i love easter.  i’m belated, i know.  but i still love it.  i love being reminded anew of the glory of my risen Savior, of how death could not hold him and how sin has been conquered once and for all.  i love rejoicing in my freedom in Christ.  i love being at church and singing through tears of the cost Jesus paid to bring glory to the Father and salvation to all who believe. He arose, my friends.  hallelujah, He arose! i wanted, no needed, to be at church on easter sunday.  and i wanted the kids to also be at church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.  so i braved…

phil’s mom was here to help out for two weeks- giving me a total of five weeks’ worth of help after jonah was born.  this was the most help i’ve had after any of the kids were born, and it was wonderful.  anyway, while she was here, we drove over one afternoon to spend some time with phil’s side of the family. little known fact- phil’s mom comes from a family of eight girls.  you read that right.  eight!!  to keep everyone straight, the sisters often refer to themselves as their birth order number.  so this is auntie #2 holding jonah with phil’s mom, #4, looking on. and this is…

it was open house night at mikey’s school a couple weeks ago.  we had been hoping phil would make it home in time to go with us, but it turned out that he had to stay for a late case that night.  thankfully though, phil’s mom was here and was able to come with me and the kids.  she was a lifesaver as i really don’t think i’d have made it there on my own with all four. so off we went to school on a mission to conquer open house night. i’m very glad we got to go and see all the hard work mikey has done this year. …

i’m pretty sure every girl has done it at least once in her life.  i know i did it several times.  and last week, allie did it for the first time. i had just woken up from a nap and this was the first thing i saw… don’t let the bright yellow box of crayons distract you (sorry, remember that i had just woken up.  otherwise, i might have thought to tell allie to put the crayons down before snapping her picture).  look north.  above her eyebrows. “mommy!  i cut my hair!” she proudly announced.  “do you like it?” still in a daze, i asked her where she put the…

this is kinda belated now, but still better late than never. allie-girl turned five last month.  i still can’t quite believe she’s so big now.  i mean, just yesterday she looked like this: back when she still had those delightful rolls on her arms.  i miss them. anyway, where was i?  oh yes, the business of turning five.  it’s a big deal.  but it also happened to be dangerously close to when baby jonah was due.  so phil and i decided that this year would be our no-birthday-parties year and that we’d celebrate by doing something special with each of the kids instead. and lucky allie got five special things…