Easter

Easter Sunday....up from the grave he arose!  My heart should be stirred every single day at the reminder of what Jesus did for us on the cross at Calvary.  Truth is, it is some times more than others and Easter Sunday is always one of those times when it is.  Grace is an amazing thing; we can never repay God for what he did for us, but we are so incredibly thankful.  And somehow that has to be enough, which is often hard for me to accept.

My littlest bunny takes my Mama breath away.  He is an absolute joy to my heart and I am so thankful that God saw fit to give us this little man.  

And my biggest bunny is my little tender-hearted sweetie.  Look at her the wrong way and she'll lose it.  She is a little mommy and I am so thankful for her nurturing ways.

I know our matching outfits won't last much longer...sniff.

The newness of life that Spring offers reminds me of the newness of life that Christ offers.  We take advantage of the fresh greenery by getting pictures by Grandaddy's fish pond whenever we can.

My nieces and nephew are getting so big!  I love getting to watch these babies grow.

Uncle Mark got the golf cart out and rode the kids around for a bit while we were hiding the eggs in the front yard.

Cutest little spring chicken ever.

Once again, Grandaddy prepared his yearly dyed and personalized eggs for us.  My cousin Robbie hid mine way up where I couldn't reach it in a tree.  That's ok, though, next year I'll get him back. ;)

Happy Easter from my family to yours!!  

Egg Hunt at the Stinson's

The Saturday before Easter, it has become tradition to have an egg hunt at Justin's Uncle Kerry and Aunt Sheryl's house.  My precious niece Sydnee and her brand new baby sister, Larkyn, came in from Richmond for the weekend.  Hadley and Sydnee love being together and just can't get enough of each other.  

Aunt Sheryl found a neat Pinterest idea and prepared a tub full of bubble mixture and tons of things to make bubbles with.  We had bubbles blowing everywhere.  The kids had a ball, but did get a wee bit sticky from the concoction.

Canaan could've played with the bubbles all day long.  This boy was a sticky mess when everything was said and done.

Somehow Hadley managed to get all the eggs with money in them, which tickled her to death.  Most of hers had a quarter or fifty cents in them.  She did get some with chocolate, which always makes me happy.  Parents should totally get to enjoy the Easter candy, too, right?

Sweet baby Larkyn got passed around all weekend long.  This was her very first trip to Gamaliel to visit her extended family.  She is absolutely precious and looks so much like Hadley did at that age.  Brings back sweet memories.

I can't believe these girls are getting so big.  Taking pictures with Aunt Sheryl's enormous bunnies is now a tradition for us as well.

Thankful for fun family time as we head in to tomorrow's Resurrection Sunday and celebrate the REAL meaning of this holiday.  We serve a Risen Savior, he's in our hearts today!

Louisville Science Museum

Another fun Spring Break adventure was heading to Lousiville with Robin and Carson to visit the Science Museum.  It had been years since I'd been to a science museum so this was a treat for me, as well as the kids. I love the interactive nature of that kind of learning environment.

Carson is one full year older than Hadley so he told all kinds of pre-school stories on our trip to Louisville.  These two kept us in stitches.  Is it not precious to eavesdrop on preschool aged kids?


The water tables were certainly a hit; what kid doesn't like playing in water, right?  We ponchoed both kids up so that they hopefully wouldn't soak themselves.  They built dams and used PVC pipe to watch water flow along different paths.

 Then came the life-sized bubble.  This dude took several tries to get right and even then it seemed nearly impossible to actually pull the chain hard and low enough to get the bubble up to eye level before popping.  Hadley was so intense in her trying, though.



Carson and Hadley tried passing a floating ball back and forth using air shooting from a tube.  It was much harder than it looked.

It was nice to let the kids run from one activity to the next and we could actually talk and have adult interaction while they played.  Robin and I both have another little one at home so spending time focusing on each of our oldest kiddos was a nice change of pace.

With Louisville being the home of the Kentucky Derby, an artist designed dozens of multi-colored horse statues.  They are proudly displayed in various places around downtown and Hadley and Carson had to stop at each one we passed and rub and pet them.

Our supper treat was dining at the Ole' Spaghetti Factory and getting to eat in the train.  The kids thought that was super cool.  Robin and I laughed, remembering our trips to Jr. BETA and BETA convention in Middle and High School.  Every year we ate at this exact restaurant and it has stayed true to its historical nature.  Nice to know some things never change.  Such a fun day with my precious friend and her sweet boy!

Owensboro Day Trip

I suppose teachers are no different from anyone else, but we sure do love our breaks!  Spring Break is no exception, needless to say.  We had been hearing great things about a new park right along the river in Owensboro.  Owensboro is home to some delicious barbecue establishments, as well.  So we decided this little day trip would be perfect for our crew.

