Happy Easter, Y'all!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

I hope y'all are all having an amazing weekend celebrating our AWESOME Christ's resurrection surrounded by ones that you love!

It was so awesome to see some new faces at our church today, and I hope that those new faces experienced God today and come back!

After church, I managed to snap a few quick photos of the kids in their adorable Easter attire.

So, I'm pretty sure we need to get this child an agent and a modeling contract.

I told her to look pretty for some pictures, and she gives me this "all serious Tyra Banks pose".

This is seriously the ONLY photo of her I got smiling.

EVERY photo I took, she did some crazy modeling, smiling with her eyes (smise), serious face, non sense...lol.

And...the General.

I tried really really hard to get a photo of the two of them together, but it was literally impossible to get them to both look at the camera at the same time!

Moms of 2+ kids...I know y'all know what I'm talking about!!!!!

I eventually threw in the towel and gave up.

Do y'all do Easter baskets for your kids?

I'm a sucker when it comes to doing little things for my kids, so there is no questioning me if I do them.

Nick thinks I tend to go a little overboard.....

That is until he sees their reactions...

Watching that face is all worth it, and I can tell by the smile on Nick's face that he's glad he's got a wife that's one of "THOSE MOMS". lol.

The General really could care less about his basket. In fact, he had more fun playing with the Easter grass that was inside of it.

Quick story about this Elsa doll...

I scoured the internet, Target, Toys R Us, Ebay....freaking EVERYWHERE for this dang Elsa doll.

Everywhere was either sold out, or people were selling them on Amazon/EBay for like 70 bucks!!!!

EVERYONE knew I was looking for this dang doll.

A friend from church was at Kohl's (of all places), and her daughter found it!

She bought the doll without even asking me if I wanted her to get it (knowing I'd say yes)!

SERIOUSLY...Dannika was OVER THE MOON that she finally got her Elsa doll.

MISSION COMPLETE.

As for the rest of our day...

We are headed to our (very Italian) neighbor's house today for an Easter feast that is fit for a KING!

We're so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing neighbors in such a great neighborhood.

We seriously couldn't have been given a greater place to live here in New England!

One perk of living in Massachusetts is that tomorrow is "Patriot's Day".

Patriot's Day is only celebrated here, and the famous Boston Marathon falls on this day as well.

This means Nick has the day off, and we get an extra day to relax together as a family! 

SCORE!

I really hope y'all had the best weekend ever!

HE IS RISEN!

HE IS RISEN, INDEED!

Good Friday

I'm a pretty open person about my faith on my blog (and in real life).

I mean, my caption on the side of my blog says that, "I'm a Jesus' lovin' former U.S. Marine...".

God is #1 in our family's home, in our marriage....basically in everything.

I constantly remind my daughter that "in this family, we serve God first" and that everything we do, "we do it to glorify God."

I fall short of that every single day.

I gossip, I complain, I judge....

That's just 3 things of the hundreds of other things I do wrong.

I'm a sinner...just like everyone else.

But how awesome is it that God gave his only son as a sacrifice for me so that despite ALL of my imperfections, shortcomings, and sins, I am saved.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." -John 3:16

Eternal Life.

How awesome is that!?

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed."-1Peter 2:24

Can you imagine dying a horrific, slow, and painful death for the sake of generations of people to come who will hate you, mock you, and despise you?

I don't think there is a moment in the history of the world where love greater than that has been shown.

Nick and I had our morning coffee together today, and prayed together before he went to work.

We haven't prayed together the past few weeks because he's been home.

Our schedules and routines were all off, and we barely had any quiet time alone together.

We're back on schedule now, and it felt good to have that prayer time together.

It was important for us to thank God for sending his only Son down on earth for our shortcomings both personally and through our marriage.

I am so thankful for a God who is always pursuing me and for a God who is constantly forgiving me....every single day.

The Boy Behind the Blog

Nick is back for the April edition of "The Boy Behind the Blog" (although, he prefers to be called the MAN behind the blog) series!

