Catching Up

Wow! Time flies when you have a family! I can't believe that winter has passed and spring has arrived. Now that tax season is over and I have my evening "computer privileges" and am not so tired from being a "single parent," I'll try to keep things a little more up to speed with our family. However, we have started some spring projects that are keeping us very busy: removing wallpaper and painting! Here's the fun stuff we've been up to:

In February:

My youngest brother, Christian, turned 14! I can't believe that the little brother that I couldn't wait to hold at the end of my sophomore high school days and the one I clothed in a tie-dye t-shirt just before I turned 16 is growing up so fast! Christian, you are such a sweetheart. I love to see you play with Rivers and Jackson and hear you laugh at their antics! I hope that you have a wonderful 14th year of life! You are such a blessing!

We celebrated Valentine's Day by taking the kids to Fun Zone. They had a great time bouncing around and pretending together.

On February 26th, I turned 30! Lo and behold, Daniel threw me a surprise party. I had NO idea and couldn't believe it when I walked into California Dreaming expecting to have a birthday dinner with my family only to find 22 wonderful friends and both of our families waiting. We all had dinner together, and Rivers helped me blow out the candles on the best carrot cake I have ever tasted. It was a wonderful evening and a great way to kick off my "next 30 years!" I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband, children, family, and friends!

In March:Rivers sang with her 3-5 year old children's choir in church. She absolutely LOVES to sing. This time, she sang "Wonderfully Made," "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands," and 2 other songs. What was the most touching thing for me was that when she sang in November, I had to carry her up the steps and hold her on my lap during the songs because she was wearing her cast. This time, I held her hand to walk up the steps and she stood there by herself and sang. Praise God for such a wonderful recovery! We are so thankful! The song "Wonderfully Made" says: "I'm one of a kind I'm wonderfully made. I'm wonderfully, wonderfully made!"

Mimi met the kids and me at Monkey Joe's for the first time. Rivers was so excited! We had been watching the construction for several months and were so happy to go for our first time to bounce around, climb STEEP hills, and eat a pizza and ICEE lunch. Mimi and I had so much fun with the kids, but we were exhausted! The kids had a blast!

In April:We went to the First Baptist Easter egg hunt at Heathwood Park. Jackson picked up one egg and was happy as could be. Rivers walked around and collected about 8-10 eggs and enjoyed opening them to reveal some yummy treats inside. It was a beautiful day and a great way to kick off the Easter season.

The Saturday evening before Easter, we dyed eggs with Rivers. She absolutely loved it and was so proud of her beautiful egg creations.

After church on Easter, we had lunch with my family. We always enjoy hanging out together and catching up on each other's lives. The only one missing from this picture is Daniel!

Rivers and Jackson had a great time hunting for Easter eggs with Nanny! You can't see the detail on their smocked outfits, but Jackson has fishing lure on his and Rivers has angel fish. The outfits were so cute and were courtesy of Nanny (and Grandaddy...does he know?!)