How was YOUR Easter?

I would love to hear about everyone's Easter! Did you do anything special? Do you have special family traditions?
This Easter was an important Easter for me this year. (Perhaps because the last two Easter's I was at the very end of my pregnancies? I'm sure that played a small part, but only a small part.) THIS year was so special because in the last year my zeal for the Lord has grown in unimaginable ways!! This year I was particularly aware of the magnitude of the gift which Christ gave to me, FREELY, which was Himself! He DIED for ME! He died, the most brutal, painful, undignified death, to atone for what I alone could NEVER atone for, so that I, (ME!), a sinner, deserving nothing more than death, can spend ALL ETERNITY WITH HIM! My Saviour, my Lord, my King, my Jehovah Jireh..... Amazing! Humbling when you take a step back from yourself and think about it.

There was something else that made this Easter much more important than any other year. This year I was able to share in my girls' FIRST Easter as redeemed sinners, saved by Grace, through Faith!! In October and November of last year, both of my girls, independently, chose to take heed the calling of Christ, and BOTH accepted Christ as their Saviour!! I was blessed to not only be able to lead my daughter's to Christ, but to hold their precious little hand's while they received Him! Amazing!! My Easter was extra special this year......

We also had the joy of spending Easter with beloved friends and family in Ojai, California. Amazing!! Great food, great conversation, great friends and family, GREAT FUN!! What a blessing to spend Easter with other believers who love the Lord as much as we do!! Truly a great Easter!

That was our Easter this year, I'd LOVE to hear about YOURS!! Regardless of how it was spent!! =)

A Little F.Y.I.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I won't be around tomorrow to do my Sunday CVS/Walgreens post. Tomorrow is Easter, as everyone I'm sure is aware of. For our family Easter is one of the biggest holidays, and one of our favorites, and no, not because of the so called Easter Bunny! Tomorrow we get to celebrate the resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ!! We get to celebrate with our loved ones the fact that our God lives! Being such a special occasion for us, we will be out of town until Monday morning. Since I won't be around tomorrow I will post links for the CVS and Walgreens deals. I'm hoping that come Tuesday I will be able to post the weekly Grocery deals, however there might be a hiccup with that. Monday my husband has to take my beloved Mac to the Apple Store for them to fix. I could be without it for a few days. Alas, I will find ways to keep you all updated on the best deals I can find!! (Even if that means hi-jacking my parents' computer!)

Hope your Easter is as blessed, and meaningful as ours! Stay safe!!

NO COUPONS TOMORROW!!

Just a quick note to let you all know that there will be NO COUPONS IN TOMORROW'S PAPER! It's Easter, and there are usually NO COUPON INSERTS on HOLIDAY WEEKENDS.

I pray that everyone has a blessed Easter!!

Remember: Christ died, and rose on the third day, so that those who believe in Him can have eternal life!!

Christmas Day 2007

Christmas was nice this year. We picked up the girls in the morning and went over to my mom's. We didn't go anywhere else this year which was especially nice. I did not want to spend the day driving all over southern california pregnant, with three kids in the car. No fun. So at Grandma Robin's we stayed. My brother, sister in law, and niece joined us in the afternoon, as well as Grampa Steve, (Richard's dad). Boy the girls sure made out like bandits this year! All three sets of grandparents spoiled them rotten this year, and they loved every minute of it! They pretty much got everything on their Christmas list, and a few things that weren't. Richard and I weren't able to do much of anything this year, so it was nice to watch the girls excitement over every gift, and know that they were happy. Especially when the pony was revealed. Grampa Steve bought Cassidy the electronic FurReal pony that she's wanted for the last year. It was too big to wrap, and when she saw it in the back of his truck she screamed and jumped up and down! She had the same reaction that Corinne had when she opened up her makeup. I am determined however, starting next year, to find a way to really emphasize the reason we celebrate Christmas, and focus on that. I'd like to start a tradition. Any suggestions? Anywhoo, Richard and I really enjoyed ourselves, even though we seemed to be a bit overwhelmed at times. Why do holidays tend to get so stressful? Probably because we took our focus off of Christ, if only for a moment... We had an early Christmas dinner, and it even though there wasn't enough room at the table for everybody, it was a very enjoyable, yummy dinner. (Right Richard? =oP)-private joke sorry- Thanks Mom for all of your hard work in the kitchen! The turkey was moist and scrumptious, the ham was of course amazing, and all of the side dishes were great! Big success! Here's some pics from Christmas Day.