I'm pretty excited that he's been willing to participate!

I'm married to the guy, so I pretty much know everything about him, but I think it's cool to give y'all a glimpse into my better half.

So...

Here. We. Go.

Questions and Answers (my responses to his answers are in pink...of course):

1. Your significant other's blog: a blessing or a curse?

Its a little of both.  I like the fact that I can go back 4 years and see what we were up to but, so can everyone else.

Nick and I have had many conversations about what I can and can not post on my blog. I am very real and open about our life, but we do have a line. There is a LOT of personal things between Nick and me and our family that I would never write about. Things that we don't feel comfortable talking about with friends/strangers, I don't post.  

2. Do you read your wife's blog?

I read it everyday.

:) My blog was such an awesome way for him to keep up with our life when he was deployed. I'm glad to know he actually reads it every day :)

3. What is one thing you can do better than anyone that you know?

Drill, I know more than most and can perform better than most. I just don't have the soulful church voice to back it all up.  I do all right though.  

"FORWARD...HARCH (march)! BY THE RIGHT FLANK...."

YES. HE. CAN. DRILL. HIS. HOT. MARINE CORPS. BUTT. OFF!

Nick was a Marine Corps drill instructor ("drill sergeant" for those not familiar with the Marine Corps), and he was also a Sgt Instructor at OCS for Marine Officer candidates. 

And his voice is loud and in charge...

He's been known to make grown men cry and pee their pants (true story!)

4. What is your favorite TV sitcom from the 90s?

Law and Order Special Victims Unit

It's just not the same without Chris Meloni....(Detective Stabler).

5. If you were opening a small business or shop, what would it be? What goods/services would you sell?

A garage restoring classic cars.

 Nick owned a 1968 Chevy C10 in high school that he restored. He's talked about that truck non stop since we met. He's always talked about owning another classic car that he could work on, and just a few weeks ago, he bought a 1972 Chevy Chevelle!

There's nothing hotter than a man who knows his American muscle cars!

There y'all have it!

Until next time....

 

Link up your Boys Behind the Blog Posts below!

Eyeballs & Easter stuff

Nick's been cleared by his eye doctor to "cautiously" resume normal activities.

Basically, he needs to ease back into his work out routine, and he's been taken off of 1 of the 3 eye drops he is on.

The only one the doctor took away was the one that dilates his pupil, so he'll be able to see.

This is a major "hallelujah" moment for me because in all honesty, I am SO DONE being his chauffeur, and vice versa.

I think my driving scares him.

I like to make last minute decisions on the road....you know...just to keep everyone on their toes.

I saw these meme pop up on my FB newsfeed, and it accurately describes Nick in the passenger's seat while I drive him everywhere (with the exception to the part about me being his wife and not his girlfriend, of course).

Can you imagine if he had his full eye sight? lol.

He's still not completely "all clear".

We have two more appointments with another specialist and the ophthalmologist.

I was talking to someone today about how upset I still was with the parties involved in this accident.

EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A FREAK ACCIDENT.

When it comes to my husband and children, I become a mean mama bear.

One time on the playground, I saw a little boy knock Dannika over (by accident, I think), but seeing my baby on the ground just lit a fire to my mama rage.

I remember walking straight up to this little 4 year old boy, and yelling at him to watch where he was going.

His mom just looked at me in disbelief, and pulled her son aside to tell him to "pay attention".

That's right....I won that battle on the playground.

There was another instance when we were all taking a walk, and I was pushing Dannika in the stroller.

This group of middle schoolers refused to let me through with the stroller, so I shoved one of them into a brick wall with my stroller, and pushed another one into that same brick wall and said something along the lines of, "you don't mess with a woman with a baby in a stroller. show some respect, and move the he$# out of the way."

 Those 3 little boys saw Jesus that day, and as I walked away while pushing my stroller, they apologized profusely to my husband who was standing behind me.

