good friday, indeed!

today, we are praising God for the gift of Jesus' sacrifice for us! that friday didn't seem so good to Jesus' friends when He was hanging on the cross... but OH! it was a good day! it was the day that He took our burdens, the day He who knew no sin bore all of our sins on the cross.

one of my favorite children's praise and worship songs expresses the joy of good friday... here is the first verse, then click on the video to hear my kiddos and their friends sing the rest.

who can say, "i have made my heart pure, i am clean from my sin?"
no one's blameless in God's holy eyes...that's why the Savior came....


what a reason to rejoice! we look forward to celebrating our risen Savior this weekend! we're kicking off tomorrow with one of my favorite easter traditions.... i can't wait to make resurrection rolls in the morning with the kids!

back to the beach!

today was our inaugural beach day for 2012! a gray sky and forecasted afternoon thunderstorms did not keep us from attempting to enjoy some surf and sand... i've learned over the years that it's probably not going to rain, and if it does, it will probably be later in the day. SO off we went, and the skies were a beautiful blue as we made our way to the beach! we enjoyed a couple of hours of beautiful weather (and wind, wind, wind) when ethan said, "mom, it's really dark behind you." we all turned around, and sure enough, a storm was a-brewin'. the wind picked up, and we made it out of there as fast as we could. i would've loved to have stayed longer, but it was probably just long enough for our first day out there this year. the kids were all still happy and not over-tired, which made our loading up so much easier. :)

ethan had the most fun searching for shells in the water...


and caroline spent a good part of our beach time boogie boarding! (we may finally make a swimmer out of her this year...)


we've been blessed with some new friendships this year, and ethan has especially loved playing with isaiah. (and i think his mom is pretty fun, too.)


isaiah was all over the boogie board today, too...


the kids found a bunch of little crabs in the water, and karina caught one in a bag. i think it was digging down into the shells by the time i snapped this shot...


so then catching crabs in baggies was all the rage...


this little stinker would not look at the camera...


aaaaaand this is all she would give me...


amelia spent most of the day playing in the sand while wearing her floaties and goggles--not sure how i totally missed snapping a picture of that.

i don't know how many more times we'll make it back to the beach in the next month before miss hallie arrives... but i imagine it won't be too much longer before i see this sandy smile again...

cousin sleepover!

the girls were so excited for karina to stay the night with us earlier this week. they were all given matching pajamas at christmas, along with matching pjs for their dolls... and they've been talking about having a sleepover ever since then.

i piled the girls on the couch for a picture, and ethan got so excited. "oh! can i put on my star wars lego pajamas?!" the boy wasn't even phased by the fact that he was totally outnumbered. so he joined the pile on the couch, and they all just went straight to the silly pose...


caroline crawled in karina's sleeping bag to read a book together before bedtime... and i just couldn't resist snapping a picture of these two cousin-friends. the older they get, the more fun they have together.


and it seems like it was just yesterday that the girls were in their matching pjs for the first time. (christmas 2006: caroline- 1 mo. old, karina- 4 mos. old)


the big girls went right to sleep, which was a good thing, since amelia woke them up at 6:45 the next morning. (i was praying they'd sleep till 8!) there's always that one girl at sleepovers who wakes everybody up....

we loved having karina spend the night, and we look forward to many more cousin sleepovers in the future!

lately

baby girl update

i am 30 weeks pregnant today, and it hit me that i never did announce our baby girl's name on here!  this little kicking machine is sweet baby


hallie!

we can't wait to meet her in 10 weeks.  we are still deciding on a middle name, but at this point, i'm just glad we have a first name for her!  we were able to have another sneak peek at her this morning, and wow, does she have some cheeks!


according to the sonogram tech, hallie also has a ton of hair. apparently, it is uncommon to see a baby's hair this early on the sonogram, but she could see hallie's hair very easily at several different angles. she also pointed out that hallie was practicing breathing, and we also saw her sucking her thumb (not surprised at all by that one!). the tech also told us that i have a lot of fluid... i didn't remember this before, but after reading old pregnancy posts, my body apparently did the same thing with amelia.

and as she was squirming about, contorting her little body in all kinds of positions, something popped on the screen that my kids would've picked out immediately...

a hidden mickey!


can you see it?? it's her belly and perhaps her elbow and foot or something... not exactly sure. but i had to giggle when i saw it... and the kids cracked up at seeing the hidden mickey inside mommy's belly.

speaking of mommy's belly... here's the latest picture of me and hallie, taken yesterday.


yes i have 10 more weeks to go... or let's just say 2 months, shall we??? i decided rounding it out to "2 months" sounds a whole lot sooner. :) i must admit that i cringe when people ask me how much longer i have to go... i think they expect me to say "2 weeks", judging by my big ole' belly, so when i say "2 months"... i get all kinds of shocked expressions in response. now i should just respond by telling them it's all my amniotic fluid. :)

so as my belly has grown, my lap has disappeared. this has not discouraged amelia from trying to snuggle with me, though.... she is by far my most snuggliest child, and she never gives up a chance to sit with me. well... over the last several weeks, i've tried to explain to her that i just don't have a lap anymore! yesterday during church, she was sitting next to me and then climbed up in my lap (really, onto my knee). she tried to get comfortable, but it just wasn't happening. she looked at me and whispered, "you don't got no wap!" i think she finally understood.

something that is new this time around is pretty persistent back pain. i've experienced back pain in my previous pregnancies for sure... but with hallie, i can't sit down on any comfy chair or couch without the top left side of my back burning. if i'm standing for too long, the same spot hurts too... and i usually wake up a few times a night with the same back pain, no matter how i position myself to sleep. the other night, i woke up screaming, and i really scared brian! i don't expect to go through pregnancy without aches and pains... it just comes with the territory of a precious child growing inside you. i am thankful that i am not fighting early contractions or on bed rest because of placenta previa or something serious. while the back pain is annoying, and i would love to just get a good night's sleep, i remember the admonition in 1 thessalonians... "give thanks in all circumstances"... and OH, how much do we have to be thankful for!!

we are thankful that everything looked fine on our baby girl today. it never ceases to amaze me how intricate and detailed everything already is on this child, being knitted so fearfully and wonderfully inside me. to see her little heart beating, to see her legs kicking, and to see somersault after somersault on the screen as i feel her poke me all over... it causes me to just stop and to praise my Father in Heaven. He is so gracious and merciful to us! He showers us with loving-kindness that we do not deserve. when i consider all God has done for me and the ways He continually blesses me, my back pain just seems insignificant.

the next two months are busy ones for us, so i'm praying they fly by quickly. before we know it, hallie will be here and i'll have my "wap" back! and hopefully by then, she'll have a middle name!