Ready When He Is...

I'm so blessed to have amazing friends who would throw a super fun baby shower for me this past Saturday (more pics to come on that!) I'm super glad they did because that night we thought little guy was going to make his arrival! After a few hours of pretty good contractions, they just stopped... since then, they have continued on and off... but we decided to finish the nursery and get ready! Special thanks to my friends who helped move furniture, give me ideas, and gave me amazing and sweet gifts for the baby! 

 Here is a preview of the room...
(However, mentally add a blue "transportation theme" valance above the window... it's in the mail!
THANK YOU MAMA!)

His crib and very cool and creative mobile Stephen helped me make! 

Other side of the room for any guests who want to come and help! ;-)

Le Jardin de Luxembourg

Today was absolutely amazing here in Paris and we were thankful to have some family time out on our day off at the famous Luxembourg Gardens, near central Paris. (Sometimes I still have to stop and pinch myself that we live here.... so weird.) Here are some of the highlights...

The fountain, where you can sail a toy boat across. 

Here are the kiddos enjoying watching.

I'm not sure who is more wrapped around whose finger?!

Tot Lot time!

Ice cream is a must on a sunny day!

Who is excited about the carousel ride??

A fun game you play while riding... trying to "hook" little loops while you go around!

By the time we were leaving, there wasn't a square meter of grass to be found!

And a bonus... at the end of the day, I came home to my blooming tulips!

Yay for SPRING!

300th Post... Mud Puddles!

Ok, Ok... I hate it when mom's post 800 pics of the exact same pic on their blog. Well today... GUILTY! I couldn't help it. However... it's NOT the same picture!!! This is a sneak peek into my afternoon today...

READY

SET

 SPLASH!!!!!!

 This one qualifies with "hang time"!

"SKIPPING" into the puddle

"Mom, you gotta try this! It's AWESOME!"

I LOVE this guy!!!

On the Hunt... TWO Times!

We LOVE Easter because it's super fun and because we celebrate the RISEN SAVIOR! So amazed to be in His grace and thankful for the journey He has us on! 

Our first Easter Egg hunt was on Saturday and went over to a friend's house and had an egg hunt in their yard. 

Ready, Set... Running out the door!

Here is silly Sadie! 

Here is my dear friend and her three boys along with me and my 2.5 kids! 

Later we had a time of praise and worship and Noah played percussion! 

Here in France, it's not very traditional to do an egg hunt so we invited some of Sadie's classmates and their mom's over for one in our back yard. There ended up being more than I had planned, but we were thankful for the 8 moms and 15 kids that came! For some, it was their first egg hunt ever!

Here is the start of the race...

Here is a little pic of our back yard with several princesses running around and other friends who were all searching for eggs. 

 Here is a pic of one of my sweetest friends and her son... on the hunt!

Easter Egg-ing...

We've had a super fun week getting ready for Easter! One day after school Sadie had a friend over and we did a practice run of dying eggs and decorated our egg tree. It was fun to share about the new life in Christ that Jesus brings with our friend and her mom who came later! 

Also a special thanks to Grandma for sending bunny glasses, we got to share one with our friend!

 Then, on Saturday morning... we did a mass production of Easter eggs... boiling 90 eggs... 

Yes friends... 90 eggs! This is what that looks like! 

Later that morning, some very special friends who have become like family came over and we played some wii... 

Then had an awesome and massive Easter Egg decorating party!!! It was so fun!

Ruthie, Allie and I were on fried chicken duty for our lunch time spectacular! It was amazing... 

a "kinda like" chick fil a chicken!!! Oh my! 

Sadie... choosing wisely.

Best Bud Princess Bizzie lovin' on my little ones! 

More pics to come of the Easter Egg HUNT!

Stay tuned!

Funny grOwing belly Shots...

Well, this is me at 33 weeks and counting. Stephen pulled out the camera and we thought we'd try to do some of those funny preggo shots and this was about as good as we could get. It didn't last long, as you can tell, but it was funny (at least for him and I) doing them. This is me... pregnant and growing. Compared to many, I'm not that big... but I'm thankful that baby is healthy and growing. 

This one I just thought was cute... 

Noah looking up at me and I can almost hear him saying,

"Mama, I'll always be your baby, right?" 

A Week in London Town...

It is a blessing and super fun thing to have a really great friend who lives in London! As we approach  baby #3's arrival we thought this might be as good a chance as any to hop up there on the Eurorail for a week and enjoy her company and the sights of London! Here are some of the highlights from our trip! A HUGE AND MANY THANKS to Krissy for hosting us (longer than expected, to be explained later...) and for being such a great friend and "aunt" to the kiddos. We loved your city!

Well, you guessed it... BIG BEN... and he "spoke to us" (chimed) while we were near him! 

 Outside of Westminster Abbey

We met in 1998 at UNCC... who would have thought we'd be here today! 

It was cold, but there are amazing and beautiful parks everywhere!

Buckingham Palace... 

where the QUEEN LIVES! 

Palace Guard

Daddy and Noah in front of the Tower Bridge!

St. Paul's Cathedral 

One of the "old" city buses... very cool.

We hit up both the National History Museum and Science Museum while we were there... it was nice being free and because it was cold outside... it was perfect for the kids. They loved everything being so interactive. Well-done London on those kid fun places for exploring!

(National History Museum... not too shabby, right?!?!)

Exploring... in action!

We were suppose to head home on Tuesday but when we got to the train station to head home, we found out snow had been dumped on Northern France and so we were delayed an extra day. At the end of that day... these two were pooped! 

We LOVED IT!!! Would love to go back in warmer weather... 

but so thankful for the wonderful week!!!