Easter: A Time to Celebrate

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

I remember excitedly shouting this at church on Easter morning every year as a child. And oh how joyful this statement is.....if only I could remember with a thankful heart EVERY morning what Jesus did for me and for all of us because He loves us.

This holy week has amazing significance for me. It's good to be brought back to the basics of what my relationship with Christ is really all about. How awesome it is that the son of God was given to pay the penalty for my sin. To forgive me, to give me eternal life in heaven, and to bless me with abundant life TODAY!

This year my heart is specifically stirred to remember that I do not need to "just get through the day," only to wake up and do it all again tomorrow, but instead I can take hold of the abundant life God has for me right now.

How will I respond to that? I admit, I have often lost sight of that gift and felt like I was just getting by, or burdened with too many responsibilities and cares of this world to even accept God's goodness; however, I need not live that way. What Jesus accomplished on the cross has freed me from "just surviving" AND so much more. I can be joyful, I can experience His peace, His love, His goodness, and I can enjoy the freedom of forgiveness, all of this and so much more as I'm daily surrendering my life to Him. It's all so simple, yet so SIGNIFICANT that it is sometimes difficult to wrap my head around its entirety.

This I know: because of Jesus, I have SO many reasons to CELEBRATE every day! For HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

May you also experience the abundant life and freedom He gives. Happy Easter!

Some Favorite Portraits

Some of our most recent portraits of the kiddos.....

A Trip to Grandpa and Grandma's

A couple weekends ago we made a trip up to Bellevue, WA, just north of Seattle, to visit Sheldon's grandparents. It was very special to spend time visiting with them and staying overnight. We especially enjoyed hearing some of their life experiences and memories! The kids also loved seeing their "GGs" (Great Grandparents) as they call them.

Braden likes to play outdoors, and kept trying to get Great Grandpa to go outside and build a campfire in the rain. The campfire didn't happen, but the rain finally let up enough to go outside for a bit.

Sheldon with his Grandpa Ervin Nalos

Braden and Ashlyn also thought it was pretty special to sleep NEXT to eachother in sleeping bags ALL night long, something they haven't done before. No one got much sleep, but there sure was a lot of giggling and fun for both of them!

Sharing a yummy waffle breakfast together.

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Nalos for a chance to spend a weekend with you. You mean so much to us!

A Window into our World

I often have a difficult time coming up with an answer for the question "What have you been up to?". There's not a long list of activities or much of anything to show for, however the normal things of life at home ALWAYS keep me busy. Here's a few of our "normal" life things that we've been up to recently...

Sunshine and Outdoors

We have been enjoying some beautiful weather with sunshine and highs in the mid 50's. Now 50's with rain and 50's with sunshine feel VERY DIFFERENT, so we are thankful for sunshine this time of year!

We take full advantage of the nice weather by playing outside for as long as the kids will stand because they always need to "burn off some energy!" There are also 3 kids about the same age as our kids just next door to us, so they come to play sometimes. This is a nice option, especially for Braden. One afternoon Braden, Ashlyn, Nana JJ and I walked to the library and then to Starbucks for a treat (about a 2 mile round trip). This was a fun way to enjoy the outdoors, get some exercise, do an errand, and enjoy time together!

We even enjoyed a picnic on our warm (south) deck....press the play button to watch the video clip below.

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Now to completely change the subject, here's a great conversation I overheard in the car the other day.......

For context, I'm driving with the 2 kiddos in the back, and coming upon the school zone that has flashing lights and a speed limit of 20 mph. Braden knows that when the lights flash, cars need to go slow. He could tell I was coming upon the zone going faster than I should so he says....

Braden:"Mama, you need to slow down."
Ashlyn: "Or you'll go to jail..."
Braden: "No Ashlyn, she won't go to jail, but she'll get a ticket and have to pay LOTS of money! Then we will be poor and won't have any money for food!"

Needless to say, I slowed down! Although I've never gotten a ticket, Braden still likes to hold me accountable (and I've never mentioned anything about not having enough money for food?!).

Ashlyn the Lumberjack??!!

As I mentioned in our Christmas letter we checked out a video called "Lenny the Lumberjack" from the library way back in November. Recently, the kids asked me to check it out again. I guess Lenny has made quite the impression. It must be fun to watch trees get cut down with big chain saws! Anyway, as expected, Braden likes to pretend he's a lumberjack. However, Ashlyn is right on board with this lumberjack stuff! The other day she was all dressed up in her pink shirt and "dress-up" princess high heels (which was HER idea) and would hold up her toy spatula and say, "This is my chainsaw, gonna go cut down the tree!" And off she would run in her high heels with her "chain saw!" Quite comical if you ask me!

Braden + Sound Effects

Braden is one of those kiddos who is not just seen, but ALSO heard! If he's not talking, he's making NOISE. When he plays he uses sound effects for almost everything. It's fun to hear him tell a story about something because he uses his entire body to tell the story along with the best SOUND EFFECTS ever. I captured one of his many sound effects on video. Hope you enjoy his impression of a rocket taking off...

