Baptism day

Today was such an amazing day! Our sweet Colton was baptized this morning. What a beautiful site!! Colton was so excited and a little nervous but he did great! He walked out with the children's pastor and smiled at us from ear to ear. (Yes- I cried.) I am just filled with pride for this boy. Not only is he sweet, loving and smart but he is a follower of Christ! He knows the Lord and couldn't wait to be baptized so everyone would know that he has Jesus in his heart. What more can I want from my 8 year old little man?

 Pure JOY!!!!
We had three rows full of family and close friends all there filled with excitement for Colton!! We are so blessed!
Here are some pictures of our family!

The five of us, of course not all looking at the camera.(Cooper looks taller than Colton because he is on the step)

The Krippendorf Side

The Mueller Side

I love this next picture. Colton was giving Cooper a boost so he could see the water where he had just been  baptized. Too cute!

Our families joined us at our house for a celebration! It was a beautiful day with perfect weather so we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. The kids got to play outside all afternoon. Oh and we had some delicious and cute cookies for dessert.

We tried so hard to get a picture of all the cousins(except Baby Livvy who was napping) lined up but this is the best we could do. Oh well, it definitely shows the stage of life we are in. =)

God is so Good!!

Havin' a ball!

I love those Friday nights where we have nowhere to be but home and nothing to do but have fun together! Here is what yesterday evening looked like at our house...

I heard a lot of my most favorite sound in the world....

my boys giggling!!!

There was just one problem, only one kid can be in this awesome new toy at a time. Bummer, we have to take turns...

It is not easy being 20 months old and having to
let your big brothers have a turn. =) Poor guy!

Tiny tantrums aside, our evening was spent having a ball!

Btw, this ball is awesome. I highly recommend it!

The difference 20 lbs makes

I was recently looking through some pictures of Colton and I from the last several months and I was so happy to see the changes I have made. In the first picture, even though my baby was 16 months at the time, I was still carrying a LOT of baby weight. By the looks of these pictures, my face hauled a lot of the load.  ={  With the help of a weight loss clinic in town I am down 20 lbs. I finally have my dimples back in the right set of cheeks. ;)

I hesitated to post these pictures for two reasons:

1. My before shot is not so cute.

2. I just feel silly.

But I figured since I love to see people's before/after pics, I might as well share mine.

October
 about a month before I started working on the weight

December

February

I am not quite to my goal yet but I am more than halfway there. Woohoo!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

 It's Wednesday again and I linked up with Jaime for another WILW.

The first thing I am loving this week are these neat toothbrushes I found. They are called Firefly and they are such a great invention. You know one of those things you wish you would have thought of. Anyway, when you push the end of the toothbrush it blinks for the amount of time a child SHOULD brush their teeth. When it stops blinking, they are done. So smart!! My boys love them!

The next thing I am loving this week is the new IPOD radio my hubby got me. I always listen to music while I take a bath or shower and I jam out!! =) My old docking station went out a few weeks ago so my hubby surprised me with a new and improved one. It is perfect!!

My last love this week is the BIGGEST and BEST one! My sweet Colton will be getting baptized on Sunday. (He was sprinkled as a baby but this will be full immersion.) He asked Jesus into his heart at camp this summer and he met with the children's pastor a few months ago. We really wanted this to be all him and it has been. (scheduling it has been the main reason it has taken us so long) There is nothing better than your child being excited about the Lord! It is an indescribable feeling to know that he wants to be baptized and he truly know what that means. I look so forward to Sunday!! The part I love most--Colton looks forward to it too!  It will be a day to celebrate!

Have a great Wednesday!!

Sweet Day and Yummy Dinner

My Valentine's Day was busy but great! Colton had his party at school and being the room mom, I definitely needed and wanted to be there to help. The parents helped make a sweetheart's breakfast complete with heart shaped pancakes and lots of yummy toppings. (I didn't get very many pictures since I was at the griddle and Colton passed on the pancakes. He was still full from his breakfast.) I wasn't able to be at Cooper's preschool for the morning but they did their card exchange and the teachers really didn't need any help. Carter spent the morning with his Omi being loved on and spoiled. ;)

Here are my sweet Valentine boys...

Notice the green fingers and edges of his mouth. Can you say Fun Dip?

After I picked up my littlest two boys, we headed to HEB to see if we could find something new and exciting to make for Cody for dinner. I love the fact that right near the meat department they have a chef set up making a great meal for shoppers to sample. They call this the Cooking Connection. The recipe is there on a card to take and all the ingredients are right there to go with it. Also, the chef will answer any questions you have. What a great thing! So I was sure to buy all I needed for the yummy recipe they had cooking. It turned out really good~ my hubby loved it! Mission Accomplished! Here is the recipe and some pictures for the heck of it. =)

Sear n Serve with Pan Sauce
Preparation Time: 15 minutes

4 servings of meat, fish or poultry of choice (I used Prime beef steak, cause my man loves beef)
1 jar Star Chef's Dried Cherry Steak Sauce
1 tbs Adams Reserve House Rub
2 tsp Ottavio Grapeseed Oil
2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup cream

Preheat oven 400 degrees

• Season meat or fish or poultry with rub of choice
• Heat skillet on medium high for 2 minutes, reduce to med and add oil, swirl to cover skillet
• Sear protein on both sides for 2 minutes, place in oven for 4-5 minutes  depending on thickness. Remove to plate
• In same skillet heat 3 tbsp sauce of choice, with 2 tbsp butter and 3/4 cup cream, stir until thickened. 
• Top entree with sauce mixture and garnish. Enjoy!  

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am one lucky lady! I have four perfect Valentines to share my day with!!

My little Cowboys

Okay, this should be my last rodeo post I promise! This afternoon we took our little cowboys to see the rodeo. They loved it! All three of them we so excited and just plain happy to be there. My parents also came and so that makes my boys experience that much more fun! We had those super close seats again and the boys got to have the full experience. Shaking the hands of the rodeo clown...

getting hopped up on sugar from the yummy blue cotton candy...

feeling the breeze of the animals racing past you and getting a little stinky dirt in your lap.

This is how Carter sat for a while at the beginning.... the action had his eyebrows working overtime and the dirt would land on him and he would have to dust it off right away.

Oh and Colton ended up on the jumbo tron while he was dancing and was even given a hat by the Pick Up team. (They give out three at each performance to random people in the audience.)

After the actual rodeo events, the duet that performed was Steel Magnolia. I knew them from the show "Can you Duet?" They were pretty good but we were ready to go outside and enjoy the beautiful day so we only stayed for a few songs. First, we had to stop and take a few pictures in front of the backdrop in the arena.

Isn't this hilarious!! I love these silly boys!!

We were all geared up to ride some carnival rides but oh. my. gosh! We walked out and the crowds were insane. People everywhere. Super long lines. So even though I am embarrassed to say it, we bribed our children. Not my most proud parenting tactic but a very effective one. =)We offered them a souvenir of their choice if we could skip the excess waiting we would have to endure. After some thought, they took the bribe. Smart boys! ;) We  were all exhausted but had such a GrEaT afternoon.