St. Patty's Day

What?  It's not even March anymore?  Well, I can still wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day.  To celebrate good Ole St. Patty's Day, we headed to Brookside Gardens with our MOPS group for a fun morning scavenger hunt. Oliver's wearing green under his sweatshirt.  And Madeline didn't have anything green to wear.  But, she did get to wear her flip flops.  That was an exciting day!

We found the Blarney Stone which had green glitter all over it!  And Madeline's favorite part was the green "sfarkly" shamrock sticker that she got at this rock.  

Then the kids got to roll down a hill.  Madeline got up a little courage to at least wait in line with her friend Emmie.  But, she changed her mind once she got a little closer.  

Oliver probably would have done it.  But, he just waited patiently in the stroller.  Actually, he probably would have just ran away while occasionally turning back around to wave at me with his "I'm doing something bad but looking really cute" wave.  

She has been wanting to go back to these bubbles for a long time.

She loves to watch this video of her from 2 years ago when she came to the St. Patty's Day Walk and always wants to go back.  They even had the same music this year.  It was skipping pretty bad.  If I remember correctly, it was skipping pretty bad 2 years ago as well.  It might be time to invest in a new one.  Just a thought.

She even posed for me, with no eye contact.  But, she did smile.  

And she showed me the cool gold stones that she found.  

Then Oliver had enough of the stroller and did decide to run away from me.  And he did look pretty cute doing it.  

Then we stayed and had a picnic lunch before we headed home.  It was a beautiful morning and I am excited for the beautiful weather to decide to come back for good.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Air

My brother came up a few weekends ago and we blew up an air mattress for him to sleep on.   The kids thought the air pump was really fun to play with.  

We're Still Alive

Things have been super busy around here.  I am having a little withdrawal from posting on our blog.  So, here are a few pictures of the stars of our family.  

 Madeline came out of her room dressed like this the other day. I think she is ready for summer to be here.  She even let me take her picture, happily.  

We just got back from the 40 Days for Life Kick Off Rally.  Andrew did a great job leading it and the speakers were fantastic.  If people aren't out praying every day after that, I don't know what will encourage them to.  I am just so thankful for our children and thought I would share a video of what I get to hear on a pretty regular basis.  Madeline loves to make Oliver laugh.  And he laughs harder for her than anyone else. I hope they always love each other this much.

A Box

A box sure can create a lot of entertainment for one night.  I was incredibly impressed with Madeline's ability to fit inside this box.  It just really isn't that big.  But, I guess she is just really that little.  

I hate feeling claustrophobic....shudder. 

After some circus - like antics, we moved on to "nativity" time.  Which is what Madeline calls "activitiy time".  Which now, I think it has actually moved to "Activ-ty" time.  I think I like"nativity time" the best.    It's just cute.  

Can you tell what we turned this box into?

Oh wait, I have to stop taking pictures.

What?  You still don't know what the box is?  You are going to be so embarrassed that you didn't guess it. It's a telescope.  duh!

Everyone helped decorate it.  Well, actually, Madeline has now run away to hide from the camera.  But, Oliver is still oblivious to his mother's desire to document his life.  

Oliver loves coloring with markers, crayons and pens.  

He really loves taking the lids on and off.  

But, he really loves eating them!  That's normal, right?

40 Days for Life

Andrew has always had a passion for the unborn.  He regularly volunteers at our local pregnancy clinic and has even thought and prayed about moving to Colorado to run a pregnancy clinic.  The tragedy and horror of abortion is just something he can not get off his mind.  Many of you know about the late term abortionist that recently set up shop down the street from us.  This has spurred on an even greater passion to save these babies.  So, he decided to become the campaign director for our local 40 Days for Life.

Starting March 9th - April 17th, he is coordinating churches and people to be out in front of the abortion clinic here in Germantown, praying from 6am- 12am.  This is a peaceful gathering of people to pray for the end of abortion, especially late term abortion that could happen up to the minute. of. birth.  (And it happens every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, right up the street from us.)  We are also praying for the salvation of Leroy Carhart and all his staff at the abortion clinic.  As much as we would like for him to leave.  We would really like for his heart to change.  We are also hoping to get many people to write or call our congressmen about this issue, especially since Maryland has such lax laws on abortion.  

Anyways, Andrew is running a couple of advertisements, put together by our music minister at church, on our local Christian radio station to help raise awareness for 40 Days for Life.  Here they are if you want to listen to them.





He also just got an email from David Bereit, the founder of 40 Days for Life, to say that he wants to come to the kick off event on Sunday to support this specific campaign because of this late term abortionist.  Pretty cool huh?

If you live in the area, please come to the kick off event on Sunday at Mother Seton Parish in Germantown.  There is going to be worship, several great speakers and a candlelight vigil.  You can also sign up for a time to come out and pray at www.40daysforlife.com/germantown.  If you aren't in the area, you can go to www.40daysforlife.com and maybe find one that is local for you.  To think that over 50 million babies have been aborted since Roe vs Wade can seem so overwhelming.  But, here is a simple way to actually make a difference and show that people are actually fighting for these little guys.

Super Madeline

I'd like to introduce you to Super Madeline.  She's rough and tough and dresses the part to a T with her Monkey hat (that she insists still fits her from her first Halloween), cape and black dress shoes.  The pajamas are just because we failed to dress this day.  

She races around to save her family (of stuffed animals) from little terrors with gigantic paws.  

She saves little bunnies from certain harm.

And places them in easier to reach places... I mean... in safety.

And then rushes off to her next mission.

 I think I like Super Madeline around.  The world just seems like a safer place to be.