Nunez Spy Agency

Happy Birthday Philip!
Top Secret Agent Philip Nunez turned 5 years old this month. In celebration of this grand event all of the prospective agency members gathered at the NSA (Nunez Spy Agency) Headquarters for training and induction into the agency. After completing their training they were sent on their first mission, finding the stolen birthday presents. The found various clues left around the grounds some in riddles some in code. Code Cypher experts were on hand to help decipher these clues and the new agents soon found where the loot had been stashed. Unfortunately the thieves had gotten away, we suspect their may be a double agent at work here. More mission may be underway in the future. Top secret phots of this mission are included below . Warning this message will self destruct in 3.2.1....

Our Top Agent Defuses the Bomb and Saves the Day

Agents in Disguise Prepare for their Mission

Christmas Caroling

This year we celebrated with an evening of Christmas Caroling at St. Francis a local home for the elderly. This is a tradition of the Hadfield family that we were enjoyed to join in on last year and again this year. I hope to do this every year we have so much fun. This year it was just me and the girls that attended. The boys stayed home with Daddy and got some guy time in. Sadie, Addie and I first met Weiss' and the Ryan's at Starbucks for cocoa and coffee. Then we headed to the retirement home where we sang Christmas carols and handed out some homemade crafts we had made for them. Ours were applesauce and cinnamon ornaments. There were maybe 10 families that joined in the singing, it was such a blessing. I loved to watch Addie go up to the elderly people and hand them an ornament and shyly say Merry Christmas. The first lady that Addie handed one to was a little confused and wanted her to take it back after a minute. Addie was close to being heart broken so I said to her Oh you wnat it hung on the back of your wheelchair as a decoration.... ok I'll do that for you and I stuck it back there even as she was saying no. Didn't want to see my little girl's spirit crushed when she was being so brave and thoughtful. As we moved to another room the people were more alert and more receptive to us. They enjoyed the young kids especially. Addie eagerly handed out ornaments as long as I stayed by her side. When they would smile at her she'd beam with pride. One lady in particular was taken by Addie and called her a pretty little girl. I think Addie gave her at least two crafts if not more. Sadie was a little shy this year about handing out ornaments. I think she was a little intimidateed by the various illnesses and ails they had, but she still sang and smiled from a distance.

After we were done caroling we joined the Hadfield's at their house for dinner and Games. Heather had made a delious potato soup, a hearty chili and homemade rolls. All so delicious! Scott had planned some really fun games, one challenged us to remember the lyrics to the carols we'd just sang, another tested our paper tearing tree skills... behind our backs. It was hilarious and we even won prizes. When it was the kids turn to participate Addie jumped right in like one of the big kids... she beamed with excitement again as Heather gave her a helping hand. Sooo cute. She won a prize and picked a cute little teddy bear ornament, but then lost it before the night was over and was quite sad, but Heather found her a suitable replacement. Sadie and Tori had quickly disappeared upstairs and even managed to weasel their way onto a computer. Little screen addict girls. But at least they had fun. So did I! Christmas at it's best: friends, family, fun, spreading joy and good cheer.

My Main Man

It's not very often that I get a good picture of my husband. Most of the time he won't let me take his picture. But when he is in a particularly good mood I get a few shots in. These were some of my favorites from our first snow fall. He is quite the expressive guy and his eyes tell a story, that's for sure. He can send me into giggles with just one goofy grin, and his "if looks could kill" stare just might be considered a weapon by some agencies. No matter what his expression though he always looks handsome to me!

Happy St Nicks Day!

