Easter

We spent Easter with our dear friends and had such a great day.  We love living life and doing big and small together.  

First Sleepover

We had our first friend sleepover.  Max came over for a couple nights after his little brother broke his leg.  We decided to have a blast together.  We saw a movie, went on walks, played a ton, and even worked out together.  We love how well our boys get along.  We have been blessed with this friendship.

Thumbs up

Movie snacks

Loved the movie!

4 out of 5 kiddos swinging

exercising

Tennessee

Haddie and I headed to Murfreesboro for a few days.  It was so so so so so good to visit Keva and the family.  We had such a great time just hanging out and chatting.  I love getting to get a glimpse of what her daily life is like.  When they lived here, we saw each other at least 3 times a week so I knew basically all the details of their day to day.  So it is awesome getting to reconnect and live for a bit together instead of miles and miles apart.  

Haddie is a great traveler

BONUS- I got to see Shannon who recently moved to TN and Tori who is a mom to 3 now since the last time I visited.  

Selfie fun

Not a bad pic taken by a kiddo (and finally a picture of us together!)

Us and our wild crew because we always forget to take pictures when we are together.

Charlotte weekend

Memorial Day weekend, we visited some of our college buddies in Charlotte.  Except that we didn't get any sleep (rotten babies), we had such a great time.  Our kids got along so well.  And man was it good to catch up.  We love us some Williams family.  

Lemonade for the Least of These

We had the honor and privilege to do a lemonade stand with some friends.  This wasn't just any lemonade stand.  This was a nationwide event.  Our friend Ava Forrest, who is 9 by the way, organized lemonade stands to give money to the orphanage in Ethiopia where her little brother stayed before he came home. Ya'll this little girl raised over $8,000 to send.  If a 9 year old can do that, what the heck am I doing all day long?! If you want more info visit Lemonade for the Least of These

Andy and Lindsay got married

Our sweet, dear Lindsay got married.  We have known and loved Lindsay since she lived across the street from Spence in college.  She is pretty much a part of our family and we see her multiple times a week.  When she started dating Andy, we knew he was different.  We have fallen in love with how well he loves her and how much he has jumped into our family.  Spence was honored to perform the ceremony.  It was the ultimate worlds colliding wedding with a ton of our college buddies and many of our friends from here all in the same place at the same time.  It was a great wedding and we look forward to what God will do through your marriage. 

Married!!!

They had a photo booth and it was so fun!

Haddie is seriously the best baby. She was passed all around and still was so sweet.  

O'Brien's Moving Party

Our sweet, dear friends Brad, Jena-Marie, Calliah Grace, and Elsa O'Brien are moving to Baltimore to start a church in a city that desperately needs the gospel.  We are a bit heart broken to lose them here if I am being honest.  Brad performed our wedding ceremony, so he holds a special place in our hearts.  (Yes, that was the super fly guy who was unfazed by the passing out groomsmen in the middle of the ceremony).  And Jena, gosh, I don't even know how to begin to talk about my friendship with Jena-Marie.  It literally hurts me that she is leaving.  We became close through a very special small group that we were a part of.  Our hearts are forever knit because God saw fit for us to walk through some of our toughest days together when we both suffered losing babies.  Verses texted to me from her in the middle of her own crisis, were some of the sweetest that I recieved because she was literally in the depths with me. 

We are praying for God to be glorified and the city of Baltimore to be blessed with Redeemer City Church.  If you or someone you know is in that area, please find out more here.

 

Ellie gave Elsa some baby love

 of course the kiddos just wanted to sit and read the Bible.

OR kids had to be broken out of rooms becuase they locked themselves into offices...

Emie and Ellie

We weren't able to spend quite as much time as we would have liked with the Eayrs. Between kiddos getting sick, adults getting sick, Christmas, plus traveling there just weren't many days in there. We got to have lunch one day and then a couple visits. It will just have to hold us over until either we can get over there or they get back here :-/
Emie is a walking machine. She started while they were here which was wonderful for Amber's parents to get to see. Ellie didn't know what to think of someone her size running circles around her. It was so awesome getting to see my best friend be a mom. And she is such a good mom.
The last picture is my favorite. We will say this is what happened when we told Emie she was going back home, but really she was just having a moment and we plunked her down for the photo op :)

Ellie meets her BFFRSA (Best Friend From RSA)

The Eayr's are here!  The Eayr's are here!  I have been counting down the days until I could get to the airport and meet Amber, Trent, and Emie.  I have been waiting 10 months to meet Emie.  It is so weird that Amber and I are being moms with out each other.  I'm not gonna go there right now though.  Our girls are going to be great friends no matter what, we have already talked about it and decided.  They are here for almost a month and it is going to be so great hanging out and just getting to live life together for a bit.

 

Ellie and Emie meet

Instantly best friends

Ellie getting some AAA love

Uncle T is everyone's fave

In the background is Jonathon meeting Emie (such a sweet uncle)

Emie decided she wanted Ellie's giraffe (Marie decided immediately to go buy one)

My best friend is a mom

The girls

I was a bit worried that Trent wouldn't give her back

To the moon

For Zeke's birthday, he was given money to go to DefyGravity.  I had heard of it, but thought it was for older kids.  Our friend Leslie had taken Max and they loved it.  They gave us a trip there for Zeke's birthday.  Imagine a room that is totally trampolines.  It is so cool.  It's a bit pricey for what it is, $12 per person for 1 hour.  But there is a pretty good deal for kids 6 and under it is $8 and you can "check in" on facebook and get another dollar off.  Parents of kids 6 and under jump for free with them.  So our family can go for $14.  Also, I recommend calling and getting a flight reservation.  They fill up really fast and are sold out regularly.  The 9-10 hour is for 6 and unders only so that is the time I recommend going.  We have already been back with friends, and can't wait to go again!

It's in a pretty non-descript office building looking area

Seriously, every boy's dream

Ellie got into it too

I'm not sure if this pit is incredibly cool or incredibly gross...

Spence definitely had the most fun

I'm sure some teenagers would love playing basketball in here (One Tree Hill, jump ball anyone?)

This is the second time we went.  These are the McClellan and Shelton boys

They really liked these that went up onto the wall

Ellie jumped some with mama this time

Our friend Alicia loved it

Abby's boys think she is nuts ;)

Zeke's Pre-birthday Pics

We are so blessed with some great friends that we have met through doing some marriage mentoring.  (really, we have learned and benefitted so much more from these couples than they could have from us)  The wife of one of our sweet couples have busted onto the photo scene with their best pal.  I have been dying to get Whitney over to take pictures of the kiddos and she had the best idea.  She came a few days before Zeke's party and took some pictures so we could have some to display.  Here are just a few that she snapped.  We printed one (using Staples engineer size for about $8!) and put it up to go along with all of our Olympics memorabilia.  Also, if you want Whitney and Amy to capture your moments check them out.  I highly recommend them and can't wait to use them again in the near future.

 This picture makes me want to cheer and cry at the same time.  He is so big now!

 Typical Ben, always a ham!

 This girl was so serious... or she was being blinded by the sun

 This was our picture we chose to display, I just love how she did the colors in this

 We may or may not have been chanting 'USA!" at the top of our lungs

 He will be great at giving acceptance speeches

 He will be great at stand up comedy

In our book, they are all gold medal winners :)