Happy Easter!

We enjoyed a beautiful sunny weekend with Eddie's parents.
Ali found what the Easter Bunny had left for her!
What a difference a year makes...
Last Easter Sunday we brought Ali home from the hospital!

This Easter Sunday she's walking around hunting Easter eggs!!!

Time for her 1st Easter Egg Hunt!

What a great picture of Ali & Nana...

He is Risen!

What a day to celebrate!

Jesus Christ is Lord and He has Risen Today!
God sent his son to be crucified and die on the cross
for the forgiveness of our sins.
He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
He lived in our place, and he died in our place.
Now, He has risen from the dead!

With Jesus in your life, we do not have to despair. We can have HOPE!
Take up the cross and follow Him;
for only in Him can we find TRUE LIFE and never ending HOPE!
To listen to today's service - Luke 24:13-35

The service closed with the song and sign language translation of "Jesus Christ is Risen Today". It touched my heart. I could feel His presence.

Just sit back, open your heart, and listen.

"Tur-tle"

Ali is expanding her vocabulary daily...

Today she said her 1st Real word... "Tur-tle"!

We were showing her a little stuffed animal that
Kim got for her at the zoo...
We said, "Ali, can you say TURTLE?"
And she said... "Tur-tle"!
Eddie and I looked at each other with a grin - she never ceases to amaze us!

She is getting really good at saying:
Mama
Dada
Dog
Ha-li (her attempt at Hailey)

And if you listen real closely, we have translated:
Nana
Guga
CiCi
Hi Da

She is SOOO cute when she starts "talking" to us, and "reading" books as she turns the pages!

Ali @ 10 months

These are a few of the favorites from Ali's 10 month session with Caroline.

Ali loves her baths!

This shot makes me think of paparazzi ;)

Ali looking at her pictures... just like her Mama ;)

It's so hard to believe she is already walking! WOW!

Look at her go...

Enjoying the outdoors...

The picture of PRIDE and DETERMINATION...

Such a sweet girl!
We're so proud of her!

I love how these next couple shots capture the inquisitiveness of how Ali views the world day after day... so sweet and innocent.

A quick family photo in front of our new house ;)

Tiny little tippy toes...

Ali as a newborn, and at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 months.

We are so excited to see what each new day brings with Ali. She is such an amazing little girl and is growing up so fast. From what people tell me, they say time goes faster and faster... I just want to sit back and watch her learn and grow. We are trying to cherish every minute with Ali and not take anything for granted. We are so very fortunate to have such a beautiful, happy, and healthy little girl, a wonderful husband, good jobs, and lots of friends and family to share our lives with.

Our precious little 10 month old!

It's SO hard to believe Ali is 10 months old...
It seems like months are passing by like weeks!
These are a few pictures of Ali playing in her new room (2/10/10)"Mama, put down the camera and come play with me!"
...and pushing her little bear around in the stroller.
Happy! Not Hungry!
Precious little girl taking a nap... she's getting SO BIG!!!
Now it's time to play some more... Life is Good!
Ali and Bryleigh look more alike than her twin sister ;)
These girls will figure it out together...

Ali's Artic Adventure to Minnesota...

We did it! VOLUNTARILY!
We found a good deal on some tickets out to the mid-west
to visit Eddie's sister, Amie, and her family. We were looking forward to spending some quality time with Amie & Lyell, Katherine(6), Nathaniel(4), and Charlotte(18mo) in their new house in MN.
What a beautiful home they have!
Other than the crazy time sharing of Jamaica (for Carrie's wedding) and the 1 week in NC for Christmas, this was the first time that Ali would really get to play with her cousins!
She had a wonderful time and we did too!
We got all bundled up and went sledding w/ Ali.
She had on so many layers, she couldn't even sit up!
The only thing that was exposed was her little face... and it was SOOO cold!
We didn't keep her out too long.
We took turns walking down to the lake
to see what the ice fisherman had caught for the day.
She even shared the major milestone of "real walking" with Amie!
She was SO excited and SO proud of herself... She took 7 steps!
(Watch the video and see for yourself...)

It was so cute to see Ali (9mo) and her cousin Charlotte (18mo) playing together!

Eddie and I really enjoy and look forward to anytime that we can spend w/ Amie & Lyell. We are so fortunate to have such a great family that doubles as great friends too! I know we look up to them for advice, as they have done a great job raising their 3 kids, and we aspire to measure up!

We will look forward to the next time we can all get together!

... we're almost back home to Florida to thaw out ;)