Mark's 30th birthday is coming up this weekend, its on Father's Day actually, and unfortunately we have a super busy weekend with Reaghan's dance recital and rehearsal, waiting for Erin's baby (her due date is tomorrow!) and celebrating Fathers Day! Since it didn't seem doable to do a big party for him on his actual birthday I decided to do something fun to surprise him this past weekend.

I've been asking him for months if there was anything special he wanted to do for his milestone birthday and we tossed around a few ideas but couldn't settle on anything. He said he didn't want a big party. {Mark is is definitely more introverted and doesn't enjoy being the center of attention.} I was struggling because I wanted to do something special so I spent so many nights brain storming for ideas and that's when I came across a brilliant idea from The Dating Diva's website!

A DIY Amazing Race!

Mark and I Loooooooove the Amazing Race. If we could pick any reality show to be on that would be it. We amuse ourselves watching the show and laughing about which one of us would be better at the challenges or if there are any that we know we'd totally fail at. Anyways, when I saw the idea for a DIY Amazing Race date night I knew it would be perfect to adapt to a party AND I knew I wanted it to be a surprise.

Last week was our annual beach week with Mark's family in the OBX. We usually "rent" a condo that my mother in law's boss owns and gives to her for free once a year but this year it was booked before he could set aside the week for her. We were bummed at first {because a free house on the beach is awesome!} but it was a blessing in disguise. Last year we started talking about eventually needing to rent a bigger house since the girls were getting bigger and this forced us to make the change this year! We were able to rent a beautiful house on the beach for a decent price since the week before Memorial Day is still "off season" and it was worth paying the money! The girls had their own rooms, there was a pool and a hot tub, and direct access to the beach.

We had a fun week but it started off a little rocky. Lilly ran a temperature of 105.3 that landed us in the ER because she wasn't responding to me very well. Thankfully after 3 hours in the hospital they determined it was just a virus and to alternate Motrin and Tylenol. She missed out on the first 2 beach days as Mark and I took turns staying in with her but she lived it up the rest of the week! Thankfully none of the other girls caught what she had!

It was my great honor to throw my big sister Erin a baby shower for her first and long awaited babe! She had been dreaming about a soft, woodland baby shower so that is what her best friend Amber and I teamed up to give her a couple of weekends ago.

Amber had relatives that live in a gated community and so had a access to a beautiful clubhouse that they were happy to let us use. I was grateful to be able to host it in a larger space because we planned to invite several family and friends that have prayed for Erin along her infertility journey... not to mention it took so much pressure off that I would've felt trying to make my house perfect and pretty for a large party. ; )

I'm in my 4th year of motherhood, celebrating my 4th Mothers Day, and I feel so blessed. I am so grateful for my 2 healthy girls. But do you know what I become increasingly more grateful for with each new phase of motherhood that I encounter? My mom.

• She can say 15 words - Mama, Dada, Sissy, Lilly, Piper, PopPop, NinNin {Aunt Erin}, Hi, Bye, Eat Eat, Ni-Ni {night night}, Wa-Wa {water}, More, Oh Oh {uh-oh}, Wow, 
• She loves to run around the couch with sissy and spin in the living room until she falls over.
• She loves sissy's favorite baby doll. {Reaghan is sweet enough to share most of the time!} She feeds her, puts her in the crib, pushes her in a stroller
• One of her favorite toys is the play car she got for Christmas. Its one of the few toys that occupy her attention for more than 5 minutes.
• I'm surprised she isn't more of a chunker because she LOVES food. Almost any kind. Her favorites include pasta, cheese, yogurt, grapes, and gold fish! The few things she's not huge on are banana's, sandwich bread, and deli meat.
• She's curious, adventurous and pretty fearless. She climbs on the outer rails of the stairs, thinks gravity doesn't apply to her and that she can walk right off the couch or bed, tries to climb out of her crib and pack n play. {Reaghan never even attempted!} Loves to climb in and out of Reaghan's little chairs. She will walk away from us without a second thought in a store or at a park. {I appreciate her bravery, but this is a serious offense! We are teaching her that this is not okay.}
• She is feisty and loud. Screams, yells, screeches when she's mad and also randomly when we are in the car or if people are having a conversation that she thinks she should be a part of.
• She is a social butterfly and loves to smile at friends and strangers alike. She is constantly making friends in all the stores waving and saying hi to anyone who makes eye contact with her. 
• Her smile and laugh are contagious and her teeth are spaced far apart giving her to the goofiest, sweetest grin.
• She is slowly losing interest in nursing. It used to be the thing she LIVED for, especially first thing in the morning, but just in the last week or so she hasn't been as needy.
• She takes the best 3 hour naps and sleeps 12 hours every night. She is a breeze to put to sleep now. A little nursing, a little prayer and then she sits up and points to her crib wanting to be put to sleep. {tonight was the first night that she actually didn't finish nursing... I'm just going to go cry now.}
• She LOVES her pacifier. 
• She's sporty. She can put a ball on a tee and wack it off with a baseball bat. Her form just needs a little work. *wink* She likes when daddy helps her put the basketball in the hoop. 
• She gives the BEST hugs around the neck and the sweetest open mouth kisses and makes a cute "maaa" sound when blowing kisses. 

