Happy Birthday Mom

Mom's birthday was last Thursday and we were so blessed to be able to share it with her. Caleb and Kaden had so much fun helping Grandma open presents and blow out candles. Caleb's favorite song is Happy Birthday so he's very excited when he gets the chance to sing it. We just had a quiet family birthday with a nice dinner, presents, and cake. I think my mom looks so beautiful in these pictures. I love you, Mom!

P.S. for any of you who have ever been in my parent's home the flower picture that my mom is holding is to help replace the huge Moroccan Black men pictures! Yes, my poor mother has had these pictures (my dad bought them when he was stationed in Morocco in the navy) up forever or at least the last 29 years that my parents have been married. It's definitily time for new pictures!

Bob the Builder

Caleb absolutely loves Bob the Builder and likes to run around singing the theme song but it sounds more like, "Da-da-dada" (Can we fix it!) I just thought he looked so cute dressed up in 

Kaden's Bob the builder hat and tools. 

Star Wars

Our first day in New Jersey, we went to the science museum in Philadelphia. They were having a special Star Wars exhibit so we bought tickets early to make sure we could go! Matt and Kaden were so excited....excited isn't even quite the word but I'm not sure how else to describe it. :) It was pretty neat to see all the "real" Star Wars things from the movie. The actual outfits, the ships, etc. Kaden's favorite thing was seeing Luke Skywalker's fake hand. (Go figure) He also loved seeing R2D2 and C3PO. He loves to run around pretending to be C3PO now. I don't think Matt can pick a favorite he enjoyed it so much...but as seemed to be the theme of the week...he didn't get near as much time as he wanted based on the attention span of the children, but still it was a good time. Oh, Caleb's favorite part of the exhibit was the microphones placed around the room that you could listen to in order to hear about the pieces. He thought they were great to sing in! :)  

Don't worry there's more!

For all of you who thought that you were done looking at vacation pictures...not quite! These are pictures of our day in Philadelphia. It was fun just to walk around and see all of the historic sites...ok let me rephrase that...it was really fun for Matt to walk around and see all the historic sites! :) Not that I don't appreciate our country's history and the founding fathers...but it doesn't thrill my soul like it does Matt's, who was very excited to see the Liberty Bell, the building where the first continental congress was held, etc. I felt bad for him, as by the end of the day, the children were spent so we didn't get to go into a lot of places but at least we can say we've seen it. Someday we'll go back without babies...won't that be romantic... Matt, me, and a stature of Benjamin Franklin! :)

  The highlight of the day was getting to eat an authentic Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich! So yummy! And not just any cheese steak sandwich but one from the restaurant where Rocky stood in the movie! :) Now that's historic!

Broadway

That about sums it up... Broadway in New York City! Friday night, our sweet friends took us to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. It was extraordinary. The play itself was amazing but my favorite moment was walking out of the theater and being in down town New York! So fun with all the lights, cars, and people. We had so much fun dressing up and making a really big deal out of the night. In fact, I was feeling so good that I boldly stepped out to hail a cab and poked a NYPD in the eye! Very very very embarrassing...but how many people can say that! :)He was very gracious and I guess it's true that you can't make a city girl out of someone just by dressing them up and putting them in the city! Think I better stick to my flip flops and jeans! :) By the way it was FREEZING that night so the last picture where I dropped my coat was huge! But I had to show off my dress at least once! :)

Scranton, Pennsylvania

On Saturday, we drove to the middle of Pennsylvania to meet two of Matt's high school friends. It was a beautiful drive even if it still looked like winter (there were HUGE icicles hanging from the rocks). We enjoyed so much our short time with Matt and Laura and their precious boys Samuel and Isaac...next time we'll have to plan a longer visit! 

Resurrection Day!

We were so blessed to spend Easter with our precious New Jersey friends. At first, we weren't sure if we were going to make it to church since both the boys were feeling a bit sick, but we decided to go and I'm so glad that we did. The pastor had a great sermon about the power of our Risen Lord in our life. In the past, Christians would greet each other by saying, "He is Risen" and the response would be, "He is Risen indeed!" Those weren't just words, they were hope in desperate times and the strength to carry on from one day to the next. This is the power that we have to face each joy and trial. A great reminder on Easter morning. 

 The kiddos had an Easter Egg hunt in the afternoon and had a blast! Caleb was so excited to run around finding eggs. He just kept saying, "egg, egg, egg" so fun, and he was good at finding them to. He even found some of the ones we hid for the "big" boys! After the egg hunt, we went inside and dumped all the eggs into one big pile and divided them up evenly for all the kids. Then we let the kids get their treats...notice in the picture of Kaden that he has organized all of his treats into neat little piles...hmmmm...wonder where he gets that! :)

  

Peek a Boo

On our way home

This is our last picture from our trip...and as you can see Caleb was very excited to be going home! Kaden slept all the way home...literally...on every plane, car, and in the airport. Every chance he got Kaden was sleeping. Caleb on the other hand was hyper and eating everything in sight! This picture is him covered all over in cinnamon from his pretzel sticks. He wouldn't just hold one pretzel he had to hold two and make sure the cinnamon went all over his body! All in all the trip home went really well but it was hard to leave New Jersey as we treasured every moment there. 

And We're Off

Just a quick note to let you all know that tomorrow we're heading to New Jersey to visit our friends. We'll be gone about a week. We're super excited to get away and to do lots of fun things, including but not limited too...A Broadway show, the Philadelphia museum to see the Star Wars exhibit, vi sting Matt's high school friends in Pennsylvania, and going to the beach. Very exciting. Not so exciting is the plane ride out there. We leave out of San Antonio at 6:30 p.m. after a 3 hour drive and don't arrive in New Jersey until 1 a.m....Pray that the boys sleep! :) 

  So today is packing and cleaning day...which I better go get started on. Hope you all have a great week and a very Happy Easter. Remember that Jesus is the Reason for our Hope. Share His love. 

Brothers

Just thought I'd share some pictures of the Van Hook brothers. They have so much fun playing together...most of the time! Today they were so cute running around in their camo pants and no shirts. My little men. 

  Hope you all have a good weekend...my mom and I have a girl's day planned to San Angelo. Yippee! I'm very excited. Mom, Target, and Starbucks! What else could you want! Jesus loves you!