He is Risen!

Free Printable found here!



We have a full day today. We are going to church this morning, then to my Mother in Law's house for Easter Lunch, and after that we'll be heading to my parents' house for an Easter Dinner. I'm so thankful to be spending this beautiful day with my wonderful friends and family.

I'll be posting all about our Easter Celebrations this upcoming week!

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter.

Good Friday

Thanking God today (and everyday) for the sacrifice He made for me.

Printable found here.

When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.

See from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Oh the Wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful cross, bids me come and die and find that I may truly live;
Oh the wonderful cross, oh the wonderful cross, all who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name.

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!

Jackson's Easter Basket Goodies

I'm linking up with two of my favorite bloggers, Darci @ The Good Life, for her Easter Basket Blog Hop...

and Sarah at Our Journey for her Easter Basket Showcase.

Last year, I didn't really get to do much for Jackson's Easter Basket because he was only around 6 months old. This year was a lot more fun. ☺

I knew I wanted to get him a Baby's first Bible or some kind of book about Jesus or Prayers. I was excited to find this little book, "Prayers for Boys" at Walmart for only $4.99.  He really likes to be read to, so I'm thinking this will be a great book to add to our nightly routine. 

I also got him some Toy Story (they didn't have Mickey Mouse) Bubble Bath, Gummy Bunny Lifesavers, Yellow Bunny Peeps, Reese's Pieces, Mickey Mouse bubbles for outside and then I filled the little eggs with Star-burst Jelly Beans (my favorite Easter candy). 

I can't wait to give him his Easter Basket on Sunday. ☺

Jackson's 17 Month Post

Jackson turned 17 Months Old Last week on March 20th! Crazy how time flies!

He is growing so much and getting so big. I can't get over how tall he is getting. I'm thinking he gets that from Jake's Mom's side of the family. All the Testrake boys are really tall. I have a feeling Jackson got that gene. ☺ This is good for later in life, but right now it can be a problem. He can reach so much that I don't want him to. LOL. 

Jackson is still eating well some days and then some days not. He goes through phases. Currently, his favorite things to eat are pizza, peas, carrots, green beans, applesauce and yogurt. I'm glad they are mostly healthy things. ☺ 

We just started working on phasing out his bottles. His pediatrician said by 18 months we need to phase out the bottle, so we're slowly but surely working on that. I've been dreading this moment for quite some time. Unfortunately he gets more attached to it with each passing day. We've completely cut out the afternoon bottle and we're working on the morning bottle now. The night time bottle is going to be the toughest of all because we use that to settle him down for bed. We've tried swapping the bottle with a sippy cup, but he knows the difference and shakes his head no when we try giving him the sippy cup in place of the bottle. We'll get there I'm sure, I'm just hoping for an easier transition than I think its actually going to be. Hopefully he surprises me. ☺

He's learned several new things this month. He learned how to say uh-oh and knows exactly when to use it. ☺ He's also learning the different body parts. We can ask him where his belly, tongue, nose, hands and tickly-toes are and he will point right to them. We're still working on his ears, eyes and hair right now. He gets those sometimes, but not consistently yet.

He got 2 more teeth this past month, bringing the grand total up to 14. He got his 2 top canines in. Those canines seemed to come in with some discomfort and irritability, so I'm hoping the bottom ones are a little easier on him.

Jackson's "funny" personality is really starting to show through lately. He makes some of the funniest faces and it even seems that sometimes he tries to make us laugh. He loves being the center of attention and having everyone laugh at him. He definitely takes this after his daddy. ☺

So that's what Jackson has been up to this last month. I can't believe that next month he'll be a year and half already. It sure doesn't seem possible, and yet it seems like he's been with us all along. 

We love you so much Jackson. You are such a funny, sweet, sensitive, caring and determined little boy. Its so fun to watch you grow and learn new things. I love being your Mommy and feel so blessed to have you in our lives.

Project Life 2013 - Weeks 11 and 12

I got a little bit behind last week in my Project Life pages, but I'm all caught up now. ☺ Here are both my week 11 and week 12 pages for you to see. 

Week Twelve:

Supplies Used: Until We Meet Again St. Paddy's Day Freebie by Lorie Starcher

Week Eleven:

 

Supplies Used: Twinkle Mini Kit from Julie Billingsley.