Our New Baby Niece

Sheldon's sister Chandelle and her husband Michael had their 3rd daughter, June Margaret, on Jan. 16, 2009. Here's a newborn photo of June and the family. How exciting it is to have a new family member and another cousin for the kids!

Fun with Cousins and Papa for the Superbowl

Well, this is just a few of the MANY stories I could tell, but I hope you've enjoyed this little window into our world!

WE LOVE LEGOS...

My kids just LOVE legos! Braden got a tub of the Duplo legos when he turned 3, and played with those so much that when he turned 4 he got a MASSIVE tub of them, and at age 5 he's still loving them!

Braden at age 3, with Papa, when he got his first tub of duplo legos for his birthday.

Braden at age 4 with his HUGE tub of duplo legos!

I think that a day barely goes by that the legos are not played with, at least for a little while. And some days they are almost ALL that is played with. It's been really neat, too, to see what Braden can build with just legos. He usually goes through phases (for a month or so) of building similar things with somewhat different designs and then moves on to something else. As I quickly think back, one of his phases was building ant houses (when we had "indoor ant friends," he would REALLY catch an ant to put in the house). These ant houses even included generators.

His other phases have been building hospitals, Jericho, airplanes, and tall towers to the ceiling. His most current phase is building rockets, pyramids, and Wall-E (the robot from the Wall-E movie). Trust me, these are just a FEW of his ideas....

This is Braden's Wall-E and Eve robots.

Click the Play button to watch the video clip of Braden.

Since Ashlyn has always seen Braden build, she too, has really gotten into legos, and will often try and build what Braden does. Below I have some pictures from last year of Ashlyn because I don't have any current ones. She sure has changed alot!

A Blast From the Past...

So you gotta check this out...

My mom has saved some clothes and toys from when I was a kid. It's been kinda nice because I've been able to pass them down to my kids. In fact, Braden's very FAVORITE stuffed animal is my old Chip that I got from Disney World long ago. Braden includes Chip in most of our daily activities, and there's no going to bed without chipmunk either. Who would have known that he would have clung to my old toy like this?

So here are some photos just for laughs...

My brother and I with our chipmunks (look at how "young" chipmunk looks).

Braden and Chip (poor Chipmunk has seen better days)!

AND when my parents came to visit earlier this month they brought an old Christmas dress that my mom sewed for me to wear when I was two, so I put it on Ashlyn (who is also two), and here's the results...

Ashlyn (she loves those sunglasses)!

Jamie at age 2

Ashlyn

Several people think Ashlyn looks a lot like me.....what do you think?

Anyway, it's been fun to see my old stuff and watch my kids enjoy it too-THANKS MOM!

Arctic Blast 2008!

SNOW?!? Yes, for those of you in Iowa, snow that actually sticks is a TREAT for us in the Pacific Northwest. We've just gotten hit with the biggest snow and ice storm that Vancouver has had in at least a decade.

Last winter we didn't get any snow at all here, and it was January 2007 the last time we got enough snow to play in. Of course, Braden barely remembers that and Ashlyn had just been born. Even being from the wintery midwest, it's easy for me to forget what it's like when a big snowstorm hits.

It all started on Sunday the 14th with less than an inch that didn't stick around for long. It was the first snow that Ashlyn got to see here - very exciting for her! We had to rush out and play as soon as we got home from church.

Click to Watch Video of our First Snow of the Year!

Ashlyn - "What's this stuck to my mittens?"

Following the initial excitement, there was a mix of snow and rain all week long. We would get an inch of snow or so overnight, then it would melt off each day. So, when it finally started to stick on the ground on Friday, we had to run out and build a snowman while we had a chance!

Braden hard at work on his Snowman

Click to Watch Video of our Snowman

Little did we know what we were in for. It finally got cold enough with just the right conditions on Saturday. It snowed steadily ALL day for over 12 hours. At first it didn't seem like much, but it kept coming and coming!

Braden trying to keep up with the falling snow!

Ashlyn enjoying a ride down the hill

Saturday night it turned into freezing rain on top of all the new snow, and then it snowed 2 more inches on Sunday. It was really starting to feel like a real blizzard!

Click to Watch Video of our REAL Snow

Ashlyn holding a big chunk of ice
(She insisted on wearing her sunglasses)

Everything tends to shut down here when we get snow. With all the hills, wet packed snow and ice it's nearly impossible to safely drive without chains or studded tires. Plus there's a bunch of people that don't know how to drive in the snow! Church was canceled on Sunday and Sheldon's office was closed on Monday. Uncle Byron even stopped by and recruited Braden to help shovel the driveway and build a snow fort!




Needless to say, it's been a lot of fun for us to play in the snow and enjoy some winter weather. The sun is peeking out momentarily and it's sure to melt off eventually, but for now we are enjoying the beauty of it all!

Our Snowy Backyard Wonderland