Love

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind for us. For me (Katie), what ever is going on in life, music seems to be my outlet. Not saying I am musically inclined in any way. Just that it always brings me comfort and joy. Lately my favorite song has become "Love" by Chris Tomlin. His songs are always so powerful to me and this song has just reiterated what we all know- that love is the answer. Love from God, love from each other and love to ourself. If only our world truly did revolve with this in mind, how it would be different. We have experienced so much love in the past two weeks that we could never explain how thankful we are. Except by passing it on.

Here are the lyrics to "Love".

"Love"

[With Watoto Children's Choir]

When our hope is hard to find

And our faith is in decline

We need a cause to stand behind - love

We all want the way it feels

Time it comes and time it steals

What remains, what is real - love [Chorus:]

There is love

There is forgiveness

There is love in times of need

When life is cold there is a promise

You will never go without...

There is love

It heals the sick

Comforts the weak

Breaks the proud

Raises the meek

In this life no guarantees...

Love is the answer

Love will find a way

When we love one another

It's a brighter day

Eat This ...Not That!

One last Easter idea and favorite! This carrot (opened before I could snap a photo) was the cutest goodie from Tucker's school party. He was sooooo excited because it had orange cheetos in it and Mommy too b/c it wasn't candy!! He keeps asking Mommy if she'll buy the orange ones like his friends have at school. Of course, I keep telling him that the white ones are better because they don't turn his mouth and fingers and everything else bright orange! My point is proven in the pictures below!

Truly enjoying those orange cheetos!!

Easter: The Hope of New Life... Eternal Life

After a week full of challenges, our family was able to spend quality time with family members to celebrate Easter. Our families have been so supportive with us and have helped us in every way this past week- as have many friends. And what a time to bring friends and family together! This Easter has been filled with sorrow but most importantly filled with love- the greatest of all! Thank you!

Here are a few pics from our Easter festivities. One egg hunt isn't just enough!! We had 3!

Attempting to get a family pic at Grandma and Pop King's

Post Egg hunt with Abby and Sarah

Let the madness begin! Egg hunt at Grandma's and Pop King's

Hunting eggs at our house after church

Leaving church and trying to get one more photo

Daddy worked hard to get this one at church. Too much was going on.

Tucker's favorite place at church.

He wants to go to the court yard all the time after school.

Waking up to see what the Easter Bunny left him!

Egg hunting at Gamma and Pop Rhodes' house

Attempting to walk the bunny that Aunt Becca and Uncle Matt brought

Spring Break 2010

Well it was a cool start to beach season, but we had a great time with the DiPiazzas and Grandma in Destin! We had a few "warmer",beautiful days and were very thankful for a heated pool! Tucker had a blast in the sand and playing with his cousins. Abby was a trooper by sharing all her toys that Tucker referred to as "mine." The guys had a fun fishing trip and brought home dinner one night. We even encountered a black out on the last evening. Don't even want to know how the spring breakers handled that one! It was a great getaway though! We only wished we could have stayed longer! Tucker is ready to go back!

Daddy just chillin

Tucker and Daddy in the pool

Our fishermen

Daddy's catch

Tucker, Grandma and Abby waiting to go to dinner

Lunch after a morning on the beach

Had to be like the big kids and have a pair of goggles! Thankful for extras!

Snoozing Daddy

Beach time! Thankful we made it out each morning before the springbreakers!

There was some craziness going on down there!

Catch Up!

Well, it has been awhile since we have posted an entry. I finally up loaded a bunch of photos from the past month and realized how much I hadn't posted!
Our big boy is just that. He has grown quite a bit since fall. Keeps getting taller and stronger. Some days he is stronger than Momma! Not good during a tantrum! Which we have definitely entered into the "I can do it" phase. Sometimes he'll let you know he wants to do something himeself while other times he'll just get so upset and you'll have no idea why! Very dramatic! Thank goodness he is a talker and will eventually tell you what is going on. For instance this morning he had a major fit over Mommy having honey nut cheerios because he wanted some. Yet he never even asked. He finally could tell us he was mad and he was mad at Mommy. Then he finally could say you ate the cheerios (no I didn't eat them all)! Wow! How simple it would have been to start there! But that is the phase we are in. Tucker knows what he wants and wants to do what he can to get it! He continues to be very curious about things and aware of things. He'll talk about things he and "my friends" do at school and the things they say. He continues to love school or Mother's Day Out. We have enrolled him in 3k next year where he'll go three times a week and actually focus on school activies. He will be going to chapel, music and learning spanish. We are very excited about all he will learn next year. We continue to work here at home as well. Tucker continues to love reading! He could have to sit and read to him certain books all day. And he knows what books he wants to read. Every time we go to the library he has to check out the same too books (Bob the Builder's White Christmas and Diego Saves Christmas- yes celebrate holidays all year!). He has great comprehension and recollection of books. He is very interested in reading and wants to know what the words say. Since he already knows his letters, we are starting to try and work on sounds of letters and site words.We keep telling him he can read by just looking at the pictures and telling us the story. No worries though- he has plenty of time to learn. Plus, we need all the time we can to still spell things out to other adults!
One thing he isn't interested in is potty training. We keep working on it but he has very little interest. The only thing he wants to do is wear the underwear. The problem comes in with school. They only allow pull ups until the children are completely trained. And I am wanting to stay away from those except at night. So, we are waiting until late may to just jump fully into underwear and accidents. We think he'll get it then! Hoping and keeping fingers crossed! We know that when he is ready he'll get it and so we are waiting for that day to come as well!

Resting after a week of being sick! Fevers are no fun!!

Helping Daddy open his birthday presents!

He loved his Tucker decorated wrapping paper!

Tucker, February 2010-

Snapshots of the Week

Few shots around the house this week! We've had a few really busy weeks here at our house. But we are finally enjoying a little down time. Here are a couple of pictures...

Some down time with Daddy- a little evening reading!

Found Tucker like this one afternoon- he had cleared the shelves...

so he could do a little reading!

Our little Handyman- fixing the grocery cart's tire

and then the dishwasher. He worked hard on this one!

Took a moment to flash a "cheese"

Then back to work! Can't tell you how many times

this dishwasher has been worked by our handyman!

The Greatest Show on Earth

We had a great time today visiting the circus! This was Tucker's first trip. Gamma and Pop Rhodes were very kind to take us all (including Aunt Becca and Uncle Matt). Tucker loved it all and had such a great time that by the end he fell asleep on Aunt Becca's lap! We're On Our Way! Counting all the school buses.
View from our seats

We love the elephants! Tucker even wore his elephant shirt to show them.