Neighborhood Egg Hunt

Patsy (the one reading the story) has put on an egg hunt for the children in the neighborhood for 2 years in a row. This year she invited some friends from church too. There were about 20 children there! The yard is divided up for the big and little kids. After the hunt she read a book about the real meaning of Easter-Jesus.

All of the kids ate cupcakes and cookies. The adults got to eat the cake that I made.

Happy little Layner.

Sisters...best buds...

Layne still isn't too sure about that grass!

Mommy and the girls.

Poor little Hayden-she is just so tiny that her pants don't fit her. If there aren't any belt loops she is doomed. These pants are 18 months and she still revealed crack to everyone when she bent over. I think it's cute but Jeremy gets embarrassed about it.

Jerm thinks that Layne is going to be a daddy's girl and a tom boy when she grows up. I am sticking the two princesses!

There were eggs everywhere! After all of the kids found the 11 that they were allowed to find Patsy called them all together and said, "Ok kids, there are 108 more eggs to find-GO!"

What a fun afternoon. And the weather was perfect!

Growing Girl

Yesterday we spent a lot of time in Hayden's room because we rearranged it! It's part of my spring clean up during spring break. Fun fun! This is a growth banner that Grandma and Pop gave Hayden. We tried to get a picture with Layne standing against the wall too, but she wasn't in the mood.

I spent today getting a TON of clothes ready for a big consignment sale. I had to sort them, price them, describe them, tag them, and hang them! It took a while. When I started the process this morning I was thinking back about when the girls wore each outfit and how tiny they both used to be. At times I even wanted to just pack everything back up and store it just in case we decide to have that third child. Are we really done with all of this tiny little baby stuff!? That depends on who you ask! To be determined I suppose. But by the afternoon I was pinning and hanging like a machine-no time to reminisce!! But, I finished it all and now we just pray that the clothes sell. We sure could use the extra cash!

Leakey Family Easter

We got together with Jeremy's family today in order to celebrate Easter. Unfortunately, Hayden and Layne were the only children there. So, they (really just Hayden) had a great time finding all of the Easter eggs. Don't worry, we set aside some eggs for the two kiddos that weren't there. I asked Hayden to turn around and smile and this is what she gave me!

Layne was not too sure about the wet grass. She wouldn't crawl towards the eggs. She ended up just crying because she was so upset about being on the grass.

Even Layne "found" an egg.

I think that there were about 30 or more eggs hidden for Hayden to find. And all of them were filled with candy-thanks guys! Once we went inside Hayden tried to pull the "I have to potty" trick about every 10 minutes-just so she could eat her candy. What a smarty!

The kitty cat wanted to help Hayden find her eggs too!

German Chocolate Cake

German chocolate birthday cake for some church friends. This is my second attempt at a German chocolate cake. The first one I did for my dad's birthday in December and the icing didn't thicken-it was a mess. For this one I forgot to flour the cake pans and half of the cake layers stuck inside the pan! So, I had to make all of the cakes again. What a mess! It's a three layer cake with two layers of coconut pecan filling. the middle layer is torted (cut in half) with chocolate fudge filling in the middle. I hope they enjoy it!

Yeah for Daddy....Yeah for UPS!

Well, daddy has been working for UPS for four nights (10:00-3:30) now and he is still alive and functioning. Here is his crazy daily weekday schedule: He wakes up in the morning and plays with Layne from 7:30 to 9:30. They both nap from 9:30 to 11:30. He eats lunch and feeds her lunch and takes her into his office with him at noon. I stop by the office and pick Layne up around 12:45 on my way home from work and picking Hayden up at school. He works at Element from noon to 5:00 or 6:00. He comes home and eats dinner and hangs out. Then, it's off to UPS at 10:00pm to 3:30am!

Jerm's cousin has worked at UPS for almost 16 years. He gave Jerm a lot of UPS stuff....including the cute little UPS baby onsie with matching socks and hat and the sweat bands that Hayden is sporting. Layne wasn't too sure about the hat!

Preschool Easter Parade

Today was the Easter Parade at the preschool. Thankfully, the rain stopped for about 2 hours so that they could walk around the outside of the church instead of being confined to the inside. The girls in Hayden's class made these little flower hats. Isn't it just the cutest thing!?

I came from work and daddy brought Layne with him. So, we were all able to meet up at the church and see our little one march in the parade. After the parade everyone met in the fellowship hall for cookies and drinks.

