Easter -

We woke up Easter morning and enjoyed family time reading "A Sad Day and A Happy Day" (for those of you who aren't familiar with the Read Aloud Bible Stories, go here. We have really enjoyed them) and talking about what Jesus did for us. Later, we hunted some eggs and then kids enjoyed their chocolate bunny. Can I just tell you the Neily ate her bunny in 3 minutes! This girl loves her chocolate!

Here are the kiddos before they hunted their eggs:

And this is them saying "Cheers!" as they toasted their bunnies. They do "cheers" with everything from milk to legos. It is really quite humerous.

I tried to get a picture of them hugging and this was the best I got:

A Trip to Radnor

Just 20 minutes from our house is this great place, Radnor Lake. It is a beautiful lake as well as a wildlife preserve. They have a trail around the lake as well as trails through the surrounding wooded areas. It has become one of our favorite places to visit because we see so many neat things when we go. When we went yesterday Mitch and I were a bit overzealous and took the kids on a hike around the entire lake. It ended up taking us over 2 hours and by the end we had the kids on our shoulders hoping that the end was just around the next turn. We were all pooped, but it was worth it. We saw lots of turtles, 3 snakes, a woodpecker, and a few other animals. He are some pics of our adventure:

Neily hears a Who!

We saw this owl just as we began our walk. Neily was really excited to see an owl (and so was I):

All the turtles in a row.

Can you tell this is a woodpecker? This is one of those times when I really wish I had a better camera!

Neily running to catch up with me. She has the sweetest face.

Jake on the bridge. One of his favorite things to do is throw rocks and sticks into the water.

Dad and the kiddos resting with a snack. This was towards the end of the hike, so no one was really in the mood to say "Cheese!"

Last week we were in Birmingham and had a pre-Easter egg hunt with cousin Elizabeth. The kids enjoyed seeing each other and had a ball hunting eggs and eating candy.

Just before heading out to hunt eggs:



Hunting Eggs



I couldn't resist putting up this picture. It cracks me up! (no pun intended:))

All Done! Poor Jake smashed in the middle. With 2 girl cousins and a sister, I have a feeling he better get used to it!

A New Plan -
Thanks to her, I realized that I can have comment moderation set up on my blog. This is where I get to see all comments before they are posted and I can approve or disapprove of them. I thought I would try this first before going the "you have to log in before you read my blog" route. Hopefully this will do the trick.

On a lighter note, how wonderful has the weather been lately? It seems like within a week we went from "it's so cold and windy that it make my face hurt" to "it's so pleasant outside that I could stay here for hours." And that's just what we have done. We live about 1/2 mile from a great park and have been there several days this past week. We have literally played outside for hours, taken lots of walks, picked countless daffodils and made lots of mud pies. These are the days when I am so grateful that I stay home and I don't have to miss out on enjoying creation with my kids. What a blessing!

Will you still come and visit me?
So, I keep getting unwelcomed comments on my blog. I am considering setting it up where only people I choose can view my blog, which means you would have to log in to view my blog. Is that something you all would do? It frustrates me to no end that people keep doing this. One reason why I think I should have a blog log-in is because I don't want my blog to lead these people to your blog. Let me know if you will still stop by and I will add your name to the e-mail/permission list to view my blog. Thanks, friends!

SNOW DAY!!

This morning we woke up to more snow than we have seen since we moved to Nashville. It started last night and snowed off and on through the night. We ended up with around 3-4" this morning and the kids both had a blast playing in it. Sadly, the snow started to melt around noon and is now almost gone... but it sure was fun while it lasted!

Bloggers Beware...
On Tuesday, someone by the name "Mer" left a comment on my blog. Being that I have several friends name Meredith, I clicked on the name to see the profile. When I did that, it automatically put a virus on the computer and a few hours later caused it to crash. Unfortunately I was in Birmingham at the time and all this happened on my parents computer. (Too bad it wasn't mine b/c it's such a piece anyway!) They are in the process of getting their computer up and running, so hopefully this scenario will have a happy ending. I wanted to mention this to all of you so you can be on guard. Make sure you know exactly who someone is before checking their profile. Take it from me who learned this the hard way!

And for those of you who would like to see a picture of Jen's new baby girl, Anne Thomas, here she is. I think she's got Elizabeth's nose and Jen's eyes.

