These Days

Emily and Hannah and I went to see Beauty and the Beast live-action movie one afternoon. We actually got Emily out of school about an hour early so we could make the mid-afternoon show!  The girls were SO excited when I told them where we were going!  It was a fun date with my babies!  

This is what Abby does if she doesn't want what you are feeding her.  She is a good eater, but will absolutely let you know if she doesn't want any more.  Mouth clamped, nose up and face pressed into the side of her chair.  You just go ahead and try to get anything past her defenses.  Ha!  

Hannah's teacher took this picture of Hannah one day at school and I thought she looked so beautiful!  

Emily lost one of her top teeth the day of her school play, which was a few days before Bert went on his trip.  It had been loose for awhile and was really starting to bother her.  She's loving her toothless smile and I do too! Bert pulled it of course...I don't pull teeth.  We've only lost 3 so far and have about a million more teeth to go between all 4 children so I may become a tooth puller but right now it gives me the heebeejeebees.  

Emily was in the 1st grade play.  She (and about 20 other kids) got to school 15 minutes early each day for over a month to practice their speaking parts.  We were super proud of her hard work!  

She was a butterfly! 

The whole first grade!  The play was called "Swamped" and they did such a great job!  

One of our friends got a picture of Emily saying one of her lines.  We didn't get there early enough to get seats like this....we'll know for next time.  

Mimi and Papa left work early and drove over to watch the play!  

You can't see Claire's face because of Emily's wing, but she was there too!  

Emily and one of her classmates and her amazing teacher.  We love Mrs. Poe!!  

Bert got to go to Hannah's Easter party at school!  She has a fun class this year and has some sweet friends in there!  

Emily got her very own library card and is soooo proud of it!  She feels like such a big girl!  

I was feeding Abby cheerios one morning and I just thought she looked too adorable to not take a picture of her.

A couple weeks ago Claire, Abby and I had picked Hannah up from school and driven home.  As Hannah was about to open the door to get out Claire reached and grabbed her to give her a hug. Claire was still buckled in so she couldn't really move, so she made Hannah stay there too!  Claire's big hug (attack) had Hannah laughing so hard.  

Mimi bought the girls new dresses from Carter's during spring break and Claire was modeling it for me.  They especially like that it is long.  

I got to got to go on an ice cream date with my Hannah Beth last weekend we had fun!!  I would venture to say that we are the two biggest ice cream fans in our family so it was fitting that we went there.  Bert and Hannah actually went on a date the weekend before up to Travelers Rest and had a great time too.  I don't believe he took a picture, but it still happened.  

Hannah is our puddle jumper.  She finds every puddle around and jumps in it no matter what she's wearing.  The other day we had had lots of rain and so I got them dressed and told them they could go out and just jump.   They came back soaking but had lots of fun!  

I went with Emily's class on a field trip to Paris Mountain State Park a few weeks ago. The State Park is right behind our church, basically, but we never think about spending a day there. Glad we got to enjoy it together!

Emily has a fun class and a fun teacher.  The sweet little girl on the right didn't want to be in the picture.  

We had a group from North Greenville University come to our church a couple weeks ago and do a concert on Sunday night.  I knew it was going to be great so I decided to let Claire stay in the sanctuary with us instead of leaving her in the nursery.  But I guess sitting in Bert's lap and being still for so long made her sleepy and she ended up falling asleep and slept through most of it.  After holding her for a while, Bert finally laid her down on the pew beside us and she didn't even flinch. That night she stayed awake until after 10pm because she had had such a late nap and I was wishing I'd left her in the nursery.  Ha!  

I wouldn't trade these days!  

Family Day

Greenville county schools were out of school on the Monday after spring break as well (the day after Easter) so we decided that would be a family day.  Bert took off work and spent the day with us since he had been gone the week before.  We mostly just enjoyed a relaxing day at home and being together, but decided to head down to Falls Park for a picnic that afternoon.  

