ZOO Time!!!

Today was Josiah's Spring Preschool Field Trip. His class all met at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle for a fun day of animal watching.

Dustin took the day off so we could all go together. Josiah liked looking at the maps so he'd know where we were going next.

We started our day among friends. This picture of Josiah, Ellie & Audrey is too funny to me. If you knew these three children, you'd realize this picture describes their personalities perfectly. I love it!

Here's Josiah with sweet Reilley riding on a monkey.

Benjamin & Josiah decided to act like monkeys.

Here is Josiah with Nicole. She is such a sweet little girl.

After some time we slowly got separated from the rest of the group. Some kids were getting tired or hungry. We didn't mind because we were there for the day to have some family time.

So, we went to see the flamingos. Josiah has always enjoyed seeing the flamingos. I'm not sure why. He asked about them all day.

Here are the two men in front of the elk. I guess it's a man thing.

We too got hungry & went to the food court to get some lunch.

While we were there we ran into Bella...oh my...Josiah was THRILLED! Bella is Josiah's little girlfriend. They have loved each other since the day they met. I think seeing her was the most exciting thing that had happened all day.

So, we sat down & had lunch with Bella & Rachel (Bella's Mommy). It was so funny...Dustin & I were able to have a great conversation with Rachel because the kids were totally entertaining one another. We never had to talk to them & they never interrupted us. They just played games & talked the entire time. Too cute!

After lunch, we went over to the reptile section. Here are the kids petting a lizard.

This jaguar was BY FAR our favorite animal of the day. I could not even describe to you how gorgeous this creature was. They had just added her to the exhibit to mate her with a male. The entire time we were there, she was scouting out the lay of the land.

After 6 hours at the zoo, we were all exhausted. It had been a long day & we were ready to go home. I guess it was a good thing, because we were the only ones left...in the ENTIRE ZOO. We made it to the exit gate right as they were closing. How funny. We didn't even realize they were closing. Glad we made it there at the right time or we might have stayed with the animals that night.

What a great time to enjoy some time at the zoo!

Dinner with Friends!

Tonight the Agol family, from preschool, had the three of us & the LeVasseur family over for dinner. We all have boys & they were so excited to get together. We served the boys their dinner first while we talked & hung out. Then, Lea turned on a video for the boys to watch while the adults had a peaceful dinner in the dining room. What a great idea!!!! Kids eat first, so parents can eat in peace. I loved it!! Josiah really enjoyed getting to see his preschool buddies & we enjoyed having dinner with friends!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! What a wonderful day to honor, respect, remember & celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In honor of the approaching holiday, we helped Josiah memorize a scripture that we all need to hide in our hearts:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

We began our Easter morning by placing Josiah's Easter basket in front of the fireplace.

He was thrilled to get some new stuff.

After opening his Easter basket, we had a nice breakfast together eating Coffee Cake. Yum!

Then, we all got dolled up to celebrate Easter with Holy Seed Community Church.

This green shirt is special because it is the first & only time Josiah has had an opinion on what he was going to wear. I took him to a store to buy a shirt, showed one to him & he said, "I am NOT going to wear THAT." I was shocked. So, I asked him what he wanted to wear. He turned around picked up this green dress shirt & said he wanted this one because green is his favorite color. So, we got it. I think he looks great in his green shirt.

I love the two pictures I got of my two guys.

Usually they are both making crazy faces, but today all I got were blue eyes & smiles! :)

Here I am with my little guy who is standing on a stool...don't worry...he's not that tall yet.

"We are the three!" (One of Josiah's favorite things to say)

Holy Seed Community Church was different today. For one, some of our people were out of town visiting family today. For another, Dustin surprised everyone with a twist. He began service with a song & then shared about "New Life" from 1 Peter 1:3. We all do have a new life in Jesus Christ because of his death & resurrection. He then reminded us of The Great Commission. We are now, as Christians, to "GO." So, Dustin told us that we were going to spend the next few minutes doing just that.

We loaded up & drove to Northwest Hospital in Seattle as a group. Dustin had bought Easter Lilies & cards for the families that had just brought "new life" into the world. We each spent a few moments writing blessings inside the cards for these families.

Dustin had worked out all of the arrangements with the hospital ahead of time. We were able to go from room to room blessing these sweet new lives with flowers & cards. We were also allowed to pray with each family as they begin this new journey together. It was a beautiful time & we believe that it was special to each life.

We celebrated by returning to our home & taking part in Communion & then lunch. I prepared fried chicken, potato salad, green beans, baked beans, bread, strawberries & Triple Chocolate Cake for dessert. YUM!

After lunch was over, we invited everyone to stay as long as they wanted. So, all of the adults went outside & helped Dustin hide Easter eggs for Josiah.

Josiah was so excited because this was the first time he got to have an egg hunt in his own yard. Before we moved to WA we lived on a huge hill that he would have fallen down. Since we've lived in WA it's rained every Easter.

He had the best time finding all of the eggs that they hid all over the yard...even in funny places.

We then went inside & watched him go through each & every one of his eggs.

He had such a great time looking through them all & finding the goodies.

We really enjoyed everyone's company. We talked, played X-Box & Nikki even got in a short nap. Too funny!

After everyone left, we got comfortable & opened presents from Granddaddy & Grandma! They had to get in on the Easter celebration, too.

Here are the goodies from Granddaddy & Grandma. A $2 bill...COOL! This will be one piece of money that won't get spent.

We continued our night by having family movie night...our Sunday night tradition. We then ended our night by reading "The Tomb is Empty" from Josiah's Bible. What a wonderful way to spend our Easter Sunday.

Thank you, Lord, for your sacrifice!

Happy Easter!

Easter Crafts!

Tonight was Easter Craft time.

We love Easter Craft time because

we know it will be fun & crazy!

We started by reading a book called, "Ollie's Easter Eggs." Yes, the former Kindergarten Teacher in me had to do it the right way. Ha!

Mr. Independent wanted to color his eggs with crayon & dip them all on his own.

I am very happy to report that not one egg got cracked.

We had a great time dying them.

Josiah always gets such a kick out of putting stickers on his eggs. I never did this as a child, but they come in the dye packs now. He loves it & wants to put the whole sheet of stickers on one egg.

Once we finished with our eggs, Josiah made a magnetic "Happy Easter" frame to go around his bunny picture on the fridge.

He always does such a great job using glue & knew just where he wanted everything to go.

Josiah was very proud of his finished Easter Eggs &

of his new "Happy Easter" frame.

What a great time we had together while making Easter Crafts!