Easter thoughts...

As we have been going through these weeks of Lent, I realize how many similar feelings I have now to those I have at Christmas time.  I want to have the kids enjoy the silly traditions but not miss the sacred ones, the "Why?"  to all that we are doing.  For those who love Jesus,  Easter means SO much to us.  If He hadn't risen, the story would be so different!  It takes Him from a great man and teacher to the Messiah and Savior! 

So we will be doing some eggs and bunnies, but we will also talk about the miraculous wonder that is the resurrection!  

Here is some of the Easter decorations that we have around our home:

Here are some reading recourses that we have loved from years passed and are excited to use again:

And some other fun ones that we pull out each year at this time:

Our prayer each year is that our hearts would fall more and more in love with Jesus as we attempt to comprehend the reality of the sacrifice that He made on the cross... 

Venison...

I have been in a few conversations that have come around to Kit's hunting and have been asked, "So what do you do with the meat?  You ACTUALLY eat it?"  It's understandable.  Venison is a new world for me so I have been researching ways to prepare it.

Here have been some favorites so far:

In the crock pot, we combined the unseasoned deer meet with these ingredients, plus potatoes and carrots and served it over rice.  We loved it!

(4-5 hours on low)

Then we added the Italian seasoned meet to tomato sauce that Kit had prepared and frozen:

We just let it simmer on the stove...

We also made tacos/burritos with it by just adding taco seasoning.  Another hit!

Kit did take some of the larger cuts and marinated them in these:

(After some research, these seemed to be the most popular flavors/brand...)

And then had them spend some time in the dehydrator.  Another tasty option.

Ryder is always up for being my taste tester and his opinion always makes a dish better❤︎:

The thing that matters the most is that we are using it and appreciating it.  The family has loved everything so far which makes it all worth it!

inspiration

Eden and I recently went on a little "field trip" to see spring holiday decorations.

 She was SO EXCITED!

 Around each corner there were tons of flowers and ribbons and vignettes that just made her little creative heart so happy!

Seeing things through my kids eyes will always be the absolute best!

We decided to go home and pull out our spring/Easter decorations.  We can't wait to show you!

These are the days that I will miss when my girl is in kindergarten each day....

I'm going to enjoy them to the absoluitle fullest!

A little date...

Ryder recently had a revised school schedule for parent/teach conferences.  I capitalized on it and decided to pull him out early while Eden was in school.

 We talked about life and how he was feeling about things... What his thoughts on being an older brother were and how sometimes not listening gets his mom SUPER frustrated.  We talked about how he feels in charge (Responsible) of Eden to make good choices and how he REALLY sometimes just wants to do his own thing and not listen.  I told him how important he was.  How seen he was.  How appreciated he was.  How I can't imagine life with out him and how much we love him.  The time may have been only about 15-20 minutes but I could tell it filled up his little cup.  Mine too...❤︎   

Then we headed over to renew our library card and get a stack of books to read.  When we first moved to Tustin, it was the FIRST thing I did: get a library card.  It made me feel like I belonged and that we were making roots.  Isn't it funny how a place like a library can do that?  We have to renew every 3 years, so we headed out with a new card and a ton of FUN books!

For SO many reasons, this day was exactly what we needed. Just us! Sometimes "Momming" is really hard, but sometimes you are given the opportunity to realize how AMAZING you have it and you wouldn't have any of it any other way... I look forward to more moments like this with my little man!❤︎

Not your typical marriage conference...

This past Saturday, Kit and I attended a one day marriage retreat led by our close friends, Mark and Jamie.  They had titled the day "I See You." Mia and Papa came out to be with the kiddos and we were so thankful to be part of the experience!It was held in their Mentor's home in Newport Coast.  The sun was shining, the view was breathtaking, and together it made for the perfect setting for the retreat.

 One of our favorite nooks:

 The view in the back yard:

We adore these two and could not be more thankful for who they are and how they impact our lives!

