Blogging from A - Z April Challenge - E

E--Easter
Read this to see part of what Easter means to me.

I love the newness, the new beginnings, the lush green trees (not the grass so much cuz I have to  mow it...), the flowers....baby animals. 

Here are a few pics from this past Easter weekend:

This is at the church Easter egg "hunt"--

Counting the spoils...

Decorater Kraig...

Easter egg hunt at home...some of these really were a hunt...as in we didn't get all of them found!

Playing fetch with my daughter's boyfriends dog...Cookie

Easter cupcakes

YUM!

The four of us...

Blogging from A - Z April Challenge--D

D--Dogs

We currently have 3 dogs....

This is Bruno....he is very laid back, very well behaved.  He and his brother (below) are Hungarian Vizslas.  They are truly beautiful dogs. 

 

 This is Bruno's brother, Red...not so laid back, not so well behaved...he is very very hyper.

 And this is Zeus....when he was a puppy.  I can't find the more recent picture of him (which is still a year or so old).  He is now 6 years old, so much much larger, as he is a yellow lab.  He also primarily stays outside.  He's a pretty good dog and lets us know when anyone is in the yard that he doesn't recognize.

Blogging from A - Z April Challenge--C

C--Children

I am the blessed and proud mom of 4.

Kyrstyna

 Christopher

 Kraig

 Kyle

 Christmas 2010

Blogging from A - Z April Challenge--B

B--Beach

I love the beach (well, any body of water, really)...but the beach is my favorite.  There is something magical, peaceful, and blissful looking out until the water meets the horizon.  The waves lapping on the shore has such a rythmic sound....we once slept in our car on the beach in Galveston.  It was not a planned trip, but it was so much fun.  I remember the first time I went to Galveston; I was told to face the ocean and open my mouth...salt.  It is in the air, it settles on the windows of the restaurants and businesses along the shorefront. 
Another year, we went on vacation there...and camped at one of the state parks.  We couldn't see the ocean from the campsites, but we could hear it.  My daughter was 5 or 6 at the time...she learned from another family how to make "drip castles".  Our last day there, there was a terrible storm...so bad we tried to find a hotel but they were all full.  I also got sun poisoning that year.  If you've never had it, trust me, it is awful.  I was red as a lobster, swollen, and burned all over--not just sunburn kind of burn, but also a tingly electric kind of burn.  There is (was) a hotel that was over the water...the driveway was a bridge over the beach...I remember sitting under that driveway in the shade, and a woman that passed by told me to take aspirin...it takes the burn out.  She was so right.  I didn't and don't take aspirin as a general rule...but it sure did take the edge off the tingling!

And our last vacation in Galveston, we stayed at that hotel over the water.  The Flagship.  It was awesome.  We were on the top floor (there were only 6)...I remember the first morning we were there...my now oldest son but then youngest child, was just waking up.  As he was mumbling to ask to go outside, he shot straight up in bed, and in the most excited voice practically yelled "we're in Galveston"...and promptly walked to the balcony. 

We went to Corpus Christi one year as well, but I didn't enjoy it as much.  I don't know if it was the time of year, if it was the weather...but there was seaweed everywhere, and jellyfish.  So we couldn't even walk on the beach. 

This is by far the prettiest beach I have seen....it is the beach at La Push Quiluete Indian Reservation outside of Forks, WA. We went to visit my best friend last year...and she lives about 4 hours from Forks. We couldn't be that close and not go....it was awesome.

(He was throwing rocks into the waves and then running as the water came in.)

Blogging from A - Z April Challenge--A

A--Angel

I've not ever been one to believe in "guardian angels".  Don't get me wrong...I believe in angels, I believe they exist around and among us, but not necessarily is the same sense as many do.  Angels are spirits....they live essentially and primarily in Heaven, but also visit us here on Earth, to guide us, to comfort us. And sometimes, truly just to visit. 

My angel is Kyle Gregory.  And I believe that he has visited our family, especially his brother, on occasion, and especially when he was a baby. 

 Kyle--God's finger touched him...and he slept.

Kraig, my youngest son, is a surviving twin...Kyle is his identical twin brother and was born sleeping.  A friend asked me once, when Kraig was a baby, if he ever seemed to know that Kyle wasn't with us.  I told her that oftentimes, when holding Kraig on my shoulder, he would look up towards the ceiling and just start smiling.  So, he was telling us that Kyle was with us.  Kraig is 6 now...and while I can't be certain of his level of understanding (he is one smart cookie, however)...I do know that he knows Kyle is his brother, he knows he lives with Jesus, and he knows that one day we will live with him too.

The day they were born, their father got me an angel figurine.  It is a woman holding an infant child with angel wings sheltering them.  Each year for Christmas, we have bought a figurine of some sort and then just leave the collection out all the time. 

(the one in the back center, to the right of the bear, is the one gotten the day they were born)