As a Christian family we are constantly trying to find ways to celebrate this most special and holy time of year. It can be tricky with all the commercialism to find Christ at Christmas. But amidst all the hustle and bustle, partying and presents we have managed to create a few special traditions that our special to us, and today is one of them.
A few years ago inspired by a Mops speaker my sister decided to add some new Christmas traditions to our family that really bring the true meaning of Christmas to light. One of those is the celebration of St. Nicks Day. Having celebrated this for 4 years in my high school french class, this one was really inspiring to me, so I have added the tradition to my family too. We bake cookies or make some special treats to give as a special surprise to secret pals that each family member has picked. Then after dinner we drive around and secretly deliver them ringing the doorbell and running away. When we get home we leave our shoes outside the door and hope that St. Nick will come and deliver a goodie to us. Every year we have been fortunate enough to have a special St Nick treat or two delivered to us by secret pals as well.

St Nicholas was a real saint who lived long ago. He dedicated his life to serving God, and followed Jesus' teachings to sell what you own and give to the poor. Many legends surround him and he is known as one who preformed miracles and did kind deeds for children, the poor and the sick often bringing them money or treats. He is known as the saint of children, unmarried women and sailors for various miracles he preformed.

We celebrate St Nicks day as one way to show love and kindness to those we care about. We talk about being thoughtful and generous and glorifying Jesus in all we do. And we have a lot of fun doing it!

This year we celebrated just as in years past. We made several batches of cookie dough in the morning, in the afternoon we baked and packed cookies up. We packed in the car without eating dinner because we also had a Twins Club party to attend so we delivered some packages in early evening and some late after the party. We got caught twice, but didn't let it spoil our fun! When we came home, after putting our shoes out we settled into our jammies and went to bed. We awoke the next moning to find a special new christmas ornament for each of us in our shoe along with a candy cane... yum! Sadie got a bike ornament for learning to ride her bike and being persistant, Philip got candy cane made of bells because he learned the true meaning of the sweet treat, Addie got a star because she loves to be the kid of the day, and Carter got a wagon because he loves to ride and share the fun.

Twins Club Kids Christmas Party

Tonight was the twins club Christmas party. It was fun to be able to go visit with some old friends and catch up on how our busy lives have been. We had a lot of fun making crafts and having a little snack. We were most excited to see Santa Clause. How fitting since it is also St Nicks Day (more about this in another post). Santa gave each child a present with cocoa, a little santa mug and some candy. Although the kids were all really excited about the idea of seeing santa they were less than thrilled with the actual encounter. They sort of half smiled as Addie and Carter sat on his lap and Sadie and Philip stood a bit behind. I was allowed to step away for the photo so I will be in it too. I'm not sure who had a camera to snap a shot for me, but if I get a copy of it I'll post it here. I'm sure it's comical.

Does Heaven Have A Gate?

Who would have thought that would be the most important question I would ever hear my sweet little boy ask. But that was the start of thee most important decisions in my childrens' life. The decision to accept the Lord Christ Jesus as their Personal Saviour.

It started like this... Sadie, my 7 year old daughter had been running around the church after Awana, and I got concerned because I couldn't find her. "I get worried when your out of my sight Sadie. I always want to know where you are," I said when I found her.

Fast forward 20 minutes when we are all buckled into the car to go home.
"What would you do if you couldn't find me Mom," she asked.
"I'd search for you until I found you," I said.
"What if you couldn't find me though?"
"I'd search for you all the days of my life and if I still couldn't find you when I died then I'd wait for you at heaven's gate because I know you will live with me there for eternity." I said, feeling a little teary over the thought.

