Mother's Day.

Mother's Day weekend we were in Arkansas to visit our new nephew/cousin, Elijah.

We had a WONDERFUL time!
At Nana and Ops, we spent time fishing, grilling out steaks and burgers, riding on Ops tractor, getting in the hot tub, walking and strolling around the lake, watching the geese fly and swim in the lake, having a pizza picnic, running in relay races, and so much more.

We were able to stop by and have a Mother's Day lunch with Aubri's Mima and Poppie and swing by and see Papa on our way out of town. We missed you, Gamma!

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

It is a tradition that anytime the Carroll family gets together we have pancakes for breakfast.
The grandkids get to help Ops make them and only Ops and his helpers know the "secret ingredients". Aubri is finally old enough to help and she loved every minute of it!

Ops got a new lawn mower...er, I mean, tractor.
He took turns pulling the grandkids around in the wagon and, then they each got a turn driving! Aubri, of course, was a little hesitant at first, but after she saw her older (and younger) cousins do it, she was more comfortable.

Nana and Aubri on Mother's day.

We went over to Poppie's mom's house for lunch and saw Mima and Poppie.
Blake and Aunt Erica stopped by too! We had such a fun time laughing, talking, and making a video to send to great-Mamaw Peggy.

I LOVE Mother's Day. It is one of my favorite days.
You know that feeling right after you have a baby when you want to show the world how precious your sweet baby is?
Well, that is how my heart feels on Mother's Day.
I am so proud and grateful for my two babies.

Mother's Day 2008
I LOVE this picture.
This is a picture of my first official Mother's day. I was 6 weeks pregnant with Aubri.
My Mamaw and my mom had come to Texas for Wes's graduation and I was honored to celebrate with two of my favorite moms.

Mother's Day 2009
This was my first mother's day with my baby girl in my arms.
I am so thankful that God gave me such a beautiful and sweet little girl.

Mother's Day 2010
Last year on Mother's day, we found out that I was pregnant with our son, Wesley Adam. What a special day; I celebrated with a little girl in my arms and a little boy in my belly.
Thank you, God, for giving me a Mother's Day with Wesley Adam. You are so gracious.

Mother's Day 2011
Wes, Bri, and I celebrated Mother's day yesterday. They took me to my favorite restaurant for dinner. We planned to go by the park on our way home to play for a little while, but it started raining, so we headed home for a game of shopping cart basketball in the living room instead.

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward."
Psalm 127:3

The happenings.

I have sat down many times to write a post but, it never gets finished, therefore it never gets posted. It must mean that it is the end of the semester when life gets crazy. Yep, that would be it. Here is my final attempt to catch up and fill in all the blanks.

We have had 2 new additions to our family- 2 nephews!
Asa Peter Macke was born to Wes's sister Ashley and her husband, Jonnie, in April. He was 3 weeks early but is strong and the whole family is doing very well! We are so anxious to meet that precious boy. Whenever I show Bri his pictures she says "I wanna hold da baby". Me too, honey, me too!

Baby Asa

Also, my sister, Ashley and her husband, John, are in the process of finishing up the paperwork for their newest addition, Elijah! He is home with his family and seems to be transitioning pretty well. He is a the cutest 2 year old (besides my Bri, of course. :) I have ever seen. We went to Arkansas this past weekend to FINALLY meet him. I found myself just starring at him because he is so beautiful.
(Because they have not finished the paperwork for his adoption, I cannot post his pictures online, but, if you are interested in reading all about their family and their adoption of Elijah, click here.)

In March, my Aunt Barbara, my 2 cousins, Anna and Taylor, and Anna's son, Silas, came to visit. They stopped in FW for a few days and then we took a road trip to my mom's to see more family. We had a wonderful, encouraging, yet interesting visit. You can read all about it here.

Anna and Silas

Ahhh, Easter. We had a wonderful Easter. Our church did a wonderful job of encouraging worship in our hearts and homes in the weeks leading up to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter celebration. Our little family woke up early on Easter and read about Christ's resurrection from the Bible and had breakfast together. We got ready for church early so we could go to the cemetery. We had received a letter in the mail earlier in the week to let us know that WA's memorial tablet had been installed and we were so excited to see it.
What better day to go see it than the day we celebrate Christ's resurrection and the promise of His return!?
It was a day full of emotion, but we were so encouraged!
WE HAVE HOPE IN CHRIST because HE LIVES!

O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15: 55-57

That should catch us up on the big events. Here are a few pictures to share our day to day activities.

Aubri getting the dreaded haircut.
We are keeping it short in hopes of thickening it up a bit.
She hates getting her haircut but it is SO precious.

This girl LOVES to swim!

Bri reading books.
We read ALL day long!

I am helping a friend out for a few weeks, by watching her little girl during the day.
Aubri has made a new best friend.
She loves to hold her hand and give her her paci.

We have been spending lots of time outside
since we are having such beautiful weather.

Picnic time.

Wes played his last season of intramural basketball.
His team won the championship!
We loved going to the games every Thursday.

Nana came to spend a week with us.
No one was sick, recovering from surgery, or had just had a baby, so we didn't put her to work. We were able to enjoy getting out and running errands, shopping, playing, going on walks and a basketball game and talking. It was a wonderful and encouraging time for our family.
Thank you, Nana for coming!

Me and my friend, Nicole, ran the Zoo Run 5k again this year.
We had didn't set any personal records but we had lots of fun!

Mother's Day post coming soon. :)