So Much Love

As I was leaving the house to attend a PTF meeting at the school last Tuesday, Lily came up and gave me a big hug.  I told her again that I loved her and would see her in the morning.  She replied, "I know but when you love someone as much as I love you, you don't want them to go."  Melt my heart!

A Morning in the Gardens

Finally!  Now that tax season is over, life can return to normal, and we can all have some fun again!  Last Saturday, while Ryan was doing a service project with our church, Liz, the girls and I went down to the Botanical Gardens.  We bought an annual membership when we went in November to have our family pictures taken.  We visited in December to see the lights, but we haven't been back until Saturday.  I really wanted to make it down sooner to see all the tulips in bloom, but unfortunately, that didn't work out.  However, it was a beautiful day, so the four of us headed down and enjoyed a wonderful morning together.

At the entrance.  This was the first fountain I momentarily thought they might fall in; there were a couple of them during the morning.  Thankfully, they stayed dry the whole time.

 I made them pose for this picture; you can see how thrilled they were about that.

 This frog made us all smile.

 Walking through the archway to the huge greenhouse.

 The girls enjoyed seeing all the little (poisonous) frogs just inside the greenhouse entrance.  They were amazingly vibrant colors.  Luckily, they were inside glass aquariums.

Walking along one of the paths in the greenhouse, and the girls enjoyed stopping to see the little fish under the bridge.

 I thought these leaves were pretty cool.

 Lily carefully looking inside the rock to determine if there was a snake inside (there wasn't).

 Another cool flower.

 The girls making their funny faces for the camera.

 After the greenhouse and a little walk through in the edible garden, we headed over the big bridge to the kids area.  Here the girls dug for dinosaur bones in the sand pit.

 Silly cuties.

 I love this little waterfall area.  On the other side of this path is a little pond with real (non-poisonous) frogs that were neat to see.

 The girls had a blast in the tree house.  For the longest time, it was just the two of them, so they had free range to run all around, climb, slide and explore.  It was great.  They played for a little while after some other kids came too, but then it was time to start heading back.

While making our way back, we stopped to see the bees making honey and play hopscotch on the rocks.  Just after crossing the bridge back to the gardens, a small snake slithered across the pavement right in front of us; that caused a little bit of excitement!

This was such a great morning.  I'm so glad to have my life back!

Easter Sunday

We love Easter.  First and foremost, it is the most important day in our Christian faith.  If Jesus had not risen from the dead on third day, all of Christianity would be a lie.  It's a wonderful day to celebrate.  As with any celebration, that means there are lots of fun traditions.

The first tradition is giving the kids Easter baskets on Easter morning.  I love getting to decorate with the same bunny decorations my mom used.  The girls baskets were very similar.  Each received a princess bubble wand (Cinderella for Mia; Belle for Lily), plastic eggs with Tinkerbell and princess stickers, Jellybeans, M&Ms, new sparkly pencils, new sunglasses (Hello Kitty for Lily, Rapunzel for Mia), a 3D movie (Tangled for Lily and Beauty and the Beast for Mia) and two new books (Splat the Cat's Easter and From Head to Toe for Mia; Fancy Nancy's Easter and Olivia Forms a Band for Lily).

 They had a lot of fun looking through their baskets.

 Trying out their new glasses.

 They have been needing these.

 After breakfast, we got ready for church.  We went to Chattahoochee for service this year which we all enjoyed.  The girls love wearing matching dresses.

 A sweet family picture.

 The girls love their Bama!

 After church, we all go home, change clothes and then head over to Judy and Robert's house for a family get-together.  It's filled with lots of great family time, fun activities and delicious food.

The girls had fun hula-hooping.

 Lily didn't want to stop!

 Mia and Zac had fun in the sand pit.

 The annual picture of all the kids.  This has most of the great-grandkids now, but it used to be my generation (the grandkids).  It's fun to see a growing family.

 The kids leave the steps to start egg hunting.

Lily scored big right by the steps; there were lots of eggs in the bushes.

 Having a blast!

 Mia took off running into the yard.

 Carefully watching her step to find eggs.

 Ready to go through their baskets of eggs!

After the egg hunt, we played for a little bit longer, and then it was time to leave.  We didn't have time to participate in the egg toss this year, maybe next year.  What a fun afternoon!

FBCC Egg Hunt

For the fourth year in a row, we had a great time at First Baptist of Chattahoochee's egg hunt at Whittier Mill.  There are lots of fun activities, and it's always nice to catch up with long-time friends.

Mia started out by decorating and eating a cookie.  She loved getting to ice it and then put sprinkles on it.  This activity was new this year; great idea!

 Of course, they love the playground too.  Fearless Mia climbed right up!

 Both girls loved getting tattoos on their hands.  They did not want to wash these off anytime soon.

 Lily picked a pink butterfly while Mia went with a bunny that said "Hoppy Easter!"

 We missed seeing Granna who was in Tennessee, but we were all excited when Popa came!

 Swinging is always fun.

 Flying high!

 The girls always love the balloon shapes.  Lily picked a dragonfly while Mia wanted a pirate sword.

Finally, it was time for the egg hunt!  Ryan went with Lily in her age area. 

Scooping them up!

 Picking up one and heading for the next.

 With a basket full!

 Liz and I stayed with Mia who was in the more crowded 2 and 3 year old area.

Mia loved finding the eggs! 

 Picking up as many as she can.

 So excited about her basket with eggs!

 Showing off their baskets.

 Of course, the most fun part is going through the loot!

This is always a fun event!



Easter Egg Coloring

One of my very favorite annual traditions is Easter egg coloring.  I have loved this ever since Meme did this with all 5 of her grandkids each year.  I love it and look forward to it each year.  The weather wasn't ideal outside, so we covered the kitchen table and set up shop there. 

The girls couldn't wait to get started!



 This particular set came with a crayon that you decorated the egg with before dipping it in the color.  It didn't work too well, but the girls had fun trying.

 Concentrating so hard.

 Carefully dipping an egg.

 Mia preferred to use her fingers for dipping.

 Having fun!

 Watching all the eggs get colored.

 Getting a lesson from Bama.

 Lily showing off her favorite egg.

 Mia's eggs.  You may notice some of the colors are not the standard colors you find in an egg-dying set.  It look Mia about 5 minutes to go through all of her eggs, while Lily had not yet even completed half.  So Mia decided to redye her eggs.  She would take one, put it in red then blue then yellow etc until all the colors had been used each time.  She loved her rainbow eggs!

 Lily enjoyed displaying her eggs on these little stands.

 Mia showing off her basket full of eggs.

 Mia sat her basket down, picked up this egg and exclaimed "Oh no Mommy!  This egg is hatchin'!  We have to take it outside to hatch!"

 Lily showing off her basket of colored eggs.

And so the tradition continues...love it!