Uncle Mike is home from Afghanistan

Dave's brother, Mike, returned home from a year long deployment in Afghanistan in late March. James' bedtime prayers have included a prayer for Uncle Mike's safety every night since he left, and James was so excited when his prayer changed to a thank you for Uncle Mike's safe return.  A couple weeks after Mike came home, we drove down to Copperas Cove (about 3 hours away) to visit him.  Nana drove up from Buda, and we had a little Stoner family reunion!

Aunt Amanda made us fajitas for lunch, we went on a short hike behind the apartment, James and Audrey blew bubbles (you'll notice in the pictures that Audrey had a wardrobe change), and we had a wonderful time catching up.  We are so happy that Mike is home safe and sound, and we are so proud of his service in the US Army!

Audrey put on James' shoes

James can hardly contain himself!

Stoner boys

James made it to the top of the hill!

James and Audrey with Nana, Uncle Mike and Aunt Amanda

James is upside down

Cute Audrey

Easter celebration with The Warner's

The evening before Easter, we had a last minute get together with The Warner's (Matt, Lauren, Cole and Kate). Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying their time together...

James and Cole drinking chocolate milk

Hunting for Easter eggs

James and Audrey digging in their Easter baskets

Sweet Audrey

Kate the Great

A day out with Thomas the Train

Last weekend, we went to Grapevine and rode Thomas the Train. We had a really fun day! James got a James train tattoo, ate rainbow colored popcorn, jumped in a Thomas bounce house, and played in a giant sandbox. Audrey tagged along as little sisters do, and had a little fun too.

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful and peaceful Easter this year, and we could not have asked for a better day to celebrate the rising of Jesus Christ!

The kids came into the kitchen for breakfast and found their Easter baskets on the kitchen table. The Easter Bunny brought them each a bunny cup and some chocolate. James got some new dinosaurs, and Audrey got some Legos that you can build cupcakes and cakes with.



After breakfast, we headed to church for a wonderful service and sermon on Jesus' resurrection from the Gospel of Mark.

After church, we headed home, and the kids hunted for eggs in the backyard. James was so excited to find as many eggs as he could, while Audrey was pretty content just holding onto the first one she found. She was way more interested in eating what was inside (gummy lifesavers) and didn't quite grasp that there were more eggs to find.




The egg hunt was followed by a 4 hour nap (yes, FOUR hours!) by both children. During their nap, there was a huge rain storm, so mama and dada listened to the rain for a bit, and then napped themselves. Once everyone was awake, we had a delicious dinner of lamb chops, green beans, and roasted potatoes followed by a very yummy strawberry pie.

Happy Easter!