an egg hunt invitation

Our friend Addie wanted to host and Easter Egg Hunt and guess what her Mommy said??? She said YES, she's a cool mommy like that! There were close to 30 children, each child could hunt for 12 eggs plus one shiny egg. A lot of stuffing, hiding, and preparing took place before we arrived yesterday and it sure was fun! We all brought our lunches and had a picnic outside. My boys were too busy playing in the woods to eat. It was a fun morning with friends!

here they are, lined up for a group picture and ready to hunt!

Addison was being clingy and wouldn't join them for the photo.


she actually wouldn't hunt at all, i did the hunting for her. don't know why she was so out of sorts yesterday but that's how it goes some days.



they boys weren't excited about me distracting them from their eggs/candy for pictures. imagine that?!? all the kids got to find one shiny egg that had a Bible verse in it and guarenteed them a prize! Harrison won a carrot baseball bat & ball and Jackson won something he calls his "bow & arrow" that looks more like a rocket to me. Addison's prize were these cute bunny ears below...

thanks for the fun day girls! Addie is a fabulous hostess and I just think it's so fun that her mommy is so willing to let her spread her wings in entertaining! I can't wait to do fun things like that with my "Addie"...Addison!

"hey mom! look what i can do!?!"

yesterday we met for our weekly Spanish class. i have been telling my friend Heather that i need to bring the boys bikes one day because they have a nice FLAT court and that's non-existent in our neighborhood. she's also been able to help a few kids we know learn to ride bikes without training wheels so i was hoping she could give the boys some pointers! i had tried to teach Harrison once before but the hills around our house didn't help too much.

while Heather was giving Jackson a quick lesson in balance and explaining that if you "just keep peddling you won't fall off" Harrison decided to pick up his bike and try it out.

He did it!

First try! I was so proud I just kept snapping pictures! :) She gave him some pointers on how to start, which is the hardest part, and he figured it out very quickly.

Jackson is not far behind him. He totally did it. He just needs to work on his confidence. After he earned his fruit snacks for going 10 peddles in a row TWO times, he decided he wanted his training wheels back on. :) less work, you know. but it won't be long...

here is Jackson getting his lesson

well, off he goes!

high five!


my BIG BOY!!!


check out those flip flops she found from the garage! :)


see, they BOTH were riding for a little bit there. :)

He's been riding his bike ALL day. decided that he does like our neighborhood hills now that he can ride. he told me "i like feeling the breeze in my face." what a cute boy! now i guess we'll be needing to get him a bigger bike soon. he's about out grown this one but i didn't want to get him a new one until he had those training wheels OFF!!

WOO HOO Harrison!!! We are SO proud of you! This is big boy stuff!

The Cupcake Shoppe

i think i look just a tad too excited about my strawberry cupcake with strawberry icing. it was good though! :)

Vonda and I were able to slip away one evening with my friend Janet for a girls treat. We went to The Cupcake Shoppe in dowtown Raleigh. It was really fun and a nice chance to talk without the distractions of the kids. The only bummer is that I don't have a picture of Janet. :( I don't know how that happened. Unless she strategically planned it so she wouldn't have to look like us...little piggies...chowing down on our cupcakes! :)

Isn't it fun to get out...just the girls!!

the RODEO!!!

aren't we a good lookin' bunch! :) i can't believe i haven't posted about this already. i have a good excuse. my camera battery was dead and while these sweet friends, Janet & Erin, sent me their photos the next day...i forgot they were in my email and hadn't downloaded them to my computer. i realized it the other day! oh my goodness...it was such a fun time and i'm happy to share the pictures almost a month later! we went Tuesday night, May 19th! good grief!

it's a great little rodeo. one exit up from our house. they have it every Tuesday night starting in May and it runs until the fall. Anthony and Mimi took the boys last year after Addison was born and loved it. i was SO excited to join them this time! we went with our good friends the Megilligan's and my singing/running friend Erin and her children. we had such an amazing time! the kids LOVED every minute of it. Harrison and Jackson were thrilled to be wearing their cowboy hats and boots and excited to be rubbing shoulders with REAL cowboys!!!!

the pictures speak for themselves...we had a GREAT time and hope to go back after the weather cools down a bit! man it's hot around here!

Leah

Lindsey

Jackson

can you tell this boy is loving this??? :)

what cuties!

what a fun night out!

the girls petting the pony

Harrison's turn! My little cowboy! Luke, Reece and Austin decided they didn't want to ride.

Addison didn't get to ride but we had to put her up there for a quick photo shoot!


Here they are, ready for the show! Janet had these adorable bandanna's for the kids to wear! they looked SO cute! we were sitting all the way at the top of the bleachers so i was a little worried we may have a kid fall through but they made it. :) when will i ever stop worrying?? :)


Erin & Luke...Luke and Jackson are in the same Sunday school class to together so they are good buds. :)

isn't this a GREAT family photo! you Megilligan's are very photogenic! :)




Leah & Jackson




Reece


such a great picture of Austin! what a handsome boy!

here are the kids trying to catch the calf. hilarious! Jackson was in his boot...remember the boot? so he didn't go out with the kids but he was really bummed. next they had the chicken dance and Janet, Erin, & i decided we would go and we took Jackson too. i was worried his boot would be totally gross after being out in that arena but it turned out OK.

trying to keep from falling through the bleachers ourselves




i think Brian must have enjoyed taking all these silly pictures of us. good thing he had that zoom lens! ha ha ha!




after the bull riding, they had the ladies come out with their horses to get ready for the barrel racing. one of the riders brought her horse over for the kids to pet it. they LOVED that!


it was such a fun night!!

hope to do it again before the summer is over!