Easter 2012

We had a WONDERFUL Easter! My kids had spring break the week before and my parents came all the way from Michigan to enjoy the fun week! We don't see them enough so every chance to see them is  made as fun as possible! We spent a lot of time just visiting. I love that I have a close family. It does my heart good to see all the cousins playing together and the adults visiting and laughing!

The kids colored 7 dozen eggs....WOW! It sounds like a lot but everybody had to take some home so we needed tons! Everybody had fun trying to be artistic for a few hours!

Earlier in the week, my parents van that they drove down started to have some issues. My dad had already put a large amount of money into fixing it up and was really upset to have another major part go out while they were close to 900mi away from home! After getting it into a mechanic down here and after much prayer, they decided that they would buy a new car. They had been planning to do so in the fall anyway....so it all worked out OK! My mom was beyond happy to get her dream car! She raised five kids and almost always bought used....this is her first new car!!

On Sunday, we all got up and got ready for church. I, of course, had to snap a few family pictures. My kids have gotten so big! They both looked great in their new outfits!

After church, we headed to my sister Christy's house for a huge dinner and an Easter egg hunt! This is a picture of my wonderful family minus one brother in law. He had to work:(

I love, love these people. God has been so good to me in giving me this family! We had so much fun together and made lots of memories! Here are a few more of the family pictures...

The Splan Clan

All because two people fell in love!

After our big, wonderfully tasty dinner, the kids geared up for our big Easter egg hunt. They all got a ton of candy! The kids really enjoyed it!

Nana and Papa love to spoil the grand kids. They gave each kid a little bunny that could be stuffed with candy. It was pre-stuffed by Nana of course...with nothing but sugar:) The kids loved it!  Thank you Nana and Papa!

All in all, it was a great week! We were all sad to see it come to an end! In all of our celebrating, we all took the time to remember the wonder of the day. He is risen! Our wonderful Savior! Praise the Lord for His wonderful gift to us!

I hope you all had a pleasant Easter too!

Happy Spring

Hello friends! Spring is in full swing here in SC. The weather had been beautiful! We barely had a chance to enjoy the wonderful sun before it got too hot! I convinced Miracle to put on her Easter sun dress for some pictures by our beautiful bush in the back yard. JJ refused to change so we just did him as is. I got a few cute ones. They are both at the super cheesy smile age....a natural laugh or smile is really hard to force out of them:)

They have both grown so much over this past year! I am truly blessed for having the wonderful blessing of spending more time with them lately! God is good! My plans are not His plans, but His plans are always better for sure.

We are all looking forward to spring break next week because Nana and Papa are coming to visit! We have not seen them in far too long! I have been cleaning the house and getting things ready. My laundry is actually done...for today anyway:) JJ has been gone that last two days, and I have just about gone crazy. I'm so not an ALONE kind of person. Even a four year old is better company than none! Who knows what I will do once he goes to school! I'm glad they are growing, and I am so so thankful that they are healthy....but can they just stay young a little bit longer?

Funny story...the other day JJ and I were playing 'I Spy' in the car on our way home from the store. I said, "I spy something brown." He immediately said, 'Sissy?' I chuckled to myself before addressing the overall issue. It was just too cute. In his innocence, he just knows that sissy's skin is brown. He did not mean anything with his answer...he was just stating the obvious. Poor Miracle is so brave and strong. Thank goodness she is a strong little girl. She often gets the question, "Why is your mommy white?" (Kids will be kids...you know!) I cringe for her on the inside, but she just says, "I'm adopted". She really does not seem to care about the questions, but I worry that its hurting her on the inside. Her and I had a discussion about this ever present question as I was putting her to bed last night. I reminded her that even though we have different skin colors, God loves us all the same. He put us together. She may be physically a bit darker, but she is still a part of this family. I hate that color even matters. I hope and pray that she understands and remains comfortable with the subject as she gets older. Kid's can be so mean. As much as I want to protect her from their mean words, I can't. The good thing is...She has God on her side:)

Josh has been working like crazy! Poor guy. About every 4 weeks he goes through the ringer....the last time he was on call he had 30 hours of overtime in one week! He barely gets home before the pager goes off on most days. The worst times are when he just falls asleep and...beep, beep, beep. Poor guy. I do a lot of praying when he is on call!

