Easter with the family

Easter with Aaron's side of the family was fun!

Darin and Carrie's island was the perfect height for Keats to climb up on.

He found a sack of potatoes to play with. A new toy!

The girls all dressed up for Easter.

They looked beautiful in their dresses!

We did an egg hunt. Brianna had so much fun with Kate and Al helping!

Carrie did so much work for us that day. Thanks, Carrie!
Grandma Iona and Grandma Carol
Grandma Iona brought hard-boiled eggs for the kids to decorate. What a blast that was!
They turned out so pretty! And they had so much fun! Thanks for thinking of them, Iona!

Our little Ballerinas

I finally got pictures of the girls on their way to ballet class. They are so sweet all dressed up as ballerinas!

They are learning so much in ballet. Here is first position (feet). Good job, girls!
Our beautiful Tay Tay.
Alex is such a pretty ballerina!
Nan wants to be a ballerina so badly. I think she's ready!
We love you, sweethearts!

Easter gift from Grandma in the Mountains

Caught Alex reading to Keaton. How cute!

Grandma in the mountains sent this book to Keaton for an Easter gift.
Isn't this precious?

Thanks, Grandma!

Easter Sunday

We had small group friends over for Easter Sunday dinner this year. That sure was different! Usually, we are at Aaron's parent's house for Easter, but we did that on Saturday this year. It was fun to spend time with our small group family, too!

Here are some pics of us enjoying each other.

Keaton was playing beautiful music for us on his favorite piano.
Braydon, Taylor and Alex being funny!
Graycen, you are a cutie!
Stacey, Jess, and Stacy all were so happy that I included them in on the snapshots!
Now they are famous cuz they're on the web! :o) (you're welcome, girls)

Graycen didn't make it. He fell asleep here in the Johnny-jump-up. Before dinner, even! Poor little guy. What a bad mommy, Jess! ;o)
Best friends, Nanna and Emmi. They played, fought, cuddled, hugged, and had a great time together, as usual.
Lydia even got a turn at the piano! She loved it! And she crawled over there!!!

Thanks, groupies for a wonderful Easter! We love you guys!

Time for some color!

Lola came over to put some highlights in mommy's hair. Nan thought it would be fun to have some, too. So, Lola put some "highlights" in her hair, too! (just the foils) :o)

Oh, you are so pretty, Nanna!

Lookin' good! :)

Thanks, Laura!

Playing "Catch"

Keaton is a true boy! He loves to play catch with his ball!

He also likes to get the camera from me. Cute!
He sits there and throws the ball and then goes and gets it!

What a smart, funny, adorable boy God has given us!
Had to grab the cam one more time! :)

We love you, Keats!

Family night

We love family night! It happens every Monday and this time,
Daddy surprised us with Dairy Queen treats!

We played lots of Uno Attack and then taught the

girls King's Corner. We had so much fun!

What's this???

Hey, we thought spring was here!!! Actually, it is officially here on Thursday, but we were getting used to the warmer temps and all the snow going bye-bye... Then this happened this morning!!

More snow!!!!

We shouldn't be surprised.... This IS Minnesota. :)

Notice Tay's scooter... She was outside riding it just a couple days ago.

We know it will be here soon... Just so hard to wait!

Learning to help

I thought it would be fun to have the girls help me get

Brianna and Keaton ready for bed. They were so excited to help!

Taylor got Brianna ready. Brianna cooperated pretty well!

Taylor even got most of her diaper on... :)

Keaton was not as cooperative.

He is too much of a mover!! Poor Alex had to

keep him in one spot--hard, isn't it, Alex? :)

She got him a "toy" (lotion bottle) to keep him occupied.

That helped a ton!

They all thought it was so funny! Good job, Tay Tay!

Good job, Alex! And he was still a happy baby afterwards!

I love watching the kids together. How much love they have for each other! (Well, most of the time...) :) I hope they continue to be best friends!

I love you all,

Mom

Ballet

Well, Alex and Taylor have started ballet again. This is actually Taylor's first class. They absolutely love it! I was going to bring my camera today to take pictures of them with their pretty hair and leotards, but guess I forgot amongst all the other things to remember... We'll see if I remember next time.
We did order their costumes for the Spring recital last week (the first week). They are going to look like real princesses! We are so happy to have them in this class. And with a teacher that loves God so much! What a blessing she is to us. Anyway, I will try to get the pics on as soon as I remember. :)

What a good man God has given our family!

I just had to share an evidence of God's grace in my husband! He was supposed to go on a trip to China this Saturday and be gone for a week and a half. After thinking and praying about it, he canceled it and is staying home to take care of me! I am so thankful for a godly husband who puts his family as priority over his job, even though he really should have gone on the trip. Praise God, for you, Aaron !

By the way, I am doing better. God has been so gracious to me! He has kept me from a lot of pain and I feel like I am healing so fast! Thanks to you all who are praying for me. It is a huge blessing!

Love,
Jen

Mom goes to the hospital.

Jenna had an unexpected trip to the hospital this weekend as an abdominal pain that started around 1:00am Saturday morning and that lasted throughout the day turned out to be an appendicitis that required surgery to remove her appendix. By God's grace, everything went smoothly with only a one night stay before being able to come home. We are praising Him for his work in the lives of the doctors and nurses (whether they know it or not) that made the whole experience almost enjoyable. Needless to say, this was an opportunity for the girl's (and Keaton) and I to talk, and pray, about God's sovereignty, having trusting hearts and for our thankfulness for mom.