Hillsong

Mike and I love worship music, and our favorite group by far is Hillsong. I was sceptical of the whole worship music scene a while back...I thought it was cheesy and I definitely did not listen to any of it. A few years ago, Mike challenged me to listen to a Hillsong CD. He was always playing it, so I decided to appease him and just listen. Once. Well, twice. An hour.

We love their music. It is always on playing at our house or we have the DVDs playing while we do housework. Ash and Ave can both sing almost every single song (including the guitar riffs and drum parts...scary, I know). I love hearing my kids praising the Lord in their carseats in the back. So cute! It blesses this mommy's heart.

So when we heard they were touring the USA in April, we jumped on the bandwagon to buy tickets. We ended up going to the soldout concert at Sears Center with some friends. We (my husband..) were the crazies who bought general admission tickets. Decoded that means "Standing room only...really close to the stage...so loud your ears bleed, your entire body feels the bass drum (including the credit cards in your pocket)...and you are in a mass of people praising the Lord (and not all singing on key)."

It was an awesome experience to be worshipping for 3 hours straight with thousands of strangers. We were so close to the stage, the is was just like being a church...with really cool lights, amazing sound, and thousands of people. Okay, so it wasn't like church, but it was so neat. If you don't have their CDs, check them out. Their newest is Faith+Hope+Love.

And before my husbands bashes me...yes, there is Hillsong and Hillsong United. Both equally fabulous. :)

Annie, Jr.

If you've been wondering where I've been...it is most likely at Annie, Jr. rehearsal! I have directed the musical at my school for the past three years. We have 3rd-8th grade students involved, and I love it! We've been working hard for the past two months preparing for the curtain to go up TONIGHT! The kids have been doing a fabulous job and I am so proud of them. It's fun to see this show come to life.

If you are interested in ticket info, email me and I'll leave one at the door!

Annie, Jr.
Friday, March 5th 7:00 pm
Saturday, March 6th 1:00 pm

I'll hopefully post pictures next week!

A Certain Someone's Birthday

A certain little boy in my house turned four at the end of January. Ash was so excited for his fourth birthday. I can't believe that he is already four! It feels like just yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital. He's grown up into such a sweet boy that is mommy's little helper. I am so proud to be his mommy.



He loves to help his little sister out is patient with her....even when she bites him constantly. Oh the joys of a little sister.


He loves the camera is definitely not shy. He is such a ham!



He is a daddy's boy and loves helping him. He has his daddy's personality (and mommy's "type A" OCDness).


Asher loves Slushy and he goes everywhere with him. His preschool teacher told him that Slushy was a Sled Dog. Asher was so excited that now he proudly declares that whenever someone asks about Slush.


We celebrated by taking him, Avery, and his friend Nathan to Monkey Joe's in Lake Zurich. He LOVED it and mommy got a workout!

Asher David it is such a joy to have you as my little boy! Can't wait to see what the next year of your life brings!

Because I'm a little late on my cards...

This season is a crazy time of year for everyone...especially if you're a mommy, teacher, musician, wife, or director (worse, if you combine all of the above). Needless to say, December flew by in a whirl for me this year. We did order our Christmas cards on time (mid-December), but I have to finish stamping and labeling them. We're a little behind this year, like usual.

Here's a sneak peek at our card several days after Christmas. I hope to get a blog up about having this picture taken. It was done by a friend of mine, Erica, who is FABULOUS.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season with Christ at the center.

Quotables

Some cute quotes from Asher to start a week off right...

Asher: "Hey Mom. Did you know that dogs bark when tomatoes are coming? It's true."
Me: "Um, are you sure you don't mean tornadoes?"


Asher: "Why when people lose their jobs do they catch on fire?"
Mommy: "What? Why would they catch on fire?"
Asher: "Daddy says that when someone doesn't have a job they are fired. I hope they put their shoes on."


Don't you just love what they say when they are little?

It's arrived!

Fall has arrived in full force. I LOVE the season of fall. It is my absolute favorite. The beautiful colors, the cooler air, football season, pumpkins, and the clothes are just a few of my favorite things during fall...did I mention that I LOVE fall clothes?

Due to this love, Mike and I were on the hunt in the pouring rain last night to find the perfect fall coat for Ash and Ave. They both have grown so much since last spring that their coats were up to their forearms. We were wet and cold, but it was very much needed for two freezing toddlers.

I am so excited with our cute finds. I got Ave's coat and hat at Target again this year (love that store!). They make the cutest little girl fall coats. I also found an adorable hat/mitten set to go with it and her winter coat. I can't believe that she is two and still wears 18 months though. Craziness. She is so easy to dress because she looks so darn stinkin' cute in everything! Shopping with her was a whole other story. I need advice from all you moms when it comes to shopping for toddlers (especially girls...). I had to bribe Avery with new pacies just to get her to try on the coats. If she liked them, so would walk around and tell me "Oh, mommy, Abey cute." However, if she didn't approve she would make her little pouty face and say "No, not cute for Abey." It's already starting.

Mike doubted my abilities to find a suitable coat for Ash, so he joined me at Old Navy to find this adorable coat. Mike hated it on the rack and said it looked too much like mine, but Asher looked so cute in it, he couldn't refuse. I can't believe my little boy is already wearing a 5T! He's so big!
I am certain that when he showed up for picture day at preschool today he was the cutest kid there! Mission accomplished. :)

Asher's Coat...so cute, right?

I Have a Very Happy Little Girl!

Ya'll (yes I said ya'll...digging into my southern roots) would be very depressed for my children if you saw their toy stash. I "limit" the amount of toys they are aloud to have to a bookshelf in the loft. I can't stand having a bunch of toys lying around being useless. Mike will often hide them to see if Ash or Ave ask for them, and if not, they go to Goodwill. I know, I'm a mean parent.

With this rule, poor Ave has not gotten much in the "girly" toy department. She is happy to play with her brother's trains and cars...even if he is not so thrilled. Lately, she has been getting extremely girly and loving her play stroller and babies. I felt bad that she had nothing girly, but I wasn't about to go out a spend a bunch of money on toys for no reason. So when I received an email this week from a wonderful mother at my school for girls toys, I jumped on it...not even knowing what they were. I was thinking a few dolls, maybe another little stroller or baby clothes would be more than fabulous. When she said she had a kitchen, baby station, and vacuum I was through the roof! Avery would LOOOVVEEE it!

I went over and picked it all up yesterday and brought it home before I picked the kids up at the sitter's house. I wanted to have it all set up for when Ave got home. I wish I would have had my camera for when Avery saw everything! It was like Christmas morning. Come to think of it, I should have saved it...oh well, it was worth the hours spent playing with it.

What a blessing to receive all of this! Thank you!