Happy Easter...

I know it's been so long since I've blogged, and I'm sorry. My grandma nags me all the time to update and post pics. So here I go.... updating, and posting pictures! LOL

Easter is my most favorite holiday. I love everything about it. I love how I wake up every Easter and just feel renewed, awake. Church this morning was beautiful. Our series is titled "Awake" and our pastor talked about how he pictured the moment when Jesus took his first breath as a risen King. How he thought he might have felt when he first opened his eyes after lying dead seconds before. It was magical. I hope you all feel the magic of the resurrection story, and that you continue to feel it. Easter isn't something we should think about once a year. We reap the benefits of Jesus conquering death every single day, and oh how I wish we all lived as so.

Anyway, off my soapbox and on with the show..... Every year I go way overboard for Easter and this year was no different!! The kid woke up to baskets overflowing with goodies. And I do mean overflowing, I had to move onto the table!

After opening all the goodies and going to church we headed down to the Coast Guard base to an Easter brunch with many of our St. Pete friends. I organize an Easter get together every year and this year we did it big!! We had roughly 50 people in attendance and 18 of them were kids!!! Getting this picture of them all together was like herding kittens. Impossible. We're STILL missing one little one and most of them aren't even looking. Oh well, they're all there.

We had such a great time. I can't believe we'll be saying *See you later* to all our friends in two weeks. Unreal.

This might be my new favorite picture. They're so sweet they make my teeth hurt. I just love it. They're dressed to impress and wearing smiles. They melt my heart. How did I get so lucky?!

After photo shoots on the deck and a yummy meal, it was time to hunt eggs. Dozens and dozens and dozens of eggs!

I just really love Easter. I'm so blessed to have been able to spend it with friends that mean so much to me. Being away from our families around holidays is always a little rough. I'm so glad that I have such amazing friends that deal with the same thing. We are each others adopted family. Each others chosen family. It makes me happy.

We are so richly blessed. Remember, we serve a RISEN KING!! Jesus conquered death and brought us life. He chose to die for us, choose to live for him.

Merry Christmas...

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I'm working on getting photos off the camera and onto the computer so I can update everyone on our whirlwind Christmas so far! Santa has yet to come to the Pinto house because we were in Texas spending the holiday with our family, but he comes tomorrow and it's sure to be fun! Stay tuned for Christmas in Texas, part 1!!

O Christmas Tree........

I decided that since I took a few pictures of our tree this morning, I'd participate in this weeks "Show us your life" at Kelly's Korner.

Normally I have more than one tree, but this year we're cramped into this tiny apartment and the other tree(s) just won't fit. I decided to put up the main on and this year I changed the color scheme to Red and White with a touch of silver.

In person it looks perfect, but when I looked at the pics I thought it looked like the tree needed more ornaments. I'm not sure though. I have tons more red and white, maybe I should put them up! What do you think?!

I LOVE the snowflake ornaments. I got them all on sale last year a few days after Christmas.....when I bought them I decided to go with the red/white this year. I fell in love with them and I couldn't be happier with how they look!

I need to pull out the last few Christmas boxes and find my tree topper, but other than that, I think I'm finished decorating!! I'll try to get more pictures of the rest of the house up soon!

Happy Thanksgiving.....

I wanted to hop on for a minute and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for this year and I hope everyone reading this is surrounded by people they love and that they're enjoying their holiday.

We didn't go home for Thanksgiving this year, but we're blessed to be spending our Thanksgiving with great friends that we like to consider our "military family."

Happy Thanksgiving to anyone reading this, and Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband.

Philip, I love you with my entire soul. Here's to our lifetime together!!

Deployment sucks....

and this is a short one! LOL

Philip has been gone for a grand total of 36 hours and I'm already at my wits end. Thankfully, it's usually one a few days of total insanity before we settle into our normally insane routine.

We'll be meeting up with Philip next week for Thanksgiving at the Eastridge casa!! We're so excited. Mike and Jenn (plus 2) are such awesome friends and were so lucky to have them in our lives. The story of how we met is kinda funny, but regardless they've become great friends of ours and we're stoked to be spending such a fun holiday at their house this year!

I've been in lots of pain the last few weeks and it only seems to be getting worse. So, I feel like I'm going to lose it now that my right hand man is gone and I have no one to pick up my slack in the parenting department. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about....I'm referring to my endometriosis. After a long talk with my doctor he thinks my best bet is to undergo a hysterectomy, but I just can't make a decision. It's so permanent. I'll be praying about it, and I'd love it you'd all do the same!

It just occurred to me I never posted any halloween pics, so I'll try to get that done tonight or tomorrow!! BTW, whose excited about New Moon coming out this week!? LOL

When did this happen!? ........

I'm not quite sure when it happened, but it did. My baby girl just turned 5. I really can't believe it. I've been a Mommy for 5 whole years now, and it's the best job I've ever had, or could have.

I don't think a person can even understand the term "unconditional love" until they become a parent. There is just no grasping it beforehand. My kids are my life. They're my hopes and my dreams. They're everything right in my life and I love them more than I could have ever imagined. Ever.

Morgan,

I hope you had a wonderful birthday and that it was everything you wanted. I can't believe it's been 5 years since your were born. I feel like I've missed so much and it's all been one big blur! Time truly flies when you're having fun.

I'm so proud of the wonderful little girl you're becoming and watching you grow and change is so much fun. You fill my life with happiness and I don't know where we would be without you. You are our hopes and dreams.

I love you more everyday and I just thank God for blessing us with a daughter as awesome as you.

I love you crazy!

Mom

Oy Ve......

I've gotten a few emails this week regarding this blog, and they all go a little something like this:

"Chas, update your dang blog. We need to see new pictures of the kids, now"

So, here I am, happy to oblige......

Last weekend we went to Hunsader Farms in Bradenton, FL to have a little family fun on the farm. There was a hayride, corn maze, craft booth, etc. It was a giant waste of money, but the kids had a great time and that's all that truly matters.

Here's a pic of each kiddo on the hayride!!

Later on in the week we dressed the kids in their costumes for a mini-photo shoot, here's a sneak peak. Cuteness overload!

I promise to update again this week.....like, tomorrow. We have a fun day planned for Morgan's birthday! I can't believe my baby girl will be 5 in less than 24 hours.