Weekend 'O Twins!

Oh, this past weekend was awesome! First off - let me say Happy Late B'day to Em - she had her birthday on Saturday and we got to enjoy an awesome breakfast at the Puffy Muffin on Saturday morning. Happy 24 Em - I'd give anything to go back there! :)

Saturday afternoon we had a "corrected age" birthday party for Jesse and Levi. They were definitly more like 1 year olds at this birthday then the actual day, so it was fun watching them enjoy a cupcake (made by auntie Em - she made 125 and they were fabulous!).

Me and Jess playing

Family photo!Gee Gee caught red handed - you saw it here first people!Sweet Caroline!Rochelle and her mom, Ana, serving up the food!I love this picture of Jesse - he's trying to figure out what to eat first!Chow time!Jesse playing with his birthday balloon!Me and Em with Christian and Caroline.

Aunt Ellen and Uncle Mike w/ the b'day boys.

Sunday afternoon I got to meet the newest set of twins in our family, Benjamin and Peyton. They are doing great in the NICU and our favorite nurse Cheryl is watching out for them! Hopefully they will be able to come home this week! Congrats to Wes, D'Arcy, Christian and Caroline on your new additions!

After visiting the NICU I got to run by my aunt Mai Mai's house for a visit. She is one of my most favorite people to talk with and I don't get to her house enough when I'm home because its sort of far away. I'm so thankful for Mai Mai, Gee Gee, and my Aunt Ellen Claire - they are all pillars of our family still living who continue to impact our lives. This was a great ending to the weekend for me!

Peyt and Benj

So, I'm just blowing up the blog scene these days! Meet Benjamin Richard Collins and Peyton Wade Collins! Born Tuesday April 21st around 6am. Benjamin was 5 pounds 5 oz and Peyton was 5 pounds 7 oz! I'll have more pictures after this weekend when I go meet them, cute little squished babies!

Ha Ha this is so typical - Wes and Brian engrossed in something on TV and Wade on his blackberry - you can tell the anticipation is killing them! Oh, I should add that this is around 2 AM!

I'm going to guess here but I think this is Benjamin - he was born first.

Guessing again but I think this is Peyton due to the bubbles he's blowing. He was second and mom said he had more fluid and therefore was a little "bubbly".

No guessing on this one - have no clue which it is!

The proud daddy (of FOUR!) with his 2 arm band thingies.

The new grandmother's of twins - Bebe will show you the ropes! haha!

Perdido Key misses us...

Well we had a great vacation last week! Thanks to our sweet friends for being so generous and letting us use their condo - we had a fabulous week down in Perdido Key - I wish I was still there! Em and Jonas came to join us late Tuesday night and needless to say provided much entertainment. Em's just lucky most pictures are on her camera :)

Here are some pictures from our trip...I'll be posting some baby pics either this afternoon or tomorrow of the newest twins in our family - congrats Wes and D'Arcy! Can't wait to meet Peyton and Benjamin!

Matt had the best caddy :) This is pre-boredom for me, I'm still smiling!

Matt enjoying a nice round of golf - the course was really pretty!

The awesome sunset on Wednesday night - pic from our balcony!

Em and Jonas cheesin' it up on the beach

Me and Mat cheesin' it up on the beach!

He's just makin' me laugh!

Vaca

So glad Matt's getting to enjoy this...

Great vaca so far, more to come!

He is RISEN!

"Don't be alarmed, you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ~Mark 16.6

There are so many places I could start this morning reflecting on this verse, honestly, all of the avenues I have right now of reflection are testimony to the Lord...you'll see why.

Here's the first...when I was young, my sweet mother helped us learn bible verses by memory. At very young ages, she had a calendar with stickers and we worked on verses every day, at the end of the week if we had memorized our verse we got a sticker. During that time, I didn't really understand why we were learning these things out of the bible, but as hind sight is always 20/20, I see now that mom knew the scripture needed to be written on our hearts. So, this was one of our verses and I have to say, I learned this one so well, that I thought the last words of the verse were "Mark 16.6".

I would proudly walk around saying the entire verse and just conclude w/ the address. It was just part of it for me - when I realized that "Mark 16.6" was actually the address of where the verse was in the bible, I was shocked - not sure why. Anyway...my first reflection from this verse takes me back to my childhood and the early learning of this powerful scripture.

