Sunday, April 29th

 Elli played very well at her piano recital.  One of her songs was a duet with her piano teacher Mrs. Becky Traeger.

 She received an award for getting 5 stars at the music festival and for being voted the best original creation piano piece.

 All the students at the recital.

 Her piano teacher again.

 Grandma Donough came.  She has actually been staying with us this whole weekend during the transition from Linda's to Cindy's house. Pat and Cindy came as well.  Actually, most of our family came from both sides including the grandmas.  However, the came late and missed Elli.  So, she went back up and played again.

 The evening, we celebrated the April birthdays in our family.  Gary's mom died and we canceled our earlier scheduled celebration.  Peanut butter pie, tuxedo cake, and cupcakes for this crew.

 She loves presents:)

 Funny face.  She got more legos!

 Lining up the littles.

 Posing with her Gonga.

 Excited for cake time.

Dad getting his presents from Heather and the girls.
We had a good time celebrating our family.
Another Micah funny, we were pretending to be stuck on an island and speaking all kinds of other languages.  Finally, Micah said, "Mom, can we just go back to speaking Spanish now!"  Crazy boy:)

Saturday, April 28

 Micah had another game.  Leah and the kids came.

 This guy scored the game winning shot right at the buzzer!  He was so pumped.  We went to Costco after the game and he said to me in the car, "Mommy, I'm going to need a pen."  I asked why and he said, "Because I am probably going to have to sign a lot of autographs from that game!"  He seriously cracks us up.

 I caught Elli playing with her new legos.  She loves to play them!

 We got togetehr for an April birthday celebration with Brent's family.

 All the April birthdays blowing out the candles.  (Liam is May and would be gone for his birthday, so we included him as well.)

 Present time!

More legos for Elli:)

April 26th and 27th, Celebrations

 We went to the park to celebrate Coco's birthday, this time!

 This is a fun group of cousins and they sadly don't get enough time together.

 We got Coco a cute little outfit.
After the birthday party in the park, we all went to Los Mariachis for dinner.  It was a little crazy!  We also found out that Jenna and Justin will be having a baby boy!!!!  She told us that her appointment was scheduled for when she gets back.  While she did have one scheduled then, she also had one before she left!!!  So exciting.

 We took some pictures of our home on Harmony, getting it ready to sell.

 We stopped by the new house and see they are putting up the forms to pour the basement walls.

 Micah loves all this big equipment.

 We have a pretty house.

 Friday evening, Jenna and Justin spoke at Emmanuel Baptist Church, giving an update on their work and sending out a challenge to get involved.  Elli and Lily had been working hard to raise money to give them for their building fund.  Elli presented them with the money that night, $560!  Lily was out of town and couldn't be there, but they were so excited to know how hard the girls worked on their baking.

 I got o spend a little time holding and rocking Jessica Buczek's foster son.

 We prayed over them and the ministry.

 Eden and Grant were cracking us up.

 Lots of kisses!

They are both adorable.  I would love to freeze them at his age.

Elli turns 12!

 I love getting these pictures of the last day before their birthdays.  Here Elli is as an 11 year old.  Bellah loves to keep her company when she goes to bed.  e eventually put Bellah in her cage before we go to bed.

 Sweet baby.

 Since I had the camera out taking photos, I snapped one of this cute boy as well.

 Good morning, 12 year old.  She requested cinnamon rolls.  This is the last of my home made batch from Christmas!

 Adorable dress that Nana sewed up so she could wear it.

 After school she opened her gifts. 

New dress.  So pretty on her.

 Pajamas and work out clothes so she has a choice during gym class:)

 A book, The Greatest Showman DVD, and some makeup.

 Not believing she was opening it.

 The Lego Hospital!  She has been asking for this one for a while and it was an expensive one.  So, she was so happy when she opened it.

 She took some cupcakes to AWANA that night to share with the girls.

 The kids played games outside because the weather was so nice.

Elli finished her book!
What a great day of celebrating Elli.  I cannot believe she is 12. She is kind, most of the time, funny, smart, compassionate, beautiful, and creative with her ideas of helping others.   She still plays with legos, loves to watch movies, enjoys cleaning her room, and is a joy.  No everyday is this great, but she really is an amazing kid.  I only wish time would slow down so I had more time to try to undo the mistakes I have made.  But, since I know it won't, I will move forward trying not to make so many mistakes.  My prayer for her is always that she will love Jesus first and treat others the way they should be treated, out of that love.  I also pray she makes good friends, good choices, and marries a man who also loves Jesus.  Parenting is not easy.  Having great kids makes it fun though.

Father's Day and other April Happenings

 One of my students, Xavier, from Bangledesh, was baptized in church today.  He is from a Christian family but it has not been easy.  He attended a Christian school and met a teacher there from Cedarville.  He became the first student at Cedarville from Bangledesh!

 The parents of his school teacher and Cedarville grad have housed him during his time at Cedarville.  He also was baptized by his "grandfather."  It was a sweet morning.

 We celebrated Brent's birthday later that day, actually on my dad's birthday.  Aria and Coco joined in the fun.

 A drill and some clothes made this guy very happy.

 We stopped by the house after work.  Micah looking very handsome here with cool jeans and adorable shirt.

I am going to miss these days where he is home more than he is at school.