Seven

How is it possible for my baby to be turning 7 today? It does not seem like that long ago we were eagerly awaiting her arrival. I had no idea how much my life would change forever. Claire is the sweetest girl. She is a great helper for her siblings, she likes to please her parents, and she is a rule follower. I just love her to pieces!

Yesterday, we had an all-girls butterfly dance party for her. Several little girls came and we had a great time decorating flip flops with bling, dancing with our Xbox kinect, hitting a butterfly pinata, making pink headbands, and the usual cake with ice cream! Claire decided that she wanted to make and decorate her own cake. She picked it all out. I think she did a pretty good job.
It was so fun watching the girls dance and sing along to popular songs. I was surprised at how well they knew the words. These girls are growing up so fast. It made me thankful for having girls. They are so much fun! At the same time it made me wish that she could stay this age forever.

Today we will be having a family get together to celebrate some more! She has had a great birthday week! Happy Birthday Claire!

PB&J

I know this is a little late in being posted, but things have been busy with the start of summer vacation. This year for the elementary school talent show Claire danced alongside a couple friends to a song about peanut butter and jelly. She was the jam. I am proud of her for being brave enough to get up there and perform in front of everyone. She did a great job!

Family Fun

We did it! After many years of thinking about it...we all have bikes now. (Well except for Neil that is) We have been going out for family rides these last few evenings and it has been so much fun! I pull Neil along in a trailer, and everyone else rides. We are ready for summer. It's fun to have a new family hobby!

On the River

Saturday was a pretty fun day for me. Chris stayed home with the kids while I got a little R&R out on the boat with my dad. We fished for shad and had a great time! The weather stayed dry and we had lots of action. This picture is me holding my ninth fish or so of the day! We probably could have gotten more, but we left the river about 3pm and several fish that were hooked got away. We had a really nice time relaxing and catching fish. Now we will be ready with bait for crabbing at the coast!

Bow tie

My handsome little man. I couldn't put anything froofy in his hair, or cute tights on him, so this adorable bow tie had to do. I am pretty surprised that he kept it on for the entire three hours of Church. He must like lookin' good.

Farm Time

Today we had a preschool field trip to a farm in the country. I just love how beautiful the drive is not far from our house. The fields of grass, clover, and farms looked amazing. Unfortunately, my allergies were in overdrive out there.
The kids were able to feed all kinds of animals. There was a cow, horses, goats, emu's, chickens, ducks, pigs, and bunnies. They gave the kids big boxes of bread to hand out. They seemed to enjoy it. I think the highlight for Grace was getting to hold the baby chick.

 

 

Afterwards, the kids played on a tire swing and merry go round. We were given goody bags of nuts to take home. We had fun and hopefully next time Neil won't be such a chicken.

Fishy

We have had the greatest weather over the last few days. I am loving it! We were able to do one of my favorite things over Mother's Day weekend. It was plenty hot enough to take the boat for a spin at the lake. The girls really wanted to fish so the three of us went along with Grandma and Grandpa for a fun trip out on the water. The sun was really hot out there and we reapplied our sunscreen over and over again.

It was a good thing that we had Grandpa there to bait our hooks since my girls have started becoming much more "girly" lately. They didn't want to touch the worms. Granted, I didn't want to either, but it was strange because just a couple years ago Claire would have really enjoyed playing with the worms. We got our poles in the water and sat back to relax. It wasn't long before the first fish was on! It was great. Claire got to reel it in. She was very pleased with herself. Thankfully, not too much time passed before we got another fish. This time Grace was able to bring it in. We got really lucky to get 2 fish. I'm so glad that worked out. :)

We were super hot and sweaty, so we decided to take a break from fishing and joyride a bit around the lake to cool down. It was a lot of fun! Getting splashed felt great. I really love being out on the water like that. The rushing air in your face feels invigorating. We are so lucky to live close to Grandpa and Grandma. It's great that we can spend time together and do fun things! I know the girls had a great time on their successful fishing trip!

We cooked the fish up at our Mother's Day BBQ on Sunday. It was a great weekend!