Spring Baseball

It started to warm up here (it's currently freezing) so we've had some fun games at Haymarket Park. EJ is much more comfortable with the players this year. Here he is playing with Corey Burleson.



Once Eric's duties were done, EJ got to play baseball with him.








A swing and a miss!



Some fun family pics:

Chicken Ranch

It was time to take the preschool baby chicks to their new home. Grandma Bobbie came to town last night so she was able to come along. We ventured out to Hickman, Nebraska to a lovely acerage that raises chickens. Here's Miss Deb transferring the chicks to their new home.



Here we are saying goodbye to our fuzzy friends.



I think that their conversation went like this: "Hey, check out these new digs! We got a sun lamp, lots of food and no more little kids squeezing us till we 'Peep'! Awesome!"



Next we moved on to the older chickens. Some of these are a year old. It's amazing how much they grow in such a short time.



Here's the daddy. He was bigger and more vocal than all the hens.



The kids had lots of fun acting like chickens! They climbed all around the barn and ran around with the chickens. We had to be careful not to chase them too much or they won't lay their eggs!





Some final pictures in front of the neat red barn. We will miss the chicks and had so much fun with the whole experience. EJ's preschool teacher is really incredible.

They're here!

The baby chicks have finally hatched! Three weeks ago Miss Deb drove to Columbus, Nebraska to get 30 eggs for our preschool. We've read all about chicks and their hatching cycle, which takes about 21 days. Monday was the 21st day so we were hoping to see the chicks hatch. Only one had pecked through his shell so we continued to wait. I had a feeling the one who pecked would be out so we went to preschool a little early today because I just couldn't wait any longer! Sure enough, the chick had hatched along with a dozen others! They are the cutest little things ever!! Much to my suprise they weren't all yellow. They have a wide range of beautiful colors and markings. EJ was amazed by the sight of them and he even got to hold one today.

Here he is checking the incubator with Miss Deb.



Once he sees the hatched eggs he ran to find the chicks. I couldn't get him to look at the camera because all his friends were coming in and he had to share the good news! None of you will be surprised when I tell you that the last thing I heard EJ say as I left was, "Wow, look! They pooped!" That's my boy.





When I picked EJ up Miss Deb let us hold the birds. They make the cutest little noise. Peep! Peep!



Kissing friends! (The birds, not the kids, thankfully!)

Celebration Shake!

These are celebration milkshakes! The Huskers beat #5 UCLA on Saturday so we took Eric to Red Robin to celebrate. EJ wanted to go to Chick-fil-a but that would've been a 3-hour drive to Kansas City to the nearest Chick-fil-a so we had to nix that idea. Instead we had burgers and shakes and lots of fun!

Today, the Huskers ended up taking the series from UCLA which made for a great weekend all around!

February in Texas

We headed south for the opening weekend of Husker Baseball. Then EJ & I got to spend some time with Grandma Carol and Grandpa Michael.




I got a Sandlot game going with all the little boys at the game. It was a blast and EJ had fun when it was his turn with the bat. It truly was a Sandlot experience as we had to host one of the older boys over a fence to retrieve our ball! Thankfully, there wasn't a huge dog waiting for him on the other side.



I learned that this season is going to be a very busy one for me. EJ is very busy during the games. He likes to run around, play, meet people, explore, etc. Basically, everything but sit and watch the game!



We got to see Uncle Brian a couple times during our visit.



Our dear friends, Kevin & KJ, met us after a game one night. They used to live in Colorado and life has taken them to San Antonio where KJ is in law school and Kevin is a Physical Therapist in the Army. It was a fun reunion!



After the weekend, EJ & I headed to Austin. EJ loved the fish pond and playing with Max. How he knew to listen to the shell is beyond me! (since originally posting this my mom told me that she taught EJ to listen to the shells while he was sitting on the potty in her sea-shell themed bathroom at her house during potty training sessions!)





Poor Max. You can see him looking at Carol thinking, "Really? You're going to make me take a bath with the kid?" He was such a good dog and played with EJ endlessly. They were quite the pair!



EJ had a great time "driving" one of Grandpa's trucks. He honked the horn a dozen times--couldn't get enough of that. He also got to climb on the trailers which was a big hit too.



One of our days included a visit to the Austin Children's Museum. EJ liked rolling the florescent colored golf balls down the "hills."



Our second weekend of baseball took us to Huntsville, Texas where we played in a tournament at Sam Houston. Kaye & Rick's son, Matt, plays for the team so we got the added treat of seeing their family! Here's EJ with "KK" at the beginning of the game...



Here's EJ with "KK" at the end of the game! She got some good snuggle time when he finally passed out!





Here's their son, Matt, with EJ. Matt was the starting pitcher on Friday night but he didn't face us. That's a good thing for NU because he has a great arm! The school thinks so too as they put up a huge banner of him at the stadium. It was really cool!



On Saturday, they took EJ bowling. He LOVED it! Rick did a great job teaching him how to bowl. After raising three boys, he has the patience of a saint!





EJ was happy to report that he got a strike! Here's a spare that he picked up and then high fives all around!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was a fun Valentine's Day! EJ had a party at preschool and we got to be "Snack Helper" so heart cupcakes were in order!



Here's EJ after preschool. I brought him the balloons and all the rest came from his preschool party.



Once inside, EJ dumped out all is love letters and candy. We used his Lightening McQueen Mailbox to store most of the candy for "later."



During naptime I set up the dining room for our own family Valentine's Party. We had streamers, balloons, heart plates, the works! I also made a two-hour playlist for the occasion since we're known to have dance parties. The list had some new songs, some sentimental songs and some old school songs making it a rockin playlist!



E.J.'s favorite balloon was the monkey balloon. However, he's happily used all of them as punching bags.



At the party E.J. got a Lightening McQueen suitcase that will come in really handy for all his travel this spring.



Once our "steaks & cupcakes" dinner was finished the boys decided to have some fun with the frosting.






I posted this picture because I couldn't believe what a great shot EJ took during our dance party! He took four pictures with his fingers in front of the camera but this one was just perfect!



There was lots of love all around! Hope you had a nice holiday too!

10th Anniversary!

We celebrated our 10th Anniversary yesterday! Here we are on our wedding day in Colorado as the sun was setting. We had been married a whole 20 minutes at that point! Here's our unity candle. It's yellowed a bit but still burns bright!




Our 10th anniversary was a fun-filled day and we both worked hard to make it special. Eric was so sweet. He brought home balloons and two dozen roses at lunch time. He made quite the display in the kitchen!



We celebrated by going to dinner at one of our favorite places. We had a great dinner and rich conversation. We were really touched when we thought back to all the people who have supported us and been there for us all these years. Eric also shared a Bible verse with me and said that it's his prayer and hope for me. It's from the book of Ephesians:

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Marriage is hard and it forces you to go "deep" and there's no better direction to head than towards Jesus. He has answered so many of our prayers--not always in the way we hoped or expected but He has been faithful beyond what we knew could be true. My marriage is what it is today because of Jesus' grace, mercy and leading. To really know "how high and deep the love of Christ" was a precious wish from Eric and one I will treasure for the next ten years and beyond.