Spring Break 2012

This year we decided to have a Staycation for Spring Break- and it has been fantastic! Our focus was to spend time with friends- and what a blessing it was!

Monday- we spent the day with our good friends who have a sweet almost 3yr old and 2mo old twins. We bought material for matching dresses for the girls, had lunch at CFA, and then lots of playtime in the backyard!

Ava and Addie "resting" during rest time.....

And then there was lots of time to hold, feed, burp and just soak in the sweetness of each baby! Sweet Isla is such a mild little lady!

Rush is such a sturdy little man already- love it!

Tuesday- we met up with our dear friends the Symons who have recently moved to No. Va from DE!! The empty Target buggy returns make excellent jungle gyms!!

Our sweet little monkies- they all still get along beautifully (most of the time) and are still the best of friends!

Looking for the cat that fishes- couldn't find it....

That evening, they spent the last of their Grandparent Money and went to Sweet Frog- a yummy frozen yogurt place! It was chilly but still lots of fun!

Wednesday we just relaxed at home- Ava and her sweet twins did come over and play for a bit- but while we waited for them to come, the kids played outside and then since it was freeeeeezing cold, they warmed-up with hot coco!

Thursday- we had friends that I used to teacher with come over- and their brood of boys! We were so busy playing and talking, that I totally forgot to snap some pics! Then at naptime, I went to our new house (more on that in the next post) as it was being inspected. The kids were thrilled that our friend Mrs. Karen allowed them to nap at her house- thanks, Karen!!

Friday- we drove to Chester and picked up Addie's friend, Lainey, and then hit the park! There we met up with Valarie and her sweet kids (remember them from Easter?) and my friend Katie and her sweet girls. The kids played hard for 3 hours and had a blast!

Addie and Ella on the jumpy see-saw...

Alden and Colten being 100% boys and loving standing in the middle of the jumpy see-saw!

All the kids- Val's girls were tired and had headed home.... Some day Alden is going to look back and realize how good he had it!!

Checking out the floating logs and looking for shells....

They all needed to walk on top of the wall back to the parking lot....

That evening we went to our city's baseball game- and I left my phone/camera at home! The kids loved the game- and we loved that 2 of the tickets were free thanks to a reading program Addie's school ran! Even though our team didn't win, the fireworks at the end were amazing!

It's been an amazing break- full of time with friends and family. We are truly blessed!!

Easter 2012

Easter marked the beginning of Spring Break and for the first time in forever, we remained at home! But the best part is that the kids really "got" what Easter is all about. Addie has been heard talking about Easter to Alden and her dolls- "What is the real meaning of Easter- chocolate or Jesus dying and rising from the dead? Jesus of course!!" It is super sweet seeing how what we are teaching them is taking root in their hearts!

Easter morning- happy to find simple Easter Baskets! Money sent from Grandparents was to be spent on fun activities- thank you Grandparents!!

For breakfast- chocolate bunnies!!

Attempting to get a cute pic of them together....

My beautiful little lady!

My handsome little dude!

After church and naps, we headed over to my friend Val's parent's house- there we had 9 children!! Thankfully they all played super sweetly together and were considerate of others during the huge egg hunt!

Alden was in his element!

Addie had a blast!

It was a great Easter and full of friends, happy memories and plenty of time to reflect on the true meaning of Easter and the difference it makes!

Catching Up with Life...

Life has gotten super busy.... Here are some of the many things we have been up to...

The S family moved closer to us- so we celebrated G and A's birthdays, which are 2 days apart, with them!! They picked right up from where they left off last summer- such sweet friends!!

Another family that we are friends with also moved closer to us- we had the privilege of having the twins come and play for the day- Addie was in heaven!!

Alden's project for school- it had to be about weather- and his teacher said to be creative. She laughed when she saw his- The Day It Snowed Jellybeans!

A dear friend recently had twins- we went over one day after school and got to play with them and their older sister!

Al had a comical job he had to oversee in DC over a weekend- so we tagged along! The indoor, heated pool was a huge hit- we swam twice!

After Al's job was done, we took in some sights....

Yes, we are awesome parents- our kids have touched the moon! We also went to Natural History and they saw dinosaur bones and a tarantula eat a live cricket. It was beyond crowded so we left and visited Ikea instead!

A quick snapsnot with the capitol and proof that I was there, too!

