them! 

When Sunday morning arrived, we woke up to a few fun gifts & CHOCOLATE =) Matt surprised me with beautiful roses & a HUGE card...it was so funny. My card to him was pretty cute too ;)

(My favorite cowboy) 

I think its fun to do things that my kids will remember. So, since it was just our little family (& uncle Jac) eating dinner together, I made as much heart shaped food as I could =)  We had heart shaped ranch potatoes, Italian chicken, cookies & cake! 

Even though most of our family was out of town, we sure felt the love! Especially since we got to celebrate on Sunday & hear a wonderful message about the ultimate love from our Savior Jesus Christ.  I will ever be so grateful for the Love of my Heavenly Father & all he has done for me.

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

John 3:16

Updated Dresser

I've been really bad at sharing some of our projects lately, so here is a cute little desk update we did last fall. Ironically we found a wooden chair at a thrift store to go with it, that has been sitting in the garage ever since. Maybe by this fall we can have that chair done too! =P

This desk belonged to my father in law....most folks around here cringe at the thought of painted furniture, especially real wood or antiques! Since he used it as a child, I wanted to keep the drawers their original color for sentimental reasons.  The rest of the desk we painted a neutral gray.

I perused Pinterest hoping to find an update that would look great in a play room since we weren't putting the desk in any particular child's room. I loved this number idea, so I printed off some numbers & painted them on. 

The "3" looks like it got a little off centered but just adjusting the drawer over to the side a little fixes it right up. After we got the desk all cleaned up & the top sealed, we hauled it off to the play room. Right now I am using this little tool box, Matt's grandfather made for him, as storage for their coloring books & crayons. The drawers are already full of craft supplies, paper, books & projects. I am sure this will get used a lot more once we have a chair to go with it... haha 

Oh & just in case anyone was wondering... My father in law LOVED the update! =) Its amazing what a little paint can do.

Happy Holidays

The Christmas season started off with a trip to Bass Pro with our friends to see Santa! We got to go on Greyson's Birthday & since daddy was out of town, it was a nice little trip to spend time with his friends.

We got to meet Charlie- she's so cute & tiny. It makes me want to get the kids a dog someday =)

I love this Santa. He is so neat looking =)

These kids had a blast together.

Love spending time with my friend Emily too. =) 

I was in charge of the Christmas Program this year. We did "The Not-so-Silent Night" pageant. The kids loved it & did a great job. Greyson got to have 2 parts playing a shepherd & a wiseman! 

He loved being on stage & singing the songs. After the program, we grabbed a couple photos of these 2 little girls. Courtney found these 2 little matching skirts so we had Natalie & Rilynn wear them to the program. Rilynn was busy eating Chocolate.

A new thing the ladies in our church participated in was a cookie exchange! I didn't remember to take any pictures of the party but I made my grandma Good's gingerbread men & they were so cute.

The weekend before real Christmas, we celebrated ours together as a family on Saturday. It was the only morning we had daddy all to ourselves. Friday night, we got the house all ready...the little elves were busy.

We recycled Uncle Jac's old tool chest from when he was little & set it up with a bunch of new child sized power tools for Greyson's big gift.

Rilynn got her little kitchen decked out with pots, pans, utensils & food =) It is something I know she will have fun growing into as her imagination continues to change. Right now, she just loves pretending to eat the food & feed others...playing "house" will be down the road I'm sure! 

We had to cover up the playroom with a sheet so they couldn't see their big surprises.

Opening stockings & pictures with Mom & dad... I love these precious moments!

They both LOVED the gifts & have had countless hours of playtime.

Showing off his super cool tool belt!

The one main thing I asked for was the new pots & pan set from Pioneer Women. I have loved using them & the color will go great in our new kitchen! (that we will be renovating this summer)

We topped the day off with Gingerbread village & Christmas ornament making!  

So fun to experience Christmas with our own kids. 

Christmas Sunday we dressed up for the occasion!

And the next day celebrated with our Crawford/Locklin family time at Maudine & Jimmy's new house. It was so nice that Gmama got to come & enjoy it with us =) 

We headed to PA on Christmas Eve & got to Nana & Papa's house around 7pm. Nana had some Christmas Eve goodies to open...new jammies, hot chocolate mix with mugs, santa hats, stockings & books!

Greyson & Rilynn always get jammies with reindeer or moose on them! I think it's so fun to see what they come up with in the stores each year =) but there is always bound to be something with antlers!

The biggest hit in the house this year was the indoor snowballs! Since we didn't get to see much snow at the time, the snowball fights inside were the best!! Everyone got in on them & anyone that visited did too! 

Christmas morning, the kids were anxious to get started! Papa read the Christmas story from the Bible first & reminded us all that the best Gift of all is Jesus!! Greyson has really caught on to the meaning this year & seems to really enjoy listening about the baby Jesus.

We had a lot of fun opening our gifts together. Mom always knows the best things to get us...the box next to her was my very own "cups for days" metal rack just like the ones Joanna Gaines uses on Fixer Upper. Can't wait to display lots of mason jars & decor with it.

She also got the guys "Man Crates" that they loved!! Matt got all things fishing & Brandon a hunting one. All they had to do was pry it open with a crowbar! haha

We had such a great time opening the gifts. Then mom & dad went all out on a big Christmas dinner! We had a few friends over to enjoy it with us... 2 kinds of petite filet (with dad's mushroom sauce), roast, & several sides made up the majority, but dad kept talking up his famous cream pies making sure everyone knew that he made them so save room for dessert...haha They were pretty good!

We got a family picture after church on Sunday. Just missing the other 3 members of our family in Idaho! This picture will have 3 more little additions to it very soon when all the babies get here =) We can't believe how much this family has grown in just 4 years! 

The rest of the week we visited family, had a few shopping excursions (like to Ikea in Pittsburg) went bowling & got plenty of food!

Finally after several days, Greyson got to see a little bit of snow =) Nothing compared to what they have NOW but at least he saw some.

We spent New Years Eve celebrating with family in Cooperstown! We played games & had a blast...then went back to Nana & Papa's to watch the ball drop in NYC & sip some sparkling cider. Greyson stayed up for all the fun, but the 2 little girls couldn't quite make it with the rest of us =) 

New Years day, we tried out dad's new gun. It was FREEZING & SO windy!! But I had to try it.

Then our good friends Janice & Bill came to eat the PA traditional sauerkraut & pork with mashed potatoes. It was so funny, because we had it for lunch, but they were having it for supper back at their place. It sure hits the spot! Then they introduced us to a new game of Wizards!! It was so much fun & we played for a few hours =) 

All too soon, our visit was over & it was time to go back home. Thankfully we had good roads & made good time. 

Our Christmas card this year made a lot of people laugh! If you know these 2, they are anything but silent. Greyson hasn't stopped talking since he was 10 months old & Rilynn is trying to catch up. =) they thought it was funny to make this card but Greyson was a little disappointed I couldn't tape him to the WALL like another Christmas card he saw online. I tried to explain photo shop to him but he wasn't having it. Next time I refer to Pinterest for card ideas, I won't let him look with me!