"Mommy," Philip said, "Does heaven have a gate?"
"Yes, heaven has the biggest most beautiful and ornate gate you could imagine. When people talk about the pearly gates they are talking about the beautiful white gates at heaven's entrance. Only those who believe in Jesus as their personal saviour can enter through the gates and live in heaven. Do you know what heaven is?" I said, not knowing if they truly understood, but always hoping to plant a seed.
"Heaven is where God and Jesus lives," Addie piped up.
"Yeah and angels too," Carter added.
"But God made it all he made heaven and earth." Philip likes to show off his knowledge.
"God made everything!" Addie enthusiastically replied. And then a jabbering from all of them ensued about the many many things that God did make, trees, dogs, sky, stars, turtles, dinosaurs (but those ones all died), and of course the things God didn't make but made materials for and also made the people to build, like cars, houses, bandaids, etc.
Knowing this could go on forever I decided to redirect the conversation, "And who is Jesus?" I asked, testing their knowledge.
"God's son!" They all replied without hesitation.
"And why was Jesus born?" I asked, seeing if they were starting to understand the meaning of Christmas.
"God loves us and sent his son," Philip quoted his cubbies verse.
"Because he was a baby and he was God's son and he had a mom," Addie said.
"Yeah and God is his dad, Addie." Carter noted.
A groan came from the back seat, "Jesus was born becuase he had to die for our sins so we could go to heaven. because we all sin and do stupid stuff like lie, and be bad" Sadie said a little exasperated by her siblings, but finally inspired to join the conversation.
"I'm glad you know that Sadie because I know you already accepted Jesus as your saviour. Addie, Carter, Philip, I hope someday you will decide to accept Jesus as your saviour and know Jesus is the son of God, believe that he was born on earth and died on the cross to pay for your sins and that he rose again, and that you will trust him as your very own savior. Then you will live in Heaven with God, and me and Sadie. Forever."
"I do Mommy, I know Jesus is God's son, I want to live in heaven after I die. " Philip said.
"Me too," Addie said, "because I know God and Jesus."
"Jesus is my saybeyour," Carter said in his cute little voice, "I want to live in heaven."
"Yeah and Jesus died on the cross mommy," Philip added importantly.
"Wow! Okay,you reallu know your stuff kids good work," I said, "Then let's pray....."

And that was the begining of the conversation that prompted my three youngest children to accept Jesus as their Saviour. We prayed together and talked about what an important decision they had made. How this day heaven rejoiced for them and their book was now written in the book of life and they would some day enter the gates of heaven, and see God face to face. This is a day to celebrate!!!!

First Snowfall of the Season

It's officially winter. It came quickly this year. But it's beautiful so I don't mind. The snow came quietly on the weekend and was gone for the most part by Monday so we didn't even have a snowday for school. The older kids were at Grandma and Grandpas house for the weekend so Jose and I got some time to enjoy the fluffy white flakes with the twins. It was very cold so we had a few short pay times outside, each time coming inside to warm up with a cup of cocoa.

It was also Princesses first snowfall. We weren't sure what she would think of the stuff and we worried she'd get too cold. We didn't have any snow boots for her little paws, but she didn't care. She loved the snow. She would run and chase through the snow and bark at delight each time someone threw a snowball. It made her crazy wild with excitement, and she took a nice long nap when we came inside.

Jose thought it was really fun to play with Princey in the snow. He really liked to throw snow at her and get her riled up. Then she'd chase after him barking up a storm. It was cute to see them both playing happily.

Addie thought the lawn needed to be mowed and wanted to make sure the birds were fed. She's always my little worker bee,

Carter prefered to try and eat the snow, but didn't like the fact that it was cold.

Jose couldn't keep a smile from crossing his lips as he watched the kids in the snow.

I have to admit I thought it was pretty fun too, nothing like a little snow to bring out some good old fashioned family fun on a white winter weekend.

Happy Birthday to Me

I just turned 30.


At first I was excited. I have wanted to be thirty since I was a pre-teen. But as it came closer I got the blues. I wanted to celebrate in style, but felt lame throwing myself a party. Half my friends were going to be out of town anyway. Then I wanted to spend the day out of town shopping or refreshing, but some relatives and family friends were visiting from out of town so that wasn't going to work. Also I share my birthday now with one of my beautiful nieces (best birthday present I ever got by the way) and she happens to be Sadie's best friend, so it's usually all about her party on my birthday. Which is totally fine with me, I love to make birthdays special for kids. And she wanted a party at the water slides, so that was fun. But this was going to be my 30th. And for some crazy reason 30 has been more important to me than any other birthday. Better than 16, way cooler than 18, and more exciting than 21, 30 just hits the spot with me, it's weird I know. But I was a little let down that noone was offering to have a party for me. I had even straight out told my sister to throw me a surprise party. But she refused.

