Catching Up

Wow, it has been a busy month!  Of course, work has been extremely hectic as tax season ended on April 17th this year.  That always takes up more time than we want right now.  Additionally, Ryan was fortunate to go back to Ambler, Alaska.  This Eskimo village has become so special to him and our family.  We love the people there, and we're thrilled that he gets to spend time with them.  This past trip was scheduled for 8 days, but Ryan had the honor of being asked to participate in a funeral for one of the elders that he truly admired; we were fine that added a couple of extra days to the trip.  We were all thrilled though when he arrived safely home last night.  We managed to have some family time even in the busyness, especially around Easter.  I have a couple of extra blogs dedicated to that coming soon.  In the meatime, here are a few miscellaneous pictures taken recently.

The girls with Macey Henderson.  Ryan and the girls went to see Parker play t-ball on a beautiful Saturday; these three always have so much fun together.

 When David and Jan came to visit in March, they went to the zoo with Ryan and the girls while I worked.  The girls always love a zoo trip, and they thoroughaly enjoyed the petting zoo this time.

 The playground at the zoo is always fun too!  Drum away girls!

 Sweet Mia at one of the fountains in Downtown Smyrna.

 One Friday at Lily's school was "history day" and each class was assigned a time period to dress up as.  Lily's class was for the Old Testament time period.  When I asked Lily who she wanted to be, she immediately replied "Mary."  When I explained Mary was in the New Testament, she said "Oh, I thought there was only one testament."  She then said she wanted to be Ruth, so here is a picture of Lily dressed up as Ruth.  As a side note, she was beyond thrilled that Mrs. Worrell came dressed as Naomi because Lily knew the Ruth and Naomi were best friends.

 Of course, little bit wanted part of the dress up action too, so here is Mia as Ruth.

On Monday, Lily asked if I was going to the grocery store.  I explained that I would go Wednesday or Thursday.  She said that was okay, and she had helped by making a list for me.  Here's her list.

Her list was "peanut butter, goldfish, circle crackers (what she and Mia have always called Ritz crackers), green gatoraide, tea...Bama (she wanted to make sure Bama had enough tea) and granola bar.  Funny thing is, we did need all of these things!  When Mia and I went to the store on Thursday morning while Lily was in school, Mia loved getting to cross off everything on Lily's list as we purchased it.  Such helpful girls!