Our March 2016

We've had an awesome March! We've seen glimpses of spring weather, we've been prepping for upcoming sports, packing for an April vacation, loving school, our church friends and best of all, had an amazing Easter. 

Picking up her Papa and Yaya from the airport. 

Papa suprised her at school!

Briggs pretending to be his Aunt Gaga who is due with my first nephew in May :-)

The happenings this month:

• Easter! The kids love celebrating and have been asking the sweetest questions about Jesus.
• They are so in to youtube educational videos right now. Everything from animated nursery rhymes to alphabet rock n roll. They'll dance in their pajamas all day.
• Kerigan's language still has to be translated but her love for "BB" is understood by all. She loves her big brother with all her might. Sometimes too hard...haha.
• Briggs has a make believe friend named "Joobee" It's hilarious. He has a whole life story made up about him. 
• We're braving the cold to get outdoors...practicing for soccer, finally visiting the zoo and venturing out to local parks. We missed the sunshine. 

Here is our video this month. Enjoy!

Cincinnati Spring Break

It's the kids' Spring Break week so we planned a last-minute mini vacay to Cincinnati. They have a great zoo...what more could our babies want? We would have loved a little warmer weather...but we got sunshine!

Here's a short little vid of our Cincinnati Spring Break trip:

Easter 2016

We had a beautiful Easter! Spring is in the air and more importantly, Jesus is in our hearts. The kids have been asking a lot about the real meaning of Easter. I love their little hearts and their desire to know more about Jesus. 

We celebrated by rejoicing the great day at church followed by a few Easter egg hunts. One in our neighborhood and one at Yaya and Papa's with friends and family. What a wonderful time of year! Our celebration in photos: 

He Lives! Best news ever :-)

Hello March!

Is it spring yet? March came in like a lion for our crew. Both Kerigan and Briggs started off the month with the stomach bug :( I hate when babies are sick. It didn't last too long but was enough to keep us down for the first few days of March. 

At the end of every February and beginning of March, I get the "let's move south itch". I hate coldness. I despise the winter gloom. And right when I open my mouth to tell Ryan let's do it...spring arrives. And I fall in love with Indiana all over again. From mid-March to the end of October, there's no place I'd rather be. And this year, that hasn't changed. I see 60 degree temps on the horizon. And I settle in again in my happy Hoosier state. 

So for March, here are our family goals: 

1. Play outside. Keeping it broad here. Vitamin D is good for the soul. So whether we are outside practicing for T-Ball, soccer or practicing our ABC's with sidewalk chalk, hiking, biking or swinging- I want to spend as much time outside with the kids. I want them to lead. They are getting to the age where free play is very important. Let's discover. Let's use our imaginations. I love to see how their little minds work especially when they can just be kids. 

2. Spring clean. Man we need this. Right before winter settled in, we were getting to the point where we were doing some pretty cool things with our garage and outdoors. Then cold, dirt and salt hit us. Hopefully Ryan and I can set some time aside to finish our outdoor projects so we can enjoy it all summer. Pics to follow!

3. Family adventure. Its so easy to fall into routine. After a full week of work and chores and errands its easy to just put the kids to bed early on a Friday night and do nothing. And while I agree our bodies and minds need that sometimes, I want to take time at least once this month where we go on an adventure. Someplace local. Someplace inexpensive. But let's discover something new! 

I hope y'all can take time with your families this month to enjoy the new signs of spring and most importantly rejoice in the spirit of Easter! With Easter falling in March this year, we are already talking a lot about the true meaning and making sure the kids know how much Jesus loves them. 

Have a great month!

Our February 2016

February brought us more cold weather but lots of love this Valentines month! Both kids enjoyed Valentines Day parties at school. And they both worked extra hard on their gifts for mommy and daddy. We enjoy our little routine. Mondays and Wednesdays are school days. Tuesdays we go to Bible Class and Thursdays are days spent with their babysitter/best friends. We've had a few sneaks of warm(ish) weather, so on those days we definitely take advantage. 

My sweet engineer. He's always building forts, zoos, buildings, organizing his vehicles or mastering a new puzzle. (He does not get any of these skills from me.)

Ryan and I enjoying a rare night out to support dear friends and a great cause. 

So after a month of Valentines, dancing, singing, building, exploring, snuggling and more...here are a few highlights in this month's video:

Let's hope March brings just as much fun!

Valentines 2016

Happy Valentine's! We were able to celebrate a lot of love despite Briggs testing positive for strep on Friday (boo) and keeping him separated from his sister until his antibiotics kicked in.

We kicked off Valentine's at school for their class parties.  These two already showing the love.

Briggs has been working so hard on writing his name. He did it all by himself on 20 valentines :)

He made extra valentines for family and friends. And again, insisted on writing his own name.

Saturday night, the kids had a sleepover with Yaya and Papa, so Ryan and I enjoyed a night out with our sweet friends.

Sunday morning, I had my valentines waiting for my three loves.

The kids enjoying opening their treats after church!

Kerigan was not at all phased by daddy's nap. 

Getting excited once the snow started falling! We have about 3 inches today. Briggs keeps requesting to build a snow mouse :)

Working on some Valentines crafting.

Finished product <3

Then Kerigan and I decided to send some selfie valentines to unsuspecting family.

That wraps up our Valentines weekend! Today the kids are off school, thank goodness. They are still recovering from the sickies. So we are going to have some extra snuggles today. 

Have a great week! 

xoxo

Hello February!

Happy February! My goal posts have been MIA lately. You know, Christmas, then birthdays then...life. But its my goal to start them back up again this month :) I'm so happy February is here. It's the last cold month and a time where we can do all the heart crafts we want without judgment. 

So let's start fresh on the goal list:

1. Make Valentines with the kids: And when I say, kids I mean more Briggs. Kerigan doesn't have a lot of patience with me+crafts yet. She usually ends up painting her arms and face with anything we try. But Briggs loves crafts! So we will come up with something fun and easy he can do.

2. Get back to a morning routine: I've had a serious case of the winter blues. I can't seem to get out of bed in the morning. I hate cold. I have a serious aversion to it. Even inside my house- I can't stand it. But its effecting my life. I haven't been getting up early enough to do my Bible study...which leaves me grumpy and spiritually hungry all day. So I end up rushing on it which is not the purpose. Get over my fear of cold. Get up early. Drink my coffee. Do my Bible study. Get to work. Morning routines=the best version of me.

3. Finish coffee bar: Speaking of coffee, we have a desk in our kitchen that we've used as a coffee bar for over a year. It's my little space of happy. I have some pinteresty plans for it. Stay tuned.

4. Give another couple a date night: I'm the guiltiest of the guilties<--not a real word?  But we don't date our spouses enough. So I want to help another couple by watching their little(s) so they can have a date night. I'm thinking...slumber party. Briggs will provide the popcorn. 

5. Family service project: Our church showed a promo video about mission trips. One of the women interviewed in the video had two little girls. She mentioned that she went to Jamaica despite having two small toddlers at home because she wants her girls to witness her serving others besides just them. That struck me, y'all. I do serve a lot. I give all my sweat and tears. But 99.999999% of my service is for my kids. I never realized it. We should serve our families but I'm realizing how much more important it is for our kids to witness us serving others too. So this month, we plan on doing a family service project together.

Yay for February! Happy Love Month!