Oh my sweet sister never disappoints though. Ok that's a lie, there have been times when she has disappointed me and I'm sure there will be more, she maybe close to perfect, but she's still human. But this time she didn't disappoint me. She threw me not one but two surprise parties.

First, on Saturday, the day after my birthday party she and two friends were going to take me out for dinner. Our other friends were out of town like I said so she it was going to be a small group. So when we arrived at the restaurant I was surprised to see several of my friends waiting for me with balloons, big fake plastic earrings, matching sparkly plastic tiara and everything. There were friends there my sister didn't even know very well, and my best friend from out of town. What a fun surprise. Of course we ate too much, then went over to another restaurant for coffee and desesrt and which also turned into some appetizers and we again ate way way too much. But it was fun and memorable, and so very very sweet.

Next day a small intimate family bbq was planned. I invited Janet, my out of town friend to spend the night and join us for the bbq. Little did I know that was the plan the whole time. The next morning she suggested we go out to breakfast like old times. My mom offered to watch the kids and said take our time. So we ate a long relaxed breakfast, Then we stopped by the grocery store to see if another friend was working and the Janet wanted to go to the mall so we hung out there. I was rather embarrased because I had chosen to just wear my sweats out to our little breakfast jaunt, and now found myself cruising the mall but hey I'm 30 who do I need to impress. Then we finally got back to my parents house just in time for the bbq. I walk in and appologize for being almost late. Not a big deal I'm told relax and enjoy my birthday weekend. We head out to the deck to have some chips and dipand wait for lunch to be ready. And then....

Down the lake a bit I see a train of boats coming. Don't think much of it there is a boaters club on the lake and they get together a few times a year and parade around the lake. Didn't know what the occasion was but when i saw santa on the bow of the first boat I thought "cute christmas in July, maybe they are promoting their christmas morning parade". Then my mom points the sign out to me "what's that sign say?" she asks me. "I don't know mom looks like maybe a phone number to me, 3-0- something" it still isn't hitting me. Then I recognize some of the people. "Hey that kind of looks like the Hadfields. Oh and that is your boat and there's Dave and the sign says happy 30th ye olde farte. And I'm guessing it's Cheri in the Santa suit." And boy was my face bright red. I was surprised AGAIN! They all came to shore and we had a great big bbq and even more friends stopped by and the ones who were out of town had gotten back into town and we had a blast. Thanks to all my dear friends and family and especially my sister for showing me just how much I really am loved. I won't forget!

Slippin' into Summer

My hunky hubby surprised the kids with a spiderman slip-n-slide during his lunch break. Sadie was the first to mater this new toy, and Addie was right behind her big sister. Philip was little leary of it and Carter liked the water squirting into the sky but was fond of the idea of sliding down it on his tummy. Of course when Jose got home from work he couldn't wait to try it out for himself. Actually it was so hot out that I even took a couple turns sliding down it. Once we turned the water off Carter felt more brave and slid down the slide on the water that had collected and pooled in the cener. After a couple of tries without the hose he was ready for a water blast, but Philip stayed on the sidelines. Maybe we will get him to try it out before summer is over.

Super Starting Summer

Here they are my gorgeous family all enjoying a hot summer day. Just looking at them makes me smile. I hope our summer is filled with lots of moments like this one, just enjoying eachothers company.

