April 2015

April flew by in a whirlwind. 

 

 We had one of the best Easters I can remember.

The Easter Bunny always visits the Sandlins Saturday morning instead of Sunday.

On Saturday night we gathered at the church to decorate the cross with fresh flowers.



 

 

It was a great Easter morning.

Sweet friends

Then we had friends over for an amazing spread that everyone brought, an egg hunt, and games.

The weather was perfect and the company even better.

It's so nice to have friends to celebrate special holidays with.

After everyone left and we got our nap, it was time to dye eggs.

Sweet family time!

April was also filled with baseball.  It is so fun to watch him grow.

Then there was that day I turned 37, but we won't dwell on that.

Our kids had an art show but they couldn't make it due to baseball and ballet so I had to take a picture of their work.  JC's teacher, Miss Graham stood in for him.

Speaking of missing things, trying to balance everything this time of year is a challenge.  The kids are definitely learning to prioritize and give some things up.  I used to feel sorry for families that were as busy as ours is now.  We have a strict one activity at a time rule, but it doesn't matter.  Throw in school and church and you have one full schedule.  We try to maximize our family time as much as possible and eat together most nights, but it is a challenge some weeks.  However, I have been surprised to find that I love this full life.  Watching my kids grow and enjoy their activities while still staying connected to their family and church family makes it all worth it.  I'm sure it will only get more challenging the older they get!

The Sandlins in March

We started out our March with our school Hoedown that had to be rescheduled due to a snow day.  It was Sophie's last Fort Concho dance, which was a little sad after 5 years.

 

 Both kids also competed in TRIYS another year.  Another last for Sophie, but this one wasn't quite as sad!  Lots of work goes into those projects!

 We had a great Spring Break.  Sophie went to ballet a few days, JC went to baseball camp at ASU, and we enjoyed hanging out at home.

 On Tuesday we went with the Fentresses to Abilene to see the Gossetts.

 It was St. Patrick's Day so we got green ice cream.

 

On Thursday we went to Granbury Lake for the weekend.

 It rained pretty much the entire time so we had to find things to do inside.  Grammy and Bumpaw came Friday night and spent the night.

 The last weekend in March both sets of grandparents came to watch Sophie dance in Poetry in Motion.

 G-Momma and Poppa were here Friday night to watch JC's first baseball game of the season.

 He loves playing catcher

 Then on Saturday everyone watched Sophie dance.

Another wonderful month in 2015!

A February Post (in March)

It is Spring Break so I finally have time to catch up on my blog!  February went by in a fast blur.  It was full of a lot of joy and heartbreak and so much to be thankful for.

  We started the month with the annual Daddy Daughter Date Night

 Sophie loves dancing with her Daddy!

JC and I went to see Paddington on our date.

 

Mom came that Friday to participate in the Valentine's Day Grandparent Cook off in Sophie's class.

 She stayed for Valentine's Day and we got to have a special Valentine breakfast.

 We spent Valentine's evening at the carnival and rodeo.

 

It was during this weekend that we suddenly lost our dear friend, Robert.  He was an amazing man who served our family in countless ways.  He passed away on Friday and on Saturday I received a singing Valentine telegram from him.  Such a sweet blessing.

 

In the midst of the sorrow of losing 3 dear members of our congregation I was given the gift of watching my husband care for the people of our church with such compassion and wisdom.  A friend once commented to me that I was lucky to get to see my husband work.  Not many people get to witness their spouses in their element on the job, but I get to see it every week.  We have often said that if we truly understood what the other did all day we would have a lot more compassion and empathy for one another.  The nature of both of our jobs is to give to others all day long and by the end to sometimes have little left for each other.  But I realized this month that while I carry the burdens of 22 little ones and give most of what I have to them all day and the rest to my own 2 at the end of the day, for Taylor that is multiplied.  He carries with him the burden of hundreds, their needs and their hurts.  He does it out of love, not obligation, but it can take a toll on him some weeks. 

 

The amazing thing is that we are loved by a church who knows Taylor and sees it.  They meet our needs in a hundred different ways all the time.  This month our sweet friends the Maedgens let us have a weekend at their beautiful ranch to rest and get away from it all.  We loved every minute of it!

 S'mores!

 Taylor bought the kids a BB gun and they loved it!

 Sophie was quite a good shot.

 Their favorite part was driving the golf carts around.

 They did some art work too.

 

 We enjoyed just being together.  We rested a lot and I even read an entire book.

 

That was our February.  Throw in a few ice days and that pretty much sums it all up.