We had such a busy Easter season leading up to the holiday since we were involved in our church's ALIVE drama that I was a little worried the day of was going to be hectic as well. The play we were in had a performance Friday evening and 2 on Saturday, so we were at church all day Saturday which didn't leave me with a whole lot of time to prepare the things we were supposed to bring to our family get together's, prepare our church clothes, and stuff the girls Easter baskets. Not to mention try to keep our house somewhat in order from all of our running around.

Mark and I were up late Saturday night after we got home getting everything together. I did indulge in some late night brownie batter spoon licking to help keep me energized. : ) I planned to get up early the next morning too so I could shower and get myself ready for church before we did breakfast and Easter baskets. Usually Sunday morning breakfasts are quick and easy, but on special occasions I like to make time to eat a fun, memorable breakfast. (These came out of a can, so memorable can still be easy!)



Anyways, I snoozed my alarm clock and woke up an hour later than planned! Ugh! I'm really thankful God got a hold me of me in the shower in the middle of my grogginess, and changed my pouting about the morning being off to a bad start to remembering the importance of the day. A less than stellar house, or breakfast, or even time to do my hair just right {cause you know, Easter pictures!} was absolutely NOT what we were celebrating today. Thank you Jesus for that grace that kicked me in the pants!  I let go of some things, prepared my heart to worship a RISEN king and enjoyed my little family. We even had time to do a surprise Easter Egg hunt that one of our neighbors left in our yard the night before for the girls!



I've said it before and I'll say it every year, Easter Sunday at church is my favorite. The excited celebration is something I wish I could carry every week of the year. We celebrated at church with family, spent lunch and the early afternoon at my parents house and then went to Mark's parents that evening. We colored eggs, did an Easter egg hunt for the girls {and one for the adults with a few $20 bills hidden around! Thanks mom and dad!} and shared delicious food.


That night when we got home we finished our Holy Week readings and calendar with Reaghan. I'm so glad we did this with her this year. She retained so much information about the weeks events and even still will hear songs on the radio like "Come to the Table" and will tell me... "Mom! this is the song about Jesus when he washed his disciples feet and said 'this is my body' and 'this is my blood!'" I'm always amazed at how much she actually remembers! It's motivation for me to keep feeding her growing mind and spirit and conviction to keep me praying for the wisdom and grace to show my girls their need for a Savior and their mom's need for Him too. The weight of that feels heavy sometimes, I'm so afraid I'll mess it up! But that's kind of the thing isn't it? It's not all on me and His strength is made perfect in my weaknesses thanks to the cross! Thanks to the resurrection! Happy Easter!

Happy Palm Sunday! We are having a lot of fun this Easter season so far! Our church is putting on an Easter drama portraying the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus and we are participating as a family. Mark is playing the drums for the live band and the girls and I are participating in the crowd scenes.

In the recent months God has pressed upon my heart to begin preparing for conversations about salvation with Reaghan. She is only 3 and I know her understanding of sin and salvation are limited, but even so, I've been looking for resources and tips on explaining salvation to her. I am so glad that God began preparing me before I knew why! He knew what was coming in Reaghan's heart because she has expressed a lot of questions and thoughts the last several weeks since we've been practicing for the play... "Why is Jesus on the cross?" "Why are they hurting him?" "That makes me sad." "I wish he was okay." "How will Jesus come out of the tomb if the rock is there?"  These have lead to sweet discussions introducing my girl to the concept of Salvation through Jesus' death and resurrection.

To keep her thoughts turned towards Jesus this week we decided to add something interactive during our nightly bible reading. We usually read out of the Jesus Storybook bible during our morning "school" routine and another children's bible in the evenings, but I found a Holy Week reading schedule using the Jesus Storybook Bible from Erin over at Home with the Boys so we are going to use that for our nightly family bible readings this week. We made a Holy Week calendar to go with it so after each reading Reaghan can glue paper cut outs or draw a picture that corresponds with the event in the story. I'm totally being lazy right now and just snapped a picture of it while sitting on the couch writing this post, but here it as after our first reading tonight! (I found the original inspiration here from pinterest... this blogger is longer blogging but her site is still up for reference.)


Reaghan loved it and is anticipating how we will fill each square. I love that when I showed her the biggest square for Easter and asked her if she remembered what happened on that day she answered, "That's when Jesus comes alive again!" We are going to keep it on our fireplace this week so it is front and center!