I love this stud!

Overall, we are just enjoying life one day at a time! Loving the arrival of spring, praying for our answer to prayer, and trying not to take anything for granted anymore!

I hope you all are having a GREAT spring!

Random Update!

My parents are coming to town the first week in April. I do have to say that I have been busy preparing for spring and for their arrival. I am excited that now that Miracle has a bigger bed, they can stay with me if they would like to. I know that all of my siblings are looking forward to this time also. February has flown by and we are enjoying every minute that we can here at the Splan house. Miracle has been busy in second grade. She is learning a lot, and I am so proud of her. JJ had been busy with me having fun and enjoying our time together. Josh has been working a lot. Something which is tiring but we are very thankful for. He has also been busy at work updating our home and making it look wonderful. Well I hope that you are all anticipating spring as much as we are. Enjoy all the beautiful weather and wonderful times with your families. :)

Grammy came to town!

The beginning of 2012 started out wonderfully with a visit from Grammy! The last time she was able to come was when JJ was only  6 months old so we had a lot of catching up to do. Normally, our families always get together for Christmas, but this is the first year that we were not able to make it home to MI. So we decided to bring the family to us! We all had a blast. I am so blessed to have a wonderful mother in law. She and I get along very well and can enjoy each others company quite easily. I am so grateful for a wonderful relationship. She will never add up to my own wonderful mother, but she takes a close second for sure!

The kids had the most fun!

My husband has a very close relationship with his mom.

Cliffy even managed to enjoy some of Grammy's visit!

It was really hard to see her go! Good byes are so hard. We know that this is where God wants us to be right now, but being away from our parents can be extremely difficult. We praise the Lord for every time we are able to make it to MI to see them. My husbands current job does not allow very many vacation days whether they be paid or unpaid. We are praying fervently that God either changes his bosses heart or that Josh can find a better position once things settle down in our lives. There are a lot of things we can deal with but taking away our chance to see family is not one of them!

I, on the other hand, am enjoying a part time position for a middle school. I love working with middle school kids and am enjoying this opportunity immensely! My family is so blessed already this year. God is so good to us!

Miracle and JJ are loving life as always. Miracle is flying through second grade with ease. She enjoys academics and is starting to mature enough to save her social times for recess and after school! We still get an occasional 'T' for talking, but we are seeing a major improvement this year. JJ is growing like a weed. I get asked why he is not in school all the time. He is really big for his age, and I find myself explaining his late birth date quite often! I want to put bricks on both of their heads and hold onto these young years! We are enjoying that they can do more for themselves, but mommy says its going way to fast!

I hope you all are having a wonderful January! Tax season is upon us, and we are crossing our fingers for a decent return. With all the crazy events of last year, we just aren't sure how it will turn out! I will update again soon...PROMISE:)

Blog Stealer strikes again!

Well, dear friends, my dear sister has been a bit busy. (Too busy to blog) During the holidays she was busy enjoying family as she should be. Since the holidays, she has been enjoying her wonderful mother-in-law. I was such a sweet sister to agree to bring Sue back from the wonderful state of Michigan so she could enjoy some time with her son and daughter-in-law. Sue and I decided to leave Michigan a little later than I normally would on my dad's advisement, because of weather. So, we get on the slightly still icy roads to head south. Smooth sailing through Michigan. Then we hit Ohio. Snow was blowing like crazy limiting visibility so we had to slow way down. We could not wait to reach Kentucky a state that was more south therefore less snow right? Um NOT. We hit Kentucky boarder and had smooth sailing for the first twenty miles. Then we hit snow and ice. We went from 70 mph to 10 mph. Our two hour trip through Ky turned into seven, and we were not even through the state. On all of my family's advisement we got off to find a hotel, just like all the other people in the traffic jams. Thankfully I am a northern driver and know how to drive in this stuff, but I was so scared of the crazy drivers around me who were flooring it on the ice. SCARY. After five hotels, I was ready to give up and continue. My wonderful sister Holly, got up to get online and reserve me a room at the hotel where I was waiting in line. After she did that, the twenty people in line seemed to speed up. We got our room slept and started again. Taking an alternate route home, we finally and safely made it to the state of SC. Holly was so worried bout us, but also so thankful to see us when we arrived here. Needless to say after all that rambling, Holly has been busy having a blast with her mother-in-law. Tomorrow will be the day that Sue heads back to the snowy state of Michigan, and Holly and I are going to be staying in abnormally warm SC. She will be busy still, hopefully able to blog on her own soon.
If you have made it through this long ramble from me, I am amazed. I was just telling you some of the stress and things Holly has been up to. Hope that you all enjoyed the Holiday season. Remember to treasure every moment with your family that God grants you. Don't forget to support our country this weekend. VOTE!

