Taking a stroll with My Little Sunshine Emma

Yesterday morning was just gorgeous! The beautiful sun was shining brightly and it was nice and warm. Emma and I got up early (for us) and took a nice long stroll around the neighborhood. She was in her stroller about half the time and she walked with me the other half. It was so nice to see all the tulips and daffodils blooming and the trees getting buds. I absolutely love spring... and especially love it after this cold snowy winter. As we were walking Emma said, "Look Mommy... it's daffodils. Grandmommy has daffodils at her house." It took me a minute to realize what she was talking about. On Sunday nights, Luke and Emma stay with Granny and Papa Johns and often they take golf cart rides back to Grandmommy Johns house. Emma never met Grandmommy Johns as she passed away about 4 months before Emma was born. But I love that Emma still gets to know her and hear about her and see where she lived... in some way it really makes me think she is close to her. Luke and Emma came home from Granny and Papa's house last night with a bouquet of daffodils from her house. It is beautiful and it is sitting on Luke's art table and a beautiful reminder of Andy's Grandmommy.

Also on our walk, Emma was riding in her stroller and just looked up at me and said, "Mommy! Mommy! (pause) Jesus loves you! " I love this kid. She's the best.

I think we'll go take a stroll this morning too... though the sun isn't as bright as it was yesterday... I can't wait to hear what my little sunshine has to say today! :)

"Just Dancing" all around the Johns' house

We bought the game, Just Dance Kids, about 6 weeks ago. I was ready to write a review that night, but I decided I would wait and see if we still loved it as much after a few weeks. And we do. It is a great game for both kids and adults. My little Emma, age 2... almost 3... loves it. She can follow along with most songs. Give her a few more months and she'll be beating us all. Luke, age 5, is actually quite good at it and he evens beats me on some songs. :) A lot of the neighborhood kids have been over and played it and loved it as well. There are great songs for both kids and adults including many from Yo Gabba Gabba and The Wiggles. Also on the game are fun songs for kids (though I love them too) such as Who Let the Dogs Out, YMCA, Funkytown, Hey Mickey, and many more. Some Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber are great songs for the older kids as well.

Andy, Luke and Emma playing

The game also allows for you to create playlists which is great. Andy and I have made playlists of about 10 songs. Doing these playlists is great exercise in disguise. There is even a play tracker that tells you how long you've been dancing and how many calories you've burned.... which I love and it is quite motivating.

Luke and Emma Just Dancing

So, overall I love this game. It's great for both my kids as well as both Andy and me. I think we will purchase either Just Dance 1 or Just Dance 2 next. We spend many evenings just dancing around the Johns' house. :)

All the Critters Concert

Luke's school spring concert, All the Critters, was last night. It was super cute. They sang songs about alligators, aardvarks, antelopes, pandas. It was just precious. Luke's class was right in the center of the gym. Luke sang and danced his little heart out. He was really paying attention to his music teacher and following all her direction. He made me so proud. I have to admit I shed a little tear during the show. He is just getting so grown up. The above video is during his performance of Animal Boogie. My boy can boogie.... wonder who he gets that from?!? haha! :) Emma was in the bleachers boogieing (is that a word?) with him. She just loved the whole thing... so cute.

It was just a precious performance. Yaya, Grandpa, Papa Johns, Andy, Emma, Shelby and I were there to watch him. Granny Johns was not feeling well, so she wasn't able to come. It was just such a wonderful concert. Her are a few pictures.

Shelby and Emma waiting for the show to start.

The Aquarium Song

Aardvark.Luke acting like a mouse.

Couldn't be more proud of my sweet little guy.Daddy with his kiddos.

Esther

So last night I finally started back my Esther Beth Moore Bible Study. I really want to finish it. I enjoyed it so much, but life got really busy and I neglected it. I miss doing this study with my friends Leigh and Emily, but they got busy as well. So I am back at it. Andy and I reread the first 4 books of Esther together last night to catch up to where I'd left off. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Such an inspiring story. Last night Beth Moore talked about a "failure to decide" and this really hit home with me. I often feel I "fail to decide" many things, usually because I don't want to offend anyone. I need to get better about this, and not back down from what I believe. What if Esther had "failed to decide?" What if she hadn't stood up for her people? Though my decisions may never be as life-changing as hers were, they may have a small effect to some people. Anyway... it really got me thinking last night.

I am going to stick with this study and finish it. I am over half way done... so hopefully I'll be done in 5 weeks. If you decided this Lent to dust off your Bible, I encourage you to read the book of Esther. Such an inspiring story of a woman of courage and of God's providence. A must read.

