One Day...

Ay biting the Peeps heads off last Easter, 2011. 

"Mommy, this is the song we sang in church!" Ayden was SO excited to hear the song "oh Glorious Day" playing from my computer speakers. I was just doing the dishes before getting ready to leave for a trip to visit family and couldn't help but smile when he said that. "You're right bubba it is the same song!" He just smiled and ran off to play like he did best. I was really happy, just thinking that he noticed, he remembered that song we sang in church. It was a really neat experience because our pastor had sung the that song for special music but had said if we knew the words to sing it with him, and we all did and I just LOVED that song. I think Ay did too. He was always a "taker inner" as I'd call them. He'd quietly sit back, taking everything in, watching & listening, and then would say what he had to say later. I love that about him. SO inquisitive but so sweet. 

Two short days after that sweet kitchen conversation, my little boy was in Heaven with Jesus. FOREVER. I have to say, I hate the word death, dying, why do they even call it that? Ayden is more alive than any of us are, than we will ever be until we get to Heaven! Jesus rose again, and because of that my sweet boy is ALIVE!

That song was one of my favorites before, but has SUCH a special place in my heart now.

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me 

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again 

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine 

As you can see..the grave is not the end! It wasn't the end for Jesus and it's NOT the end for Ayden. It's just the beginning of eternity. And on this Resurrection Day, I praise the One who makes it possible for me to leave this horrible world for the world I was made for, for Heaven. Because this world is full of emptiness no matter how much you attain. It's never enough. But what Jesus did on the cross was enough. It is enough for you, for me, for Ayden, and for everyone, but you have to accept His free gift.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:it is the gift of God: Ephesians 2:8

One day He's coming. I can't wait!!! 

Easter weekend!

We had a blast on Easter weekend! First we went to a church cookoff dealy in Old Towne, and then later that afternoon we had an egg hunt at a friend's house!

The boys were so excited!

Ayden was eating as he picked the eggs up..

Caleb was so fast at this! He even found the egg with the $5 in it!

So fun!

Mmmmmm...

Joey was the biggest kid of all! He entertained us all with the bubbles! :)

We woke up Easter morning, and I made our traditional Sunday morning blueberry muffins, and put the boys baskets together. They have their own big baskets but I forgot them at home! So Grandma picked some cute ones up for us to use, and I filled them!

Since this is Daddy's second Easter in a row away from us, we had the boys find their baskets while he was on the webcam and could see them!

It was too cute.

They loved showing their goodies to Daddy!

We then got ready and headed to church! I got my mom to take a pic of us before hand because I knew they would get messy! lol

After church was over there was a candy hunt and dinner on the grounds!

Yeah..as if mine needed more candy!

Ayden picked a bunch up, but also just watched everyone. haha

We had a wonderful Ressurection Sunday! Here are the 3 ladies together!

Love this pic!

Here comes Peter cotton-tail...

Grandma is an amazing lady, if you couldn't tell by now. She's always busy with a project or something special!

A couple of days ago, she told the boys they would

get to help her make a BUNNY cake for Easter!

So that's what they did today!

And I'm going to share just how to do it!

Super fun & easy. :)

You start off with a white cake mix, mixed together,

and poured into two 8-inch round pans,
and baked accordingly.

While waiting on the baking & the cooling, go ahead and grab

your shredded coconut and color it green with some food coloring!

Caleb was totally fascinated with this process.

(So was I, haha!)

Then, after the cake is completely cooled down, you slice each cake into 2 halves.

And cut one of those four, into 2 quarters.

Get your yummy, sugary white icing, and lather it on two of the halves!

Stack the halves on top of each other..

Now get your quartered pieces and use them to shape your head and tail.

To look like this!

Grandma made sure they stuck by using toothpicks to keep them together.

So genius! :)

Then take more icing and cover it!

And then pat more shredded coconut all over it to

resemble bunny fur!

Then you get some pink construction paper, and make ears!

And get those jellybeans ready!

All you need are 2 pink, and a black!

You also need a few other various ones for decoration..

Add the ears, and jellynbeans!

Then get your coconut grass, and throw some jellybeans over it!

And here it is, Our perfect little bunny cake!

The boys loved it, and had a great time helping Granny make it!

I had a great time watching and learning from this amazing woman

I get to call my Grandma. She is so talented, and most of all, so loving!

Thanks, Grandma! :)

Never too busy to learn! :)

We've been away for about a week & a half now,

but does that mean our pre-schooling goes out the window?

I think not.

At least 3 times a week, Caleb still does all of his math problems,

& writing..

blend ladders,
and sounding out his words!Then on other days we mix things up, like we did with this egg game.

I had all the pieces mixed up and layed out for him, and he had to count the dots and match them with the corresponding egg!It was actually a bit too easy for him, he needed more numbers like 15 and above, but he still had a great time with it!
He loves anything that's hands on..

Fun stuff!

We also used some plastic eggs for learning. I labeled the top of each egg with a capital letter, and the bottom with the lower case letter that went with it, and mixed them all up!

Then he had to find them, and match them up!

So colorful. :)

Ay loved getting into all of them, and guessing the letters.

He can recognize A, B, E, and I now!

Then we had fun saying words, and sounding them out.

Caleb loved finding the letters for his name!

We enjoyed very much having our schooltime, even amongst our busy-ness!

Easter crafts!

We've been busy going to church and softball games, doing school,and crafts,

hanging out with family, & making memories!

Here are the Easter crafts we've been working on..

I really love this first one we did.

It's the Jelly bean prayer book printable I got off

this awesome site.

Red is for the blood He gave.

Green is for the grass He made.

Yellow is for the sun so bright.

Orange is for the edge of night.

Black is for the sins we made.

(He didn't like the black too much.)

White is for the grace He gave.

Purple is for the hour of sorrow.

Pink is for a new tomorrow!

This bag of jellybeans, colorful and sweet, is a promise,

a prayer, and a loved ones treat.

We did an angel craft from his school art book..

And then we did the painted feet Easter chick project!

They even painted Pops' feet! haha

And...their legs, why not?

Here they are with them after they dried! (and after the boys were bathed) ;)

They turned out so cute, don't you think? I love little feet!