officer of the year

my sis was given the award of officer of the year for her department in university park. they held a reception in honor of her and others receiving awards for various things. here are a few pics of the evening:

jeni and her girls, taylor and blake

me and my incredibly hot date

mom and dad made the trip up as well

the food was good, but the dessert was wonderful

blake earned the title of "baby whisperer." isn't griffin getting big?

jeni receiving her award and trying to pretend like she is my MATURE older sister...
but we all know better and here is the proof! HA! :)

love you jen and super proud of you! keep up the good work... you are a dedicated officer and passionate about your job!

thankful for RAIN

it has been desperately dry around here

and we finally got our FIRST BIG shower of the season.
it's raining...

it's pouring...

the old man is snoring...

he went to bed...

and bumped his head...

and didn't get up in the morning!

such a silly song, but it makes jumping in puddles

way more fun!!

hip, hip, hooray... we love the RAIN

the promised story

allie came home from church two sundays ago explaining how the five year olds were going to be singing on Easter Sunday. lance and i were thrilled because none of our kids have ever done anything like this... so it was going to be a sisco family first. at the time of said announcement she could not remember the title of the song or any of the words, but by tuesday the Hosanna song was being sung continuously. she would sing, "hosanna, hosanna, you are the king of all kings." i would smile and cheer her on as she practiced. she would beam with pride. by wednesday she started thinking about what she should wear. on friday i received an email from our church stating that elementary kids would be dismissed after the singing. on saturday i made sure the camera batteries were charged up. sunday morning was hectic enough with it being easter, but we wanted to make sure allie was ready. lance showed her carrie underwood's performance from Good friday (if you haven't seen it... it will bring you to tears! watch it here) and i made sure her hair was pulled out of her face for photo opportunities!

we got to church and sent riley to the toddler room. Griffin hadn't had his shots and caleb wanted to watch his big sis sing so we headed to church with three kids five and under... not an easy task. lance and i did our best to focus on praising the LORD in between burping griffin and correcting the older two. i was also battling the following inward thoughts: why is this singing scheduled on such a big sunday... i want uninterrupted time with God... mandy, stop being so selfish, my mothering can honor the lord as much as singing to him.... no, i can't hold you - i'm worshiping here! ugh, when are they going to let her sing so we can be done with this ( i know, it isn't pretty... i'm just keeping it REAL)

after about five songs and allie asking 12 times when it was going to be her turn, the pastor got up and began praying. this is what he usually does just before his sermon so i glanced up at lance. he was looking at me with the same confused expression. did we miss it? what's happening? are they not singing? the prayer ended and we were instructed to sit... WHAT? allie promptly began tugging on my dress and wondering why she wasn't going up to the stage. i quickly shuffled the kids out of the sanctuary baffled by what had just occurred.

come to find out - the sunday before some one had made a comment during singing time in sunday school. something to the effect of, "you guys sound so good... maybe sometime you can sing in big church." we never once thought to doubt her because she is usually right on the money in what she relays to us. oh, my... typical sisco moment. a VERY eventful Easter morning!

Celebrate Jesus!

i really do love this "holiday." The story that began with a baby in a humble stable comes full circle with our Redeemer making the greatest sacrifice. The GREATEST gift - forgiveness, life, hope!

here are my silly kids dying Easter eggs on Sat. why eggs? i don't know what these have to do with Christ, but they do still have fun with this tradition. you can see our resurrection mountain on the shelf in the background... the guards are standing watch!

and the next morning they woke up the next morning.... HE has RISEN!

and a few Easter goodies... everyone got an umbrella and a Disney cup with the most - favored jellybeans!

a few quick pics before church...

ha! coaxed riley into this pic with more jellybeans... we'll need to work on the smile next

thanks to my sweet daughter, i got to be in a pic. poor griffin... not the best pic of him... it was nap time! oops!

after church the big kids hid eggs for riley and he had his very own hunt. he was really confused at the practice hunt (aka: mom needs a minute... take these eggs, go outside, and play egg hunt) and cried alot when the big kids got any of the eggs.

he, of course, had help the whole time! ;)

then it was the big kids' turn. please notice the difference in personality in the next two pics.

BAM! and she's gone!

la-de-da... hum... what am i looking for? la-de-da.

we had a big Easter lunch complete with LOTS of wonderful friends!
(hannah, robby, rachel, lance with griffin, anna, and jenny)

we polished off a great day by playing with our umbrellas outside! LOOK closely b/c you may not see this again for several years... allie is wearing shorts! ahh!

hope your Easter holiday was filled with the hope of our LORD Jesus Christ! To him be the glory!