Walk-A-Thon

It's a great thing when we see our children get excited about something. It's even better when that thing happens to be a good cause. Sadie decided that she would make a difference for her school this year. Since I am the Co-President of her school's PTA she hears a lot about the needs and goals of her school. Lately we have been talking a lot about the playground because her school is in desperate need of some new equipment. They had to remove over half of the equipment when they put in a few new pieces because they couldn't get them insured. This means there isn't much for the little kids to play with, especially the pre-school age special needs kids. I hadn't talked about the Walk-a-thon plans much with Sadie, I didn't think she would be all that interested, but when she heard the details at the all school assembly she got excited. Of course the big prizes had something to do with it. She also wanted to see her sister and brother happy on the playground. She talked about seeing them out on the playground and noticing they didn't really play with anything because it was all too big for them. She set a goal to raise $500 and solicited the twins help. She had them draw pictures and she wrote a letter and asked me to mail it to everyone we know. She also made a few calls and some personal appearances, although that was a little nerve wrecking for her. To my amazement she met her goal, donating the last $12 from her own pocket. She had hoped she would be the top seller in the school and earn the chance to be principle for a day, but she was 2nd place and still got a pretty cool prize, a party at our sports plex with all her friends. I am so proud of her. To see her set a goal, and a high one at that, then take the steps needeed to meet that goal, stepping out of her comfort zone as needed, it really shows character. that girl will go places in this world.

Last Day of School

It's the last day of school for Sadie and I can't help but reflect on the year. She has learned so much and come so far. She has learned to problem solve and stay focused, both of which were big challenges for her last year. She has become an excellent reader and greatly improved her comprehension skills. She has mastered addition and subtraction and is starting to understand the concept of multiplication. She has studied many areas of science and has a growing thirst for knowledge in this area. She met lots of goals this year and won awards including being the top reader in her grade this year for the the read-a-thon, and being the second over all collector for the school walk-a-thon. On top of this she excelled in Awana and was persistent in her piano lessons. That is one motivated girl. She truly amazes me and I feel so blessed to be her mother.

Piano Recital

Grandma pins Sadie's corsage on her right before her piano recital. Sadie preformed beautifully at the recital. She was calm and confident. She didn't feel the least bit nervous, it was as if she was made to preform. The past few weeks she has been playing the piano non-stop in anticipation of the big event. It was hard to believe there was time during the winter that I had to make her practice and now I'm telling her to leave the piano to rest for minute. I hope her enthusiasm for piano lasts through the summer.

Goodbye Sweet Bunny

Sorrow and tears

There is one thing about being a mom that I just can't handle, the complete devasting and heart wrenching feeling of seeing your children in any kind of pain or loss. I'll be the first to admit I'm an emotional person, but I've learned how to deal with my own emotions and sadness. When it comes to my children it's a different story.
Recently I had to tell Sadie that her bunny passed away. She had been staying at her grandparents house for a few days so I was able to put it off awhile, but when she came home I had to break the news. She was devasted. At first she just looked at me in disbelief or shock, slowly processing my words. Then I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back and the reality sunk in while tears streamed down her face. he cried out, "But I don't want Stormy to be dead, I love my bunny, I love him, I love him."
This was her introduction to death, and it hit hard, for both of us.
We had only had the bunny for 9 months, but she really loved Stormy, and I have to admit that I did too. He had a great personality. He had rescued this rabbit on a windy and rainy night from the middle of a busy road. he was abandoned and was ill when we got him so we knew his time with us would be short, but it was still hard to say goodbye.

A Friend to Lean On

Carter had to go in for an out patient surgery this week. I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't stand the thought of my little boy having surgery. He was so brave I couldn't believe it. He has never been great with doctors or nurses, He has had to deal with them enough in his short life so far. But this time he was cool and calm, not bothered a bit by them, he even gave the doctor a bad time and bantered with him. He was nervous at first about each of the steps, like putting on his gown, so we had his monkey, Montey put one on first. Then Montey and Carter got ID bracelets and laid down in the wagon that would wheel them back to the OR. While they waited for the doctor they tested out the oxygen masks that would help them go to sleep. Before we knew it they were both waving goodbye to us as they were wheeled into the OR by the doctor and nurse. Several hours later the doctor came out and told us things went really well. He was in recovery and they would get us right back there because he was crying and upset. He settled down a little after he saw daddy and mommy. We showed him Montey and he wanted to hold him. He was quite upset about the iv needle in his hand and so the nurse was able to remove it after a short time. He was given a bright red popsicle that he ate about 1/4 of and an large assortment of bandaids for him and Montey to use as needed. After he woke up a little more he was excited to see that Montey had the same big bandage on his abdomen as Carter did. It was only a short while after that and we were allowed to go home. There Carter got nauseous and vomitted quite a bit. he settled by late evening though and slept snuggled in with his Mommy and Daddy while the other kids stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's. Grandma and Philip brought Carter a big whale balloon, a airplane fan/candy and some new crayon stix and paper to keep him entertained in a quiet activity while he recovered. Luckily his recovery was pretty quick and he is pretty much back to himself.

