Mini-Golf Fun

Golf- a traditional American sport- and the Little's were introduced to it this weekend, mini-style!  Our good friend, Ava, had a mini-golf birthday party and invited the entire A Team!  Everyone had a blast- and provided lots of laughs with the varying "golf" skills we saw!

Ready to golf!

Adeline loved it!

Alden actually has decent swing and aim...

Annalise preferred a more "hands-on" approach

Asher perfect the "sweeping" method

Blowers, pizza, Sprite- all fun and new!

SUCH fun!  Asher even "helped" Ava blow out her candles!

Run the Rocks

The school the big kids go to sponsored a 5K and a Fun Run- our family was excited to participate!  Al trained with Adeline and Alden- such sweet memories!  There was only one small problem- Friday night, Al's flight from California was delayed and he missed his connection from Atlanta to Richmond!  He is such an amazing dad that he rented a car (actually his company rented it, they are THAT amazing), and he drove through the night and made it to the school just in time to change and run the FunRun with Alden and then the 5K with Adeline.  This self-less act showed our kids how much he loves them- and pointed them towards Jesus who loves them even more!

Everyone had fun at the 5K and at the Festival that was held afterwards!  Faces were painted, bouncy houses were jumped in, firetrucks were explored, prize wheels were spun, seeds were planted, animals were petted, snacks were eaten.  It was fantastic!

The icing on the cake was that Adeline actually PLACED!  She won 3rd place in her age group!  I think we may have a runner on our hands now....

World's Best Dad!

Fun Run!

Looking good!  Alden didn't stop but had good form the entire time!

5K fun!

Face painting!

Firetrucks!

Animals and seeds!

Family Pictures

I have this amazing, kind, talented, generous friend, Katie.  She takes pictures that make me swoon.  You can imagine my joy when she gave me a gift certificate for a family session!!  We wanted to wait a little bit- for everyone to be comfortable and have Asher's eyes go the same direction....  

These turned out amazingly- thank you, Katie, for giving me the gift of my family in a way that I can treasure always!

Happy Memories!

We love our life- we really do!  Here is some proof....

Annalise dumping out her rain boot after playing in the creek!

Asher up to his knees in the creek- and he couldn't be happier! Yes, he is shoveling water into a cardboard lid... 

The new neighborhood "hang out"- so cool!

Addie, Alden and Lila putting on a "show" for the other neighbors- it involved the monkey bars and see-saw

Twins!

Thumbs up waiting for the school bus to drop off Addie and Alden

See Addie??  She was on this cover for a PTA event!!  She will happily sign autographs later....

CFA to celebrate Addie and Alden's outstanding report cards!

Asher makes the best faces- especially when eating ice cream!

See?  Isn't our life pretty amazing?!?

Easter!

Easter is such a special time for my family- it is wonderful to reflect on the amazing gift we were given so many years ago- our salvation!  It is something we could never earn or be worth of- yet, Jesus found us worthy and paid the ultimate price by dying for our sins and being raised back to life- all for us!  We did our best to help Asher and Annalise understand this, I think in a small way they did!  This is our hope and prayer for them- to understand and claim Jesus as their own!  It is so sweet to see Addie and Alden explain Easter to the Littles- God is good, All of the time!

This was a first for our family- to be home and just be "us"!  Thankfully, before I went back to work, I bought all the Easter treats so all Al and I had to do Saturday night was pull off the tags and set it up!  The kids were so excited Sunday morning- and Asher and Annalise a little confused, but happy none the less!

We actually sat in the balcony of our church- a huge treat!  I taught the preschool Children's Worship, which was fun since that is where Asher and Annalise are!  Then we headed to our good friends' the Wills' house for an Easter Brunch!  Brunch was amazing- the food was yummy and the kids all had a blast finding Easter Eggs and riding in the toy car!

Easter Morning Treats

Yay!!

Church fun- in the balcony and the playground- the weather was simply perfect!

Ready- Set- GO!

Asher was perfectly content to find 1 egg, eat what was inside, and then find another....

Annalise thought it was hysterical that there was FOOD inside the eggs!

Alden was a man on a mission- and found a crazy amount of eggs...

Addie was still graceful and helpful to the little kids!

All done!

DC- Spring Break Part 3

Both Addie and Alden have studied Washington DC a lot in school, and so we had planned a day trip there as part of our Spring Break.  A good friend of ours, Bethany, had never been, so we happily had her join us along with her 2 adorable kiddos!  

We made to DC in record time and actually found free parking a block away from the new Martin Luther King, Jr memorial!  We were able to walk down the Mall and see all the memorials from a distance.  All the cherry blossoms around the tidal basin were gone, but just a block off, they were still in bloom and the kids enjoyed them!  The museums were IN-SANE!  I have never seen them SO crowded!  The line to get into any of them was long- about 1/2 way down the block!  We decided to actually stand in line for Natural History- the dinosaurs were being closed at the end of the week for 5 years!  The 15min wait was perfect for the kids to eat lunch!  Everyone enjoyed the dinosaurs and then the long walk back to the van.  

Traffic was a bit heavy (shocker, I know...) so we stopped at Ikea and enjoyed some shopping and their yummy food!  Everyone did just great on this long day except Annalise- she needs her nap, and I mean NEEDS!  Thankfully God's grace is big enough to cover us both and we both lived to see the next day....

It was a lot of fun- and the big kids are already clamoring to go back!  I think we will take them soon- just 1 adult and the other parent will stay with the Littles....

Cherry Blossoms!  Don't tell anyone they picked them....

Asher so desperately wanted to climb the tree like Alden...

Washington and MLK

We made it to Natural History!

Capitol and White House

WW2 and Cherry Trees!

Ikea Dinner

Checking out the kid toys!

It was a long day but SO much fun!

Spring Break Part 2

Part 2 of Spring Break was actually restful and yet chock full of happy memories and time!  Time was spent leisurely eating breakfast, playing with friends, getting VERY dirty, and having a grand ol' time!

First up- playing with our friends, the Muncys!  The kids played "Kindergarten Test", "nap time" and then "lunch at the zoo"- these 7 kids had a blast together!!

Alden and Ava giving Rush the "test"

Playing Nap/Doctor

Feeding time at the Zoo!!

We embraced Spring Break by eating our chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies from MarMar one morning as our breakfast appetizer...  Yum!

Nap time was necessary for the Littles and the Bigs practiced their spelling- and yes, a barn is an excellent cheating deterrent....

What would a week be without a medical appointment?  Asher had OT and PT evals- and totally melted the hearts of both therapists who evaluated him!  He was found eligible for both therapies and will start them May 2nd.  Hopefully his physical and fine motor skills will improve with this help!

And to prove that he had learned something- he came home and pedaled the little tricycle our neighbor gave him!!

Go Asher, go!!

Jack and Annalise enjoyed sitting in the love seat- even if they were looking into the sun....

PopPop and MarMar Henderson sent an Easter box- and they were all SO excited!!

They loved the candy inside- but the bubble wrap was also a HUGE hit!  (mental note- give kids bubble wrap as a gift next time...)

Thumbs up for candy!

It was such fun having a clear agenda!!