*** funny sisco story to come soon. stay tuned. ***

Easter in your Home

this post is probably going out way too late, but we've had so much activity around here! i wanted to share some fun things to help your little ones focus on more than just bunnies, eggs, and candy this Easter.
last year i posted about our easter mountain which we have done again this year. you can check it out HERE. And my friend, Kate, has made her own resurrection eggs and shares all the goodies you need including a printable PDF file. check out her creativity HERE.

And if you are like me and the season is hectic and you have had no time to think then try this simple activity...
1. buy some biscuit dough (your favorite kind)... we get the cheap ones
2. combine some cinnamon and sugar in a tiny bowl
3. grab some marshmallows (any kind... we happened to have the carmel/vanilla ones) and tear them in half
4. wrap the dough around your half marshmallow (make sure to press the seam tightly) and roll in cinnamon sugar
5. talk with your kiddos about how after Jesus's death he was placed in the tomb. explain that for this snack we are going to imagine that Christ is the marshmallow and the biscuit is the tomb.
5. pop in the oven and bake as biscuits direct.
6. turn the oven light on and let your kiddos be the soldiers outside the tomb... guarding to make sure Jesus's followers don't come and steal the body.

here is the result:

no worries if some pop open. surely you can get a couple that stay closed.

like this pretty one here! take a closed up tomb, cut it open and....

shout, "He has risen!"
the marshmallow is gone and the tomb is empty!

my kids had so much fun with this that we cut all of them open and shouted it EVERY time! :) it is a great activity and a yummy snack... hope you enjoy!

if you have time to share your easter traditions, i would LOVE to hear them!

my gap is great

allie is growing up so fast and has just lost her first baby tooth. it has been loose for two weeks and daddy finally gave it a tug sunday night. it was a neat lesson in trusting our father- even when it may hurt a little (we all needed that reminder, right?)

i have to say, i was not prepared for the amount of blood. who knew that the absence of something so small could cause so much blood... uck!

because of the drama i decided to borrow an idea from my friend meg and throw allie a party to celebrate the amazing experience of loosing her first baby tooth. we made a little cake...

and invited a couple of friends over to see the HOLE. :) we read Col 1:10 and talked about the fact that even though growing up physically is soo cool... growing in the LORD is much more important!

her best girlfriend, maggie, was the first person that she wanted to invite to her celebration.

allie is looking forward to maggie losing her first tooth too!it was a fun memory, but we did have to inform allie that you only lose your first baby tooth once and the others won't come with a party! HA! so now she wants her brother to "hurry up and lose a tooth so we can have some more cake." :)

what a weekend!!!

lance had the honor of officiating the wedding of two of his former staff, arian davari and tommy perry, this past weekend. it was such a treat to be a part of this special time.

the rehearsal was, thankfully, after the tornadoes blew through OK, but the wind was still ragging. so the rehearsal was held in 50 degree temps with 39 mph winds! to say the least... it was CRAZY!! and, yes, OUTSIDE!!

here is arian looking fabulous despite being windblown

the bridesmaids trying to stay warm. don't let the sun fool you... it was frigid!

here is the precious couple just before the ceremony.... they were stunning

there is my man doing his thing! so proud of him... outside wedding, complete with persian traditions... he did great!

i had to share this... groomsmen wore converse... so fun!

praying together

with all the formal duties out of the way, it was time to party!! the favors were sun glasses that said, "our future is bright."

lots of pc friends were there to help celebrate with the happy couple and it was fun to see them all! we love you tommy and arian! hope jamiaca is a blast!

we miss you!

grammie was here last week and we already miss her LOTS! just like when my mom was here, we did tons of tag teaming and just trying to get down the daily routine. i've had a hard time managing it by myself since she left... she cooked, cleaned, entertained, and everything in between.

thanks for loving on the kiddos grammie... thanks for all their fun easter gifts too! they are still shooting nerf guns everywhere and writing with easter egg chalk on the patio! :)

thank you also for giving me the chance to shop the ccc sale, work the sale, and have a day at the salon... i got lots of things done last week and it was wonderful! come again soon... PLEASE!!!

introducing...

riley bieber

hee,hee. i love his hair!