And the "Mother of the Year" Award goes to...

Let me start by saying both boys are just fine.

It's a long story, but in a matter of five minutes, Sean managed to crack his head (of which he likes to tell everyone that a piece of his head fell out) and Nathan smashed his nose creating a fun, bloody mess. Yeah, I'm just that good. *Sigh*

Random cuteness

Since I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, I'll share a few pictures of what we've been up to!

Silly Sean (this is what happens when Mommy isn't home in the evening!) :)



Nathan "posing" in his new room at school (the two-year old room)



Being this cute is hard work. It makes Nathan so sleepy he can't even make it all the way onto his cot at school! :)



A little outdoor fun (although we had a couple of nice days, it did snow here again this week... gotta love Illinois weather!)








Last week was Spring Break in Champaign, so our church had lots of activities planned for the kids while out of school. Aunt Elaine was nice enough to take Sean on Friday to Bloomington to Chuck E Cheese! Don't let his shy face fool you, he loved every minute of it and hasn't stopped talking about it since! Literally.

Jeff and Allie

Last Saturday, we attended my dear friend Allie's wedding. Allie is a sorority sister of mine of whom I just adore! Some of you may not have met her, but she was a "there in spirit" bridesmaid at our wedding. Allie was seven months pregnant (with triplets!) at our wedding, and was on bed rest. So although she was not there in person, she was there in spirit! :)

Allie has been through a lot in the last six years, and I can honestly say she is one of the strongest women I know. Saturday, she married the love of her life (and high school sweetheart), Jeff in a small ceremony that we were lucky enough to be a part of. Being the ding-dong that I am, I have no pictures of Jeff and Allie or of me and Allie, so you'll have to take my word for it that she was G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!

Here are a few pictures from the reception

One of those days...

Just to warn you, this is a different kind of post. :)

Do you ever have one of those days? No, not that kind, the kind where everything just seems right in the world? Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of stuff going on in my life (don't we all?), but a couple of days ago, I really, really had a good day. The weather was beautiful, my husband made me laugh and I just relished in the time with my children. I LOVE being a Mom!

I always love my children and thank God every day for the blessing he has given me in the form of two sweet, amazing boys. But Tuesday, I literally stepped back for a minute and watched my boys play, giggle and "be silly with me" (as Sean likes to call it). At that very moment, I fell in love with my life.

I am working to grow in my relationship with God and become the woman he wants me to be. But, it's hard. Really, really hard. Sin creeps up, negative thoughts and words come out of my mouth, and I wonder, why would God love me? Then I turn to scripture (something I haven't done much of in the past) and find that God has always loved me, even when I don't deserve it. Isn't that amazing? He loves me. ME.

Psalm 36:5-7
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

Lamentations 3:22–25
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. ”

The Lord your God is with you.
He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love He will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

I don't deserve his love but I am SO grateful to have it. When I have days like this past Tuesday, it helps me remember how much God does love me and how much he has blessed my perfect little family. I may not deserve it, but I am going to continue working to make my life a life for Christ. Thank you Lord for the blessings you have given me and for reminding me on days like this, how great our God you truly are.

Psalm 52:8b “I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.”

Missouri Valley Conference - 2011

The first weekend in March, Jamie and I headed down to St. Louis to attend the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament with our dear friend Ryan and Jodi. You may remember that we went with them last year, and just love the memories we made. Needless to say, we were so pumped to head down that way again for some time with friends, great food, lots of drinks... and of course... basketball! Our beloved SIU was oh so lucky (please note the sarcasm) to get the Thursday night game again this year. I'm confident I will see them play in a Friday game at least once before I die! LOL! Our seats were awesome, but we were sad that our dear old friend, "Weird Old Lady" and her "I live in my Mom's basement" son were nowhere to be seen. Regardless, the four of us had an amazing time and even got to catch up with a few other friends from our SIU days. SIU did win their first game, but heartbreakingly lost their second game to Missouri State in the last 1.6 seconds. It was such a disappointment. Even the MSU fans thought we should have won. Sigh... there's always next year!

The view from our seats



An impressive turnout of Shockers fans



The Saluki mascot (now with no teeth... apparently the teeth were scaring little kids. Seriously??? Still kind of freaky looking to me.)




The fab four






And no trip to St. Louis would be complete without a trip to Pappy's Smokehouse! We were introduced to this heaven on earth place thanks to the T.V. show Man vs. Food. It was WELL worth the 45 minute wait. Feast your eyes on this feast... go ahead, be jealous! The best part... Ryan's Rhythm and Blues themed love song to his ribs. Priceless!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the two cutest leprechauns ever! I couldn't get one of them together (Nathan was NOT having it), but they still are cute as can be! Please excuse Nathan's food face... he was also NOT having me trying to clean him up! ;-)