Awana Awards Night

Last week was our last night of Awana for the year.  We have all had a great time.  Julia was in her last year of Cubbies, Carter was a 2nd year Sparks, and Mommy was a Cubbie leader and Bible teacher.  We love the people at LifeCommunity and have enjoyed get to know them even more.  Many of our Westover friends are there, too.

I was excited about teaching this year.  Every Wednesday night I sit in front of 50, 3-5 year olds to teach our lesson.  As you can guess, you never know what may happen.  They are unpredictable, but also inspirational.  I love seeing God's Word through their young eyes.  And it has continued to amaze me how God uses this time to teach me His truths in a fresh new way.  Teaching basic Bible stories to preschoolers seems so basic, but every week I have been touched by some part of it.  Often I tear up as I teach.  His Spirit is so powerful.  I will miss these little Cubbies!

Julia and her friends were looking forward to their ice cream sundaes!

Carter got his Year Two Book award and Extra Credit pin.  He has continued to strive to do his best and accomplish as much as he can each year.  I love to see his enthusiasm for God's word continue to grow.

I love Julia's face when she got her Year Two Book ribbon...

IO cannot believe she is graduating to Sparks next year!! No more Cubbies in our house.  How is that possible?!

Julia and our wonderful leader Miss Marla...

Play Ball!

Baseball season is in full swing and as you can imagine, the little man in our house is completely in his element.  He eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball year round and now it is even better. Daddy is assistant coaching this season and therefore he was...

 They are Arizona State...

He is thrilled to be in the bigger leagues.  He has been playing for outs since his first season of t-ball at age 3 and he has finally reached the leagues where it all counts.  There are even umpires.  Now if we can just keep Carter focused on playing and keep his nose out of the coaching and umping we'll be good.

His favorite position has been pitcher because he is front row on the action, gets to make many plays at first, and keeps his infield in line.

A close second is catcher.  He has aspirations of being Carlos Ruiz one day.  The best part is that this age group actually makes plays at the plate and the catcher has a chance to get in on the action.

He was able to attend spring break camp this year at the NC Baseball Academy.  His swing improved in just that short time.  It's amazing how a kid will listen to someone else tell them the same thing you've been saying for months :)

I didn't realize until I looked back at the pictures that in the midst of the action, Carter's tongue is always sticking out, while fielding...

running...

watching...

It's been a great season so far.  The boys have made some amazing plays- pop flies, tagged runners, quick scoops, and balls hurled across the infield.

I love kids' sports, but man are they intense sometimes! Gotta love spring :)

Farm Day with CC

This week we had a great playdate with our new homeschool group.  In the fall we will be participating in Classical Conversations with both kids.  They are very excited about this new opportunity and we were looking forward to getting to know some of the families in our community.  One of the families invited us to their home.farm for a day of exploration and fun. 

We started off visiting the goats.  This sweet momma had triplets at Easter.  They were adorable and so friendly...

Chocolate Chip the horse spends her days hanging out with the goats.  She is a retired therapy horse who is now learning to jump for show...

Then we all headed to the back of the pasture to meet a brand new baby.  This precious little goat was born just yesterday! He weighed in at a whopping 4 pounds.  Next to his mother he looked like a kitten!

Then we headed to the next pasture to meat the cows.  They are meat cows, but are also used for show.  They have meticulously groomed coats and are given numerous special treatments every day. She let the kids brush her and patiently waited while everyone petted her.

We also met the rabbits and the dozens of chickens running around the yard.  Before we stopped for lunch, the kids learned about making butter and had the chance to make their own...

Complete with homemade bread fresh out of the oven- Mmmm!

After we ate the kids enjoyed playing- climbing trees, talking to the animals, feeding the horses, following the turtle...  

carrying around the chickens like baby dolls...

watching the chicks...

and playing basketball...

It was a wonderful day- beautiful weather, amazing animals, and the blessings of new friends.

Julia's Birthday

Today was Julia's birthday.  I cannot even believe she is turning 5 already! Not only do we not have any babies in the house anymore, we don't even have preschoolers.  It goes by so quickly. She has been looking forward to turning 5 for a long time and counting down the days. When she came down to breakfast she was happy to see the decorations and presents.  I told her she could have anything she wanted for breakfast.  Her choice?  "Mommy, since it's my birthday and I get to pick, can I please not have to eat any breakfast?"  My kids are so odd when it comes to food.

She was looking forward to a day of baking for her birthday at home and at dance class.  She loses interest in the actual baking rather quickly and just waits for me to be finished so she can lick the beaters...

How can you resist that face?

And it gets even better when we move on to the icing round...

She is completely hands on when it comes time to decorate, though.

We had a quiet family dinner...

and then opened her gifts...

She is having fun with the new plasma car...

Happy Birthday sweet JuJu!!

We praise God every day for choosing you to be a part of our family.  You have such a loving, joyful, and encouraging spirit.  You have overcome so much in your short 5 years and have more strength and endurance than most adults.  We are so proud of you and love you so very much!

Birthday Weekend

To celebrate Julia's upcoming birthday, we decided to surprise her with tickets to a show.

 

We took them to see...

The kids were so excited to walk up the steps and see The Imagination Movers and Nina standing in front of them...

The show was opened by ChooChoo Soul, just like on TV.  Genevieve and DC put on a high energy intro that had everyone dancing.  DC has quite the dance moves with his breakdancing.  I was very impressed at the end when Genevieve was talking to the audience about the importance of reading and having them spell words and at the end she talked about how she was able to look cool and have fun without showing any skin.  Such a great message, that rarely comes from the media these days.

The the Movers took the stage...

I knew they were talented, but I had no idea what incredible musicians they all are.  They began as a rock band performing in their hometown of New Orleans.  They are just a group of dads who would hang out after their kids went to bed to write songs for fun. Rich has 5 kids and Dave and Scott each have 2. They sang dozens of songs and even interspersed some classic 80s rock for the parents.  They had the whole place on their feet singing and dancing along

Nina was her charming and cute self. I had no idea she was from Hawaii.  She taught us a hula dance in her native language. 

This was the last performance in their 101 concert tour. They went all out with surprises and extras.  It was so fun to be a part of it all.  They are genuinely good guys.  They have been performing together for 9 years.  Almost all of them lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina.  Smitty is a volunteer fireman and risked his life as a first responder in the early days to save many of his neighbors.  They considered stopping, but knew they needed to stick it out for each other and their crew of 100.  They took their motto to heart and pressed on... "Reach High. Think Big. Work Hard. Have Fun."

It was a great concert. We haven't all danced that hard in along time! Thanks for the memories, Movers!

We stopped at Streets at Southpoint on the way home for dinner.  Julia's choice of course.... California Pizza Kitchen.

It was the perfect evening to be outside.  We walked around and enjoyed the fountains and street performers...

It was the perfect family Sunday afternoon.