Here and There

Last weekend, Craig had a crazy idea to go to the beach!  For him, that is crazy.   After T-Ball, we headed down to the coast for a relaxing day on the sand.  The weather was perfect, the kids had a blast and we even saw a pod of dolphins.  This was the first time ever, just the 4 of us have been to the beach.  We've gone before with family, but never just us.  The second picture (if you can see) captures the feeling of the water on Craig's face - COLD!  The kids didn't seem to mind.  After the beach, we headed to a local seafood restaurant and hit Sonic on the way home for milkshakes!  I love these times with my family.

This girl is so funny!  

 Notice anything under Kate's bed???

 Umbrella Day at School

Here we come MAY!!!

Easter

April seems to have flown by!  We've been doing a few things enjoying the spring weather and we celebrated Easter.  Who doesn't love Easter?  We get to celebrate the resurrection of our living God and eat all the Easter candy we want!  The day before Easter, we went to our friends house to dye some eggs and hang out.  As you can see from Kate's face, it is a very delicate science.

Sunday morning was the usual photo shoot and Easter baskets.  Last year we did resurrection rolls, but Sundays are hard to do big breakfasts, so we opted for a Saturday morning of bacon and biscuits.  

After church, we went to my parents to eat lunch, hang out and hunt some eggs.  We waited for Brooks to get up from his nap.  This year each kid had a certain egg color to look for and we hid the eggs based on their age.  Brooks was non-discriminate and picked up about 4 eggs, sat down and age the candy immediately.

Sweet Spring

The weather is warming up and we are excited.  I am not too excited about our massive amounts of pollen, but Allegra generally saves the day for me.

A new park opened here in town and we met Craig for a fun lunch date one afternoon.  That is the beauty of homeschooling.  Kate gets out at 1 and Jack doesn't have traditional school on Thursday and Friday, so we can do things like meet Daddy for fun things.  It was such a warm day that we also let the kids play in the new splash pad area.

Spring has also brought T-Ball for Jack.  He had his first official game on Saturday (look for red cleats).   He seemed to enjoy it.  However, unbeknownst to us, he began suffering from the flu since Friday afternoon.  So, needless to say, he has been down and out for about 5 days.  He seems to be getting better, but we are ready to be out of containment.

Spring Break 2014!

We got all kinds of crazy on Spring Break this year!  Actually, we didn't, but we had a few fun days and a few chill days which was pretty great.  Wednesday, we headed to the Flint Riverquarium and the Chehaw Wildlife Park.  The riverquarium was small, but actually pretty interesting and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. My mom and I took Jack, Kate and the triplets.

After an amazing BBQ lunch, we went to Chewah Park.  It is camping area with a large playground area and then a wildlife park.  They had a variety of animals like a rhino, camel, farm animals, snakes, eagles, emu, kangaroo, alligators and wolves.  We literally were 1 of two families at the park.  And, we only saw 1 zookeeper.  It was pretty weird being there alone, but nice at the same time because we could run around.  It really was a fantastic day with beautiful weather, no schedules and happy kids.  What a blessing?!

Our final Spring Break day was Friday and we went to the BEACH!  We were so glad it was a little bit warm that day since we have had some cold days here.  Again, another relaxing, blessed day with the Fab Five.

Awana Games and Our Kate

A few weeks back, Jack participated in his first Awana games.  He was so excited to win his first place ribbon.

Also, Frozen has taken over our house, at least with Kate and so I made Kate a Elsa cape and needless to say, she is running around the house singing, Let It Go!

I also finished up Kate's bed and put on the curtains under her bed to create a fort.  Annie and Kate have also been doing some serious bonding.  I think Annie would sleep under Kate's bed if she didn't love her crate so much.

Finally, let me leave you with a conversation with Kate we had the other day because she was in trouble...

Us: We are going to take away all your Play-Doh stuff. Kate: I don't care about Play-Doh. Us: Well, we are going to take away your Frozen toys. Kate: I don't care about that. Us: What do you care about? Kate: All I care about is love.

We need prayer.

Winter Update

Well, I guess the last time I blogged, was almost 2 months ago!  Sorry about that.  My resolution this year was to blog more and keep you updated with life.  In some ways, life has been busy with normal activity of school, church and family/friends.  Since I last blogged, we almost had snow, almost on January 29.  It was more of an ice/sleet/freezing rain mix, but nonetheless, it was exciting for us warm weather folks and the kids seemed to enjoy it.  Plus, we got to spend the whole day at home doing nothing which is awesome!

A few weeks after that, Jack lost his second tooth!  It wasn't quite as exciting as the first, but still cool.  I cannot believe how much he is growing up.  He has grown at least a few inches in the past few months and becoming a boy, not a little boy anymore.  We are so proud of him everyday.  He also got a new teacher during that time at school and has adjusted quite well.  She seems very sweet and the kids have taken to her very well.

Valentine's Day came and Daddy got his two girls flowers.  I thought that was really sweet to get us both flowers.  He got me tulips - my favorite - and Kate got a bright colored bouquet just like her personality.  I remember when I was in 2nd grade, my dad sent me balloons and flowers to school on Valentine's Day and I was so excited.  I thought it was so sweet that he thought of me, not just his "love", my mom, but me as his love.  Craig is already doing that with his little girl and I love it.

Let's Begin!

2014 is here.  It is going to be a great year.  No particular reason why, but God seems to bless us more and more each year.  I also like even numbered years, but that has nothing to do with anything. We've been up to a lot of nothing since the new year began.  The kids are back in school and routine has resumed.  That makes me very happy.

I celebrated my 29th birthday on January 4th.  My mom treated myself and Kimberly to lunch.  Then we did some shopping.  I came home to cupcakes and some excited kids.

I also got to sub in Jack's class last week.  They are a great group of kindergardners.  We had a lot of fun and some learning too.