I'm linking up here:

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Snowpocolypse and Our Visit with the Easter Bunny

I realize those two things shouldn't be in the same title, but unfortunately for us, they are. Although the calendar says its Spring, we got about 10-12 inches of snow yesterday. :-( What the heck is going on with this weather?? 

We ventured out for church Sunday morning as it had just started to snow, but it was coming down hard and fast, so church was cut short. We made our way home through the snow and stayed at home the rest of the day. We watched t.v., watched it snow, ate (a lot of junk), colored and played with Jackson, and did a little bit of cleaning.

 Before the blizzard hit on Sunday morning, we had 50 degree weather and sunshine on Saturday. My sister and I took our boys to visit with the Easter Bunny at the Mall that day and do a little shopping for a birthday party we were going to that evening. ☺ I was really hoping Jackson would love the Easter Bunny as much as he did last year, but that was not the case. He was fine looking at him from a distance and he even walked up to him to a certain point, but when I went to put him on the Bunny's lap, thats when the tears started flowing. Poor Jackson. We tried hard to make him see that the Easter Bunny was nice and make him smile, but we were unsuccessful. :-( So this was our Easter Bunny picture for 2013. Sad... I know. He looks so pitiful.

I hope you all had a great weekend!☺

A Storybook Photography Photo Session

I had such a fun Sunday afternoon with Chris and Holly and their sweet little family. Holly wanted some pictures of them in their Easter outfits. I met them at their house and took a few pictures for them. I wish the weather would have been better so we could have taken them outside, but unfortunately it was snowing that day. :-( Won't Spring ever come to St. Louis??

Nonetheless, we got some cute shots. Here are a few of my favorites.

I'm linking up here:

Handmade Paper Bunting

When I saw this super cute paper bunting over at Rebecca's Blog (www.simpleasthatblog.com), I thought, I have to try and make one for myself. It seemed simple and easy to make, and it was just that... Simple and Easy!!

 I asked Jake if he had an old book he didn't care about anymore, and he did. ☺ So I cut out 18 pages from the book and cut the margins off the sides. I took 1 page and folded it in half and cut a triangle out of the bottom. I then used it as a template for all the rest of my pages. 

I used my cricut and "Make the Cut" software to cut out 9 hearts in each color of cardstock I was using. (These colors match our living room, which is where I planned to hang the bunting.)

After I had all the pages cut and the hearts glued on, I folded a little tab at the top for the paper to fold over the baker's twine I was using to hang the bunting up with.

Then I glued all 18 pages onto the baker's twine. (I guessed at how many pages I would need and thankfully I had just the right amount. How often does that happen??) (Rebecca stapled her pages to the twine and I see now that that is a better idea. Mine are already coming un-glued. I will be going back and stapling them.)

So here's my finished product!! I am really loving it! 

I'm linking up here:

and here:

Spring

Today is the first day of Spring and its 30 degrees here in St. Louis! :-( I can't tell you how ready I am for Spring weather. This has got to be the longest winter ever, or at least it seems like it. Tomorrow they're saying it could snow. I'm starting to feel a little antsy and so jealous of all of you who live in the south where its warm. 

This past Friday we had a few hours in the afternoon/evening where it got into the low 70's. It was amazing and far too short lived. You know your in St. Louis when the weather forecast for one day is 37 for the low and 73 for the high. Then Sunday... it snowed! What the heck?!

You better believe that for those few short hours Friday evening, we took every advantage possible and got outside and enjoyed the little teaser that Spring decided to give us. We put Jackson in his wagon and walked up to the park to play. We took Libby along as well. We had a great time and it was so wonderful to get outside with Jackson. I'm definitely looking forward to many more evenings like this (hopefully in the near future).

Look at that crazy hair of his. LOL. He got a haircut the next evening. ☺

Someone got awfully sleepy on the wagon ride home. He was ready for bed by 8 that night. ☺

I'm linking up here: 

St. Patty's Day

We didn't do anything special for St. Patrick's Day, but we did wear our green. ☺ I had this super cute button up shirt for Jackson to wear. So I had to get a few pictures of him in it, of course. ☺

Project Life 2012 - Week 12

My layout for Week 12 of 2012!

I used the My Sibling, My Friend mini kit from Jady Day Studio.