Happy New Year!

Ok, I kind of missed posting on Christmas....we've been all over the place with family get togethers! The weekend before Christmas, we had a gathering at our house with immediate Ashcroft family and Mamaw and Papaw. Then, on the 23rd, we did Rains Christmas with sleepover at Darian's house in Pryor, then to Claremore to Kristine's house....whew! We did get to spend all day Christmas day at home just the three of us and had fun relaxing and playing with Cooper's toys. We finished up our events yesterday with the rest of the Ashcroft clan in Bella Vista. It was great to see lots of family that we don't see often and visit with everyone!

So, Happy New Year!! We have been so blessed in 2010 and we look forward to lots of good changes in 2011 with the arrival of baby #2 and changes with my job. I am no longer youth director as of  yesterday, so I am settling in to take care of Coop and get ready for the baby on top of learning to do some bookkeeping for Dennis's business and continuing to volunteer at the church, so I'm pretty sure I won't be bored! I'm also hoping to learn to take some awesome pictures with my new camera this year, do a few more sewing projects, and a plant flowers this spring before baby gets here.

We're hoping to find out if baby #2 is a boy or a girl this week, so I will keep you posted!!

Happy Easter

Our Easter celebrations began on Thursday. Cooper had his KDO Easter party, which consisted of a million eggs scattered in the gym floor and a bunch of 1 and 2 year olds putting them in baskets as fast as possible... except for Cooper, who found the first car, picked up the four around it and hopped in to take a drive.




We went to Holy Thursday service at church that evening. On Friday, it was time to visit Mamaw & Papaw, and Papaw insisted that Cooper stay the night, so of course, he did. Who wouldn't say no to a quiet evening?!? So, Dennis and I went to Good Friday service and took a scenic drive out to Sequoyah State Park, which we seldom do these days with a toddler in tow. Saturday, Sasha and I decided to take the kids to Bass Pro for their egg hunt, which we pretty much did, but the kids enjoyed being carted around the store and the Easter bunny pictures are cute. Grandma and Grandpa Rains came over Saturday evening and we had dinner and of course, the highlight of the evening, letting Cooper entertain us! It rained yesterday all day, so no outside stuff. We went to Dennis's brother's house to have family dinner and Cooper loves to play with his cousins, because they are all so "big" to him, especially the teenage boys, they are really tall! I didn't even think to take any pictures there, had my camera, but i guess I was too busy catching up with everyone. Cooper's trucks from the Easter bunny were a big hit, it was all i could do to get him in bed without them last night! What a wonderful celebration of our risen Savior!

Retreating

I had such a great time last weekend! I went to a ladies retreat with our church and had so much fun! It was at Camp Egan in Tahlequah and it was beautiful there. I wish I had remembered my camera, though. Saturday morning, I was up and about with the sun and I made a trip up the really steep trail to the top of this cliff that overlooks part of the Illinois River and all the hills in that area, it was cold up there, but really nice and quiet. I just sat up there for a little while (only about 10 minutes, before I got too cold) and enjoyed watching the hawks circle, then I headed back down. Mind you, I am not a dare devil, but I tend to do things that I should really not do alone, but I made it back down the steep, brush cluttered hill just fine and it helped me to remember what our theme,"Unplug from the World" really meant. I had so much fun learning and studying Scripture, and getting to know some of the women better. I even learned how to use a knitting loom and am in the process of making a scarf. Chloe informed me today that she wants a purple and pink one, so I now have a second project when I'm finished with this one. I am so thankful to Mamaw and Papaw, who let Cooper sleep over the weekend with them, so we all three had a little break from the usual. I will definitely go again, it was just awesome!