I was amazed at the design of this park.  There were several enormous trees that the playground equipment was built through.  I kind of felt like I was in Disney World.  Our temperatures are finally starting to warm up and we are actually thawing out from the ridiculously cold winter we experienced.

We brought lots of snacks and watched boats and barges come and go along the river as we ate.  Hadley had tons of questions about why the water was so dirty, could we swim in it, could we drink it?  Gotta love the inquisitive minds of four year olds.

 



Justin and I both were running from one side of the park to the next, just trying to catch up with the kids.  I didn't anticipate Canaan being so active, but what was I really thinking?  I mean, he IS our super active little guy.  Justin and I, literally, were calling each other's cell phones saying, "where are you now?"

Oh how I love this picture of my little man.  It.is.so.him.  After a few hours of taking in every square inch of the park, we carried our two wiped out kiddos to the car and headed over to an early supper at Ole' Hickory Barbecue.  Lovin' Spring Break!

District and Regional Champions

We ended our basketball season on another record breaking note.  The Lady Scotties won both the District and Regional Championships.  The girls won 29 games this season, breaking the school record set just two years ago.  

Hadley and Canaan got to assist Justin in cutting down FOUR sets of nets this year.  Justin says climbing the ladder to cut down the nets never gets old, though. 

Ronnie and Cathy were along to support our family every step of the way.  We couldn't do it without them and wouldn't want to.  We love sharing this with them.  They raised a wonderful son, and I'm thankful he's mine ;)

Since the regional tournament is a really big game, we had to wear special coordinating outfits for the occasion.  We also sponge rolled Hadley's hair for the very first time, which was hilarious.  She actually never complained one time.

Hadley and Canaan both escorted Justin onto center court to accept the game ball, when the game was over.

We are so thankful for Coach Haynes and Teresa.  Justin's first assistant coaching job was under Coach Haynes.  He was also my freshmen Health/PE teacher and I've always thought so much of him.  He is so good to always support Justin, even now.

These two want whatever the other one has.  It amazes me how Canaan is already so aware of that,  even at his young age.  I love that they interact with each other so much.  Hadley is such a mother hen to Canaan.

 



My parents and grandparents made it to the regional final, too.  Justin and I are so blessed to have the support we have.

It was a magical ending to another magical year.  We are so thankful to be able to invest in the lives of these incredible young ladies.  They are part of our family and we love them so much.  Way to go, Lady Scotties!!

All A State Tournament

Our Regional All A win gave us an automatic bid to the All A State Tournament, held in our great state's capital:  Frankfort.  The first game was held at 7:30 am on a Wednesday morning!  Justin and the team headed to Frankfort after school on Tuesday, and had to get up at 5:00 in the morning to be ready for their game.  Imagine getting that many teenage girls up and at 'em that early.  I stayed at home with Hadley and Canaan, because Justin and the girls were coming home later that afternoon, win or lose.  I listened to the game on the radio, while I was at school.  My school kids and I cheered on the team to a victory!

For the next round of games, I skipped school, packed our bags, and headed to Frankfort.  Justin's mom, Cathy, came with us and the four of us stayed in a hotel room together just a couple of doors down from Justin and one of his assistant coaches.  I knew Justin would be pretty stressed out with thinking about ballgames and making sure all his girls were behaving and going to sleep at night and all that.  So I figured it was in Justin's best interest if we not stay in a room with him anyway.  We had the best time, though.  Hadley loved hanging out with all the girls in their hotel rooms and both kids just ran up and down the hallway, going from one room to the next.

We kept winning ballgames at this tournament and made it all the way to the State Finals!  This was the first time in the school's history for the girl's team to even be in the state tournament, much less make it to the finals!  Our crowd was huge, which was so neat since Frankfort is over two hours from Glasgow.  Glasgow has the best fans ever.

Our final game was very close but we were able to defeat Danville High School, in the end, and won the All A State Tournament.

Shalika was named the MVP of the entire tournament!  So proud of that sweet girl.  She will attend Western Kentucky University, this fall, on a full basketball scholarship.  We will be there to cheer her on, too.

The trophy that the team received was huge; as tall as Hadley is now.  Justin says they are going to need additional trophy case space to display all their memorabilia from this year.  Not a bad problem to have.

When everything was said and done, the fact that we won the All A State Tournament was truly surreal to us.  Many coaches can coach for years and years and never even get a chance at something like this.  We are so thankful to have been apart of this magical experience.  We couldn't love our sweet basketball girls any more.  They are part of our family.

It never gets old to see our name in the Champion slot.  We all rushed home to a celebratory pep rally in Glasgow's gym.  It was so awesome for our community to come out and support our team one more time.  Now just to come down off this "high" and play a few more ballgames before the regular season tournament time begins.  Never a dull moment around here.  Way to go Lady Scotties!!