Weekend trip to DC part 1.

Our very good friend, Stephanie, lives in Washington DC and we were able to visit her again this year! (You can read about our last year's visit here.) We were so excited to have enough credit card miles to get free flights out to visit her. It was an absolutely great weekend and we are so glad that we got to go. It was so nice to see some friends, to get away, and to explore a neat city!

We arrived on Friday night, and Stephanie picked us up and took us to Il Porto, an Italian restaurant in Old Town. It was great! I love driving through all the neighborhoods of DC, especially the ones with row houses and unique stores. So cute!

Stephanie, Kley, and I at Il Porto. 

Walking around after dinner.

On Saturday, my college freshman roommate, Jackie, and her husband, Joe, drove up from Virginia Beach to spend the afternoon/evening with us. She is also pregnant and due only one week before me! So crazy. It was great to see them! We met up with them at Union Station. And yes, I was the clear tourist who walked around with my camera all day and took a picture by the sign. No shame.

We spent most of the afternoon in Georgetown, walking around and enjoying the shops/sites!

The bus ride there was very full and quite hot, so we decided we needed to stop for ice cream once we arrived. Here are Kley and Stephanie, waiting forever for the locked bathroom while the workers kept telling us there was someone in there when there wasn't. The previous person just left the key in there. Oops.

But it was worth it and the ice cream was delicious.

Then we hit up the shops! There are some extremely high end stores there- some I hadn't even heard of!

I fell in love with Paper Source. So many cute cards, stationary, and scrapbook paper! I got this amazing vintage looking alphabet poster for our nursery for only $4. I'm pretty excited.

Then we went through Old Stone House, which is the only pre-revolutionary war house standing there. It was neat to see a piece of history like that.

People used to even think that George Washington lived there! (He didn't, but it was assumed for awhile.)

This was my first time in Kate Spade. I actually loved almost everything in the entire store, which is not good because it's quite expensive. But still fun to look!

I had never heard of Vintage Vines before, but I saw quite a few people there wearing it! It had the most bright colors in a men's section I've ever seen. It was really interesting! And they gave free desserts and water to us!

This is the restaurant where JFK proposed to Jackie.

Stephanie introduced us to Lou Lou, her favorite accessory store. It was awesome. I bought several birthday presents for people there.

Here we are before dinner! Joe, Jackie, me, and Kley.

Kley and I.

Joe and Jackie.

Jackie and I- roommates reunited!

We had a great dinner together at Farmers Fishers Bakers, who uses all local and fresh ingredients. Yum!

Easter 2014.

Happy Easter! Hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed celebrating that He is risen! Kley and I went to church with my family, and then went to the annual church lunch/talk fest/egg hunt with a bunch of friends. It was fun!

Kley and I (and I am a baby and can't open my eyes fully when there's any sort of sun apparently). 

My siblings (minus Karlie who was in NY with her boyfriend's family) and Uncle Jeff. Please ignore my brother's open shirt and underwear.

My brother for you.

Parents.

Yes, Kley and I still get Easter baskets. It's awesome.

This is a great Easter video put to Phil Wickham's True Love. Enjoy.

Garden crafts.

Muffin Tin Flower Decorating.

Shape Flowers.

Vegetable Garden.

Grass Seed Planting. (Except Target didn't have small packs of grass seed, just a huge bag, so we actually planted a flower. Hope it grows!)

Real Fruit Stamping.

Good Friday 2014- Before the Throne.

Before the Throne- Shane and Shane

Before the Throne is probably one of my favorite songs of all time. Ever. It's amazing. I also just love Shane and Shane very much.

Here are a few more worldly reasons I love this specific version:
1. I typically don't enjoy live versions of songs, but this one gives me goosebumps.
2. It's filmed during their Christmas tour, which I have always wanted to go see.
3. They have amazing voices.
4. In this version, they are joined by Bethany Dillon, who I definitely loved a ton back in my early teens. (She released her first CD when she was 16, which I thought was incredibly cool.)

Today is Good Friday, and what a sacrificial and loving act He did for us on this day. There are no words to describe. I love this song for spiritual reasons because:
1. There's something about a whole audience singing powerful and moving lyrics together that's so moving.
2. They have incredible deep lyrics.
3. This song is very touching to me. Kley has always really loved this song, my best friend sang this at her wedding, and it's very frequently turned up quite loud on car trips.
4. Jesus dying on the cross is something that's taught and talked about so much that it can sometimes lose the true meaning. That's shameful to say, but it happens to me. This song is an incredible reminder for me of what this day means.

I always and forever want thinking of the cross to be something so profound that I am moved to tears at what He did for me and the great love He has for me. And for you too.


My name is graven on His hands, my name is written on His heart.

Upward I look and see Him there, who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the One, risen Son of God.

A Better Way To Say Sorry.

A Better Way To Say Sorry

I read this article the other day, and I loved it so much. We even talked about it at our teacher meeting, and I even talked about it with my kids.

It's about teaching kids to say sorry in a better way, which is so needed. How many times do we tell kids to "just go say sorry" to fix the situation? As if "saying sorry" makes it all better, when in reality they don't mean it or don't really understand what they're apologizing for anyways?

The writer presents a 4 step process for teaching kids to apologize, and I really like it.

1. I'm sorry for... (Name the specific act that you are apologizing for- it states that the wrongdoer understands what act they did, and the victim understands that they know what they did.)

2. That was wrong because... (A very important aspect to discuss- why was it wrong?)

3. Next time I will... (Teaches a better, alternative method to be used next time. Both parties involved understand a more peaceful solution.)

4. Will you forgive me?

I definitely want to use this method.

Easter crafts.

I am so thankful to teach at a Christian school, where we can freely talk about God and teach about Him. Easter is also one of my favorite times at school!

Here are a few things we did at school this week:

Easter Jello Jigglers (although ours totally flopped and turned out as piles of jello mush).

Resurrection Eggs- 12 eggs that have a picture/verse that helps tell the Easter story.

Palm Sunday Branch.

Christian Colors Bracelet.

Empty Tomb Painting.

Cross Decorating.