reunited.

the lack of blogging over the past week has been because we travelled up here to washington d.c. to be with brenner for the last two weeks of his air force duty on andrews air force base.

my mom flew with us.  she will receive extra jewels on her crown in heaven for doing so.

it actually wasn't too bad considering the fact that we had 4 checked bags, 1 carry-on suitcase, 1 double stroller, 2 car seats, 2 purses, 1 backpack and 1 diaper bag.  

oh yeah, and 2 newborns and a toddler!

all went surprisingly well, although we were certainly tired and in need of a margarita when we landed.  

so anyway, i will write more later, but here is a little of what we have been doing since getting up here. 

playing with daddy!

random pictures.

sweet clara beth snoozing on my lap.

 big brother helping elise with tummy time.

clara in the morning.  it's hard to stay upright as a burrito.

 sweet little naked girls.  look at those bellies.

 checking on sisters.

 mommy and clara.  

awkward pictures of my children.

here are some of the awkward photos of my precious children that i took last night.

bless you!

 mad sister.

 sister stinks .

 guppie impersonation. 

 cheesey cheese.

 why i oughta.....

i love my beautiful children!

  

2 months old.

my babies are two months old.  

 two months people.  

ridiculous.  

i have been up in the middle of the night every night for two months.  

i have called the couch 'bed' for two months.

i have embraced the glories of caffeine like never before. 

 but it has been two months of looking into these beautiful faces. 

two months of thanking the Lord for delivering my angels safely.

two months of love, joy and overwhelming happiness at having my daughters here with me.  

monkey see, monkey do.

one of the interesting things about nursing this time around is that i now have an audience.  

and look at what the little guy now wants to do. 

lovely.

he will be so glad i documented these moments when he gets older.

preciousness.

the girls are starting to be a lot more awake and alert these days.  

they have stayed in that sleep all day newborn phase much longer than cole, 

probably because they were early and needed a few more weeks to catch up.

but now they are starting to smile, talk and be awake more during the day. 

and they are starting to interact a little more with each other. 

here is my sweet elise. 

elise is usually much happier sleeping the day away but she is very interested here in her mobile.

clara, our observer.  she has always studied people and her surroundings since she was born.  

hanging out in the crib and taking notice of each other.

clara trying to bite her sister. 

sister punching back.  

the sisterly love is strong already.  

pictures with grandma.

grandma and her 3 texas great-grandkids.

 3 generations.

easter festivities.

we went for an easter egg hunt.....

we got easter baskets......

 we ate easter candy after breakfast....

 and we dyed easter eggs.  

so much fun!!!

happy easter.

today is easter and wow has it ever been a wild and wonderful day.  

it was touch and go for a while if we were ever going to get out the door with all 3 kids.  

my grandma, aunt, dad, mother in law and brother in law all went to church with the kids and i and the house was a little crazy as we all got ready to leave.  

but despite it all, i got to spend a few moments by myself with my bible.  

never mind the fact that i was pumping at the same time.  

(multi-tasking is a mom's middle name!)

i knew that i needed to let go my preconceived notions of the perfect easter pictures, easter baskets, easters outfits, easter lunch and all the other things that really don't matter on this day.  instead, i needed to focus on Christ.  about who this day is all about.  i read out of the book of matthew about Christ's resurrection and i prayed that the truth of His life, death, and resurrection would be proclaimed this morning in church.  i prayed for my family that their hearts would be touched.  

and as i sat in church and sang about Christ conquering death and his taking our sin as his own, 

i held my baby and was full of emotion.  

i don't thank Christ enough for his taking the sins of my children.  

why does that not impact me more on a daily basis?  

what in the world could be more important than thanking Him for not only the gift of life for me, but for my kids?

Christ died for me.  He died for my kids.  

i cannot thank Him enough for giving my children the gift of salvation.  

it was a wonderful easter and i will post more pictures tomorrow but for now, take a moment and thank Jesus Christ for dying for you and your family.  and more importantly, rising from the grave and conquering death, sin and hell so that we can have eternal life with Him. 

making cakes.

my aunt karyl and my grandma travelled down from tulsa, ok to visit this past week.  

in addition to holding babies for hours on end, we made cakes for easter and my grandma's 98th birthday.  

here are cole and grandma making her famous chocolate cake.

 here is our wonderful easter bunny cake!  

(complete with a lick of icing in the bottom left corner courtesy of cole)  

 a boy and his cake. 

 complete with his green teeth from eating the bunny grass (coconut).

as if we weren't going to have enough sugar in this house this easter weekend!