Christmas Eve in SC 2011

Crazy that Christmas Eve is here:) Our family has had to do some major psyching ourselves up for a Christmas in SC. The kids are not effected as much as Josh and I, but its still weird. We have always been in snow filled MI for Christmas. I have never missed Christmas morning with my mom and dad. I guess its a miracle that I have managed to miss that part of being a grown up. The part where you are supposed to start your own Christmas traditions at your own house. I have always childishly held on to the magic of Christmas morning at my mom and dad's house. God has apparently decided that it's time for me to grow up. This year it's Christmas in SC unlike any other. No snow and not even cold weather. It was 70 degrees yesterday. It is supposed to be colder today, but it will still be vastly different from the weather we would be bundling up for in MI. I am very thankful to have family here in SC that we can get together and celebrate with. Not having mom and dad with us will definitely be hard, but we are determined to make everything fun and magical in our own way. Christmas is still Christmas. We still celebrate our Lord's birth the same as always. Josh and I are prepared to fill the Christmas tree with gifts from santa while the kids sleep tonight. I have baked goodies and planned fun stuff and attempted to make this our own magical Christmas. It will be magical and memorable, though different. I keep reminding myself that our kids will look back on this one day and wish they were here instead of where they are. Its crazy to imagine really. They will see being at our house for the holidays as special as we see being in MI. I have a huge responsibility to make this memorable!! With all these crazy thoughts written down, I feel it may be a jumbled mass. Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted as to the firsts of our OWN Christmas day:)

Christmas cleaning?!?!

Well today started out quite interestingly. JJ started complaining of a stomach ache, and I could not figure out if he was faking or not. Unfortunately, he has learned to fake, and I am still hoping that is all it is for today. I HATE stomach bugs and poor JJ seems to catch them all. I always end up coming down with it soon after he gets it, so as soon as I hear 'my tummy hurts' the anxiety of a long week sets in. Hopefully today's anxiety is all for nothing! So after this announcement this morning, I decided that the best way to make it through the day without worrying or hovering over him was to keep myself very busy. I did a few things throughout the house and then got really brave. Our guest bathroom is also the kids' bathroom. The caulking around the tub was not done very neatly before we moved in, and it has bothered me since. Sadly, we have lived in this house for 5 years, and I just got around to working on it:) It had one of those nice white sticky rings around it to hide the actual caulking but the white ring was starting to detach and needed replaced too so...I got really brave and decided to tear it all apart and do it over. Mind you, I am not a handyman at all so I am very happy for Google at times like these. A few hours after the start of my project, my arms desperately needed  a rest so JJ and I took of for Lowe's to get some supplies. (I brought the bucket just in case!) We got home, and I continued working on taking the old caulk off. It was some stubborn stuff and my forearms are now killing me from all of the chipping away! I got it off though and after thoroughly cleaning the area I bravely applied the new caulk. It is drying now, and I think it looks pretty good! I hope my husband agrees when he gets home. Silly me did not realize that it takes a good 24-36 hours for the caulk to fully dry. OOPS! We will all be bathing for a few nights in order to make sure its good and dry. I'm pretty proud of myself. After years of seeing that nasty stuff, I finally got brave enough to do something about it! I guess our Christmas guests will appreciate it too:)