And this is what happens when kids swim in the morning, walk all over DC, and then play hard at Ikea's kid playroom- sacked out!

We host a Community Group (ie Bible Study) for our church. One night all the men were going to be gone- so we decided to do something fun- dye eggs! It was great- 9 sets of dye, 7 children and 4 mom's!!

On Good Friday, the schools were closed for the kids, but teachers had to work. It actually worked out great as a childhood friend and her sweet family were passing through- and literally were going to be driving right past the amazing park that is right by my school! The kids had a blast together- aren't they too adorable for words??

Saturday we met up with a friend of mine that I had taught with. Her daughter and Addie adore each other- and Alden likes tagging along with them! We visited a local park that also has a petting zoo.

Unique to this zoo is that they have a bear- not a part of the petting portion. The kids thought the statue of him was pretty cool to climb on!

Also in this park is a large Japanese garden complete with a Koi pond!

The man-made waterfall was cool- my kids wanted to climb all over it...

See? We have been super busy living the amazing life God has given us! It is full of friends, happy memories, and lots of adventures! We are blessed!! And the best part- today is the first day of our official Spring Break!!

Disney!!

We had a truly magical week at Disney World!! We met MarMar, PopPop, Aunty Jen, Uncle Frank and Cousin Nate there- and had a ball together! This trip was for the boy's 5th birthday- Addie had been taken for her 4th birthday. The three of the kids played so nicely together and did great at the parks! Here are a few pics that sum-up our fun!!

We started off visiting the princesses- Cinderella was amazing!!

The boys telling Belle they are 5 (Nate would be 5 in 10 days, Alden, not so much- but he is now convinced that he IS 5 and will be turning 6 in August....)

Getting smooched- he blushed- so sweet!

Sunday was W-E-T! We only stayed for a bit and then went back to the room. Notice we are using a Disney stroller? Our other stroller was stolen the night before! Disney was great and offered us a free rental until we could make it to Target and get a new cheep-o stroller....

Downtown Disney- the Lego store and all their amazing creations was a huge hit with all 3 kids!

Epcot- or the gigantiss golf ball as Alden called it....

Addie was selected to be the spokeslady for our section of Lion King!!

And then all three kids were asked to be a part of the parade!!

"Fish are friends not food"- clearly that isn't true for kids....

In honor of the boy's birthday, we had dinner at the newer T-Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney- this is the lava birthday cake- super cool and amazingly yummy!

After a good dinner, which we managed to eat despite the meteor showers every 20min- the kids made their own prehistoric creatures!

Beauty and the Beast was amazing- Addie loved it!

The stunt show was breath taking- all the men loved it!

What time in the sun is complete without icecream?!? Alden discovered the frozen chocolate covered bananas and he ALWAYS picked that!

Our resort had an amazing pool- this was the slide which was super fast!

My two studs

Cinderella's Carousel!

Addie was thrilled to meet Tangled!! She was excited that we were invited back the next morning to french braid Tangled's hair....

Our last night there, we ventured back out to watch the parade and fireworks. Alden's tummy was upset, so he asked to stay back with MarMar and PopPop- we had a great time and the kids did great staying up super late!

It was a trip of a lifetime- thank you MarMar and PopPop!!

A REAL Snow Day!!

Snow was in the forecast for Monday all week- I was skeptical- it had been in the upper 70s on Friday for goodness sake! Thankfully Monday morning, at 5.48 am the phone rang- our county was opening 2 hours late due to the snow!! What a great way to start a Monday!! To make it even better, the kids slept until 7am- woo-hoo! We came downstairs and were greeted by this scene- I had a hunch that this much snow would cause a complete shut-down (stop laughing all you Northerner's- this is the south we are dealing with!!). And I was right- in the middle of breakfast, the schools closed for the day- yay!!

Same spot that just 3 days before they posed for pics in their Easter's finest- what crazy weather!!

Alden discovered a hidden talent- creating "gigantiss" (his word, not mine) snowballs!

All on his own, he created his MarMar and PopPop

Together with Addie, they created our family! Left to Right- Kierke, Al, Alden, Addie, Mommy- not bad considering how little snow we had to work with and how little practice they get!

I affectionately refer to these as "southern snowmen"- notice all the leaves, moss, acorns, etc, that are in them! We used just about all our snow to create these- the kids had a blast- thank you schools for closing- we fully used our day off!!