Getting Ready for Easter!

We had an early Easter egg hunt with the cousins since some of them will be away on Easter Sunday. It was a cold afternoon so we quickly fit the egg hunt in before dinner. Lydia is all ready to go!

 The whole crew before being released.

A friend of mine recommended these Resurrection Eggs (by Family Life) for helping teach the Easter story to children. The little book tells the awesome truth of Easter in a simple, Biblical way and after each page, your child gets to open an egg containing a little symbol from that page. It's really great and holds the attention of our 3 year old extremely well- she wanted to read the entire story 3 times in a row! She's been asking to read it as her bedtime story every night since we purchased them! I highly recommend this for Moms out there.

35 weeks!

So, I must apologize at my horrible ability to post preggo pics this time around. I've been meaning to take a picture each week on Sunday before heading out for church. But in the rush of a busy morning getting everyone ready I have forgotten again, and again, and again. So I got smart and put a post-it on the counter reminding me to do it and alas...here it is! I figure I may be forgetful in the future so I posted 2. :-)  I am feeling pretty good overall. This baby is a mover so it's a lot of fun to feel the little guy or gal making his/her presence known!

5 weeks to go for Baby #3!!!

Misc. March Pic

What a fun month. Here are some random shots from the month of March. Below the girls are enjoying a play date with their friend, Daena. As you can see, Lyddi got really into her baker outfit.

 Ready for church!

 Decorating some Easter eggs.

 What's so funny?!

 Brushing teeth is the best!

 Mamma and Care all ready for church!

 One morning I had to drop the girls off at church so I could go to a doctor visit. Zach watched them in the nursery. Here they are enjoying a snack in the little house.

 One morning we woke up to a light rain. Lydia was so pumped to get outside with her raincoat and umbrella. The simple things.

Bath time giggles!

 Some friends of ours, Steve and Rachel Swets, were in town for a wedding so they came to our church and then to our house for lunch. They live in British Columbia so visits are far and few between. It was great to visit, even for a few hours.

 Cool rider!

 Sweetie pie!

Here we are at a small group dinner. Dan (the man holding Lyddi) took her downstairs to see his drum set. Pretty cool stuff!

Yipee for Turning Three!!!

Our sweet Lyddi turned 3 this month. Wow, it really is flying by. She had a great birthday week celebrating with family and friends. I took about a hundred pictures during the week but due to technical issues with both my phone and camera (Grrrrr), I lost all but a few of them. So here is what I have of the week. Some of the highlights were going to an open gym with some cousins, a trip to the Children's Museum, a birthday breakfast, a Teddy Bear cake made by Daddy and a birthday lunch with cousins.

Happy Birthday Lyddi Love! We adore and delight in you! We are so grateful to God for each day we get to enjoy with you. We pray for many more happy and healthy birthday celebrations!!!

Yee-Haw!

We had a winter church picnic with a Western theme. We had fun dressing the part. :-)

 These two have totally inherited their Dad's "picture-eye-closing" ability.

February!

 February was a busy month in our home. Zach was super sweet and got me a lovely bouquet of flowers and some of my favorite candy to celebrate Valentines day.

 This past month Zach underwent surgery to donate a kidney to a friend of ours, Nick, from church. Nick has been on dialysis since October and when Zach found out he felt the nudge to see if he was a match. So he went through a lot of medical testing to find out if he was a match for Nick. We found out in January that he was a match and after a great deal of prayer and thought, we decided to do it. We praise God that both surgeries went beautifully and both Zach and Nick are recovering remarkable well. Below Zach is all ready for surgery.

 Here are Nick and Zach a day after the surgery with their donor and receiver kidney pillows. It was a bit daunting to take this all on with two young children and a third on the way (life is very full these days), but this experience has shown God's provision and grace so faithfully. It has been so awesome to see and feel the body of Christ in action through prayer, cards, meals, childcare, snow plow service...etc. We feel so grateful to have experienced so much evidence of God's hand at work through this experience. We give Him the glory and the praise for this success! He is so good!!

A couple girlfriends of mine surprised me by whisking me away one afternoon (with Zach in cahoots) for a pedicure and dinner! It was such a fun surprise and such a fun night out! This happened before the surgery.

 Unfortunately, while Zach was in the hospital, Lydia came down with a flu bug. We had to get the throw-up bucket, which she wasn't too pumped about. It was a LONG night of washing, cleaning, caring and loving this sweetie. (I did 7 or 8 loads of laundry that night- I lost count in my sleep deprived state.)

 But after a day she was feeling much better and seemed to have forgotten the purpose of the throw-up bucket.

 Lyddi and Carrie having fun in the pack-n-play together.

 Lydia, Carrie and a couple of their cousins felt very tired one afternoon so they took a nap...on the coffee table. :-)

 This picture is a little fuzzy, but too cute not to post.

 Lydia in front of the tower she built.

That's all of February!

Phone Pics!

I downloaded our phone pictures onto our computer and found some fun pictures from the last couple months I thought would be fun to share! Below, Miss Ruth, is playing stickers with the girls.

 This is Carrie's "I just woke up....I need a minute" face. :-)

 Here we are at a Civic play with our friends, Steve and Julie. We got season tickets this year and it's been a lot of fun to have a nice dinner and show to look forward to every couple months.

 Here we are ready for church. Just doing a little last minute teeth brush'n.

 Laundry basket rides with our good friends the Schoutens! As you can see, the girls LOVED it!

 This was a fun night. The Olson siblings went out for a nice dinner this year for Christmas, in lieu of getting each other presents. It was a gift!

 Here Zach is bowling with the girls at a youth group event.

 Me and a great friend, Heidi, after pedicures together!

 We have been going to the Children's Museum pretty regularly the last couple months. Care has really enjoyed this new exhibit that is a huge light bright.

The girls and their friends having a snack after some super fun play.

 The Children's Museum always tuckers us out.

 Here I am with some long time high school friends for our Christmas get together.

 The girls entertaining the Bussis boys after a morning playdate playing in our basement.

Lately Lydia has taken an interest in exercising with Mamma. 

 Care enjoying her Cheerios... as you can see we've learned to just take off her shirt ahead of time. This in no match for even a bib. :-)

There you have it- some fun phone pics. Now on to February!