My birthday

My birthday fell on Palm Sunday this year.  The kids walked into church singing "Hosanna" and waving palm branches.  

Then, they performed a song for us.

After the song was children's time.  When Pastor Caroline asked what day it was, Monroe yelled, "Palm Sunday!"

I wanted a picture with Monroe before she took a nap.

That afternoon, we met the Eickhoffs at Northwest High school for an Easter egg hunt.  A church in our neighborhood was putting on the event.  It was packed! She was excited to get her face painted for the first time ever.

It's a tiara.  Can you tell?

Then we headed outside for an Easter egg hunt.  The only hunt Monroe has ever done is the one at my parents' house.  At that one, each child has a different color of eggs, so there is no rush.  This one was much more fast paced!

Monroe and Grace

For supper, we went to Fuji and ate sushi :)

After supper, we went home for dessert.  I requested a Village Maker pie for my birthday.

This one was Berry Medley, my favorite!

It was a fun and relaxing birthday!

My Essential Oil Story

A little more than a year ago I was doing research on the internet to try to help Monroe fall asleep sooner at night.  Essential oils came up many times, but I had no idea what they were.  About a week later, a lady from our church got up and spoke about a workshop she was doing called "Essential Oils of the Bible".  I couldn't attend that workshop, but I did meet with her and learned about her love for oils and how they had changed her family's way of life.  I was intrigued but not yet ready to spend the money.  Zach and I batted the idea around for about a week until we finally decided to go for it.  We figured there were worse things we could waste our money on than our family's health.  Our starter kit arrived on March 17, and we haven't looked back since.

In the last year, my family has used oils to: relieve headaches, ease stomach aches/nausea, prevent sickness, stop sickness at the first signs, soothe a sore throat, relieve a cough, soothe skin irritations, heal scrapes and scratches, relieve neck aches and other body aches, feel more awake and alert, relieve stress, go to sleep easier, feel happy, moisturize skin, clear up acne, clean stains out of carpet and clothes, make shoes smell better, make laundry smell good, freshen our house, etc.

During a winter when it seemed that everyone was sick and the illnesses were serious, my family didn't go to the doctor once.  In fact, we haven't been in a year.  The worst Monroe had was a cough that lasted three days.

When I bought the starter kit last March, I knew that I was signing up as a distributor.  I was told I could sell the oils and make money, but I had no intentions of doing that.  Within the first month, however, I had already sold a kit to two people.  Each month since, people have come to me asking about oils and wanting to try them with their families.  The oils have sold themselves, and my business is growing rapidly.  I never intended to take on a second job.  I never intended to get oils for free and earn an income.  I had no visions of this business exploding like it has, but I am loving it.

I am so thankful we took the plunge and bought into Young Living a year ago.  Our family is happier, healthier, and wealthier because of it.

Spring Break

We started out spring break with Newell's Funfest on Friday night.  Monroe had fun playing all of the games.  We worked the pop toss game, which had a constant line out the door.  

One cool thing they had this year was a photo booth.

Monroe played a lot of dress up this week.

The weather this week was gorgeous!  This was at Stolley Park.

Firepit

Roasting marshmallows

Eating outside

One day Monroe came down from nap in her swimming suit and asked to swim.  We compromised with the water table.

Ice cream and donuts

On Wednesday after lunch I left for our annual spring break trip.  This year we decided to stay closer to home.  Abby's brother has a condo in downtown Lincoln that we were able to stay in.  It was perfect!  

When we got into town, we got pedicures.  

The condo has a small balcony that overlooks downtown.

On the first night, we went out for sushi at Blue.  It was yummy!

Shelley joined us later that night.  We stayed up really late talking and laughing.

Zach sent me a few pictures the next day.

Out to lunch at Cheddar's

After lunch, we spent the day shopping.

 Night two

Pictures from the balcony

We went to Lazlo's for supper, and then we went to a dueling piano bar. (We seem to like those.)

It was a great trip!  We got the Mommy away time that we all needed. 

We came home Friday afternoon.  Zach's parents had planned a fun evening for Monroe.  They took us to the Cinderella movie.  She loved it!  They also showed a Frozen short film that was super cute.

Playing at the mall

On Saturday, we took our first family bike ride of the year.

Then on Sunday, we took advantage of the windy day and went to Newell to fly a kite.

 Then we played on the playground.

The Elsbury's stopped by Newell while we were there, so we played together.

We LOVED this spring break!  I think it was because of the weather.  It makes Zach and I so eager for summer.