(I just discovered that if you're having a hard time seeing the pics because they're on the smaller side, if you click on them it pulls it up in a full screen.)

Merry Christmas!

Richard and the Girls

Me and My Girls

She's just a little excited...

Over makeup.

Goofy

He was happy with the paper

The penguin was as big as him!!

Then he found the nose...

Mmmm yummy nose

She loves horses!

He loves the bows.

a musical, "big girl" jewelry box

she got a ballerina doll

Cassidy's pony.

Why did they have to put the batteries there?

If you find this somewhat disturbing, you should've

 seen it in the box!

Christmas Parties Galore...

We got to go to two Christmas parties this year. One for church, and the other Richard's company party. Both are family parties which was really nice. Our church Christmas party was a success yet again, thanks to all the hard work of Jenny, our Pastor's wife, and all of the people who gave of themselves to set up, put together baskets, and other behind the scene's work. It was a great night of blessings, the main one being all of us coming together to celebrate the birth of Christ. This year was especially nice for Richard and I being that this is the first year that we attended CCC's Christmas party as part of the CCC family. (CCC=Calvary Chapel Cerritos) THANK YOU PASTOR DAVE and JENNY for putting on such a wonderful evening!!

Richard's company party was also a night full of fun. The owners of the company put the party on every year and make it a family friendly event. Which is pretty cool, not many companies do that. It was by far the best company Christmas party I've ever been to. Another thing I thought was fantastic about the whole company party, was that the owners did not concern themselves with political correctness. They didn't throw a "Holiday Party". Their invitations didn't say, "Happy Holidays", or "Season's Greetings". It was a CHRISTMAS party. That was a very nice touch, and nobody was offended, because practically all of the employees and their families were there. It was held at Joe's Garage in Tustin, and there was something for everyone there. There were lots of nice cars to walk around and oogle, there was a game room set up in the back for the older kids, with a bunch of arcade games, and such. Then there was a room for the younger kids full of Santa's Elves doing arts and crafts, and face painting. They even had Santa and Mrs. Clause in attendance! (And Santa was the most realistic looking Santa I've ever met!) All of the little kids got a chance to meet Santa, tell him what they wanted for Christmas, and then as they were leaving Santa gave them a gift. That was a nice touch! The looks on the kids faces when Santa handed them a gift was priceless! There was also a dance floor, which my girls rarely left all night. They danced their little hearts out all night, regardless of who was watching them. And let me tell you, for being the "shy" one, Corinne sure had no inhibitions on the dance floor! She commanded everyone's attention, and boy did she get it! I wished we'd had our video camera on us. O'well.

The Wilson Family

@CCC Christmas Party

The Burbridge Family

@ CCC Christmas Party

Santa's Elves painted their faces...

Kai wasn't as excited about Santa

Doesn't Santa look happy? =o)

Thanksgiving 2007

We went up to Richard's Mom's house for Thanksgiving this year. We had a pretty lazy day, and took the kids to the park while dinner was cooking. Here's a couple of pics... I'm still looking for the family Thanksgiving pic. Hmmm.... I wonder....

Daddy and Kai

Mommy and Kai

Halloween

We didn't have the girls this year for Halloween so we didn't do any trick or treating. But I did end up getting Kai a costume, more for Daddy since Halloween is one of his favorite holidays. We didn't do anything for Halloween really, no passing out candy... I was kinda bah humbug about the whole thing. But here's the pictures of the kids in their adorable little costumes.

Cinderella, and 2 High School Musical Cheerleaders.

Oh but of course!!

Kai in his little spider costume

Daddy and his "little bug"

Spider Kai

Birthdays

Cassidy turned 6 on Oct. 27th, and Richard turned 26 on Oct. 30th. Since we didn't have Cassidy on her actual birthday this year, and things were a bit hectic, we only had a small birthday dinner for both Cassidy and Richard. The girls however did help me with something big for Richard. He's never had a Halloween cake, and since it's his favorite holiday, that's what we did for him. For being our first time ever making something like it, I think it turned out pretty cool. Richard and the girls loved it, so that's all that matters.

The Birthday Girl

The Birthday Boy and Girl,

Corinne, and Brooke

His first ever Halloween Cake.

My first ever Halloween cake.

The kids loved it, I found it a bit unappetizing.

Just a big kid!