Saturday adventures!

Daddy came home from being up all night at a Senior High Lock-In and decided it was such a beautiful day he would forego sleeping for taking in the glorious day with his family.

Ataly taking it all in behind those sweet shades!

It had snowed the night before so there was good packing snow for snowballs and what are boys supposed to do but make and throw snowballs every chance they get.

GymSport!

Our mom's group met in Wausau at a super fun place called GymSport for our playgroup this month. The kids got to run around and play hard for an hour. This was right up Traeger's alley. We will definitely be visiting again sometime soon!

The trampolines were a big hit!

Check out the size of this block pit...it was awesome!

Traeger playing it safe on the balance beam.

Here are most of the kiddos, a few kids snuck out to lunch before we got their picture.

Eating lunch after a full hour of hard play. I enjoyed the mother/son bonding time. It's not everyday that I get time to chat for an hour in the car (both ways) and then get to play and have a special lunch date with just Traeger. Can you tell this means something to me because one of my love languages in quality time.

It was Luke's day off so he stayed home with Ataly.

Sweet 16!

Happy "Sweet 16" Taylor.

We took Taylor out for her birthday to celebrate what a beautiful, energetic and loving girl God has made her to be. We are thankful for what a gem she is and the incredible blessing she is to our family!

Happy 1st Birthday, Ataly Raen!

So much to celebrate! We love our sweet Ataly Raen more each day. Her contagious smile, constant giggles, sudden bursts of screaming, gentle kisses and warm cuddles all warm our hearts. I know this is cliche, but it really is hard to think about where the time has gone. I try my best to cherish each moment, of each day and some days I do better than others. One of the most important things I want to relay to my daughter (and son) today and every day of their lives is that they are loved by us and more importantly by God. There are going to be joyous times in life and lots of tough times too... may God met you, Ataly, with overflowing grace, mercy and an abundance of love. You are worth celebrating!

Happy 1st birthday!

Thanks Grandpa and Nana!

Thanks to Grandpa Tim and Nana for loving on the kids over the weekend so I could get away with friends and be refreshed in the Lord! It was a refreshing weekend away and it was good to be back with the kiddos! Luke was home working all weekend.

Ataly's 1st birthday celebration at Nana and Grandpa Tim's house!

Sunday after the conference I arrived at Nana and Grandpa Tim's house to pick up the kids and celebrate Ataly's 1st birthday with everyone. With family being so far away it makes it interesting to try to have a family birthday party. This year it worked out that we will be by family on and near her birthday (the kids and I are going to my family this weekend) so we will have a few parties.

Hey, hey the gang's all here to celebrate our sweet Ataly Raen turning 1!

So thankful for Nana and Grandpa Tim's love for Ataly...

and the great love that Uncle John, Auntie Nicole, Annabelle, Madison and Jackson share with Ataly.

Thanks to Great Grandma Hatfield for baking Ataly's birthday cake! They were in town on Saturday night to see the kids, along with Uncle Dave and Aunt Amy. Friday night I heard the kids had a blast with the Beutel/Skutka family and Knuppel family. Thanks everyone for taking the time to hang out with the kiddos and bring birthday presents for the birthday girl!

Ataly saw the cake and is signing "more"...

I guess it wasn't coming fast enough :O)

Not sure what I think of this?!

She is offically a part of our family...a sugar lover at heart!

Grandpa Tim helped Ataly open all of her awesome birthday gifts so I could take pictures!

The kids got these sunglasses (with matching outfits) from Tim's sister. They were a big hit of the night since it meant everyone got a gift at Ataly's party :O) .

Breakaway 2009

I had the opportunity to go to the Women's Retreat put on by Elmbrook Church with two sweet friends of mine, Jessi and Casey. I've known Casey since kindergarten and Jessi since college when we all went on a mission trip to Juarez, MX (same place I met Luke). The retreat itself was fun, refreshing, uplifting, and motivatiing. But then to add the fact that I went with two incredible friends was just the icing on the cake. It is a blessing to be known and to be loved just the way I am and these two friends do a great job at both. By the end of the weekend I was encouraged in my walk with the Lord, movtivated to keep on loving people with Jesus' love because He first loved us and also blessed by my two friends.

Let the fun begin...Friday night before the keynote speaker started.

After the morning main session and 2 breakout sessions, we met Casey's sister, Julie, for lunch.

We had some more free time before supper, so Casey and I went on a walk around the golf course in the glorious spring weather and then sat and chatted for a while overlooking the course.

Me being goofy, with strawberry pieces in my teeth, all while playing a few mean games of Nertz. I can claim one game as the champion, Casey won the other game and it was just a tough night for Jessi (we kept her up way past her bedtime but she was a trooper)

Taking in our last session before it was time to say good-bye to a fabulous weekend away.