My little soccer player

A little over a month ago, Andy went to sign Luke up for spring soccer. Luke kept going back and forth on whether or not he wanted to play. But, the Saturday morning of sign-ups he said that he wanted to play. So, they went. When they came home Luke was a soccer player and Andy was the coach. One team, the Dragons still needed a coach, so Andy volunteered. When they got home I could just see the excitement in both their eyes... it was wonderful! :) Such a wonderful bonding experience for my boys.

Monday night was the first "Player Development Night" for ALL the U6 players. It was kind of crazy, but Luke jumped right in and did everything. It was super cold outside, so the kids only lasted about 40 minutes. I figured Luke would need some warm pants since it was so cold, so I went and bought him some new ones, and they were too big. Also they had a faux drawstring... who does that? So, most of the night he had his hands in his pockets to keep his pants up... poor little guy. :)
The next day was The Dragons first team practice. Aunt Audra is going to be the assistant coach and Luke just loves that too. She is one of his most favorite people. :) Also, Kaydee and Reagan, our neighbors are on the team as well. They had so much fun at practice. They played a lot of games to help them work on their dribbling. I was quite impressed with some of the kids skills. Luke likes to kick the ball as hard and as far as he can, so he needs to work on his dribbling a bit. :) Andy thinks he'll make a really good defender. Here they are playing the game, "I can do something, Can you do it?"

Luke looks like such a natural and I love how much he loves it!! He came home yesterday and wanted to go to soccer practice again.
It is going to be such a fun spring soccer season! I love watching my boys bond playing soccer together. It's great! :)

Randomness

So here are a few random funny, cute stories from my kiddos.

This past Friday we were pulling into the Wal-Mart parking lot and Luke noticed that the Garden Center was back open and there were some flowers and mulch and things out. It had been closed for the winter until now. Luke said, "We better not go in the Garden Center entrance because that would be too dangerous for me." When I asked him what he meant, he said, "Cause I'd want to buy everything. :) Love that sweet boy and his loves of flowers.

Another story....

Today we were riding in the van to meet Yaya and Grandpa at Zaxby's for lunch and I turned on the radio. It was on a country station and Emma screamed from the back, "I want K-Love, Mommy." Cute girl. I didn't know she knew the station, but I did know she could sing along with most of the songs on K-Love. I love it.

Lastly.... here is a song we heard today and I've heard it a million times, but I just love it. I found the acoustic version on youtube and wanted to share it. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Told you this was random.... ;)

New Year's resoultions. . .

Well we are into the 3rd month of the year and I thought I would check in and see how I am doing with my New Year's resolutions. . .

1. Do more "M.A.D." (make a difference) things with Andy and the kiddos. Such as volunteering together. We kind of slacked off on that a bit last year. I won't go into all the details of things, but I think we as a family are doing much better at this one than I expected. This makes me happy. I hope we can keep it up. I also feel like some "M.A.D." things have been done for us as well. It's been a good start to 2011. :)
2. Get back into my Wii Fit rountine each day. I kind slacked off on that in the month of December. I've been doing much better with this as well... probably an hour a day or so... and I've added Just Dance to the routine which the kids and Andy can do with me. Though I am no where near the 1.5-2 hrs I was doing this time last year. I need to get back to that level and knock off a few lbs. :)
   
3. Finish my Esther bible study and continue to deepen my personal relationship with Christ. I am ashamed to say that I haven't even picked up the Esther study. I have thought about it SEVERAL times, but it is always right before bed and I opt to go to sleep instead. I will get to this TODAY!
   
4. Less Facebooking. Not so much. Meaning I am still on Facebook WAY too much!
   
5. Less Shopping. Check. Just ask my husband or check our bank account! ha! :) I hope I can keep this up! :)
   
6. Less spending. Kinda goes along with the last one. Except maybe I've spent a little too much on some Lalaloopsy dolls for the kids, but have you seen them... they are so cute. I... I mean... Emma is dying for this one...
   
7. I need to continue to SIMPLIFY in this year. I did a bit of that last year, but I need to continue in the new year. Simplifying even more. I think we've been doing this one for sure. We cleaned out closets and giving gobs of old toys and clothes to Goodwill and to others who need them more than we do. Trying to get rid of the excess, but of course this is something I need to constantly try and keep under control.
   

Overall, I think I've been doing okay sticking to these resolutions. Hopefully, I will start back with my Esther Bible study soon and lay off the facebooking a bit. I'll check in again in a few months.