Our Family this Easter

We spent another wonderful Easter weekend in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida with family (28 of us this year). The weather was beautiful so were able to spend a lot of time on the beach. There was also the annual egg hunt, cousins trip to Target and of course lots and lots of yummy food.

Happy Easter!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... 1 Peter 1:3

More Soccer

Maddie has been doing a fabulous job at soccer these past two weeks so I wanted to post some pics of her now that she is getting in the groove :).

One of my favorite parts of the hour is when the coach gathers all of the kids in a circle and takes turns asking them their name and their favorite movie/food/etc. I always love to hear what Maddie is going to say since she comes up with her answers without any prompting. Some of her favorites so far have been:

Move: Christmas movie
Food: Carrots
Breakfast food: Carrots
Animal: Elephant

Now onto the pictures:






On your mark, get set...



Helping out the coach:



Hanging with big sis afterward:

BedTime

Through the ages and stages of the girls there have been some ups and downs when it comes to bedtime of course, but tonight as I put them to bed I couldn't help but smile (and then sneak in to take pictures of their sweetness).

Anna has always been the one to not want to go to bed. I can remember at a few months old rocking her until she fell asleep only to creep across the carpet, gently lay her into her crib where she would instantly wake and the process would begin again. As she got a little older she was that child that was left in her room to cry herself to sleep with her mom sitting in the hallway outside her door crying too in hopes that she would "learn" how to go sleep. As Anna has gotten older, rather than tears, it's endless questions, lots of tossing and turning and many nights that I am going to bed late and find her still awake. She just lays in bed and thinks and some nights I like to lay there with her and just listen. We have talked about our days, planned birthday parties that are months away (Anna and I are two peas in a pod) and often that is when she tells me things that have scared her or hurt her feelings that day. It is precious time.

One great addition to Anna's bedtime has been God's Little Princess Devotional Bible by Sheila Walsh. It gives us a structured nightly reading of scripture with a few questions on Anna's level. I love the consistency it has brought to us reading the bible with her at night.

Maddie had sleep issues of her own in the beginning BUT she eventually became one of those kids that you could lay down in the crib and she would fall asleep on her own (after having Anna and reading all those sleep books, I never would have thought they worked until Maddie came along!). As she got older and moved into a big girl bed she would happily get in her bed with a puzzle and work it until she was tired and lay down to sleep. Even now she doesn't want me to lay down with her and cuddle but would rather be left with her bible to look at. It is sweet to walk into her room at night and see her asleep with her bible open beside her, I pray it would always be so.

Sweet dream!