Look at our little peanut! Don't you just want to squeeze her! She didn't want to wear her hat while she walked. I guess it was too hard for her to keep her hat on her head, hold onto the rope, and walk at the same time. We all remember the deal with Hayden's head.....that's all I'm going to say about that!

I found that little line keeper rope in the Oriental Trading magazine last year. Isn't it so cute!

She is wearing one of the new dresses that Pappy sent her.

We had been talking to Hayden about this parade all week. They even went outside and practiced on Tuesday morning. She was so excited for this day. When I dropped her off this morning she stopped in the hallway, said something that I couldn't understand, and then started to cry. She was upset because she wanted to do the parade the minute she got to preschool! We got it all worked out and she was smiling before I left her.

Easter Dresses

Pappy picked out the dress on the left just for Hayden! The one on the right is Layne's-you may recognize it since it was Hayden's when she was a baby. We got the dress and other clothes in the mail today. What a nice surprise! Thanks Pappy!!!

Hayden's dress even came with a matching dress for a doll!! So, Dora gets to have a Easter dress too. Layne is standing, but leaning on the dresser behind them.

Sweet little princess and her Dora doll.

Teeny tiny angel and her friends.

We also got a package from Kenya today! In it was this adorable little sweater that Grandma Ross made for little Layner!! It came with a matching purse. The sweater is just one of the cutest things I have ever seen! Thanks so much Grandma. We love you and miss you....you too Pop.

Just the Girls

Tonight after dinner the girls got on the floor and "wrestled" around. We all had a good time together. Tonight is daddy's first night of working for UPS. He had to leave at 9 and he won't be home until around 3am! Can't wait to hear how it went!

I don't want to embarrass Jerm or anything, but he is awesome! Over the last couple of months I have seen a different side to Jeremy. He is such an amazing father to the girls. I think he has so much more confidence in his abilities as a parent since I have "stepped aside" and gone to work. I have fallen more deeply in love with him because of the way that he loves our little princesses.

My Daddy, My Hero

Hayden was playing with this magnet that Aunt September gave her last weekend. You screw the back on and it lights up. Well, Hayden took the back off and things went flying! I picked the pieces up and put it back together but it wouldn't light up. I was pretty sure that a piece went under the oven, but I couldn't get it. Hayden kept trying and trying to get it to work but it was missing the piece under the oven. When daddy was done doing the dishes (his shift any way) he pulled out the drawer under the oven, found the missing piece, put it back together and got it lighting up again! I wish you could have seen the admiration that shined in Hayden's eyes as she looked up at her daddy-her hero! I saw it alright and I said (out loud) "Dang.....I wanted to be the hero!!" As I stood in the kitchen washing the rest of the dishes I realized that the girls need many heros in their lives and daddy is definitely one of them!

Hayden is beginning to take the next step in her "mommy's little helper" role. She is now trying to physically get Layne to do the things she wants her to do! I have to watch her very carefully. I have caught her trying to pull her hands to play ring around the rosey, to drag her on the floor by her feet, and to pick her up by the neck! She does it with a smile so I can only assume it's out of love!!

Little Layner loves her new view. She is pulling up on everything.

Dora Cupcakes

Well, here they are! I did 40 Dora cupcakes for a little girl's birthday party. Hope she likes them!

Praise Him

I will never forget the day that Jeremy asked me where my savings account was. We had been dating for about 6 months and I had been teaching for about 4 months. I would pay my bills when they came in and then spend almost everything else. I may have had a couple hundred in the bank just in case. Well, Jeremy was different. As most of you know, he is a very frugal man. It took a good 2 to 3 years for me to transform into a saver, but it happened! We had everything all figured out (which works well for my personality-I am a HUGE scheduler and planner). We were going to build up our nest egg (check), survive and thrive on one income (check...sort of), have two children (check....and maybe one more), life was going to be smooth sailing (X). What!? But that was how we had it all planned out. God had a different plan for us-to rely on HIM, not our plan. And that's where this story begins. Before the girls came along we agreed that I would stay home and raise our children while he worked for the income. We also saved up a nice big nest egg for ourselves during the time that we were both working. It made us feel safe and secure-like we would be protected no matter what. We never had an easy financial road since I stopped teaching, but we always made it because of that nice big security nest egg.

Fast forward a couple years....

