Changing my world....

We got a double jogger! I am so excited and have already used it almost every day. We had been looking for one forever on Craig's List. I wanted a good one cause I've heard pretty bad things about the cheap ones. The one we got is similar to the "Bob". It is a Kool Stop and originally they sell for $450 and we got it for super cheap. The lady selling it had used it about 3 times. The tread on the tires was not even worn at all. I tried it out at her house and then went to our local Bike/Running store to see if they had any used ones and they had a Kool Stop new one for $469 so I knew it would be good. It is really light of course so are our kids, but it is really not hard to push or turn at all. It helps on the days when it is nice outside and I don't want to drive to the gym. Anyways, I recommend it for those with two!

Easter Pics...

Our second family picture of 2008!

Mike looking handsome and Anna so cute!

Ellie on the way to church

Ellie quickly found out there was candy in the eggs!

Happy Easter and more...

We are back to the blogging world after a weeks vacation. I've enjoyed catching up on all your lives! We celebrated Jesus this morning at Watermark. It was a great celebration and then we went to a brunch/egg hunt at a friend's house. Ellie was all over finding all of the eggs and especially loved finding out that many of them had candy. We just got home from a short trip to Arkansas to stay at one of our timeshares. It was a great trip and I think I'll leave you our "Top Ten" of the week!
1.)One of our students from Raleigh came to visit us for the week. She is an awesome girl who will be transferring from Wake Tech to UNC-Wilmington in the fall. She picked a great college don't you think?
2.)Spending time with Mike and the kids w/o cell phone, internet, laundry, etc..I would have said T.V., but it is March so you know it has not turned off.
3.) Ellie playing her first mini-golf game. She loved it and preferred it over the playground. She "played" all 18 holes.
4.) My children sleeping till 9:30 everyday. We put them in the bathroom(it was really big) and it had no windows. They had no idea what time it was!
5.) Reading the book "Same Kind of a Different Me". It is set in Dallas and is a true story. It is sooooo good. You can find it at Barnes and Noble or the library.
6.) Anna is officially walking! She's been taking steps forever. However, she now walks more than crawls so I guess we have a toddler.
7.) I love to see the joy in March on Mike's face when UNC and KU win. He also is very happy when Duke loses.
8.) Our timeshare was in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas. We loved it cause it was so nice to be out of the city. It was in the mountains on a lake. It was so nice to see deer and drive on the winding AR roads. We almost floated away with all the rain we got in one day. I think it was like 8 inches. It was crazy, but so much fun.
9.) We got to see our good friend Sean from college. He is one of Mike's best friends and they live in MO. He drove down for a day and spent the night. We enjoyed eating mexican food with him. He and Mike always loved going out for mexican.
10.) Happy Easter... I was reminded again today of the hope of Jesus. How could we ever do this life without Him? It would all be so complicated, but with Jesus I have such peace and know that no matter what my hope will never be destroyed.

Blogging Break....

Well, it is spring break here like it probably is everywhere. I am going to be on a blogging break for the next week. Mike is taking off work and we have a friend visiting from NC. She was one of our students at WellSpring and is now in college. She wanted to come visit for her spring break. It was her first flight etc... really fun that she is here. Our girls are totally in love with her. It is so cute how someone new really adds some excitement to our house. Church was amazing this morning and a message that I totally recommend listening to sometime. A pastor at our church spoke on pain and suffering. His son was diagnosed with leukemia last summer while his wife was pregnant with their fourth child. His son is only four years old. He really spoke well on what to do with our pain and just when we don't get what God is doing in the midst of it. He did an amazing job and I know it related to everyone in the room in some sort of way. I don't think it is up yet on the web, but will be by tomorrow. Check out:
www.watermarkradio.com
I hope you all can reflect on this passion week about the incredible hope we have in Jesus!

DTown Commercial

We recently had Dtown (DNow) and the "sponsor" for the weekend was deodorant. There are some other really funny videos on youtube. However, I thought this one was so funny especially with Baby Penuel!

Nice day, Girls Night, and Baby...

It is a beautiful sunny day here and we have been able to spend so much more time outside. We play in the front yard a lot. I can sit on the porch and the girls can run around in the grass. We see the neighbors and lots of people walking outside. I know in just a few short months it will be to hot to do this during the day.

Last night was a girls night and we had so much fun! It has been on the calendar for 2 weeks or so and the timing was perfect cause I really needed a break from the kids and be with adults! I got to go out with Julia Morrison (aka old seminary friend) they go to Watermark and her husband finishes up seminary in May. We are also friends with 2 other couples that the Morrison's told us about and Mike works with them. It was so great and Mike got to hang out with David. They took the girls out for dinner and Anna actually fell asleep at their apartment so we ended up being that their place till after 11. It was so fun to spend time with them.

Anna's favorite word and her first word was "baby". She says it all the time and it is so cute. I am now a nanny PT for a sweet baby that comes to our house a few days a week. It has been a really great job and the girls have done really well with her. Anna loves to make her smile and Ellie likes to give her the paci. She reminds me she's a big girl and doesn't need a Paci. It is really nice to be a paci-free home. I do not miss looking for that thing! Anyways, I hope you all have a great day and that you get to enjoy nice weather!

Our not so snowy day....

Ellie and her favorite friend next door!

Anna looking cold!

Love this picture!

Sweet Anna

A picture to frame

Mom, Is this all the snow?

Well, we only got a 1/2 inch of snow and it has already melted. However, so many other places near us got tons of snow. Oh well, I did get some great pics this morning at 7:30 A.M.. I don't think I've ever been out this early to play in the snow!

Read this blog...

Hi friends and I hope you are all having a good Friday. We got 1/2 inch of snow and it was such a disappointment cause 15 minutes from us got 3 inches and an hour from us they got 8 inches. Oh well, I will post some fun pics when we were outside this morning at 7:30 A.M.. Wow, I've never been out that early to play in the snow. Anyways, for a good laugh today you need to go check out my friend Cassie's blog. Mike and I both LOL last night cause we so relate to the last picture. Go to our links and click on
The Oake's! Enjoy your day

SNOW!

Yea!!!! I am so excited... we love snow and lots of it which is a problem here in TX. However, I just saw on the news that we could get 3-5 inches. I'm pretty sure we will have winter weather coverage from now to midnight on our local channels. They might take a break for AI results show. I will be relaxing now at home enjoying it before it melts. Have a great afternoon.
*I think E is taking a nap!

Nap Struggles...

I have a quick question for my blogging friends... so we took Ellie's paci away about a month ago. She did really well at first and there were no problems with her going to bed at night. However, the last week or so she will not take a nap. She seems sort of tired, but not like she used to be when she was younger. She used to miss maybe one nap a month where she was just not tired and she would sleep for 2-3 hours. Lately, she just talks, laughs, plays, etc... I cannot get her to calm down. We replaced the paci with a little stuffed animal cause she is all about something to hold onto while asleep. I put her down and she never really screams to get out for atleast 45 minutes so I do get some quiet time, but I miss my 2-3 hours of solitude. I go in lay her back down and go through the whole night night routine. I discipline her probably 3 times during our battle of the nap. She is wired just like her daddy and could stay up until midnight if we would let her. However, I know she is tired cause the past couple of nights we've gotten in the car to go somewhere for the evening and she falls asleep in like 5 minutes. Any advice for my non-napping toddler?!!! I would watch out by saying my toddler naps so well cause I used to say that and now look where we are at these days!

Celebrate Recovery

Celebrate Recovery from Steve V on Vimeo.

Here's a video my friend Steve from church made to share with our body what Celebrate Recovery is doing in the lives of believers here at Watermark...