Easter Egg Hunt #1

Happy Easter everyone!!  Still backtracking a little to get caught up on pictures we've taken recently, but I'm getting there!  We were fortunate to have 3 Easter Egg hunts this year.  The first one was at a farm with my MOPS group early in March.  The weather was a little chilly in the early morning, but there was no rain, the sun shone, and it was one of the prettier days we've had lately.  Bring on Spring!!  Soon....  please.... seriously!  Not much to add, so enjoy the pictures!

 3 little girls ready to get some eggs!

 Elizabeth caught on quickly!

 Christa was so sweet to help Elizabeth hunt for her eggs while she waited for the bigger kids' turn to go!

Abby Kate was excited, too!

 Finally it was Christa's turn.

 Happy girl with lots of candy!

 Checking out the treasures inside.

 Pretty girl!

Blast From the Past

Last weekend, my college roommate came out to visit from Texas with her 1-year-old baby girl!  We were thrilled to see Rachel and meet Mallory.  The girls LOVED having a younger baby around for a few days, and Elizabeth and Mallory even held hands in the car, since their car seats were next to and facing each other.  It was quite sweet!  We met up with Ali for dinner, one night, which was a blast!  I was quite proud of our kids - 6 between all of us - who let us have an actual conversation at Buffalo's!
Rachel came to town to see us, but also to attend a reunion of Christian Campus Fellowship (CCF) that we were both really involved in in college.  We traveled to Carrollton for the weekend, and met up with old friends.  I've been wanting to take my girls to the Castle Playground (the coolest playground ever, where I used to spend many hours with kids I babysat for during my college days) since we moved back home 5 years ago.  I've even tried to plan a little day trip, but it just hasn't worked out.  So it was a great treat to watch them enjoy the playground I've talked up so much for the last few years!

 Elizabeth was a brave little one, going across the bridge (that moved as you crossed it) over and over again!

 Abby Kate loved all of it!

 View of the top of the playground.  It's massive!

 Christa was a little scared of the bridge at first, but once Elizabeth crossed it, she was willing to go without help.

 Loving on Mallory!

 I love that we're still good friends after all these years!

 We also ate at one of my favorite restaurants - The Lazy Donkey.  They've changed the menu, so it wasn't quite like I remembered, but the ambiance was great, and the cheese dip was exactly what I was hoping for!

Rachel and Mallory.

Good times!

Dr. Seuss Day 2013

One of these days, I will start planning for Dr. Seuss day sometime before the night before!!  It's one of those many things that I mean to do in the weeks/days leading up to it, and I just can't find the time to figure out costumes until it's a necessity!  The night before they were supposed to dress up, I was searching the house for appropriate Cindi-Lou-Who and Grinch outfits.  Christa was Cindy-Lou-Who last year, but I knew her shirt no longer fit her.  Luckily, I remembered this cute dress, that looks like a nightgown, I'd bought on clearance for next year!  Score!  And thank you, Internet, for the print-out Grinch mask!!  Abby Kate was thrilled!

Time for a Little B-Ball

Hello all!  Let's see, sometime in February, I think, Poppy had the great idea that the family should go spend a half a weekend in Athens and see a UGA basketball game.  Oh yes, it was the end of February, and it was Uncle Cleve's birthday weekend.  I loaded the girls and headed to Athens for the night, and Cline was able to rearrange his work schedule a little so that he could join us the next day for the game.  We've never taken the girls to a basketball game before, so this was a new adventure for all of us!

 The girls had a blast riding on the luggage cart, while I loaded the car up.  Go Dawgs!

 Fun with cousins in the lobby of the Education Center.

 There's nothing better than a wide-open, carpeted space to practice our cartwheels....

 .... and to just run around with our favorite cousins!

 The whole gang, minus Uncle Chris and Catherine... and Cline - he came in later.  We missed you guys!

 Ready for the game!

 Elizabeth and Abby Kate made it until halftime.  They didn't get naps, and we didn't get the best night's sleep in the hotel room, so I drove them around Athens so they could nap in the car during the second half.

 It was really fun!  Hopefully we can do it again soon!

Love spending time with my girls!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Cline and the girls got to go to two Daddy Daughter Dances during the months of February and March!   Daddy's work schedule didn't allow him to go to any of the local dances/date nights last year, so he made sure to make up for lost time.  The girls were so excited to dress up and go on a date with their favorite person in the world!