We had our second sweet angel, Little Layner, who was just an precious as our first. The housing market takes a terrible turn and we now have no income since Jeremy is in the mortgage industry. We travel up to Pittsburgh for Christmas and Jeremy breaks his arm snowboarding and we now have over $13,000.00 in medical bills. A tree falls on our roof. And still no income. Was God there, was he even listening to our pleas and prayers?

Fast forward just a couple months to now....

I am working part time for the school system as a students with special needs instructional coach. Hayden goes to preschool while I am working (thanks to mom, Bernie, and dad) and Jeremy watches Layne at home. Hayden is in love with all of the teachers and friends at preschool. Layne and Jeremy have the chance to bond for four hours every day. Jeremy is doing call center work from home and other odds and ends jobs that friends pass on to him. He's also going to start working for UPS in the EARLY mornings and he is going to be doing some other work for his boss. I am also baking lots of cakes, cupcakes, and cookies on the side.

All of this to say.....

God is so good! I can't tell you that this season in our lives has been all laughs and smiles but I can tell you that I have never seen God's hands in our lives more clearly than I do right now. We no longer have that nice big nest egg, but God is providing for us now. If we truly believed the countless stories in the Bible where God provided then why did we have the nest egg after all? Where we any different to Him? He has given us the answer-we are no different and He has provided and blessed us in so many ways! He has blessed us with the insurance check for the tree on our roof and friends to fix the roof for free. He has blessed us with friends that provide meals for us at least once a week. He has blessed us with family that provides clothes for the girls and me on my birthday! He has blessed me with a job and health benefits. He has blessed us with a lot of odds and ends jobs for Jeremy. He has blessed us with a stronger marriage even though we are going through a hard time-we are in this together until the end!He has blessed us with many friends and family members who have listened to us and been there for us. He has blessed us with a wonderful family and church family that constantly prays for us and passes on job leads to us. And so much more....

This "Just barely making it" way of life is not the way we had it planned, but I am continually amazed by how God is not only providing for us but also blessing us each and every day.

"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever." Romans 11:36

Easter Pictures

Last Thursday the kiddos had live bunny pictures at preschool. So, Jeremy got Layne ready and took her up to school so she could have her picture take too. I called Jeremy around 10:30, thinking that the photo shoot would be over by then. He was a little frustrated saying that it was way past Layne's nap time and she just fussed and cried the first time they tried to take pictures. The morning had already started off hard for me since I REALLY wanted to be up at the church for the pictures, but when I heard that every single part of me wanted to get in my car and rush up to the church. I didn't though. And the pictures turned out wonderfully for the second take! Thanks again Michele-you did an amazing job!!

Poor Bum Bum

Layne had some naked time this morning and afternoon because she has some pretty bad diaper rash. We just made a new huge batch of baby food (thanks for your help Sep!) so we are introducing new foods. I guess some foods are not agreeing with her because she is pooping a lot. Now she has diaper rash and it's painful. Poor little girl.

I don't even know what to say about this picture!

Today, Hayden decided that Layne's little sheep wanted an airplane ride. Notice the high heels that she has on. Little Ezra gave she and Layne treat bags even though we weren't able to attend his party last Saturday! She loves the shoes and gloves.

Car Seat Fun

Matt's Pictures

Matt and Jamie came over about 2 or 3 weeks ago to go baby shopping. Here are some pictures that he took while they were here. He is such an amazing photographer. He does such a great job of capturing the moments. Little Layner and her big blue eyes!

Multi-Tasking at it's Best

I guess we as mothers don't realize just how much we try to do at one time until there is a picture of it all! Please excuse the muffin top....I am working on that. I have lost 12 pounds already! I'll be ready for Florida before I know it-hopefully!

Having a great time with the fam.

Ever since we've moved the living room table we all spend more time on the floor. It's just a better place for the girls to play and hang out.

Miss Green Eyes.

Dora!

These are Dora head cupcake toppers.....40 of them! They are for a little girl's birthday party. They required lots of thinking and work. It was fun though. I hope people will be able to tell that it's Dora!!

Bike Ride Anyone?

Hayden decided to play with Uncle Johnny's bike helmet on Sunday morning.

Gotta have the glasses on too!

Pappy gave Hayden a TON of summer clothes. This is one of the new tops. All of the shorts and shirts are awesome. Thanks Pappy!!