This picture was the best I group shot I could get. Ha!  You can see a bit of my hair and you can see Bert's leg and shoe.  

Also, I forgot our blankets for the picnic, but remembered all the children and food and drinks so I guess we'll call it a success!  

I snuck a picture of Emily and Hannah watching the water fall at the top of the amphitheater where we were.  They were sitting in the same position and their hair was blowing in the wind and I just thought they looked so grown up!  

They were wearing the dresses that Bert got them from Nicaragua.  Claire and Abby have the same dress in different colors and they all 4 look adorable in them!  

I had gotten a picture of Emily and Hannah and wanted a picture of Claire and Abby so I told Claire to hold Abby's hand, but just after I said that, Abby took off (which she was proud of as you can see from her face).  Claire was determined to grab her hand again though....she wasn't going to let a 1 year old beat her! :)  

Got it!  

We loved our family day and our time at the park!  I love spring!  

Celebrating Easter

Bert got back from Nicaragua the day before Easter this year and was totally worn out from the trip and the red eye flight that they had taken back.  He was able to sleep a lot that afternoon, evening and then all night and woke up rested on Easter morning.  We were glad to have him with us!  

The girls woke up to these baskets on Easter morning and were excited.  I forgot that I didn't have Abs one to match her sisters and had to dig out a basket the night before.  I'll have to work on that before next year.  

My brother Stanley spent the weekend with us.  He had a big insurance test to take on Monday morning so he split his time between studying in the office at our house and playing with the girls/ hanging out with us!  We so enjoyed having him there and he passed his test on Monday!  No surprise there though!  

My parents came over to spend Easter with us too and we loved having them here!  

I put sponge rollers in Emily's hair and tried to put them in Hannah and Claire's but they would hear nothing of it. :)  This picture makes me happy!  

After church we came back home to a wonderful lunch!  We have so much to celebrate, as Christians, on Easter and every day!  He is risen!  

Our Church Family

We've had some fun activities at church this month!  We started out the month with an Easter egg hunt!  Abby had fun but wasn't that interested in picking up the eggs!  

This cutie had fun too!  She even found one of the prize eggs with a little bit of help from her Daddy! She was SO excited!  

These two girls were serious egg hunters this year.  

The monkey Claire is holding was what she won for finding one of the prize eggs.  She named it Elsa.

Our church had a team at the Travelers Rest Relay for Life this year.

Two of ours with the Fleming kiddos.  Claire and Gabe are 2 months apart in age.  Sweet things!  

The girls had a blast running around on this big field all night!  

Me and my sweet friend, Mary Pat!  We're so thankful to have the Fleming's join us on staff at MCBC!  

Team picture!  

The day after Relay some ladies and girls in our church headed up to Asheville to spend the day at the Biltmore!  It was the first time Emily and most of other girls had been and it was fun to see how excited they got!  

Emily and her friend Bella had fun on the church bus.

I enjoyed spending the day with this sweet thing!  She said her favorite part of the Biltmore was seeing all the pretty dresses that they used to wear.  She was quick to tell me which ones she liked and which ones she didn't like.  Standing on this porch and looking out at the "backyard" is my favorite spot in the house. 

Breathtaking to see it in person.  

The girls had fun playing some games after our tour.  My friend Pam braided Emily's hair once we got there.  I have seriously got to learn how to french braid this summer.  Seriously. 

I LOVED this picture of all 4 of them laughing together!  

Bella and Emily are in 1st grade, Olivia is in 3rd and Kierston is in 5th.  They had fun spending the day together!  

Bella, Kierston, Emily and Olivia.  

This past weekend we went to a local market the Fleming's and the Livingston's. We had fun spending the morning together.  Jacinta and Mary Pat are both creative and love decorating so I learned all kinds of stuff walking around to the different booths with them.  There was a huge fountain that the kids had fun playing in....not actually in it, but if you saw how wet they were you would have thought they had gotten in. 

We're thankful for our church family and love getting to do life with them!