This picture is a little out of place, but I don't have another post to combine it with.  Christa is such a sweet big sister.  Anytime Abby Kate is scared or needs something, she will try her best to fix the problem.  I found them snuggling together fast asleep one night in the twin bed.

They sure do love each other!

Abby Kate is excited to be included in the fun!

Spunky girl!

Elizabeth, who is at that age where she doesn't want to pose for pictures often, insisted on being in these photos.  She's smiling and looks cute - what else could I ask for??

Roses from Daddy!

All dressed up and ready to go!

The girls helped me pick out their dresses, and matching shoes and headbands during a quick trip to the Outlet Mall.  I was pretty pleased at what we put together, and they couldn't wait to wear their new stuff!

Elizabeth, why can't you do this when I'm trying to photograph you??

Dancing the night away!  I won a free dinner to a local restaurant for Valentine's Day.   I let Cline and the girls use it for their date night since Cline and I already had reservations for our date night.  Cline invited his twin brother and his daughter to join them, and the restaurant let them have a free dinner, too!  Thanks, Magnolia!

Posing for professional pictures.  They go all out!

 More dancing...

Dancing with our cousin!

Fun with real, Disney princesses!!

Footsteps In Faith 2013

Hello again!  I think I posted some dress rehearsal pictures earlier.  Or maybe that was just on Facebook.  Either way, the girls performed in their ballet recital in January.  It was a precious time of watching my girls praise the Lord with dance, and it's an event that I just love!  After some deliberation, we decided to let Abby Kate take ballet this year.  She loves to dress up like a ballerina, and since they had a class at the same time as Christa's, we figured that was the way to go.  While I LOVE our ballet studio, and their mission, ballet has been tough this year.  We picked a Thursday evening class, thinking that we wouldn't have to get up early for school on Friday.  We'd never done an evening activity before, but since most Kindergartners are in school all day, that was the only option for Christa's class.  What we didn't consider was that by Thursday evening, we are all exhuasted and ready to be done with scheduled activities for the week.  Thursday afternoon is the day my kids are most likely to come home from school and take a good nap.  Yet, I often have to wake them up for ballet class.  Oh well.  We are committed to finishing out the year, and will know better for future years that early-week activities work out better for us!  Here are some pictures of the girls' adorable performance!

 Abby Kate did a great job at her first ballet recital.  She looked adorable in her sparkly pink outfit, and we even managed to get the bow to stay in with a bobby pin, even though there was no way a bun was happening with her short locks.  I wasn't sure if she'd perform.  She's a great entertainer at home, but can get a little shy in front of a crowd.  She did wonderfully, though, and I was very proud!

 There was one part of her song where the kids put their hands to their mouths and shouted "louder than this song."  That was clearly Abby Kate's favorite part, and she looked very animated shouting the words very clearly!

I always try to take my pictures at dress rehearsal so that I can enjoy the live performance without fidgeting with my camera.  The only downside to this arrangement is that the background is not up for the dress rehearsal.  Luckily, my father in law takes great pictures, and doesn't mind watching the performance through a camera lens!  Here is Christa's sweet class.

 Christa has always been a great performer on the stage!

It's hard to get non-blurry pictures without the flash, but these will do!

It just doesn't get much better than watching your girls do something they love for God's glory!

Prioritizing the Blog - 50's Day

Hello all!  I don't know if anyone even reads this thing, anymore, since I am so incredibly inconsistent with updating it.  But, since it is the best record of these busy days in our family, I am determined to keep it up the best I can.  We've been very busy with a variety of things since my last update in January, so here's to the first of many attempts to squeeze in some pictures and descriptions of our latest happenings!
This winter has been rough.  The weather has been disgusting since the beginning of December.  I always expect January and February to be the more unpleasant months of the year, with the excitement of Christmas being over, yet still having to deal with cool and rainy weather.  But the wet season started earlier this year, so by the time mid-January rolled around, I was finished!  Unfortunately, the gross weather was not.  It's still not as warm and sunny as it's supposed to be this time of year (here in mid-March), but it's getting better.  Needless to say, the nearly year-long exercise routine I'd managed to ingrain in my life bit the dust after about 8 weeks of what felt like constant rain.  Oh well.  Maybe I can pick it back up as the weather improves.
One fun event that the girls go to participate in was 50s day at the school Christa will go to next year.  They have these neat "bring a buddy to school"days where the kids can visit the school, and get to know future classmates, teachers, etc.  My girls have gone a couple of times this year, and it has really helped to ease some of my fears and anxieties about "big school."  Here are some cute pictures from 50's day.