Nick knows that when "mama bear" comes out, you don't mess with me.

He just let me go on my way.

I don't have anger issues.

I am a wife and a mother...who just happens to be a Korean Southern girl.

Don't mess with Texas, right?

My family is EVERYTHING to me.

ANYWAY...

Every year, we dye Easter eggs the week before Easter Sunday.

This year was Mattis' first year to join in on the "festivities".

Nick could barely see, but he made his contribution to the family Easter eggs.

So Mattis didn't do much...he just kinda sat there.

Way to contribute to the family, Mattis.

Boys....

So we're missing an egg because Dannika broke one :(

  

Obligatory family photo with our completed product.

We also took our annual cheesy, mall photos with the extremely creepy Easter Bunny...

We were hoping for a good "cry photo" of Mattis, but he was a little too happy to be meeting the Easter Bunny.

My all time favorite Easter Bunny photo is this one...

Happt Hump Day, y'all!

Work Outs and Mother Nature

Since Nick's been on "light duty" for the last two weeks, my work out routine has been totally wrecked.

I've skipped days due to my new duty of chauffeuring my "almost blind" husband around, chauffeuring my 4 year old around to all of her activities, tending to my 7 month old, and also trying to keep up with my own errands on my calendar.

It's been crazy.

Six weeks ago, I sprained my right ankle pretty bad when I fell down a step in my house.

Six weeks later, it still hurts.

But of course, I'm great at giving advice, but never take my own advice....

I've been working out and running on it, and sometimes taping it down to ease the pain during a work out (I KNOW, I KNOW...bad idea).

Since my right ankle is hurt, the left side of my body has been overcompensating a bit when I work out, and in turn, I pulled a HUGE muscle somewhere around my left glute and my left hamstring.

It's SO PAINFUL!

So this inconsistent work out schedule (due to Nick being home) has given everything a few days here and there to "heal" when I can't make it to the gym or a work out.

My problem is that I start feeling agitated, irritated, stressed out, and angry when I go longer than 3 days without hazing myself in some way or another.

So I end up working out, and "reinjuring" the hurt ankle, and in turn not giving my muscle a chance to relax.

I'm basically just a hot mess right now....#dontcare

yeah...I just hashtagged on my blog...don't judge me.

After taking 3 days off, I couldn't stand it anymore, and despite the fact that I had a dull pain in my glute muscle and a still hurt ankle, I took my butt outside for a short run.

My run felt great......

That is until the <gail force winds> decided to almost knock me over, blow a rock into my eye (I was wearing my Oakleys), blow some leaves into my face, and slap my body with sand flying toward my body at mach force.

I'm surprised I managed 5 miles considering I was running into practically a tornado while dodging flying objects while in slight pain.

 

 And by the way, currently, I can't walk.....

And thanks to my awesome 4 year old for taking photos of me doing my ab work out.

 Flutter kicks! 1-2-3-1...1-2-3-2....

 I'll one day learn to take it easy on my body...when I die.

So something totally strange happened in New England this weekend.

It felt warm.

Kinda like Spring?

I know, right?!

I'm all thinking, "What's going on mother nature? You must be in a gooood mood!"

Oh but no worries folks, mother nature hates me (or just New England), and is going to pour rain down on us for the next week.

Here's my big middle finger to mother nature right now....

Although Nick couldn't do much, our family spent the ENTIRE weekend just sitting outside talking, drinking beer, listening to country music, and watching the kids play.

Pure. Bliss.

Can you believe it was warm enough to get in bathing suits and turn the sprinklers on?!

We grilled and ate dinner out on the patio last night.

It felt almost like an evening in Texas, except it wasnt :(

I know Nick is itching to drive his new car.

Hopefully he gets cleared by the eye doctor this week, and he can finally take it out for a spin!

I love this photo of my two favorite men hanging out in the Chevelle and reading car mags.

Insert melting heart here.

Pray that mother nature is nice to me this week, and holds the rain off a little!!
Happy Monday, y'all!