The kids and I visited Botanical Gardens in Birmingham today. The weather was great and we enjoyed a picnic lunch and a stroll around the gardens. Here are some pics from the day.

When I started this blog, I told myself that I wasn't going to be one to not blog often. I was going to blog every other day at least. Well, that obviously hasn't happened. I would love to blog more, but either time or computer issues prevent me from doing so. For whatever reason I feel like I need to put pictures up to keep my blog interesting. Since I can't do that from my computer, I just don't blog. My goal is to overcome that and blog regardless!

So, today I don't have too much to share. Just that I think I am obsessed with vacuuming. I vacuum most every day. Sometimes 2 times a day. I know, i know. Stop the madness! Blame it on having 2 cats. Blame it on having a child with allergies/asthma. Blame it on having this fabulous vacuum (thanks to a gift from a friend and a coupon). I honestly enjoy it.

Hello, my name is Allison and i'm a vacuumaholic...

I'm sitting here this morning with a cup of coffee watching the snowflakes float to the ground. One of my favorite things about living here in Franklin is getting to see it snow more often. Rarely is it enough snow to bring things to a hault for a few days, but my favorite part is just watching it fall. It's so peaceful, so beautiful.
I don't have much to write about today. I'm just grateful that my family is well and things are back to normal. Since I don't have much to write, head over to http://www.conorbootheandgirls.blogspot.com/. Boothe is a mere acquaintance of mine here in Franklin, but I enjoy reading her blog. She lost a baby at the end of last year to trisomy 18 and often writes to share her struggles of figuring out what life looks like after such a painful loss. I love her honesty and vulnerability. She is a very talented writer. Check her out if you get a chance.

8 Days and 7 nights...
sounds like a description of some fabulous vacation getaway, doesn't it? Well, not quite. That's how long we were battling the stomach bug here at the Stephens. Mitch had it for just one day, but the kids had it for a week. Thankfully mommy was spared:) It has been quite a long week for us, but we are so grateful that it's behind us. And in light of all that sickness, the whole no sweets thing has been really easy!

I was reading a friend's blog the other day and read this quote which was very helpful for me:

Don't judge God's love by your circumstances, but judge your circumstances by God's love.

Just hours after I read that my car didn't start and, long story short, we had to pay a lot to get it fixed. I struggled all day because they money we used to pay for my car was the money we were going to use to buy our new computer at the end of the month. I was really trying to be grateful that we had the money to pay for the car, but inwardly mourning because I so wanted that new computer. Really bad. Really really bad. I had a choice here: to believe that God didn't love me enough to let me get that computer OR to beleive God loved me enough to provide money for our car without us having to go into debt to fix it. I chose to dwell on the latter perspective. To be honest here I must share that money is one of the main trust issues I have with the Lord. There's a song that opens with the line, "I have faith in the bank, and money in my heart." I wish that weren't true of me, but sometimes it is. The "faith in the bank" part is what I struggle with most. If we have enough money in savings, it'll be okay. If we have enough money for a nice down payment, then we will be able to get a pretty good house. Sometimes my mentality totally takes God out of the picture, but at the end of the day I realize how lonely that place is and I am brought to my knees asking for forgiveness and for the faith to trust in Him alone, not in a figure I read on our monthly statement. I am so grateful that this life isn't as good as it gets. So grateful. Oh, how hard (and depressing) life would be without the promise of eternity with Him. "Better is one day in his courts than a thousand elsewhere."

Welcome to the world, little girl!

My sister Jen and her husband Chris welcomed their new baby girl on Friday, Feb. 1. Anne Thomas Simon was born by c-section Friday afternoon and weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs. 9oz and she was 22" long. Anne is Jen's middle name and Thomas is my mom's maiden name. Jen was suprised by having a c-section, but the baby had turned and the doctors were unable to get her in the proper position for delivery. Both baby and mom are home now and are doing well. I will post some pictures this weekend.

