A Message from MALAWI, AFRICA

Remember McKenna's Malawi birthday party??

Our boxes of clothes arrived a few weeks ago.



And these beautiful children are wearing them.

Isn't she so pretty!

I'm sure she doesn't have a clue that all of us over here in America are talking about her :)

And look at that little cutie.
Jamie, Daniel and a group from their church here in the states headed out to the orphanage to play with and minister to the kiddos. Hence the sheep hats you'll see on lots of kids. I'm guessing they must have been a cute craft that went along with a lesson or something.

This picture makes me wish we had sent boxes of Crocs too!

And there's a shirt that one of you sent.

Looks like everyone is washing their hands.

Check out that cute Hello Kitty dress that made it all the way to Africa!

What handsome little men! It makes me so sad that they don't have a mommy to tell them how handsome they are everyday!

And this is one final picture. I snagged this off of Jamie's Flicker account. Those do not look like dresses that we sent. Those look like precious little girls who still need new dresses. I know we can't solve all the problems in the world...But.....

Y'all Ready for this???

I told you big stuff was going on with this boy and I wasn't kidding!

Check out the lack of training wheels on that bike!

And he seriously goes so fast....it makes me very nervous. But no wrecks on record yet!

Look at that face full of joy and victory!

So how did this happen?

Daddy mentioned to Christian that he needed to get rid of the training wheels before he turns 5.

Christian said "ok" and wanted them off immediately.

So off they came.
Daddy got quite a work-out running behind Christian for an hour or so.

And pretty soon daddy was running farther and farther behind him.

And Christian realized that he could do it without daddy and the rest is history.

Chrish is still having a hard time getting started on his own.

He can't seem to get the hang of balancing the bike in order to take off, but it will happen...hopefully soon.

Oh my. He pulls out his own teeth. He rides a bike with no training wheels.

Up next....we're going to get rid of that thumb (not literally...we are just going to work on not sucking it anymore).

BIG Stuff!!

There's lots of big stuff going on around in our house.

This is the last official picture of all of those teeth.

Notice that bottom one is missing now!

He pulled it out BY HIMSELF!

It's quite shocking really!

He's growing up...so fast.

Several things like this have happened lately and it just takes my breath away.

I love him to pieces.

How thankful I am that he still loves to be held and cuddled :)

Stay tuned for another big announcement about this guy!!

Easter Evening - Hunt #2

My parents headed down to my brother's house for the week on Sunday afternoon. So we didn't have a big Easter meal. We had McDonalds :)
We enjoyed our backyard and the beautiful weather.

And we had our very own Easter egg hunt with just the four of us!

My kids love hunting for Easter Eggs.

They seriously love it.

I'm tempted to hid all the eggs again just to watch McKenna find them.

And Christian was just as delighted as she was.

No one seemed to care that half of them were empty :)

I'm not quite sure when it happened...but we don't have a baby in our house anymore.

It was a beautiful way to spend the evening.

The end.

Easter Afternoon

I didn't grow up with the Easter bunny. Instead as a child my parents would plan a savenger hunt with clues that would lead me to my Easter present. I have great memories of following clues up trees, to the trunk of the car, to the washing machine inside, under couch cushions and so on. So we are continuing the tradition with our kids. And both Christian and McKenna LOVED it!

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The picture above...Christian on his way to the mail box.

McKenna trying to keep up with PopPop and Daddy in tow!

Hmmmm....where could that clue be?? We finally gave him a hint and told him to look to his right. I guess we're going to have to work on the concept of right and left because he still didn't find it right away.

Whew...he finally found it!

Another clue.

The birds actually knocked this clue out of the bird feeder.

And they finally found the loot in McKenna's playhouse!

Oh the excitement.

Who would have thought you could get so excited over a Dora toothbrush!

Showing PopPop their new things.

A race car!

Easter Morning

Well, we really did try to get a good family Easter picture.
McKenna was just having a slight melt down.

I mean seriously...why would you want to stand on the porch and say "cheese" when your swing is empty and waiting for you? You can see who won that battle!

An Easter Surprise

A package arrived right before Easter from Grammy and Grampy in Illinois!

The excitement could hardly be contained and I mean that in the most literal sense!
See! Lot's of excitement!

Christian got this chicken that you wind up and it lays eggs that are gum! Oh my word..they both loved it!

This foam stuff turned into an awesome bouncy ball that Christian now likes to throw from the top of the stairs.

And this little egg with the chick that pops out was McKenna's favorite surprise!

Thank you Grammy and Grampy! What a special treat. I hope you can see this video because it's absolutely adorable with McKenna says "Grampy."

We miss you and love you Grammy and Grampy!