Easter Choir Concert

The Easter Sonrise choir concert for first through third grade took place this evening. We got to hear Sophie sing, recite a Bible verse, and play her recorder. She did a wonderful job and looked quite pretty too! Mamaw, Papaw, Grammy Nye, Aunt Christy, Nate and Noah all joined us.

Sophie was standing next to one of her best friends, Katie.

This was the Bible verse she had to memorize and recite for the program.

Parent & Child Dates: Four

For Sophie's date with Jay, she chose to go to the park. She wanted to go "hiking", so Jason took her to Southeastway Park (okay, so it really is more of a walk through the woods than hiking, but it's what she wanted). She's not as big a fan of ice cream as Chloe is, so after their time at the park they went to get chocolate chip cookies (also one of Jay's favorites).

 I know she's mine and I'm biased, but isn't she pretty?

 I know that neither one of them are in this photo, but I thought it was beautiful and worth posting. Nice work, God!

 Jay and Soph

Another great pic of Sophie (thanks Jay)!

Parent & Child Dates: Three

We realized that is was suddenly already the end of March and Jason hadn't gone on his dates with Chloe and Sophie, so we had to squeeze them in! Chloe chose to do bowling with Dad, so they went to Expo for some bowling and then to McD's for ice cream afterwards.

 Matching bowling shoes

 First game

 Second game

 Go Chloe!

 Last game

 Chloe had a great time bowling with her dad...

...and Jay had a great time too!

Father Daughter Dance

Jason and the girls went to Southport Presbyterian Church's annual Father Daughter Dance. This was Charlotte's first year to go, but she was so exhausted from her sleepover at Mamaw's house the night before that she slept through most of the dance! Chloe and Sophie have always enjoyed it, and Jay, well, he does it because he really loves his daughters. I was a little sad this year because I'm not sure how much longer Chloe will want to go. It's possible that this was her last year, but I hope not! :-(

 It seems that it was too bright out for Charlotte because in most of the pictures her eyes were either closed or covered.

 A photo of Jay with his girls

 I should have said her eyes were closed, covered, or not looking at the camera!

 Chloe's hair

 Sophie's hair

 Charlotte's hair

 Jay took some pictures at the dance for me to post.

See, here she is sleeping on Daddy during the dance.

 A rainbow of jelly beans!

A rainbow of balloons! (Can you guess the theme?)

Preschool with Charlotte

I have started working through a preschool curriculum (Before Five in a Row) with Charlotte that is based on children's books. We are both enjoying it! Here she is with one of the books (Yellow Ball by Molly Bang) and the drawing she did as part of her lesson that day. She is so open to learning and easy to teach right now.

Playing With Friends

We have been blessed with gorgeous weather so far this year. We are also blessed to have the world's best neighbors. Brian moved into the house next door not long after we moved into our house, and shortly after that he met and married Raendra. And they added three wonderful little boys to their family. Raendra is one of the kindest people I have ever met, and we have become great friends. Our two backyards have sort of merged into one large backyard and the kids go between the two and share the outdoor playthings (they have the trampoline and sandbox and we have the swing set). These are just a few pictures of the kids playing outside this Spring.

 The baby swing has magical properties and puts Henry to sleep just about every time he's in it.

 We don't have sand, but we do have gravel... and apparently it is also fun to play in.

 A couple of moths that Chloe and Sophie caught.

 And here they are with their moths.

 Charlotte and Collin on the swings... I think her hair gets bigger the longer she plays outside.

 Clayton and Charlotte enjoying some frozen yogurt treats from Raendra.

Yummy!

 I love his smile!

And check out the dimples on this handsome fella!

Seven Months Old

Another month has already come and gone, and Henry Jay is now seven months old!

 Henry is still getting up at least once and often twice during the night, and I do feed him when that happens. He's not a great napper... more of a cat-napper. I would love it if he'd take a nice long afternoon nap, so I could exercise or do preschool stuff with Charlotte.

 He is sitting up well. He rolls all over the place, and he scoots in reverse to get around.

 He is eating "solid" foods (baby food as solid just seems wrong somehow) once a day. He eats rice cereal, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, and pears. He also enjoys real bananas, ice cream (don't judge), and we tried those little puffs cereal snacks today. He seems to be a good little eater.

 

I think he might be cutting more teeth because he's had some cranky moments at bedtime and when he's nursing. (So far he just has the two on bottom.) For the most part he's a happy little man. He definitely shows a preference for mommy and daddy, and we're usually okay with that... although a date might be nice. ;-)

 A couple of weeks ago the girls were playing with him and had him wrapped up in a blanket...

Which they used as some sort of sled (I think). Sorry, Hank, but that comes with the territory of having three older sisters.

Happy seven months, Henry Jay! We love you lots and lots!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had no big St. Patty's Day plans, but I like to do something fun for the kids on holidays. Right now I'm into their hair (thank you, Pinterest).

 Sophie found a four-leaf clover while playing in the backyard. I do not believe in luck, but I thought it was kind of neat given that it was St. Patrick's Day.

 Charlotte doesn't have enough hair for me to do much with, but I did put some little clips in hers when I did the big girls' hair. She wanted her picture taken too.

 I don't know if you can tell in the photo, but Chloe's hair was styled into a four-leaf clover.

And Sophie's was a shamrock.

Tucker's Birthday at the Museum

Jason had Thursday and Friday of this week off because UIndy was on Spring Break. We invited ourselves :-) were invited to go to The Children's Museum on Friday with some friends of ours to celebrate their little guy's fourth birthday. They have been in lots of my other blog posts. Tucker (the birthday boy) is the one we want to marry Charlotte. We'll see if they cooperate with the whole arranged marriage thing in the future.

 Chloe and Sophie were at school or the crew would be even bigger. This is Chaney, Tucker, Charlotte (back row) and Henry, Rigley, and Paislee (front row).

 Paislee and Katie on the carousel.

 Paislee and Charlotte walking the runway in the Barbie exhibit.

 Charlotte and Tucker driving the Indy car in the LEGO exhibit.

 Our little guys - Apparently Hank wanted to hold Rig's hand.

Rigley had other plans, so Henry settled for his knee.

Thanks for letting us crash your party, Browns! We love you guys!

And Happy 4th Birthday, Tuck!

Tuesdays of Praise

Mark 10: 6-8

“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Today I am praising God for marriage... And not just any marriage: my marriage! 13 years ago today I married my sweetheart, my best friend, my soul mate. I love him more today than I did back then. He is a wonderful husband and a fantastic father. I am so grateful to God for bringing us together.

A couple weeks ago we took The Five Love Languages Assessment. I scored equally in words of affirmation and acts of service. Jason has been great about making an effort to show me love in both of those ways. Throughout the day today he texted me "13 reasons why I'm glad you're my wife." I won't share them with all of you on the world wide web, but they were perfect... exactly what I needed, and they made my day!

I am thankful for my husband. Thankful for the children we now have together. And I praise God for His good plan for our lives.

Spring Basketball Awards

Chloe and Sophie finished up their Spring season of basketball (soccer, here we come). They had their final games and awards ceremonies. It made for kind of a long afternoon, but well worth it. Both games were nail biters! Or as Jason corrected me, "barn burners"? Sophie's team won and had an undefeated season. Chloe's team lost and therefore didn't win a single game this season! But she played SO well!

 Jason giving out the awards for Sophie's team (The Celtics).

 Sophie and Coach

 Jay giving out the awards for Chloe's team (The Tigers).

 Chloe and Coach

Chloe and Nate with Jay