Louisiana or Bust!

My parents are gearing up to travel over 20 hours by van to Louisiana for a mission trip. They would covet your prayers for safe travel, God to work in mighty ways, unity among their group of over 30 people and that they would have opportunities to share the love and gospel of Christ with others.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Jimmy for a successful basketball career and '09 season. Jimmy was unanimously voted 1st team all conference, went over 1000 points in his career in his last game, and ends his Raider career as the Raider's all-time leader in assists and steals.

Check it out

Traeger was playing rather quietly behind the couch, so I asked him what was going on. He said, "I'm just checking these out." He brought 3 of those gross and smelly ladybugs to me to check out with him.

Taylor snapped this picture of Ataly showing off a new trick...walking AND drinking at the same time.

A recent evidence of God's grace!

March is shaping up to be a crazy and extremely busy month for us. Wednesday was one of those days that we had more things scheduled than what we should have. About two hours before I was scheduled to go to Awana (with kids), I got a call that there was no child care provided, however it was the Awana Fair night and I had made a game I needed to run. So I immediately called Taylor to see if she could save the day for us...she was here by 6 and I was off.

Needless to say, since it was one of those days, my house was a disaster. The dishes from the night before (when Taylor and Jimmy babysat) were still in the sink, along with the day's lunch dishes. Traeger was still in the same outfit from the day before. The bottom line was I had to swallow my pride and allow Taylor to see us in disarray.

I came home from the Awana Fair exhausted and fully expecting to pick up the mess from the day or days :O) But just for the record we have the best babysitters ever! Taylor had done all my dishes and cleaned up my mess from the project I was working on. The laundry that was sitting in the dryer for over a day was folded and the load that I left in the washer was dried and folded too. My kids were sweetly tucked into bed after special playing time with Taylor and Jimmy. The living room was put back into order from a long day of play. Wow...this totally blessed my socks off. I felt so overwhelmed and humbled by Taylor and Jimmy's willingness to continue to serve our family above and beyond what's expected.

You guys are awesome!

What do you think?

After stumbling upon this picture of Luke when he was a baby, I had a hard time deciding who Ataly looks more like.

Do you think Ataly looks more like...

Luke?

or me?

or just her cute self?

First steps

Jimmy and Taylor can take the credit for seeing Ataly's first steps. Two weeks ago she took her first steps when they were watching her and she is taking a few more each day. Before we know it she'll be walking all over...where has my baby gone?

Ataly loving all the praise for her big accomplishments from Taylor and Jimmy.

Good times

Monday was another 40 degree day so we bundled up and walked to Subway for lunch.

Traeger's a little bit like his dad and likes to have a ball along on our walks. So we all booted the ball all the way to Subway.

So thankful for special treats/dates together as a family.

She's got the evidence that she loves cookies all over her face.

Who knew a double stroller could be so much fun? They both have their hands up and smiles all over their faces...Daddy is a pretty wild and crazy driver!

YAHOO!!!

It was a great day in the Hatfield house or should I say out of it...today was the first day we got to go for a walk as a family because the weather was reasonably warm (for my TX friends, we get excited about a high of 41 :O) ). Now I know, I shouldn't get too excited because we will be blasted with a few more snow storms before we can call it spring but I'll savor and enjoy every minute of warmer weather.

The kids ready to go on our adventure!

We called the Wipf family to see if they wanted to join us on our adventure. We picked them up on our way to Stramas.

Yeah for family time!

Culture night at Awana

I had an hour to decide what I was going to throw together for culture night at Awana Wednesdy night...hawaiian girl was the winner. Here is my group of girls all dressed up too!

Piggyback rides!

Piggyback rides are a new favorite in our house!

We're proud of Jimmy!

Tuesday night was the end of the Medford Raiders boys basketball season. It was a tough loss but we are proud of Jimmy and the awesome season/career he had. He ended his high school career with over 1000 points.

We're thankful for the positive role model Jimmy has been for Traeger.

There were some tears but some laughter too as everyone celebrated a job well done!

Special Delivery.

Thanks to my sweet friend from college, Keelie, for sending a package in the mail.

The kids love packages.

Ataly loves her soft, warm and colorful blanket.

Thanks Keelie for your thoughtfulness! We love it!

Troopers

This was my first road trip alone with both kids with one potty trained and the other in a big girl car seat. We faired well. It certainly helps that they are awesome road trippers. They slept the majority of the time both ways. We didn't have any potty accidents, Traeger was able to tell me and hold it until I stopped the car. We were also so thankful for safe travel there and back!