Mother-Daughter Brunch 2014

Northside hosted a Frozen-themed Mother-Daughter brunch for Mother's Day this year.  Of course we signed up because we love all things Frozen!  Gigi was able to join us for this special occasion.

Poppy had a pretty new dress to wear from Gigi, and Erin gave her "fancy" hair.

She had to bring her purse and baby Elsa with her!

There were so many fun activities at the "Frozen lunch"!

She loved all the accessories that were provided!

And we took a fun picture all together!

Open Gym

We joined some friends for Open Gym at a gymnastics place in the spring.  It had a GIANT foam pit and was a HUGE hit!

Can you see my guys down there?

This girl is ready for her own gymnastics class!

There's Jonas hanging from the high bar!

Reef's 8th Birthday!

We decided no parties in 2014 for the kids.  So, his birthday was pretty low key.  Looking through these pictures, we might've celebrated twice...

Still LOVES those Legos!  He also got gift cards to the Lego store.

Ready for the cake!

He requested a cookies and cream cake.  It turned out pretty good!

Gigi and Mr. Don got him rollerblades!

He did pretty good for the first try!  Now that it's cooler, we need to get back out there and practice!

We also celebrated at Willie's with Gigi and Mr. Don.  He wasn't feeling the picture-taking!

Reef also got to do his special dinner with the Chapmans, which is always fun.  All in all, I don't think he even missed a party!

Book It!

Nothing beats free pizza for doing something they love: reading!

Troy turns 40!

Troy turned 40 in April!  I really wanted to surprise him but was so overwhelmed with Africa and the Missions Garage Sale!  My dear friends kept me motivated and helped me plan it.  The Craftons graciously offered to host the shindig!  The party fell on the evening after the garage sale.  Troy wasn't thrilled with this idea and almost cancelled!  I had told him we were going to Craftons for dinner with Torreses and Zimmers.  Thankfully, I convinced him we still had to go!

He was totally surprised!

He saw the whole crowd as we came around the corner!  So fun! 

He said he was totally clueless.  The busy-ness probably helped keep him in the dark, especially after several people almost spilled the beans too early! 

 The whole gang (minus the Craftons who had to pick up Stefan)!  It was so special to spend this day with this amazing friends!

Keeping busy

The weather wasn't super fabulous this spring, so we looked for lots of fun ways to stay busy inside.
The marble tower got dusted off and lived on the table for a long time.

A Pinterest-inspired craft with contact paper and tissue squares was a big hit with the little two.

Poppy is a lucky girl to have brothers who will have tea and pizza parties with her!

The old school Lite Brite is always a favorite!

Easter 2014

The next Sunday was Easter!  The Easter bunny loaded the baskets with summer necessities (swim suits and running shoes) and some fun stuff, like seed to plant.

The kids enjoyed hunting for eggs; don't let his face fool you.

Before they dug into the candy, I insisted on a group shot.  This is the best I got.

Mmmm....candy before church!

I'm not sure what we did the rest of the day, but I'm sure we had a great time being together as a family!

Northside Egg Hunt 2014

The egg hunt at Northside was a little more chaotic than usual!  We started the morning with 2 extra friends since Erin wasn't feeling well.  I taught Bible hour, set up for lunch, and served lunch before getting the kids to feed them.

FINALLY, it was time to hunt eggs!  They hunted youngest to oldest.  Sorry, Erin, apparently we didn't take pictures of Eli!

She was very ready!

Lachlan and Liam went next.

Then it was the big guys' turn!

They were supposed to find twelve eggs, numbered 1-12.

Even though it was a crazy day, the kids still had a great time!

Strawberry Picking 2014

In the spring we had a great field trip strawberry picking!  The kids have never done it, and the crop this year was great.

Jonas decided he wanted to make a strawberry pie with his berries.  I made him help.

I forgot to take a picture before we ate some.  Oops!

It was enjoyed by all!