mother's day

i had a lovely mother's day!

i absolutely adore all the homemade cards and gifts the kids make me at school and church every mother's day. avery made me the beautiful painted vase with crepe paper flowers.

dan and the girls spoiled me all day long with breakfast in bed, a long nap and a delicious dinner! dan grilled t-bone steaks and served them with smashed red potatoes with butter and fresh parsley and a green salad with homemade vinaigrette (sadly, i forgot to take a photo). he is quite the chef! i didn't have to lift a finger. the girls made some yummy double chocolate brownies for dessert. i have the best husband and kids!

evan

i love playing dinos with my little buddy

oh boy!

baby BOY due in september!! evan is soooo happy he is getting a brother!

this pregnancy was a huge shock and surprise. we were done after number five, but someone obviously had other plans for our family :)

brownie covered oreos

these are so yummy and really simple to make! you just can't go wrong with brownies and oreos. Elayna made some of these for her church girls camp fundraiser. recipe found here.

*we greased and floured the muffin pans and they came out no problem. we used melted white chocolate for the drizzle.

little bunny

Lorelei especially enjoyed easter this year! her favorite thing was opening the tiny plastic eggs and discovering the candies inside

we had a great easter weekend filled with egg hunts, sno-cones, trips to the park, and lots of family. sadly, i never got around to taking a photo of all the kids and their cousins in their easter outfits after church :( they all looked so beautiful and handsome!

Liz

this is my brother philip's good friend Liz, who is leaving in a few days to serve a mission in Brazil for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. we had a really quick 10 minute photo session. here's just a few...

she will be an awesome missionary!

hodges gardens state park

during spring break we spent a few days at hodges state park in louisiana. we stayed in double cabins with my sister and her family. even though it rained almost the entire time we were there, we still had a great time!

the cabins were up on a hill with a balcony overlooking the lake.

the gardens were gorgeous! i can only imagine how much more beautiful they will be in another month when more of the flowers and trees are blooming.

this is such a beautiful state park! we really hope to go back again sometime.

recent read

i read this book a long long time ago but wanted to reread it before seeing the new movie. still can't believe we missed seeing it on the big screen, but looking forward to watching it on dvd next week.

seven

my sweet girl turned seven years old over the weekend!

we celebrated with a small family party. avery wanted to go to cici's pizza for dinner. then we had cake and ice cream at home. we love our sweet avery! she is such a joy to have in our family.

birthday boy

evan turned four years old on saturday. i can hardly believe my baby boy is already four!

doing his most fearsome dino roar. he LOVES dinosaurs!

love this little guy so much!

recent read

this was an excellent book, and very well written. it is about the migration of black Americans from the south to the north and west from the years 1915-1970. the book chronicles the lives of three individuals who migrated from the south to flee oppression. i highly recommend it.

happy valentine's day

found this free printable on pinterest. so cute and simple. the girls passed these out to their classmates.

and of course valentine's day isn't complete without homemade heart sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles :)

keep the beat 5k walk

this past saturday we joined my sister and her kids for a 5k walk in downtown houston to raise awareness for CHD (congenital heart defects). for the few of you who don't know, my sister's baby Dahlia was born with a condition known as left ventricular non-compaction and recieved a heart transplant last year. she has had no rejection issues and is doing great! (Dahlia and her daddy were not able to join us for the walk because she was being monitored in the hospital for allergies to her new iron/high calorie supplements.) hopefully everyone will be able to join us next year!

this next photo makes me laugh because the street is so deserted. we pretty much came in last place because we had a late start and we stopped a few times for photos.

all of us at the end of the walk

all the cousins with their medals. go team Dahlia!

at the end of the walk, there was lots of fun activities for the kids. the whole event was very family oriented with lots of children participating. the older kids loved trying out the rock wall

we had a great time and are looking forward to doing it again next year!