HaPpY BiRtHdAy tO Me!

Once again I had another spectacular birthday. We were a little busy with a lot going on and wasn't sure when we would be able to celebrate, but Derrick did his best to remind me I was loved. A couple days prior to my birthday I was super excited when he took me to Lowe's to pick out a storm door. I have been wanting one of these and felt like it would be a huge help if I could get one before summer. I get so tired of the boys going in and out of the house and leaving the door open every time. And just in the 3 days of having it on, it has proved to be well worth it's $. I am loving it! I had a lot of visitors throughout the day dropping off gifts and sending birthday wishes, which was also a remind of how blessed I am to have so many wonderful friends in my life. Derrick called to advise me not to make dinner, even though I knew we weren't going to have the time to go out to eat. He brought home a yummy steak and potato dinner from Applebee's which we enjoyed together as a family before Derrick had leave for Mutual. The kids sang happy birthday to me, but I guess they didn't like they way they were sounding because they covered there ears the whole time. Justin had actually been sick all day so he had fallen asleep early so it was kind of a bummer that he was there to share in the good times with us.

Race for the Cure

IN MEMORY OF UNCLE GAYLE and

IN CONGRATULATIONS OF AUNT SUSAN and CATHY STODDARD!

I had a lot of fun being able to participate in the Race for the Cure today. A good friend was walking with her mom who is a Breast Cancer survivor and invited me to tag along. Not only did they pay for me to participate, but they also donated enough for 10 other people to participate with us including my mom, sister and niece. It was a lot of fun. I was amazed at how many people were there. The new tonight said over 17,000 people participated in this 5k event. AMAZING! I had planned on just walking the whole time since I was pushing Abbie in the stroller, but about half way I got a txt from Derrick telling me to "finish strong". I decided at that point I needed to give it my all, so I ran the rest of the way. a mile in a half isn't much to brag about, but I was proud of myself for doing it, especially since I'm not much of a runner. I would like to be, but I have no motivation what so ever. However, this muffin top that is slowly forming around the mid section of my body is slowly starting to motivate me a little more... :) Anyways, This picture is of all the bottled waters they had at the end of the race. I thought it was kind of cool to see all of it lined up. I wonder what it looked like before everyone started finishing. I wasn't anywhere near the front or the last to go through. CRAZY!
Derricks uncle passed away about 12 years ago after fighting breast cancer. It's not very come in men, but they are obviously not exempt from it. I thought of him and his family as I was waiting for the race to start, unfortunately I never had the chance to meet him, but I do know he left an amazing wife, daughter, 2 brothers and a sister behind.

CONGRATULATIONS

Aunt Susan and Cathy!

Loggie Bopps

Our little Loggie Bopps was so excited to FiNaLlY big old enough to play spring soccer. Up 'til now it's been Justin's this and Justin's that, but that has all come to an end. Soccer has officially started for our little buddy. And when we didn't think he could get any more excited he found out that 2 of his cousins were going to be on his team! Hooray!Kara, Jace, Brooke, Kylee (Cousin), Dylan (Cousin) and Logan

They were SO fun to watch. Logan would run as fast as his little legs would take him. Although he did run fast after we would yell "go accelerate" (a cartoon Ben 10 alien that can move VERY fast). He would slap his wrist like he was Ben 10 himself slapping the Omnitrix (watch) to transform into this heroic alien. He was pretty excited when he made his 1st goal and can't stop talking about it.

You can definitely tell Kylee has watched her older sisters play. All the kids knew they wanted to make a goal, but Kylee knew the rules. She could see when the ball was going to go out of bounds and knew the other team had touched it last so she would let it go. If it was our team that last touched it she knew she needed to go for it. She played her little heart out. And Dylan, well Dylan proved to be the little all-star of the team and didn't hesitate to show it. In fact after his first goal he ran to Logan and Kylee and gave them hugs and then came over to the sidelines to give everyone a high 5 as he kept repeating "I'm so good"! And SO humble!
I loved watching these little guys play.

GO BLUE LIONS!

Easter

I have this neighbor who seems to have more energy then anyone I know. She loves to go all out for things and this time it just so happened to be the Easter egg hunt for all the neighborhood friends. Well, of course we have a ginormous snow storm the day before the hunt so she is in shambles trying to figure out where to host this hunt at, since her backyard is now covered in a foot of snow. Well, me being the UN-energetic person that I am told her to just cancel it, but oh no, not her. Where better to have it then in the church gym. The kids were so excited and loved every minute of it. But the fun didn't stop there. We then went up to my mom's house and the festivities continued. Everyone enjoyed being with family and coloring eggs.

Snowmen, Snow Forts and Snow Cones - In ApRiL

We have had MaNy snowmen around this place, but I think this is the best one yet.

Justin was so excited to show me his very 1st snowman he built all on his own.

After seeing Justin's snowman Logan kept begging me to come out to help him build one for him, but I had the neighbor kids here and Allie and her little friend are DoUbLe TrOuBlE when they are together. So I just didn't feel good about leaving them in the house alone, plus I was trying to get Abbie fed and down for a nap.

After much begging and pleading and feeling like I was a bad mom because Logan needed me and I wasn't able to give him the time and attention he needed I finally was able to get Abbie to sleep and the other two in snow clothes to come out with me. Once I got out side Logan informed me "nevermind, I don't want to build a snowman anymore". REALLY LOGAN!

Frustrated, I went back inside, took off all my snow clothes along with the trouble makers. Just to have Justin start begging and pleading for me to help him build a snow fort. AHHHH! A good mom would just do it without having to feel the guilt, but nope not me. The neighbor kids left. Allie and Abbie were both asleep, so on came the snow clothes, AgAiN. Well the second I went to walk out the door Allie woke up, Abbie woke up and neither of them were happy. But out we went to spend some time with Justin. I felt like he was in need of some attention himself.

But you can't have fresh fall'in snow without enjoying a yummy snow cone.and you can't enjoy a yummy snow cone without being in need of some hot chocolate to warm the little body from the inside out!

And in the end it makes all the hassle of the day

WORTH IT!

Sisters

It has been ALOT of fun watching Allie with her new baby sister. She has been such a big helper and surprisingly I haven't seen any jealousy. In fact every time she sees Abbie she says "it's still my turn. I need to hold her on my yap". She sure loves her little sister and you can already tell that Little Abbie is going to LoVe her big sissy...

Abbie Mae