The rainbow....and the pot of gold:)

My kiddos gathered home yesterday for a family picture. I LOVE these crazy kind of days! The picture is likely to be my Christmas picture:) That said, I may not share it just yet ....have a few months to go! But these, the "skittle" pictures I will share. Caleb said we all looked like skittles, making fun of the wild colors we chose for this years picture. I do know it's different:) Here are some of my "like colors", not everyone is here...some of my non-picture kiddos left:








The boys:)


The girls (minus Rosie who was mad and plus Nina who would have felt left out if we left her out!)>>>>




I had joked about it being a skittle's kind of day, and it was! At the end of that skittles rainbow? A pot of gold...aka...the good stuff! The good stuff was in the form of ..........


Sarah and Paden are engaged!!


This picture just makes me laugh! Sarah had just walked in and was showing off her ring when I said, "let me get a picture of you and Chelsea". Sarah felt her ring needed to be in the picture more than Chelsea's face...lol:)

What an incredibly terrible week ...

It has been an incredible terrible week for the South! The storms have left so so much loss!! My children have been out of school since Tuesday. It really has been nice. It seems that each night we were up all night with sirens and moving to safe places and each day sunshine. Chelsea and Bo were here all week, a rare thing and so very nice!! I so enjoy them:) We have worshipped together, Bo giving the devo on Wednesday(and doing a great job!!). We have watched ballgames together (Seth and Ryan had their first games last night). We have played cards together...Scott and I have played Chelsea and Bo in Spades every night...so much fun! I suppose in the midst of the middle of the night sirens and all the passing in the hall at 2am and 4am and 6am we have just had the kind of "fun" a mother has when her chicks are all here!

Around us, just a couple of short hours away there has been such incredibly horrible devastation by tornado's, heralded the worst of the century. It is hard to reconcile such joy and such sadness all at once. So much of life as a Christian is spent reconciling those two emotions....in the midst of this world we actually do find joy. In the midst of the loss I have seem so many serving, taking the sad but huge opportunity to love and help others.

Dan the Man:)

Dan had his Spring Concert tonight at the High School. His 6th grade band were so very good! Loved getting to hear the fruits of all their labor!! Due to the impending bad weather all other games were canceled and it was one of the few times "everyone" got to go and watch:)



Big sisters and Bo watching the Concert....


After the Concert Chelsea and Bo took Dan to DQ for a treat!


When Dan arrived home he gave us a mini concert....




What a great night!!!

Making me smile...

This wonderful silly guy? He and Sarah could have been twins. They look so much alike and have such similar personalities. The certainly share silly expressions!! As you can see...Caleb cutting up while I was taking pictures:








Of course John and Caleb could be X-Box loving twins....serious gaming going on at my house:)




It's really fun seeing this around the house. I love listening to Caleb and his Uke:)


I also love seeing this!! Two of my biggies that are so much fun! Well, I have to go ahead and say that I think most ALL of my biggies are so much fun...lol...just depends on who I have at the moment!


And with my biggies there's lots of fun and fun things to do! This is of Caleb and Preston who were headed to play with Preston's band.....

I'm so impressed!

I love people who are creative. They just make this world so much brighter. Sarah had been making headband for her little girls at pre-school. She would tell you "anyone can do it" but if you are not creative (haha...like me)? I can assure you that not everyone can! Sarah is is crafty and smart and very picky:) I think she doing a great job!!

Easter Sunday

Easter has never been a big "basket" holiday for us. We celebrate the life and death of Jesus Christ every single Sunday, every single day. It is not (in my opinion) something we just think about on Easter Sunday, it should be in out thoughts Every Sunday, Every Day....always! That said, we do fix baskets although our baskets are not a huge deal. In Seth's words, "I know dad is the bunny thing". lol:) True. Dad is the bunny thing who shares his blessings with his children. This year, as we have several times in the past, the baskets held a Bible and a bunny. We have several kids who have Bibles they love and in those cases we got devotional books. I am happy to say my kids were all thankful. I have to note that Chelsea stood in a huge bookstore in Georgia and helped me "shop by phone". She then gave me all the neat Bibles and books when we met to pick up Caleb.

These are the kids after worship service Sunday morning:

Seth, age 9:




Victoria, age 11. I imagine this is the last year she will wear a "little girl" dress. I loved the head band with the bunny:)



Ryan, age 12:


Daniel, age 12. Daniel is one day older than Ryan:


Lita, age 13:


Isabella, age 13:


Michael, age 13. Michael and Bella are twins and Lita is just 3 weeks younger:


Tasha, age 14:


Samuel, age 14:


Rosie, age 14 (15 in May):


Mercedez, age 15:


Carlton, age 16:


John, age 18:


Jacob, age 19:


Caleb, age 20:


Goodness at the personalities and life in these kids! God made them each and every one unique!!

I was really glad to have Doug and Nolan head home for lunch, after going to church in Henderson. They led the egg hunt hiding 120 eggs in the front yard:)


These guys were the hiders ....(btw..I have NO IDEA what John was doing!! lol)


And these were the hunters......












I love special days, I love having my kids all together, I love being with my family:)