Constance's first year

How quickly it passed...

To our precious Constance--you are such a gift. We are so grateful to God for giving you to our family. You delight us with your smiles and laughter and we love you more than words could ever express!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays volume 3

Constance Joy celebrated her first birthday on March 30.

The birthday princess.

She was gracious enough to share her party with big brother Elijah.

This is Elijah's cake. He wanted a Lego Space Police theme.



Constance had cupcakes.

It was a beautiful afternoon/evening, so we had the party outside. Dan cooked burgers on the grill and we roasted hot dogs and brats over the fire pit.

Grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and cousins joined us for a great time.

A pile of presents for the birthday girl.

Blowing out the candles

Constance had her very own cupcake to eat. She was actually quite neat about it, and ate almost the entire cupcake.

The birthday girl all worn out!

Multitude Monday ~ 4/19/2010

26. the smell of lilacs in bloom

27. after supper walks to the Frostop

28. leaves on the trees

29. tadpoles in GG's pond

30. the love and support of family

31. wishing flowers

32. Constance's wet kisses

33. kids who run out to greet me when I come home, even when I've been gone less than an hour

34. automatic dishwashers

35. clean water

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays, volume 2

Elijah turned 9 on March 26.

Elijah's goal on his birthday is to eat as many pancakes as he is years old. He started this tradition when he was six, and he was not going to back down from the challenge this year.

Nine chocolate chip pancakes

He started off great...

...and stalled with only this left.

So, he took a break to open a couple of presents.

Star Wars Legos.

Elijah is a Lego enthusiast.

After the excitement of new Legos, Elijah worked up enough appetite to finish off the last of the pancakes. Mission accomplished.

That afternoon, we went to our homeschool group and he shared cupcakes with his friends. We came home and had his favorite supper, Italian chicken. All in all, a very good day.

It's hard to see him growing up. My baby boy gets closer to being a man every day. He still snuggles on my lap and still lets me rub his fuzzy head, but in a hundred small ways he is growing up.

I am so proud of the young man he is becoming. He is bright, creative, curious and sincere. Even though I miss the cute little boy he was, I am excited to see what God has in store for him.

Happy birthday, Elijah!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays, volume 1

Mackenzie turned twelve in February.

Here she is opening a present from her siblings before enjoying her birthday breakfast: Belgian waffles. It is a tradition in our family that the birthday person gets to decide what we eat for each meal. She picked waffles for breakfast and wanted to go to the Chinese Buffet for supper.

Her birthday lunch was a the week before, when she and I had a shopping day, just the two of us, and ate lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Strawberry lemonade. Onion straws. Sweet potato fries. Yum.

After breakfast, she came out dressed in her formal and tiara, ready to be the birthday princess.

The Sunday after her birthday, we celebrated with family and friends.

Mackenzie, Aunt Penny and Aunt Mandy all share birthdays the same week.

Just before her birthday, Mackenzie told me she wished she was turning 13 instead of 12. I, on the other hand, think she is growing up entirely too fast.

Mackenzie is the firecracker in our family. She brings fun and excitement to whatever we do. Whenever there is noise in our house, Mackenzie can usually be found in the middle of it. She is the favorite playmate of her younger sisters. Even Elijah, whom she often squabbles with, was heard to say recently on a Saturday that he was bored because "Mackenzie's not here and there's no one for me to play with."

But at the same time, she is very gentle, thoughtful and reflective. She often leaves me sweet notes around the house saying "thank you" or "I love you." She loves to visit the nursing home. She is generous and sincerely concerned about those in need.

She has the heart of an adventurer. The fearless toddler who scared me to death has grown into a fearless young woman who is ready to try anything (and still sometimes scares me to death). Mackenzie looks at any challenge with an attitude of "I can do that" and she is almost always right.

She is passionate about the things she loves: God, her family, her friends, her horse, Lucy.

Mackenzie, I am thankful for every day of the twelve years God has blessed me with being your mom. I love you!

Multitude Monday ~ 4/06/2010

16. Easter

17. sleeping with the windows open

18. music

19. Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs

20. the feel of grass under bare feet

21. the chance to talk to Ethan yesterday

22. electricity

23. the smell of spring rain

24. the sound of frogs croaking

25. the memory foam mattress waiting for me in my bedroom

of calvary and chocolate bunnies...

Yesterday was Easter.

Easter is my favorite holiday. With each year that passes, I am more in awe and more humbled by the events of Jesus' death and resurrection.

This year I almost missed it. Not in the sense that I didn't participate, but rather that I almost didn't experience it. The week was crazy-busy, with birthday parties and meetings and memorial services, leaving no time for quiet reflection. At least, I didn't make the time.

Good Friday found me scrambling to get to Champaign and back in between a memorial service and church that night. Long story short, we borrowed a keyboard from our church to use for the memorial service, and the power cord was bad. Since the keyboard would be needed for the Good Friday service that night at our church, we had to make a trip to Champaign to get a new one. I barely got home in time to rush the kids into their dress clothes and make it to the church service. I know Kenney preached a great sermon, but honestly, I was too tired and frazzled by the events of the day to really appreciate it.

Saturday was filled with not one, but two family gatherings complete with plastic eggs and chocolate candy. I felt like I had a million things to do: fix food to take to Krabels, fix food to take to Aunt Connie's, get kids through the shower, get clothes laid out for the morning, get the kids to bed early, get the Easter baskets out and filled...

...except that as I was getting out the bags of Easter basket goodies that I had stashed in the bottom of my closet, I discovered that someone (or more likely "nobody", because that's who makes most of the messes in our house) had stepped on one of the bags and smashed two of the four chocolate bunnies to smithereens. So despite all that I had to get done, despite how early I had to get up the next morning, off to Walmart I went.

The entire time, I kept thinking to myself how incredibly ridiculous I was being. Really, what do chocolate bunnies have to do with the Resurrection? Even now, I am disgusted with how caught up in the irrelevant trappings of the holiday I was. I don't know what came over me, but by the time I got home, I was so grieved to the point of tears at how I had allowed the real reason for Easter slip past me.

Easter morning came at the not-bright-and-very-early hour of 4:00 am when my alarm rang and again came the mad rush of getting seven people dressed while they are half-awake and out the door in time for Sunrise Service. We herded our sleepy brood into a pew as the service began.

It hit me as we sang the second verse of my favorite Easter hymn:

Lives again our glorious King,

Alleluia!

Where, O death, is now thy sting?

Alleluia!

Dying once He all doth save,

Alleluia!

Where thy victory, O grave?

Alleluia!

My eyes filled with tears as I sang those words. Here is the meaning of Easter. Because Jesus lives, we have the promise of eternal life. Because Jesus overcame the grave, we need not fear death. Easter is a victory celebration!

The rest of the day was lovely. Food, family, friends, and yes, chocolate bunnies. I have nothing against chocolate bunnies, or plastic eggs, or Easter baskets. Those traditions are fun, and I love chocolate and I love gift-giving. They have their place, but not first place. First place belongs to the Savior.