memories...

we have had such a fun sunshiny week

two things i don't want to forget that happened last week...

1) Sunday after Reeser woke up from her nap (before I even got her out of her crib) she was saying, "reese read Bible mommy? little bible mommy? reese read it" - and that in itself was enough to melt my heart! So I got her up and let her have her little Bible to read. After a few minutes she set her Bible down, opened it up and starting "reading" it, mumbling in her own little world. I watched from around the corner and heard her start saying "Jesus Heals" and nodding to the Bible. she repeated it over and over. oh my word. soooo sweet. I know that's what they've been learning in Sunday School and during Tuesday morning bible study bc I saw it on the newsletter. They talk about the letter H and how it stands for Jesus Heals. Wow. Her little ears are listening!! I am just so thankful that a) she has started enjoying playing in the nursery at church instead of just crying the whole time and b) that she is learning about Jesus from all the sweet, wonderful, servant-hearted workers in there. Thank you, nursery workers in the walkers class! You are helping us build such a valuable foundation in our little daughters life. I pray so often that we will find another great church in Des Moines where I know our whole family is being poured into and challenged.


2) Reese's new phrase that she says 24-7 is "come on mommy. lets go." when she wants to do anything. play outside. get the bubbles. play with chalk. color. get juice. change clothes. get in the car. put on her shoes. all the time. all day. she says "come on mommy. lets go" usually its followed by a big jump and some excitement. :) the other day after dinner I was still sitting at the table and reese was in the living room probably playing with her thomas the train puzzle and saying "creeky cranky" over and over (ha) and she wanted me to join and was saying "come on mommy. lets go" over and over. finally she came over to me. put her hand on my back and started pushing and saying it. trying to get me out of the chair. the she just really wanted to get her point across and looked at me and said pretty sternly... "mommy! littabet! lets go" i really had to think for a second about what littabet meant.... and then it hit me. littabet=elizabeth. haha kara has been trying to teach sam to say Elizabeth and I guess thats where Reese has picked it up and linked that it was my name. hilarious. Of course Mark and I both laughed, so since then she keeps saying it sometimes during the day to get a good laugh :) love that little peanut!

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froyo date the other day... cotton candy flavor was the big hit. and yes, she HAD to bring her thomas the train puzzle in the store with us.

roadtrip

A few weeks ago Kara and Sam were taking a road trip to Branson to see her brother and his family who were on vacation there so really, Reese and I had no choice but to jump in the car with them! We were really only there for 24 hours but still had a blast. Reese just thought it was the coolest thing that Sam was at her grandparents house too. She kept saying 'Sam play gigis house too!'

these two did great on the 3.5 hour drive together! too cute sharing toys back and forth and singing songs together. 

but they were pretty happy to get out of the car when we got there. {ps. did I mention how Branson got hit by a crazy tornado?!! did you hear about it? Well our church (where my dad works) got hit and they're redoing the roof and some other things and the kiddos loved watching the big trucks working}

little tree hugger. like literally she loves to hug trees :)

this is my pretty friend kara. don't you think she should start a blog?!! :)

watching the "firetruck"

"sam blow bubbles too"

"here go maisy. maisy bubbles too. common maisy, lets go."

"dada duck" -sam

besties

we found my brothers little tool belt from when he was little and sam loved it :) and reese loved putting all the pieces together on his belt for him. what a little team they are!

reeser INSISTED on holding the huge bubble bottles while taking  picture. hilarious. 

story time with papajoe. so sweet.

what a fun quick trip with our besties! can't wait to do it again.

we're moving...

to DES MOINES, IOWA!!!!!

On Friday we found out that Mark matched in the general surgery program in Des Moines!


Mark loved it when he interviewed there and was really impressed by the program, the people and the city- which is why he ranked it so high- and since then we have only heard good things about it. Mark feels really lucky to get to be a part of this private, community-based program and I'm excited to start another new adventure as a family! I'm mostly excited because we know we'll be there for at least five years and I'm so ready to finally get to feel settled {we will have now moved four times (to four new cities!) in five years of being married} I'm not all that excited to start all over again with a new city, new friends, new church, new doctors, etc. for the 5th time in my life.... but we {and so many of you} have prayed sooooo much about this next step for our family and we know without a doubt that this is what the Lord has for us. So how could I not be excited about that!?! I have never even been to Iowa, ever, in my life. ha. thats a little scary. but from all the pictures I've see it looks like a great place. and I read somewhere that it was ranked in the top 5 places to raise a family in the country... so thats got to mean something, right? So, here's to another new city and to following God's will. It might be a little scary but we're resting in Colossians 1:17- "He is before all things and in Him all things hold together." (thank you Parker for sharing that with me!)