No Chocolate for How Long???
I am putting this out there for all to know so I will have lots of accountability wherever I go! My sister and I did this last year and I felt great, slept great, and it was nice to get back in tune with my body and what I really needed to eat as opposed to what I wanted to eat (losing 6 lbs. was pretty nice, too!). So, I am doing it again starting tomorrow - no sweets until Easter. That's 53 days to be exact. No Hershey bars, no snagging a bite of whatever treat the kids are eating, no mocha's from Starbucks. There will be coffee, though. Yes. There will be coffee.
Anyway, Jen can't do it with me this time as she will be a bit occupied with baby #2 who will be arriving any day now. I thought I would see if there was anyone out there interested in doing this with me. What Jen and I did last year was we had a consequence for cheating - you had to pay the other $10 if you "fell off the wagon." If I cheated, she got $10 every time and vise versa. Money is always a good motivator for me, so I didn't cheat once and neither did she!

So, tomorrow is the big day. I will update you as the days pass. If I remember, the first few days were really hard and after that it was no big deal. Maybe it will be that easy this time, too!

Looking for a good read...
Mitch has been studying for his LEED Accreditation (for Green building) and will be studying a lot more in the evenings as he gets closer to the test date. I am looking for something to read while he studies - something entertaining that isn't illustrated and has more than 10 words on a page:) I was thinking about reading The Kite Runner, but wanted to see if anyone had any other suggestions to offer. I would greatly appreciate any input. Thanks!

Will I ever learn that it's not the best idea to let a 1 1/2 year old eat chili all by himself?

She's Three.

Yesterday my baby girl turned three. What joy she brings to our family with her sweet little laugh, her cute comments, and her tender heart. She is so proud to be three. I am proud, too, but it's bittersweet. I love watching her grow up, but sad that she is growing so fast. Here are some pictures of our little princess as she has grown:

Three Months:

5 Months

1 year

18 Months

Two

2 1/2

THREE!!!

LOVE.
8 years ago today you told me you loved me for the first time. I never dreamed of how much that love would grow and how wonderful it would be to love you and be loved by you. You are an incredible father, husband, and best friend. I wouldn't want to take this journey with anyone other than you. I love you, babe.

Early Birthday Celebration -

My parents came in town last weekend for and early birthday celebration for Neily who will be 3 next week. My sister is due with her 2nd child right around Neily's birthday, so we celebrated early with GiGi and Granddaddy to make sure we could get in a little party before the newest addition arrives. We went to Build-A-Bear where Neily picked out a fuzzy rabbit that she named Babbit. We came home to have some yummy cookie cake (per her request) and ate until our tummy's hurt. She felt special and is enjoying the fact that we get to have another celebration on Friday. "More cake for me!" she says. Hmmm, a girl after my own heart!

Pondering her choices with Granddaddy:

Watching Babbit get puffed up:

The yummy cookie cake, which one little brother is eager to get to:

Enjoying the Happy Birthday song:

Getting a little help with the candles:

Alas, the cake...

Things I'm looking forward to in 2008 :
(Thanks for the idea Amanda!)

Getting a new computer - As I have stated many of times, my computer is the hooptiest of the hoopty. This year will be the year of the Mac and I absolutely cannot wait! Thanks to our 2 adorable tax deductions, hopefully we will get one sooner than later.

Being Greener - We are always looking for ways to alter our lifestyle to be greener in our everyday life. We bought the mesh grocery bags and are using them for all of or grocery trips. I get lots of looks at Walmart b/c I think I'm the only one who totes in 13 bags to load my groceries in. Hopefully by the end of the 2008 what I am doing will be the norm. As a plug for these great bags (only $1/each), they are so much easier to carry than the regular plastic bags!Next we will be buying these for our produce instead of the clear baggies available in the produce section. You can wash and reuse them over and over. Did you know that it takes up to 1,000 years for plastic bags to biodegrade in a landfill? I will also start transitioning all of our cleaning/laundry supplies to environmentally safe products. I will let you know what we find that works best. Just curious, what's your family doing to go green in 2008?

The Summer Olympics - We love the Olympics around here. Probably the only thing we find worthy of our time on TV in the summertime.

Getting Better at Yoga - Mitch and I have been doing the yoga thing 3 times/week for 3 weeks now and really enjoy it. I look forward to getting better at it. I think we are finally over the laughing at each other stage and are really getting a good workout.

Becoming a Better Cook - I have always been pretty good in the baking arena, but cooking creative, healthy meals (as Mitch will attest to) is not my forte'. So, this year I am setting out to find some healthy, affordable, tasty meals that will hopefully be pleasing to the taste buds.