For my Hubby...

This picture is for Shane!
We LOVE you and MISS you honey! Happy 10 years! (today marks 10 years from that fateful night God brought us together!)

This picture was taken yesterday!
Emma and I are still in Nebraska and will head back home on Monday morning.
We have had quite a busy week and had NO down time, but are enjoying our time and seeing lots of family and friends!

We also want to wish Haley Mae O'Keefe Happy 1st Birthday!

Song in my head...

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter to Everyone!
Hope you all had a wonderful day.
“God put on him the wrong who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God” (2 Cor. 5:21 MSG).
Wow, how amazing is God's grace and mercy towards us sinners!
Today we attended the 10:30am service (and yes! we made it church on time...we really didn't have an excuse) and then were invited to the Chavarria's to take part in Easter dinner with their family! We spent the rest of the day relaxing and napping. My wake up call was WAY to early this morning...Emma decided to get up at 5:40 am, so I definitely needed a nap!

We really enjoyed our whole weekend...can't believe its already Sunday night. Shane had Friday off, so I had him go with me to the chiropractor, which I had been putting off since its in Oxford, which is an hour drive, and didn't feel like doing that with Emma and nursing. On our way home, I talked Shane into stopping at the mall and Hobby Lobby. We were super excited to see that Quiznos left the mall and in its place is a Charley's Subs...which we really like, so thats where we had lunch! (i don't know when they did that...but i haven't been to the mall in 7 months)
We hit a few stores, and found Emma a few summer outfits and a pair of cute pjs...mostly from Target. I will try to get pics of them later.
Saturday, Shane went to Top Gun, and I had breakfast burittos waiting for him when he got home. Then Shane turned dirt over in the garden and got it all rototilled. So we will just have to rototill right before we plant and put fences up. We also rented 'Tale of Despereaux'.

Emma has been tons of fun lately! She is so goofy and entertaining! She has been a little fussy the last few days and today we saw her other front, bottom tooth breaking thru the gum. She is so alert to everything around her and loves to talk up a storm! She is also sitting up really well now.
Here are a bunch of pictures of her in her Easter Sunday dress. It was a gift from Aunt B from Christmas, we have been saving it for today! I couldn't pick out just a few pics to post! She was feeling good when I was taking the pictures and the sequence of the photos will show you her goofy personality!

Daddy was making her laugh for me

This is the face we see often, if pictures had sound, you would hear 'aaaaahhhhh'...
she loves to scream for fun!

And if she isn't screaming with her mouth wide open, she has her bottom lip tucked in!

Emma is looking at Bella now, who is sitting on the couch, whinning for her cookie b/c she knows we are about to leave the house for church...and anytime we leave, she gets a cookie.

The rest of the pictures were taken after we got home. I wanted some without her sweater on.

I love this pic, she is SO cute!

Funny facial expression I know, but if you look closely, you can see her tooth!

Kicking daddy in the face

Well, that was our weekend. Friday morning we are heading to Lincoln. My mom is meeting us there. My old college roommate, Clara, is getting married on Saturday, so my mom and I will drive over to Tobias to go to her wedding, while Shane will attend the Husker Spring Game. I thought he deserved that treat!
On Sunday, my mom will be taking Emma, Bella and I home with her for a week. It will be our first time apart from Shane since Emma was born, so prayers for that time would be appreciated. I know it isn't a big thing for some couples, but we don't like to be apart, and I know Shane will greatly miss Emma. But living so far away from family, this is the only way for our Nebraska family to get some quality time with Emma and see her grow up. I will be back on Monday, April 27th, so we will also miss being together on our 10th Anniversary since we started dating, which is the 24th.
I hope you all have a blessed Easter!

Mail Call and other stuff...

Here are a few pics from this week

I was trying to get a picture of Emma on her hands and knees, but she rocked back to her tummy before every shot it seemed like!

I thought Emma's eyes are so pretty in this picture.

We had quite the mail awaiting us in the mailbox on Thursday!
3 packages to be exact! Nana and Papa sent Emma an Easter book, and Shane and I Sour Patch Kids! Aunt B and cousins, Zoe and Haley, sent Emma a book and a $2 bill. And Grandma & Grandpa Struckman sent Emma a souvenir from their trip...the pictures are Emma opening that box!

