To Know Them Is To Love Them

May has been an eventful month, and we're not even finished yet! Mother's Day, Chris' birthday, Grace's "graduation" coming up, as well as her end of the year program at church! Busy, busy! This week at school Grace gets to have water day (wearing her swimsuit to school, she's so excited!), pizza and pajama day (and yes, I'm thinking about just bringing her to school while wearing mine, ha!), and then her graduation. WOW! Then it's June and the second week of that month brings Vacation Bible School! Amazing!

For Chris' birthday a couple of weekends ago, we went to Busch Gardens in Tampa. It just so happened that they were having their first annual Glory At The Gardens event, so we not only got to enjoy a day at the park, but we also were able to hear and see a few concerts -- including Steven Curtis Chapman and Matthew West!

Originally, the plan was that Chris and I would go on our own and leave the girls with the grandparents. However, their grandparents have busy schedules too! I'll admit that I was really looking forward to spending the day alone with Chris, but I quickly warmed up to the idea of having the girls along -- and we had such a wonderful time! We hadn't been to Busch Gardens with Rachael since she was about 2 months old, so taking her was a real treat! We were able to get up close and personal views of many of the animals this time around, and the girls loved it!

The kids' section at Busch Gardens is really great -- Rachael was able to ride all but one ride, and they didn't need an adult on anything! It totally and completely warmed my heart that they chose to ride everything together, they never split up even when it was an option!

Last year, I was intimidated by the summer months approaching -- at the time, Grace was only going to school 3 days out of the week, and I didn't know what I was going to do with both girls home! This year, I am looking forward to spending all that extra time with them! I am sure that there will be days when I will be begging to fast forward to August, but really and truly, the older they get, the more fun they are!

Grace is just growing, physically and emotionally. She seems to have a really sensitive heart, reacting strongly when she sees someone hurting. She loves to draw, and anytime she does she includes her friends and family members in her pictures and tells a story about what's going on. She never wants to keep her artwork, she always wants to give it to someone -- usually me or Chris! Grace is most often given compliments regarding her excellent manners! I'm really hoping and praying that she continues with that -- it is a blessing to be around people, especially children, with great manners!

Rachael is still quite a handful, but these days it's in a more playful, fun way than a screaming, fitful way! :-) She loves to make us laugh -- and if she gets a laugh, she'll repeat what she's done over and over again! Apparently she's something of a chatterbox, but she saves that for when Chris and I aren't around! Sure, she talks at home, but I'm told she'll talk the childcare workers' ears off at church! She's definitely getting easier to understand, and she's picking up a lot from her best teacher -- Grace! It will be so fun to see how she grows when she starts preschool in the fall! I am so excited about her teacher, I know it'll be a great year!

More to come later this week -- I'm hoping that Grace will agree to wear her little cap and gown so I can snag a picture or two! Right now she's saying that she doesn't want to wear it, she said she's afraid she won't look cute!! I told her that just wasn't possible!

Hope that your family is doing well and getting ready to enjoy a fun summer!

Mother's DayS

It all started last Thursday, when Gracie's class had a Mother's Day banquet in the morning! A very sweet friend let Rachael spend some time with her kiddos and I took Grace to school for the festivities -- she was so excited! We went to chapel together, and then headed back to the classroom for breakfast, which was served to the moms by their kids, and then they gave us hand massages with lotion the teachers had set out! It was precious!

On Saturday we took the girls to Sea World and just had a blast! They got to enjoy the water fun in the kids' area this time -- which was definitely needed since it was 95 degrees outside! (And it's only May!!)

Rachael playing at the smallest fountains.

Grace waited a long time for her turn with this!

Chris taking a little break! :-)

We went to church on Sunday morning and then headed over to GG's to spend the afternoon with her, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Carol. The girls had so much fun playing with Aunt Carol, she really gave them a run for their money!

Some fun faces from Rachael!

Me and my girls on Mother's Day!

Soon enough we will be watching Grace "graduate" from VPK and start our summer activities! Grace is already excited about Vacation Bible School (she'll get to go to two this year)! I hope the girls and I will find a lot of fun things to do this summer, since in just three months Grace will be starting kindergarten and Rachael will start preschool!! I'm excited about Rachael heading to school, though, because I know she's ready for it! I stopped walking Grace to her class during the week because Rachael never wanted to leave! :-) She'll be so excited to be able to go to a class of her own!

Hope the moms among my friends and family reading this enjoyed your day!