Here's the second...so a few months ago, my friends Jenny and Kerry and I decided that we would start reading in Matthew and we would commit to like 5 chapters a week. So, every week when we meet for accountability, we would just hold each other accountable for reading the scriptures. This way, it wasn't like you had to read one chapter a day, or 2 or whatever, it was just read the five chapters at some point that week. Well, we chugged along through Matthew and every once in a while would chat about what we were reading and ask each other questions. After Matthew comes Mark so we are just going to keep going through the whole new testament. So, it just so happens that this week - the very week of Easter - we are finishing Mark and reading his account of the end of Jesus' life. Coincidence that its this week??? Nope - that's just how awesome God is - His timing is perfect.

Its funny too b/c I think Matthew's writing about the end of Jesus' life is more descriptive, so why would we not be ending Matthew this week? Who knows, but I do know that Mark is more to the point, he's cut and dry, and really, when you are talking about the resurrection of Christ...that's all you need.

Third and lastly...this Easter morning is like no other I have ever experienced. I woke up to my husband being gone to work (poor Matt he left at 4am), and my dog snuggling up to me in the bed in place of my husband. There is no Easter egg basket outside my door, there are no cute yellow duck decorations in my house, there isn't even any Easter candy, not one piece. But I will tell you that this Easter morning is VERY special - because what IS here - is that HE IS RISEN.

When Matt left for work this morning and Elle quickly jumped in his spot in the bed, he just left and said, "I love you" like he does every morning, and then I just laid there for about 20 seconds before drifting back off to sleep...but in those 20 seconds, God whispered to me, "He is RISEN". It wasn't anything to keep me awake (I love to sleep), but it was my heavenly Father telling me,

"It doesn't matter that Matt is working and you are sleeping with a dog, it doesn't matter that you don't have any family to see today or that you aren't eating ham and rolls for lunch, it doesn't matter that you are going to church alone...what matters is...HE IS RISEN!"

That's the thing...its not about ME - its about HIM! So, I'll just end where I started,

"Don't be alarmed, you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ~Mark 16.6

The Lord put it on my heart to share on my blog what He has done in my heart this morning - He has taken me back 2000 years ago to the rising of my King. Him rising out of that grave and defeating death is all that matters in this life, and that is the best Easter lesson I've ever learned. So, thank you Lord, for raising your son from the dead so that I can be your daughter - I love you.

~AES

Yay Conner!

Well, Happy (late) Birthday to Conner! I wanted to wait until Jenny had a chance to blog about her own child (plus I'm not the most current blogger). Anyway...we had a great time out at Ross Bridge celebrating Conner's first year. I have to say that he takes the cake (no pun intended) on the cake eating/smashing/throwing...he was awesome! So awesome that Jenny had to take the cake away to protect onlookers. I hope Jesse and Levi have as much fun at their celebration coming up in April (corrected birthday party).

Thanks for letting me be a part of it Jenny and Zack! Love you all!

Mom and Conner arriving

Sweet family!

Hat and bib for the b'day boy!

I love this one of Conner trying to wake up for his par-tay!

Conner's cousin Mary Bishop slept through the first half of the party! She's adorable!


Conner's best bud Ann Luckett arriving in fashion!

Cake - pre smash!
Mid smash - he was awesome!

Conner's b'day banner made by Aunt Blair!

~AES

Weekend in Nashville

Last weekend I got to spend a great weekend in Nashville and got my fill of a lot of family time. Of course you know what that means...more pictures of Jesse and Levi to come...sorry, but yes, I'm obsessed with these little boys.

But before I get to J&L...I had a great breakfast with my sweet friend Sara at Puffy Muffin on Saturday morning. We had a great time catching up, talking about the past, and the future, and just encouraging one another. Sorry, no picture of Sara but I didn't want to embarass her w/ a picture in Puffy Muffin...well, I can put one from the past...here goes...

I don't even know when this picture was taken, but it was a long time ago! :)

So, after b'fast with Okie :) we had a diaper baby shower for D'Arcy - she won't have to buy diapers for a very long time! Here are some pictures of the shower

Jesse and Levi had to stop by and say hello - here they are w/ the mom's of twins!

Mom and I grabbed them as usual :)

Mom, Patrice, and Jackie - all grandmothers of twins!

Sweet Caroline - the big sister!

D'Arcy is getting big! We are ready to meet Peyton and Benjamin!

Me and D'Arcy before the shower

Sunday morning I got to spend about three hours with Jesse and Levi. We had so much fun playing and having breakfast! They are all into their toys right now - they love to crawl all around the living room and pull up on furniture, toys, or me! It is so much fun to see them explore and smile as they learn and play. Here are some pics from our time playing...

Levi sticking out his tongue at the camera!

Now he's smiling - comes from a family of cheese balls!

Jesse and Mister laughing at Bebe and Levi.

I just wonder what is going through Jesse's mind right here...

Yay! We can stand up! Walking is next!