 We tease that Mark was Kit's "first wife"...
Completely appropriately titled...

We had a time of sharing our stories, then taking time to hear their heart for the time together.
We were given time to sit with our sapouses all over the house insode and outside to answer questions and affirmations for our spouses.

We then took those to lunch off site where Kit and I decided to got to Tommy Bahamas:
(Our waiter Chris is one of our church interns and he too such good care of us!)

We then went back to the house where we did some prayer exercises (Listening prayer, prayers of blessing, praying scripture over each other, and listening to see if the Lord had anything for us to specifically hear.
It was such a powerful time for us! 
(Part of it was adapted from "Can You Hear Me" by Brad Jersak)

After that time, the couples all came together to share any highlights and then we went into an hour of Lawn games.  There was SO much laughing (and uncoordinated moves on my part)...
But play ended up being such a sweet time for everyone!
We had dinner, worked on purpose statements for our families, shared things that we want to take away by writing down "Vows" that we will commit to after today.

The time ended with worship...
The Thrashes lead the day with such intention and purpose and I have never been to anything like it.  The experience filled my heart with such JOY.
Not only am I INCREDIBLY grateful for my husband and our marriage, but for the community that is around us, supporting our marriage and our family!

We love you Mark and Jamie!

Thank you for creating the environment for us to listen, grow, and learn together!

all the silly and the sweet...

I work one day a week as a Postpartum nurse.  So when people as "What I do" I tend to say I'm primarily a stay at home mom.  Before I had my kiddos, I would ask friends with little kids to try to describe a day in their life.  After I had Ryder, I realized what a ridiculous question that is.  Every day can feel different, even in the EXACT same routine and schedule.  

I was looking through photos the other day to find a picture for Eden and these particular pictures made my "mom" heart so happy because they capture that whole "different in the same"...

I don't want to forget all the silly and the sweet moments...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were in Hobby Lobby and she had to go to the bathroom.  RIGHT outside the door was the Easter stuff and we stayed there for a full 5 minutes while she tried all the Easter glasses on.  These were her favorite:

She can do pretend play in her room:

Then I will be invited to play and there is inevitably an intricate story line that I am to follow:

(Also she makes them outfits with her washcloths and hair clips...I am also required to do different voices for different princesses...))

The kids only get individual screen time on the weekends.  On this particular Sunday, Kit had come home between services to nap and Ryder had taken it upon himself to protect his dad from anyone that would wake him up (A.K.A. the littlest Rae):

A BIG Costco run will always lead to the food court because at some point we have bribed them with smoothies, pizza, or both...:

(These photos were appropriately called "pizza beards" and immediately made me wish that I had a diaper bag with wipes from the good old days...)

It doesn't matter if we are watching something or reading together, this is the position that Eden will be in:

(Eden calls it "Nuggle Time" and I will CRY RIVERS when she doesn't want to snuggle anymore...)

While I do yard work, she will blow bubbles until she almost passes out and is upset when you tell her she has had enough, even, when I SWEAR, she is lightheaded and ready to fall over.

(Bubble machines?  She doesn't think they are as fun as doing it yourself...)

"Mom, the flowers match my shoes!"

Which meant that it took Eden an extra 7 minutes to get in the car to go to preschool because she just wanted to see her boots with the flowers:

Dressing up in her "Pupcake" dress, requesting her glasses and then giving me a thumbs up when I asked her if she needed anything else:

(Things I see in my rear view mirror...)

Batting practice, because after baseball, she realizes she wants to be EXACTLY like her bother, and Ryder is sweet to comply...

Burning off energy after school,  while it rained outside:

How thankful I am that I get to be their mama and watch them grow!  On some days, these phases seem so short, and on others, they seem to go on forever... But regardless, at the end of whatever kind of day we have had, I love that these are the kiddos that I get to tuck in smooch and spend my days loving...❤︎