On the hunt...

Let me tell you something about my kids.

They are amazing hunters.

You don't believe me?

Well, it's true. 

They can hunt an Easter egg like a boss. 

Or something else that's a really good hunter.

And that's a good thing, because a) we have tons of plastic eggs and 2) they had tons of egg hunts this year. 

Starting with the annual Kindergarten Egg Hunt at Rad's school. (That also doubles as a "math lesson". #publiceducationloophole)

Parents got help "hide" the eggs and let me tell you that Radley was sorely disappointed that they were "just in the field". He was hoping for some hard core hunting.

Each kid got 8 eggs filled with candy or stickers or money(!) and then they got to hang out at the park for an hour or so. I love his teacher... she is really the best!

The hunting continued on Friday morning at a neighborhood egg hunt. This was seriously a morning of answered prayers. We were playing outside one day and this lovely momma is jogging by with her two kiddos and stops.

"THERE ARE KIDS ON THIS STREET!!"

Our thoughts exactly.

We all introduced ourselves and a few days later an invitation to this egg hunt appears in our mailbox. 

We had the best morning with amazing weather, new friends and lots of fun.

LOTS of new friends.

Marci and her husband had the best set up and the kids got to enjoy lots of yummy food, games and crafts. Then she gathered them all together to talk about the real meaning of Easter.

You know, the part other than all the candy and suckers.

They sat and listened so well and when she asked what Easter was about, I was proud to hear Emmy and Radley pipe up "JESUS!!!" And then Emmy continued, "Yeah. He died. On a cwoss. Mean people killed him." 

And then it was time to line up for the hunt.

They sent them in age groups so Emmy and Landry got to start first.

Landry was not thrilled.

(But she was well accessorized.)

Holding back the stampeded...

And then they were off!

Radley found more than his fair share, and was only a little miffed when I made him forced him politely asked him to share.

Hope your Easter weekend was full of answered prayers, too!

Soulful Sunday...

Every now and then I am called to really just relay a message. Maybe not a big message. Maybe not the most powerful message. Maybe not even an eloquent message. But a message nonetheless. 

And here they are... 

What? You don't see the message in these beautiful new washer/dryers? 

Look closer. 

I see an amazing, overwhelming, beautiful answered prayer. 

Well, three actually. 

Last week our dryer broke, and like most things - we weren't really "prepared" for that to happen. No one likes repair of any kind, right? And no one likes to spend money on things that they "need", right? We surely weren't looking forward to it. 

After a long debate and a few pro/con sessions, we decided to just bite the bullet and buy a new dryer. We read tons of reviews, talked to the nice folks at Lowe's, and made a decision. We settled on a dryer right in the middle of "bottom line" and "holy cow it texts you when the cycle is done". (that last part is true y'all). And we weren't really happy about it. Ryan was going to make the purchase on Thursday. And then Wednesday rolls around and I get a text from our awesome neighbor with a picture of these beauties asking if we were interested. 

Long story short, her sister worked for someone that was moving and didn't want to bring these with them and was selling the entire set for a steal. Seriously. All of this for less than the price of the actual pedestals. We clearly said YES!!! The only catch was we had to get them from San Antonio. 

And here is the message...

Small prayers - {BIG} answers. 

1. While it sounds silly, this just proves that no prayer is too small. What a tiny prayer in the grand scheme of life, "Dear God, help us figure out this dryer situation. Help us make a smart choice." And His answer was HUGE. 

2. I've already gone on and on and on about the blessing of our new neighbors. But, they are awesome. 

3. We continuously pray to be surrounded by good people in our lives.  On a whim, I posted on FB that we needed help getting these to CS. Within 5 minutes a sweet sorority sister sent me a text and said she would be happy to do it. Isn't that amazing? We haven't seen each other in 4 years and still she was willing to take time and effort and money out of her schedule to help us. 

Answered prayers indeed. 

So the next time you're thinking, "that's silly - I don't need to pray about that" just do it. You will be amazed at His response. 