I have a lot of Easter Printables saved on my Pinterest Board for Reaghan to color and complete this week during our school hour to help build her anticipation for Easter. I love using Pinterest as a resource for these types of things! I really want to cultivate a spirit of excitement for Easter in our home that is similar to that at Christmas time!

How do you celebrate Holy Week? I'd love more ideas!

When Lilly woke up on her birthday mommy, daddy and big sissy all went in to her bedroom together to get her singing Happy Birthday. I'm so glad we got it on video because she was not impressed with our morning singing voices! It was sad and hilarious all at the same time. Thankfully a special treat of Mickey Mouse waffles cheered her right up.

We decided to do something a little different than we've done before and take a fun trip for Lilly's 1st birthday just the 4 of us. We haven't taken very many trips or vacations just the 4 of us, usually we are joining other family members for some sort of family fun trip, so we were really looking forward to doing something just the 4 of us and decided to go to Great Wolf Lodge for 2 days. : )

Unfortunately it didn't really turn out the way we were thinking!

The night before we were supposed to leave I went out to eat to iHop after work with some friends. When I told Mark that's where we were going he made gagging faces and told me iHop was gross and he can't bring himself to eat there. I laughed, rolled my eyes at him and still went and had a fun time. I got home late, into bed around 1 a.m. and by 2 I was back up and in the bathroom... Where I spent the rest of the night. In the morning I was feeling still feeling queasy but much better than the night before. We had planned to leave around 10 a.m. but decided to wait a little while and see if I continued to improve. At this point I was sure I was feeling bad because of something I ate the night before, especially since Mark put it in my head before even going that I could get something bad. Since I was feeling a little better we still went!




We checked into the Lodge, took the girls to the Water Park for about an hour, until it was time for dinner, and had a great time! The girls loved it.



We went and got dinner, I was actually pretty hungry by that time and even though I wasn't feeling 100% I was MUCH better than that morning. We came home and got the girls bathed and into their jammies and did the fun evening activities that Great Wolf Lodge has for the kids. They did a little craft in the craft room...


Went to a PJ story time in front of the their big fire place and then we stopped for a fun snack on the way back to our room.



We had a fun Kid's Suite with a little nook room that looks like a log cabin with bunk beds and its own TV. Reaghan thought it was awesome that she had her own "room" in our hotel room. We went to bed looking forward to a fun filled day at the Water Park the next day... but apparently I didn't just have food poisoning...

In the wee, dark hours of the morning Reaghan woke up crying about her belly hurting and sure enough she got sick. *face palm* This of course woke Lilly up. I think I was in denial about the fact that this was an actual sickness infiltrating my family so I just brought the girls back to our bed and we squeezed in a few more hours of sleep cuddled up all together (a silver lining) until Reaghan woke up sick again. At that point I knew our little trip was over so once Reaghan was settled Mark went to grab something quick for breakfast for him and I from the Lodges little cafe so we could start packing up. While he was gone Reaghan needed the bathroom again and I somehow cut the top of my foot on a carpet tack while I helped hold Reaghan's hair back at the toilet and simultaneously tried to keep Lilly from toddling in.

When Mark came back he told me that he was actually starting to feel sick too and within minutes he was needing the bathroom. You guys. It wasn't good. I knew we needed to get out of there, but how in the world were were supposed to drive an hour home with a sick toddler and the other adult that could either drive or help the toddler was sick too?! I'm not sure how we did it but I managed to get the bags out and then get my sick family out the "back door" to the van before going back in the check out. I made sure to tell the staff about the sickness so hopefully they took the proper steps to sanitize and protect themselves while cleaning the room for future guests.

Praise God that neither Mark or Reaghan actually got sick on the drive home. It was seriously an answered prayer because once we got home it was a different story. I had to try to hold back the tears of disappointment as I drove my family home. We had been looking forward to this weekend for several weeks. I couldn't wait to create some fun memories with my husband and our sweet girls for Lilly's birthday and I was so upset that it had turned in to this. I was mad that I misinterpreted my own symptoms because I so desperately didn't want to cancel our weekend.  I felt so guilty that I may have exposed so many people to our germs during our short stay at the Lodge. I just knew the next big news story was going to be about a stomach bug outbreak at Great Wolf Lodge! I felt horrible.

Thankfully Mark and Reaghan's sickness only lasted 24 hours as mine did and we were all much better by the end of the weekend. I spent several hours disinfecting every surface and bedding in our house and thankfully Lilly made it through unscathed and we spent the day following the sickness, her actual birthday, together at home and made it out of the house for a quiet family dinner.

The trip didn't produce the memories that we thought we were going to make, but it was definitely memorable! And thanks to that silly carpet tack that cut the top of my foot, we got a free night stay to go back another time. ; )