Imagine Museum

With a name like that is has to be a great place right? I can't believe how much fun we had at the Everett children's museum. It was a great way to wrap up our Spring break. Jose had the day off work and he decided we should go take the kids to do something fun. We had originally planned on the zoo but lucky for us it was a rainy day. We decided to explore somewhere new and after looking up local hot spots for kids online I thought the children's museum would be a great destination and it was! Rarely does a place live up to all you hope it will be for your kids, but this museum was more than we had imagined it would be. There was so much to do, and it was all hands on and engaging. The kids could learn and explore. They could build and play.
They each had their own favorite. Carter of course loved the water area. He could have played with the those boats and squirters for hours. He wanted to know how each instrument worked and find out what happened when you pushed each button or turned a knob. He also had his own out of the box ideas for the water area, wanting to see what would happen if you stuck a boat here or there, under paddles or nozzles, wanting to stack all the funnels together and pour water through them rather than play with them individually. His mind works in mysterious ways and I am fascinated watching him at work.

Addie seemed to enjoy the craft area because she got to cut. The girl has talent with scissors when she choses to use them appropriately. She really likes to use her hands, she loves anything crafty, and you can see her beam with prie when she knows she has made a masterpiece. She has a long atention span when she is doing artwork, and she is usually in a state of calm, as long as she is given room to create as she wishes without rules or restrictions.

Sadie liked the farm area. She used her excellent math skills to weigh and add up plastic fruits and vegetables. She pretendeed she was milking a cow, which she was an expert at since her class had recently taken a field trip to the Lynden Milk Makers fest. It is especially rewarding to see Sadie in a place like this because it gives great insight into her way of thinking. She has advanced into a level of play that includes using real life skills and acquiring new knowledge. She actually took time to read the signs and answer the questions they asked.

Philip's favorite area was undoubtably the construction zone. He loved putting the nuts and bolts together and getting to make something real, an actually ride on toy car/robot mobile. That boy is a natural with tools. Notice the tongue hanging out of his mouth? That means there is some serious concentration going on. I noticed as I watched him that he stuck his tongue out farther and farther the harder he worked. It would start just peaking out the corner of his mouth while he planned his contraption, then it would show itself a bit more as he began to put his plan to work, and here it is fully exposed as he tries to solve a difficult problem involving a stuck bolt.

They also enjoyed the racetrack area, where Jose jumped at the chance to pose as the 1st place winner. Another favorite was the near life size plane, with a cockpit including steering device, levers, buttons and switches to play with. Addie got a little upset in this section when she thought she was permently stuck in the seatbelt of one of the passenger chairs. They were impressed with the glowing black light/ shadow creation area. And Jose and the kids took a turn with the green screen pretending to be famous actors on tv. We really had an amazing time and can't wait to go back. I even caught Jose having fun and that is rare treat.

On the way home we stopped at McD's and let them get some of their running energy out chasing eachother throught he tubes. When they each got a chocolate dipped cone they thought that topped it off as the best day ever. It was a nice family fun day, and I hope to have a summer full of them this year.

Eggsellent Times

We hope everyone had a great Easter. This year I think my kids finally got it. They may each have got it on a different level, but this was the first year that I felt like they all shared some joy and understanding in this holiday. We celebrated the ressurection of our savior in several ways this year.