Answered prayers...

I lived on the BEST street growing up. 

Don't believe me? Here is a run down of our crew:

Nikki and Monica - across the street neighbors. 6 years older than me. And UBER cool. ;) Nikki was a cheerleader and basic idol of mine. She would let me come over at 6:45AM just so she could french braid my hair before school. 

Mindy and Stephanie - down the street neighbors. We rode bikes, slept under the stars, "lived" in their camper, etc. They had the most awesome playhouse in their backyard. Our moms were each others' "go to" in a bind. 

Niki - Around the corner neighbor. Our friendship grew as we got older. We have basically done everything you can imagine together. Road trips. Senior trips. House parties. Laughed. Cried. Fought. Made up. School projects. Life projects. She's kind of amazing. 

Clint and Wes - down the street neighbor. Cute boy. Fun parents. And a pool. That we got to use whenever we wanted. Even when they were out of town. 

And that's a just a few of the awesome people that lived on our street.

I LOVED it. Loved growing up with friends close by. Loved that we could go as far as my dad's whistle could be heard. Seriously, I was lucky.

And - that (to have great neighbors) has been a major prayer of ours since we lived in our first home. We really want our kids to be surrounded by good people. Reliable people. Fun people. And we want to be friends with the people that live all around us. We are lucky to live in a good neighborhood, with nice neighbors. Neighbors that we can have quick conversations with, wave hello to in the morning and have them check our mail when we are away. Can't complain.

BUT. Y'all... I can't tell you how happy my heart is that we now have friends as neighbors. 

Meet Maegan. 

This was Sunday afternoon. I had taken the girls to run a quick errand and Ryan and Radley were working in the yard. When I got back home I didn't see Rad but Ryan let me know that he had gone across the street to play. 

I think I almost cried. 

Three minutes later he and Maegan were in our house because he wanted to bring a Batman leggo toy over for Hudson to play with. 

I cried again.

Then we all just threw on our suits and went over for a quick swim and popsicle break in our day before a thunderstorm rolled in. No pomp and circumstance. No special occasion. Just an hour in our day to hang out. 

AND.

If the fact that our new neighbors/friends aren't just amazing on their own...Maegan was college roommate's with Ryan's best-friend's wife in college. (Follow?) Ummm. What kind of amazingly small world do we live in?

Later that night as we were sitting in bed my phone beeped. I went to check the text message and it was from Maegan:

We are laying in bed watching TV and Joel just bust out laughing. I asked what is so funny.... and he just says he keeps picturing Ryan dunking poor Landry!

(I should include that Landry is fine and he didn't really dunk her. She just kind of slipped. #thirdkid)

Anyway - we then died laughing again and I was reminded that sometimes we wait for our prayers to be answered, but it is always worth it. 

Welcome to the 'hood, y'all. So glad you chose our neck of the woods. 

You are NEVER allowed to move. 

Welcome to the neighborhood...

 Earlier this year we were so sad when we saw a "for sale" sign pop up at the house across the street. Mr. Hardy and his wife were moving (literally down the road to a garden home) but we loved having them at neighbors. The kids took every opportunity to yell as loud as possible give a friendly hello each time he was walking his dog. 

Cut to about a month ago and the sign was gone and new neighbors had arrived. 

And y'all... they are so much FUN!!! A couple our age with one little boy and a girl on the way...we got to go hang out with them tonight and the kids were thrilled!

(Did I mention they have a pool?)

(We may or may not have already planned an "adults only" party with babysitting HQ across the street at our casa...Maegan just tell me the day and time!)

This one found her motivation to walk - practically into the pool. 

This one finally feels better - so good that silly faces have made a comeback.

Hudson and Radley played so well together - both loud. Both silly. Both boys.

A match made in heaven. 

;)

Welcome to the neighborhood, Maegan, Joel and Hudson! We are so excited to have normal, loud, laid back, funny, grill loving, party going neighbors! Looking forward to many years of fun ahead!