Bert headed back to Nicaragua with a team from our church during the week of Greenville County School's spring break. They were able to serve and love on the people of Nicaragua. This was his 4th trip to Nicaragua and he came back saying it might have been the best trip yet!
He left at 3:45 am on April 8th so he get to give Emily a kiss on his way out the door on her birthday, but she wasn't conscious for it. He was able to facetime her from their layover in Houston and she enjoyed her special birthday call!
The girls and I headed over to Toccoa to spend the week with my parents while Bert was away. The day we arrived (Saturday) we headed over to see Katherine and Brett's new house. They had moved in less than a week before and the girls were SO excited about checking it out! Emily, Jacob and Hannah did laps around the house for the longest time that afternoon. I came outside one time and found Jacob and Emily playing in the bushes. Cuties!
After we played at Katherine's for awhile we headed back over to Mimi and Papa's for an Easter egg hunt for the grandkids and a birthday dinner for Emily and I.
Ready to make a run for it!!
Mimi had a prize egg for each child with their name on it and everyone except Claire found their prize egg (plus lots of other eggs). Sweet Claire couldn't find her egg. So we told Emily, Hannah and Jacob to help her, but they couldn't find it either. Then Katherine, Mom and I started helping her look, but we couldn't find it either. We finally found it 2 days later....Mimi really hid that one well! It kind of went over her head and she had so many other eggs she didn't even really understand she was missing the one with her name on it. Thankful it happened to one of the younger three because I have a feeling the older three kiddos wouldn't have been quite as gracious about not being able to find their prize egg. Ha!
Mimi had a special little section for Abby but once she picked one up she just wanted to play with it so her sisters and cousins got to come help her with her area.
We enjoyed a very yummy dinner then opened some presents and had cake!
34 and 7!
On Sunday Papa spent the afternoon working outside and Emily and Hannah were right beside him for a lot of the time. Emily asked him at one point if they could go somewhere special. She didn't care where but she just wanted to go somewhere with him. He couldn't/wouldn't turn her down so that evening Papa and Emily took a picnic to Toccoa Falls and had a fun time!
This was her "pretend" falling picture that she was so proud of.
Our parents don't get to spend one on one time with our kids that often since we live out of town, so it was so special that he was able to do that. She came back talking all about it. The first thing she told me is that Papa had taken his FIRST selfie while they were on their date!
Bert was able to receive text while in Nicaragua so once every other day or so I would take a picture of each of the girls and send it to him. I sent these 4 to him one day after we had been to the park.
We got to have lots of playdates with Katherine, Jacob and Ressie! Katherine was on spring break too that week so it was fun to have her with us most every day. She took the big kids on an adventure walk one afternoon and I stayed with Ressie and Abby while Ressie napped. I caught a picture of them while they were leaving my parents' driveway. They all 4 came back soaking wet from getting (falling) in the creek. Katherine said it didn't go exactly as planned but they had so much fun!
On Tuesday we spent the day at Katherine and Brett's house. Ressie and Claire have lots of fun playing together, but Ress Bess apparently didn't want to be photographed at that time. Ha!
Caught the older three watching something together after they had played outside for hours!
On Wednesday night we went to my parents' church for an egg hunt and crafts for the kids. Abby had hunted eggs at our church and in my parents' backyard and both times she only picked up an egg or two. This time it apparently clicked and she picked up so many eggs. She would toddle over to one and pick it up and put it in her basket, then go to the next. It was cute!
They also had a fun craft and some games for the kids that night. It was fun!
While we were at the Sanders' house the girls had hit some golf balls with Jacob's clubs and E and H decided they wanted to learn. At dinner one night Mimi told him she could teach them, so after we finished they headed out for a lesson. I've never seen or heard of my mom playing golf so the fact that she was giving them lessons was making me chuckle. She said Stanley had taught her. Ha!
That same night I took a picture of all 4 girls again to send to their Daddy. We had lot of fun playing outside that week. It was beautiful weather!
I love this picture of Emily. Her hair blowing and the sun hitting it just right, the pond behind her and if you look closely you can see that little snaggle-tooth.
One morning I took the girls for a walk around the neighborhood before Abby's morning nap. I took a picture of them running ahead a little ways and Emily just happened to be doing some kind of dance move when I snapped the picture. Happy, carefree girls!
Before we went back to my parents' house I asked my friend Kim if they could play on her swing set for a few minutes. They had fun! Claire was so proud of herself every time she climbed up those stairs onto the platform. She did it over and over.
A few more park pictures of our sweet babies from a different day!
I especially love these next two pictures of Claire and Hannah. Claire looks like a big girl to me with her long hair.
Hannah had requested a side pony tail that morning. Precious.
I loved loved loved getting to spend so much time with my sister! So thankful for her friendship! Sisters make the best friends, and I pray our girls find that to be true too!
Mimi worked most of the week but was off half a day Thursday and all day Friday so Jacob spent Thursday night with us at Mimi and Papa's house and on Friday morning Mimi dyed eggs with them. You can see Abby with her egg in the bottom right of the picture below. She played with it for about 5 minutes before throwing it off her tray and breaking it.
We had a great week in Toccoa!
We headed back to Greenville on Friday to get unpacked and get ready for Bert to get back the next day. We were all 5 super excited about seeing him. When they got off the bus (the team got picked up at the airport on our church bus) he took Abby from me and she wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder and would NOT let him put her down. It was her way of telling him she missed him and it was the sweetest!
It was a great spring break for all six of us! Thanks to Mimi and Papa for hosting our crazy crew and being so excited about us being there!
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