First in our celebration was getting crafty. We had lots of fun getting our hands busy making decorations for our home. We pulled out feathers,glue, sequins, pom-poms, pipe cleaners and construction paper to make our simple and adorable spring creations. We had chicks popping out of eggs, fuzzy bunny's, stained glass window eggs made from melted crayons, and decorative crosses. Each day was a new project and the kids really got into it.

Of course a few days before Easter there was the traditional, and more commercialized Easter egg hunt with hundreds of plastic eggs filled with gobs of candy, stickers, bubbles, and other fun prizes. We had many of our friends over to share the fun with us and there were plenty of eggs for everyone to find, more than enough sugar to give them all a buzz, and tons of great photos ops. For anyone who didn't get in on it with us this year, we are sorry and didn't mean to exclude you, it was really a last minute idea, but we hope to have another fun gathering next year.

Then of course there was the actual dying of easter eggs. Knowing how much all of my kids enjoy making a mess, this is something I look forward to and dread at the same time. I have decided to take it all in a stride and see the inevitable mess as a great photo opportunity and just picture the cute scrapbook pages that will follow (some year when I get them actually made) and enjoy the moments of creativity just as much as my children do. This year we dyed just 3 dozen eggs. Not too overwhelming a number so it went by very quickly with 5 kids dying eggs (my niece Tori joined us for this activity). We had two basic dye kits, some crayons, five unusually patient, generous and kind spirited kids and loads of creativity that led to some beautiful easter art.

For the past few Easter's we have added another activity into our Easter eggs, they are called ressurection eggs. It is a kit we bought at our local Christian book store. They are a dozen plastic eggs each a different color and conatining a different momento of the Easter story to help bring the story to life. My kids love each of the miniture figures and replicas, and it helps hold their attention and brings details to light while we go through the story of the ultimate display of love.

We also spent lots of time reading Easter books and talking about the meaning of Easter. Remembering what a wise children's minister had shared with me about letting God use the gore for the purpose of getting their attention, I shared the story more vividly then I had in the past. To this day I can't mention the name of Jesus without one of my boys going into some kind of detail about how He was beaten, forced to wear a crown of thorns, then nailed to wood to die on the cross. But it wasn't until I asked Philip why Jesus did that, that I could see how the message sunk in. And in the words of my blunt four year old were wise words far deeper then I expected "So we can go to heaven mom, just so we can go to heaven, it doesn't make sense." And surely it doesn't, who are we to be worthy of such gift of grace?

Furry Friends

Puppy meets Bunny

Princess and Stormy met today for the first time. They got along fabulously. At first i brought bunbun in the house to meet princess and see how they would get along. I thought Princess would bark or chase her, but she just sniffed her and then kept laying next to her. She was really fascinated by the bunny, but the bunny was less than excited but very tolerant, until we went to play in the yard. Outside Princess got a little too excited and kept wanting to chase Stormy and play. Stoemy hopped across the yard, then Princess hopped across the yard copying her. Princess can hop just like the bunny, it was pretty cute. We do have a few places where they can both fit under the fence though, so our play time had to have careful observation and was kept pretty short. I must say they look pretty cute together though.

Balto and Princess

Princess was infatuated with Balto from first sight, can't quite say the same for Balto but he was more than tolerant with her exuberantness. She loved to jump all over him and then would prance up his back and slide down his stomache like he was her personal playground. He kept giving me the look that said "oh brother how long do I have to put up with this" but soon she settled down and they just lay in a cuddle position for a nap.

Sock Hop

The whole family went to the Sunnyland Sock Hop that I helped organize. The atlantics played so the kids all enjoyed the live music. and the decorations set a fun festive mood. Us girls wore poodle skirts that I made myself, and the boys wore jeans rolled up with white t-shirts. It was touching to watch Jose dance with Sadie. Carter was really into the music and loved dancing, but Philip took some convincing, he just wanted to go get ice cream. Addie loved her cool glasses and swishy skirt. She and Carter danced quite a bit together. 5t was one of the most fun dances I have ever been to, can't wait until next years dance.