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!

We survived Spring Break!

That was one fun week! I knew I needed to keep the girls happy and busy while Grace was out of school -- so Grace wouldn't get bored, and so Rachael wouldn't be unhappy with her sister being at home so much! :-) Thankfully, on Monday we had a playdate with friends, and then Tuesday we had...

PAJAMA DAY!

Yep, we're all in our pajamas and, nope, we are NOT at home! I declared Tuesday to be Pajama Day, and the girls and I headed out to the mall. Yes, we went out in public in our pajamas. Thankfully a few other friends joined us -- although I was only joined by one other mom in the wearing of the pj's! Grace LOVED the idea, she thought it was great, and we really did have a blast! (The high was only 70 on Tuesday, so we were dressed warm -- Florida girls, remember!)

I really didn't make any plans for Wednesday, figuring we'd need one day of rest. I had some plans for things to do with the girls indoors that required a trip to the store, but Rachael surprised me by sleeping until close to ELEVEN A.M.! Not only did she sleep that late, but both girls ended up taking an afternoon nap. I got to go out with a friend that night as well, so I think Wednesday can be declared MOMMY DAY!

They had a couple of mornings with their grandma while I had Bible study and another morning was spent house hunting (nothing yet!), and then one afternoon before Daddy got home, we went outside with the pinwheels Grandma had gotten them. There was a great breeze, and it was much better than the girls nearly hyperventilating inside trying to get them to spin!

Friday evening we had pictures taken for the church directory, and RACHAEL SMILED! I almost wanted to buy a package just to have photographic evidence! She wasn't even holding her burp cloth, either!! On Saturday, we went to see Monsters vs. Aliens, and both girls will tell you they got a little scared during the movie. When you ask Rachael, she will hold up her hands in little fists underneath her chin, open her eyes wide and say, "It skeer me!"

And, of course, Sunday was EASTER! We had a great day at church, then we were at Nana's afterwards for food, family and fun! Here are the girls in their Easter dresses -- and Grace's was made for her by Aunt Carol! Beautiful!

Now we return to our regularly scheduled programming! :-)

Breaking Spring!

I guess Spring Break officially started on Saturday, so we began the time with an Easter egg hunt at church! Before you could say "Peter Cottontail," the kids had collected all the eggs, but the girls (and the rest of the kids) seemed to have a lot of fun! Of course Grace and Rachael have had a blast emptying their baskets and taking out their little treasures again... and again... and again! :-)


Gracie has been on a walking kick lately! One week I think she asked us if we could go on a walk every afternoon! She's wanted to ride her bike (which she's almost too big for!!), so while we were still enjoying some gorgeous weather, we went for a stroll around the complex and ended up at the playground.

She won't stop growing, no matter how much I beg!

Getting a push by her big sister, and loving every minute of it!

On Sunday we went to a picnic (client appreciation, woo-hoo!), and we knew as soon as we got there that we were going to have to eat fast so we could get the girls on the playground! It was a great way to start the week and a wonderful time together as a family!

A photographer from the local newspaper asked to take a couple of shots of Chris and Rachael coming down the slide -- I don't blame him, it was so cute!

Rachael all smiles with Daddy after getting most of her arm soaking wet!

And while I could not talk Rachael into a posed picture,
Grace was more than happy to help!
This is just one of many she hammed it up for!

I'm hoping to have some creative fun with the girls this week so Grace won't miss school too much! It'll give me some practice for this summer!

Also, remember our little timeline that I mentioned at the end of this post? Well, some of you suggested that perhaps it was time for us to have another kid. Instead of doing that, I thought I'd go ahead and have some surgery myself! ;-) It's not a big deal, really just a test, but I would appreciate the prayers just the same!

Hope that you're enjoying your spring, and our friends and family up north will be through with their cold weather soon enough!

Respect Your Realtor

Sunday was our second day house hunting with our realtor. We were prepared for an afternoon where the most exciting part of the day would be finding a great house in a great neighborhood in a great school district. We were NOT prepared to drive by and see this:

As we were heading to the second house of the day, we came across that brush fire. We've had some dry weather lately, and it was just breezy enough for this to be pretty scary. Our realtor stopped her car and I thought she was just going to dial 911. Before I knew it, she and Chris were out of the car and in the backyard.

That's Chris in the picture, the one closest to the fire. He had a hose that had very, very little water pressure and was trying to work with it. He quickly put it down and went to the house to use the large paint buckets the homeowner, our realtor and one other person were filling up.

Obviously, I stayed back. But even from where I was, it was HOT!! Thankfully it wasn't long at all before the calvary arrived. (Good to know for future reference -- that area has good emergency response time!) You can see just how close the fire was to the home here:



That was a little too much excitement for your average day of house hunting!


And now to lighten things up... The Adorables!

Now that it stays lighter longer, the guys are able to go out and play Ultimate Frisbee again! This past Friday, the girls and I went out to watch, but of course we spent a lot of time at the playground nearby. At one point, Grace and Rachael were sliding down the medium-sized slide together and having a blast! I'd had a rough week for various reasons, and they really ended it on a great note! Look at how much fun they were having together!!

Hope you have a great week! And please remember... "Only you can prevent forest fires!" Wait, I just read that that was updated in 2001! So remember: "Only you can prevent wildfires!"