butterflies, spring break and easter...

this past week was spring break for the kids. i always look forward to this break not just because we don't have to race out the door each morning but also because i love my kids and spending time with them.

this spring break started out pretty rocky... i wasn't so sure we would make it through the week when i was having to do some major disciplining on monday morning. thankfully as the week progressed the kids settled down a bit and we all enjoyed some fun times together.

when the boys went on their men's weekend daphne enjoyed receiving a new book. let me just say that my niece, chloe introduced us to fancy nancy and we have loved her ever since. if you haven't read fancy nancy then go to your library and pick it up because it is adorable. the second book was cute but not my favorite so when fancy nancy, bonjour butterfly hit the shelves i wasn't sure what to expect. let me just say that jane o'connor has definitely done a great job with this one!! i think it is adorable and daphne agrees. back to my story... we have been enjoying bonjour butterfly for several weeks and so i thought that a visit to the botanical gardens butterfly exhibit would be fun. along with some friends we headed south and enjoyed seeing all the beautiful butterflies. henry even got a "kiss" from one. (a butterfly landed on his shoulder.) before going into the extremely warm greenhouse i did read bonjour butterfly to the kids. my camera totally fogged up in the exhibit so i didn't get as many of the great pics i had so hoped for. but here's some anyway (the one of henry's butterfly kiss is thanks to abby)... outside the exhibit we were able to take the kids over to a children's area were they were able to dig for worms. as you can see, the boys were in to this!!

other events of the week included a quick trip up to the mountains north of us. we thought it would be a great get-away but instead it was boring with a capital B! the town had nothing to do for little ones. we spent much of our time at a park on the playground. it was nice to get the fresh air but in all reality we could have gone to a park here in town and saved the $. we walked around the lake a bit the first day and then on saturday we took the kids to a city sponsored egg hunt. the kids had a good time especially staying in a "two beds". for ross and i, however, the hotel experience ranks up there with miserable!! anna decided at midnight that it was time for a family party and so for the next four hours we battled with her and the need for sleep. henry & daph never even rolled over during all the fussing. finally we celebrated easter. i love that i can say to my babies "He is risen!" and i hear "He is risen indeed!" i enjoy the time we spend in the days before easter as well as any day when we talk together about Christ's gift to us in His death and in His resurrection.

speaking of Christ's gift to us, the other evening we were driving somewhere and we can hear henry and daphne talking about Jesus. henry asks daphne if she wants Jesus to live in her heart and her response was "He already does." henry shared with her that she needed to ask Him to live in her heart and then she says "okay". he then leads his little sister in a sweet prayer asking Jesus to live in her. it was such a sweet moment to be able to hear. anna wasn't into the whole picture thing this easter. i kept reminding ross (and myself) that this picture will capture where we are in life right now. there will be many years when the kids will have the self control to sit still and look at the camera so for now...this is where we are!

i just wanted to also take a moment to share something awesome God is doing in the life of one of my sisters. my oldest sister and her husband put there beautiful home on the market just a few weeks ago. their home has become my home away from home over the years. when we go back to houston it is in their home that my crew can take off their shoes, throw real fits, get dirty while playing in the backyard, cry at all hours of the night and just curl up on the couch to watch some fraiser. God has been so gracious to provide a buyer in this wacky market in less than 3 weeks. i think it is evident that when God wants us to move He makes it happen. it makes me think of a line in a song that says, "God move or move me." may it always be so that that we see Him in the moving business!