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enjoying spring in missouri with pooh bear the other day (and wearing her "scubs like daddy" as she says)

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 SO PROUD OF OUR BEARS MAKING IT TO THE SWEET SIXTEEN!!! SIC EM!! 

here we go again...

1st easter egg hunt

Yesterday we busted out the Easter eggs to start practicing. pretty sure we've started a new obsession. Reese loves the eggs and opening and closing them. I need to come up with something fun to hide in each egg for her to find that isn't edible. Sam came over to join in the fun and then our cute neighbors came over and we had a very fun afternoon! 

it was clearly a very tricky hunt. :) 

we've had about 52 hunts since then. in the house and outside. what have I started!

all the cute kiddos. 

Here's Reese learning how to have an Easter egg hunt for the first time before everyone came over. Too cute. and I started teaching her about Easter and why we celebrate it and she loves to chant, "Jesus is alive." So thats what she is sorta saying at the end.

waiting, trusting, hoping...

God sure knows exactly what we need every single day. this is kind of a big day in our house. and this was what I read this morning in Jesus Calling. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for your promise that we can wait expectantly in hopeful trust!

from Jesus Calling - March 12

"WAITING, TRUSTING, AND HOPING are intricately connected, like golden strands interwoven to form a strong chain. Trusting is the central strand, because it is the response from My children that I desire the most. Waiting and hoping embellish the central strand and strengthen the chain that connects you to Me. Waiting for Me to work, with your eyes on Me, is evidence that you really do trust Me. If you mouth the words "I trust You" while anxiously trying to make things go your way, your words ring hollow. Hoping is future-directed, connecting you to your inheritance in heaven. However, the benefits of hope fall fully on you in the present.

Because you are Mine, you don't just pass time in your waiting. You can wait expectantly, in hopeful trust. Keep your "antennae" out to pick up even the faintest glimmer of My presence."

honey&pops

We were so excited that Honey and Pops came to visit us last weekend!! We had so much fun playing, eating, shopping, watching reese play, watching veggie tales, and just being together. Thanks so much for making the long trip from Texas. We had a blast!!!!

 they brought R a Larry the cucumber and she just LOVES it :)

 and of course Pawpaw sent more balloons and they are all over our house. she just can't get enough. i'm thinking for her birthday we should just have a balloon party ha! is there such a thing?!

Sadly, R got sick for 24 hours while they were here. It was so sad. When she was feeling better we took her to the mall and Pops was going to take her to ride on the train that goes all around the mall. Reese loves to watch the train and we always look for it when we're there so I thought she'd be so excited. But when the train came and Pops went to get on it with her she freaked out and didn't want to do it. Poor thing. The rest of the time at the mall, every time she hear its whistle she would get so scared and say 'no train mommy! no train' it was so sad. She just wanted to watch the little train at the candy store instead. ha. sweet girl.

Donny made us a very very yummy asain dinner on Sunday night and we had fun eating and talking. 

We love you Honey and Pops!! Can't wait until the next time we get to see you.

singing veggie tales

honey got R singing the veggie tales song the other day!! priceless.

gigi&papajoe

Last weekend gigi and papajoe came for a quick 24 hour visit just to see silly reeser for a little bit. We had a fun visit and always love playing, eating and shopping together. 

I think Reese's favorite part of their visit was the silly trinkets that my dad brought her :) She loves the Cars movie and he found a little snuggie (yes, snuggie) that has mcqueen and mater on it. hilarious. she drags it around all over the house. He also got her these silly little trinkets from a convention - you know the giveaway things that have different business logos on them - R thinks they're the greatest treasure on earth. It's a little key chain flashlight that she can push and the light turns on and the other one is a stress ball but in the shape of a car. Somehow this spice bottle got into the mix of treasures that I gave her to play with in her kitchen. She pretends that its beans. I'm 100% telling the truth when I say she has been carrying those three silly little things around with her at all times for the past week and was thrilled when I showed her how to put them in her pockets the other day. You can't really tell but she as so proud of each thing in each pocket and kept taking them out and putting them back in.

its the little things.

remember reese's "new" old cowboy boots... well both soles had fallen off the shoes and they were really sort of falling apart (being 25 years old and all) so papa joe took them to a boot shop :) They brought them back this time and they are shiny red and look like new!

she set up this whole picture by herself ha - she got the baby all set up with her juice and all the accessories in order and then crawled up there with the baby and said "cheese mommy! picture!"

last week I also barely got reesieboos tiny little hairs into a teeny tiny ponytail :) cutest thing ever. it lasted about 7 minuets and then she just keep saying 'no hair mommy! no hair!' so we had to take it out. 

she also got a letter in the mail from pawpaw in amarillo with two balloons in it! oh what a great surprise. haha she was SO excited. of course they have the DonMasonBuilders logo on them and are probably 55 years old. but we love it! 

and this past weekend honey and pops came to visit!!! more on that coming...