Easter pictures...one more!

one more picture, because I love this one of Millie! She is such a funny little girl!

Happy Easter!

We had a great time in Chattanooga with Grandma and Grandpa this Easter weekend. It was a short trip, but always fun to be with family. Grandpa woke us early Saturday morning with his famous breakfast...bacon, eggs, biscuits and grits swimming in butter. The kids look forward to this meal every time we go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Of course Grandma did her share of cooking too--it's actually amazing how much you can over eat in one weekend! We brought the bikes and it was neat to watch my children ride up and down the same street I used to ride my bike on when I was their age. We even got to spend time with Uncle Bryan--what a bonus! He's back in the country...to stay! We are so glad to know that and looking forward to seeing Ubeny and the girls when school is out.

The kids were a little concerned about the Easter Bunny finding us in Tennessee, but what a surprise...He found us! We woke up to 3 baskets full of goodies. Then we got to go to church to hear Grandpa preach. This is always a treat for me.

These kids sure do love Grandma and Grandpa!

I got to spend a little time with my friend Christy. We have been friends since Mrs. McNabb's 1st grade class...dare I say how many years ago? (33 years--YIKES!!! How can we have been friends that long when we're only 29 years old? Right Christy?!) We were friends all through elementary school, middle school, high school and then became room mates in college in 1987. People always say don't room with your friends, but it sure worked for us. We even lived together for a few more years after college. I can't believe that Chloe is now the age we were when we met. I hope that Chloe (and all my kids for that matter!) are as blessed as I have been to have such a great and life long friendship.

And I am thinking about an arranged marriage for Millie and Mills (how cute is that!?)

Here we are with our sweet babies Millie and Taylor (obviously from the picture it is clear that we are NOT old enough to have been friends for so long--apparently I miscalculated!)

Christy is the proud (and extremely tired)mother of 4--yes, I said 4 boys! And they are all so very handsome and were so kind to share their things and play so well with my children. Definitely a sign of excellent parenting!

And here's the whole gang! Do you know how hard it is to take a picture with this many kids in it? So I am glad at least some are actually looking at the camera. My kids had such a great time playing with Jack, Hayes and Mills--they wanted to stay forever and Mills actually wanted us to all spend the night! I never actually heard how Christy felt about that! I had a great time holding and squeezing that chunky little Taylor and catching up with my dear friend. Eliott has already asked me when we will see his new friends again...I hope it won't be long.

Happy Easter!

Apparently we're done!

Well, I have prayed that God would help us decide whether or not to have #4. I know what you're thinking...WHAT?! ?4 KIDS!?!?! YOU CAN'T EVEN HANDLE THE 3 YOU HAVE!!! And I must admit that exact thought has crossed my mind many times. But when you think you are supposed to have 4 it is hard to get that idea out of your head. And perhaps I am a little crazy.

Getting sick didn't help our time frame for having #4. I feel like I should have another one by now, but since I had to take medicine for 6 months (that made it impossible to have a child), here we are...Millie is 2 and 1/2 and I do not have another baby. I have certainly cried about it...no more babies!? I have been having babies for the past 7 years and I really don't know how to move on. And now Millie is getting so big. It is hard to believe that I am done with this chapter of my life.

Look at this sweet little baby in her new big girl bed (with her little baby doll right beside her)!

We took Millie's crib down and put up a twin bed last week. It is real. This is it...no more cribs in our house. Since we put it up (summer of 2000) we've never had to take it down ...just move one kid out and put a new one in. But, apparently we're done with babies.

And apparently we don't have any room left in our huge king size bed anyway! I am coming to terms with this and I am starting to feel a lot less sad about it. Now finally, I do believe that our family of 5 is just right. I have begun to realize that all the activities and things involved with parenting my 3 children would make it difficult (perhaps even dangerous!) to have another. We already have "KidsForChrist" on Sunday morning, t-ball on Tuesday night, Wednesday night church, soccer on Thursday night, t-ball and soccer games on Saturday...and Millie doesn't do anything yet!!! The reality is that our schedule is only going to get fuller and more chaotic as time goes on. I know people with more than 3 children and their husbands do not work in Sweden, Poland or Canada (all of which Jeff spent time in last year), and they probably live close to their family and have lots of help, or perhaps they are just way better at time management than I will ever be. So, we are done and I am OK with that. (At least for today...ha!) No, honestly I think God has truly answered my prayer by taking away my desire for another baby. I do love so much what I have and am so thankful for my precious little family. I guess it's just time for me to be content.

Here are my 4 favorite people in the whole wide world at the circus a few weeks ago. We had so much fun! It was neat to just watch their faces. They loved it so, of course, we loved it too! But can you believe how much it costs to go to the circus! Wow! We almost had to take out a loan just to buy cotton candy...$12! Thank goodness it only comes once a year.

Chloe's favorite part was the elephants.

Eliott liked the motorcycles riding around in the big ball.

Millie liked all of the animals.Why would I ever think I need anything more than this!??!

Also this month we have had lots of sick kiddos! Eliott had 5th Disease--looks like he got slapped in the face (he didn't!), but it also came with a fever.

No one else got that one--surprisingly enough, but...a few weeks later Chloe had the flu. She was the only one who didn't get the flu shot and the only one who got the flu. Guess what...we're all getting that shot next year!

So I guess that's my monthly update...circus, no more cribs and a few sick kids. Oh, I almost forgot...Millie was attacked by a leprechaun today...

a leprechaun with a very green cupcake! Eliott actually said "it looks like a leprechaun threw some frosting on Millie!" He's right!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I will do my best to write sometime before mid April, but I'm not making any promises.