She loved the green 'grass' in the box over the actually gift that was in it!

And being the nice mommy that I am, I let her have her fun and string it ALL over the floor!

The gift was a Boston Red Sox bear from their stop in Boston on their trip where they went to all the New England states.

diapers.com

I made a trip to Wal-Mart yesterday to pick up diapers and other stuff. I try to avoid Wal-Mart...and succeeded pretty well before having a baby, not that I really have anything against the store, I just hate having to find a parking spot, go in, shop, check out...and it never fails, I always end up buying things I didn't need!
Anyway, so I needed to move up to the size 2-3 diapers, but they didn't have any anywhere in the 3 spots they typically have diapers, and yes, I know that they carry them because I almost bought that size the last 2 times I bought diapers...but figured I could keep getting by w/ size 2 (you get more diapers for your money the smaller the size).
But yesterday they didn't have the size 2-3. So I didn't buy any, came home and searched the net. I had gotten advertisements from diapers.com before and checked their prices, they were either a little higher or same as Wal-Mart, so never bought from there. But yesterday, I was able to find what I needed, use a $10 off coupon and get free next day shipping! I saved about 4 cents a diaper too. UPS man just delivered them, talk about a huge box, and here is what was inside...2 jumbo size boxes of diapers. (this must be what the Tjebkes feel like every time they buy diapers for their twins!)Usually one box of like 90 lasts me 2+ weeks...so I could possibly avoid Wal-Mart for 6+ weeks! Unfortunately, babies do need other things besides diapers!

Just an Update...

Things are well here at the Struckpeoples. We had a good weekend. Saturday we had a really good family day together. We were lazy and productive, so a good mix! Shane picked up 'Marley & Me' on his way home from Top Gun, and we watched it in the morning. It was really good, and of course sad...I held Bella afterwards and cried! She has been such a good dog and a great family pet! She will be 3 on May 6th. She has been really good with Emma lately, Emma has pulled Bella's fur a few good times in the past weeks, and Bella just yelps real fast and pulls away and then goes looking for reassurance that Emma still loves her! I praise her everytime she reacts that way. In the afternoon it was warm enough to go for a long walk. Shane pushed Emma, while I walked Bella...I asked Shane if it was 'demasculating' for him to push a baby stroller, he said no different than carrying a pink leash with a white, lil' fluff ball at the end of it! He could really care less what he looks like doing either.
Sunday was the usual (minus Las Lomas...which I haven't gotten since, let me check my budget real fast, 3/22 - so 2 1/2 weeks). I asked Shane if that is what we can have for Easter lunch.
Shane also helped me grocery shop.

The week is already going by fast. Shane has Friday off, so we are looking foward to a 3-day weekend. We will be staying in town for Easter...but will really miss our families. My mom is having Easter at her house, so my brother and sister and their families will all be there, and I hate missing days like that! Especially b/c this could very likely be the last Easter at the house I grew up in w/ the way my dad is getting stuff done at their new house, they could be in there sooner than they thought.

Emma is doing really good, her tooth is coming in more, and she is getting stronger w/ holding herself up on all fours. She's always quite talkative, and says 'mama' all the time...she also just loves to scream, just to hear herself! She also still has a paper fetish...maybe we watch to much of 'The Office' ;)
Here are some pics for your enjoyment!

I was feeding Emma sweet potatoes and she went up to stratch her eye at the same time I put the spoon to her mouth, so the spoonful went straight up the nose! She thought it was funny!

Emma giving Bella a look saying 'I'll throw your rubber chicken when I am good and ready.'

Emma playing in a toy bin

Being goofy!

Smiling at daddy!

Emma's Sunday outfit! She looked soo cute in this dress (its was a gift from Auntie Heather and Uncle Jon).

All during church and small group Emma would lift her dress, I'm trying to teach her better!

Playing w/ her pretty black, sparkly shoes!

'Does that flash ever stop, Mom?'

Emma helping Mommy fold laundry!