April

Easter Weekend: We had a very exciting Easter weekend this year as Courtney joined the Catholic Church. Many of you know that last August Courtney and I started the RCIA program at Prince of Peace Catholic Church and have been attending classes every Thursday evening for 2 hours. It has been one of the most rewarding and educational experiences that we have gone through. I have fallen deeper in love with my faith and could not be more proud of Courtney.

So, in celebrating Courtney's dad and Rose and his sister's family came to KC to par-take in the church festivities and his confirmation at the Easter Vigil. We also hosted our first Easter brunch Sunday morning. Although the weekend was full of church events, we still managed to slip in some egg dying and a quick egg hunt for the kids.

Saturday Night at the Easter Vigil....sorry the pictures are a little blurry!

Courtney with his Sponsor and some new friends we have made along this journey. 

He is officially a Catholic! 

Easter Morning Brunch

The Easter Bunny came of course

In preparation for Easter this year I really enjoyed trying to teach and show Gavin the beauty of the Easter season. So we spent time working on crafts to demonstrate just how much Jesus loves us. 

"BIG" Boy Room: Well, with a little one on the way it was time for Gavin to graduate into a big boy bed. So, after Easter we finished up his new room (which still is not all the way done....need to hang some more things on the walls). We decided to move him right into a full size bed, and he is doing great!!! I'm so proud of him!! He was really excited about his new bedding and loved helping us get his room ready! 

Trip to Nebraska: Now that it is spring that means hunting season! So, we headed to my dad's so Courtney could go turkey hunting. It was an extra special trip as my brother Curtis flew in from Florida to stay for a few days at my dad's and it was Kim's birthday! It was wonderful getting to spend some time with my brother since we don't get to see him much! Naturally it rained one of the days so we headed over to the SAC museum to check out all the airplanes! 

April Moments: Here are just a few random moments captured throughout the month. 

Gavin practicing to be a big brother with baby Stephen. 

Gavin and I out on a "date night" while dad was at his men's retreat. How lucky am I to have this cutie has my date. 

Catholic Preschool: I decided it would be nice to start working with Gavin on some pre-school activities.  Once the baby comes I don't want him to feel left out and I thought it would nice for us to have some one-on-one time set aside every week. So, I found a hands-on catholic preschool curriculum that I thought would be prefect for Gavin.  The program teaches everything from letters to numbers, colors, shapes, counting etc. and most importantly it teaches about God! 

Every two weeks we focus on a new letter of the alphabet with a corresponding lesson, craft, saint, and bible verse. We just started three weeks ago, and we spent the first two weeks working on the letter "A" and this past week starting working on the letter "B". So far I'm loving the curriculum and Gavin really seems to be engaged. We are doing preschool three days a week for about an hour and half (or until he hits his max...lol). So far some of Gavin's favorite activities include: praying the rosary, singing songs, crafts that include treats, and our unit studies which teach and follow the Liturgical year of the church. Here are just a few pictures of some activities and crafts that Gavin has done. 

Our Letter Box: Gavin and I find items around the house that start with that letter

Letter "A" crafts

Rosary Snack: raisins and white chocolate chips! 

Letter Box "B" items

Baby Baptism Craft for the Letter "B"

Baby: We had an additional ultrasound this month at 28 weeks.....so we got to see out little peanut again! They were not able to get all the pictures needed at our 20 week ultrasound, so they had us come back at 28 weeks. No worried though everything looked great!!! We are so in love and ready to meet this baby!

Last but not least: April's Belly Picture..... 31 weeks Pregnant (April 26th)

March

St. Patrick's Day Parade: The weekend before St. Patrick's Day we attended our first St. Patty's Day Parade in Brookside with some great friends. Of course we had a little celebration afterwards.

March's Belly Picture.....25 Weeks Pregnant! I really popped this month (March 15th) 

Silly Pictures: Sometimes you just have to capture those silly moments.

 Why not wear your sunglasses in the morning while brushing your teeth......I love this little boy!

He also finds it necessary to have his "Fire and Rescue" pillow for extra comfort in the car. 

Little boys don't come without a little dirt every know and then.

February

Grandpa Pat and Grandma Rose Visit: We have been busy these past few months with visitors, which has been great. Pat and Rose came for a visit on their way back from Florida. As usual we played a lot of rounds of cards and the boys got a few small projects done.

The boys working on the car! Gavin was right there to lend a helping hand....lol

Grandpa fixing Gavin's wagon, so he could haul his money around

20 Weeks Pregnant: Well, we have made it half way this month. We had our 20 week ultrasound on Feb. 11th. The baby weighed in at 1lb and had a heartbeat of 147. We are very thankful that everything looks good and baby seems healthy! I have been feeling great with this pregnancy so far and am getting really excited to meet this baby!

 February's Belly Picture.....21 Weeks Pregnant (Feb. 15th) 

Celebrating Valentine's Day: I love craft projects when I have the time. So, my friend Jennifer and I had a coffee and crafts morning and enjoyed making some small little valentine crafts to incorporate around the house.

I got to celebrate valentine's day a little early this year (Friday the 13th) with a handsome little dude. We started our morning out getting some valentine donuts and then headed to music class.

Who doesn't like waking up from a nap with "sweet" treats and valentine presents! 

Snow Day (inside): When you can't go outside to play we bring the snow inside!

Aquarium Visit: We headed downtown to the aquarium with Jen and Isaac one afternoon. They boys had a blast of course. We even had lunch at Fritz's train station.

A quick photo with the Lego Lady! lol

Our little Picasso: Enjoying some afternoon painting

A Real Snow Day: We finally got enough snow to actually go outside and play last weekend. Gavin was a big help with shoveling the driveway.