Easter-2017

Easter was a little hard (emotionaly) this year. Being away from family and missing all the Easter traditions was tough. Im not one to cry about things or stay down, so we made the best of it.

One of the local churches, we have visited, was having an Easter Egg hunt for the community. They had crafts, snacks and a hunt.

Due to so much rain, they had to hold everything inside, but it worked out great and they were very organized.

I tried to be on top of Arlee's Easter shirt and not wait until the day before..haha! I was proud of myself for having it done a few days ahead., but Arlee asked to wear his "carrot shirt" every day...Lol

 I kept it simple, but I think it turned out adorable..plus little man loved it, and thats all that matters..right?

 Easter Sunday, we took advantage of a gift card we had recieved as a Christmas gift and enjoyed a delicious BBQ dinner. Food is always better when you dont have to cook it. We even splurged and got dessert 😜

Unfortunitly, I did not have my yearly photographer on hand..my SIL..So, we used the timer on the old cell phone got this pic right before the rain came down.

The tree gets all the attention in this pic, and rightly so. It's gorgeous!!

Hope you all had a blessed Easter filled with family, friends, food and most importantly the Love of God. He is the reason for the Season.

Happy Spring my sweet friends

Jessica's Shower and Bachelorette Trip

While I was home for the twin's birthday, we had Jessica's wedding shower. She of  course was a beautiful bride-to-be.  The decorations were rustic, which is the theme of her wedding and we put together a few of her favorite finger foods. It's hard to believe that the long awaited day is quickly approaching. But we are all ready for her to became Mrs. Watson!

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February flew by and before I knew it, I was headed back home for the Bachelorette Trip to Gulf Shores.  Since Lee could not get off work and Arlee (obviously) could not go with me, my parents graciously took vacation time and stayed at the house. I'm not sure who enjoyed the trip more...me, the grandparents, or Arlee....lol 

It was another long trip but my GPS took me through Branson and the drive was beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed the alone time and  took full advantage of  K-Love singing to the top of my lungs and listening to a few inspiring CD's. I felt like my soul had been revived and I had been on a spiritual retreat before I ever started my girl's trip. 

I stopped at Sarah's house that evening and we loaded everything up in her van and took off early the next morning. The other girl's left the night before, so they could take full advantage of the beach.

We stopped for lunch at the best little Greek spot! Wow, was the hummas dip amazing..

Once we finally made it to our destination, the girls were coming back from the beach to start getting ready for a night full of fun.

We put our matching Mer'maid shirts on and grabbed our wigs and headed out for dinner...

                                                       

After a fun night out we went to the hotel for face masks, cupcakes and presents for Jess...the face masks were a very bad painful  idea!

The next day was beach day so of course Sarah and I had to do a Walmart run first..lol

The older I getvhe more I realize I should have lived near the beach. Its my happy place for sure!

The cute little Captian...

It was a great trip but I sure wish I could have been on the beach a whole lot longer! The next time we all meet up will be the wedding weekend!

The twins are 2!

I was so excited to be able to go back home and celebrate the twins birthday. I was very nervous making the trip alone with Arlee, but he did amazing and we had a great trip. He obviously  couldn't wait to see Lilly and Jackson, so this made the trip very exciting for him.

 It's so hard to believe how fast these small premature miracle babies have grown. They are very active 2 yr olds and I'm not quite sure how their mom keeps up...lol Lilly loves and adores her "Dor-t" and is a total Diva. Jackson is happiest watching TV or playing outside and is a total boy!

It is so sweet to watch them play together,  we have noticed that Lilly and Arlee seem to gravitate more to each other and are most of the time inseparable.

They had a Mickey and Minnie birthday party which of course Arlee loved. He, however was is an ornery mood and refused to take any pictures, what is a picture taking mom to do??? I let the ball drop on pics!

At the end of the day and the sugar rush, they had the time of their lives playing in a huge heap of deflated balloons. It was like a giant bouncy ball! It's always the little things that they enjoy the most.

All 3 of them were jumping into this like is was a trampoline...they were so funny to watch.

A New Year 2017

2017 brought in a new year and some snow. With that snow brought lots of fun for one very excited 3 yr old. He got to sled for the first time, make snow angle and instead of a snowman he made a "snowbaby"..he was a little bitty snowman...lol

Snow is always so pretty. I was a little nervous as to what the winter would be like in KC, but surprisingly it was not much different than Mississippi and a lot of fun memories are made in a snow day!

I'm looking forward to what all 2017 will bring. I know it will bring 2 weddings back home, a girl's trip to Gulf Shores and a few camping trip adventures. The twins will turn 2 and Arlee Bug will turn 4. Boy that was hard to even type. How is that possible? My baby is growing up so fast. But , thank God he is a big "Mommy's Boy"

 I'm excited about these family times, I'm also excited to see what else God has in store for our family. I have several goals for this year, spiritually, physically and monetary. My prayers are to accomplish each one of these for the Glory of God.

May 2017 be a wonderful year for you and your family!

Christmas and New Year with the Hill family

With my family being spread out from Florida to Illinois it is a rare occasion that we are all together. It was a treat that all of us were able to have Christmas (after Christmas) at my parents house in Illinois. We were really hoping for a little snow, but it didn't happen. Although our time was short, it was wonderful to all be together.

In true Hill fashion we made a shopping trip that Saturday morning and enjoyed hitting up Goodwill, they have a huge selection of boys clothes and I always hit the jackpot there.

That evening my Dad's church was having a Watch Night Service to ring in the new year and because we all had Buffalo plaid we decided to twinkie it up. We all sang and the girls even played the piano. Unfortunately, my sister and her family had to leave early due to sickness and did not get to participate in the service or our Christmas party that night.

                                                           In our PJ's ready for presents....

                                             Sunday morning enjoying family time at church

my beautiful girls!

Since my brother's family was so close to our house they decided to spend a few days with us in Kansas City. With it being such a long trip from Florida, they probably will not be able to visit much. I was thrilled with the plan because it meant more time with my family....and then the kids got the biggest surprise, SNOW

                         This was a blessing to me, they entertained Arlee for hours while I stayed nice and warm...Yay. And then we all had hot chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate. It was a perfect evening.