Gracie's 9th, Rock Climbing

Do I see a little fear in that face? Gracie chose rock climbing for her birthday. We took about 15 of her friends with us to a place called Climb Nashville. I booked the party site unseen and luckily it turned out to be really nice! Those were the tallest rock walls I have ever seen - probably around 30 feet tall - and the kids were wonderful! We even got a compliment on the way out about how well behaved they all were. I was proud of them.

I love this shot of Gracie just hanging out...

Blowing out the candle on her birthday cupcake.

Secret Prayer Pal Dinner

Gracie and Caroline have been participating in a secret prayer pal group at church. They've been having a great time giving and getting thoughtful gifts and cards for the past few months. March marked the end of this 'round' of gift giving, and we ended it with a formal dinner party. They loved getting dressed up for the night. Gracie is wearing a dress that was her cousin Alexa's, and Caroline got to wear a dress that is really special - her dad picked it out. I had sort of forgotten about it, but he chose it as Gracie's easter dress in 2006, the year he passed. Caroline was so proud to wear that dress - it brought tears to my eyes...just a little piece of her daddy that I could give her. Hopefully, all of those little pieces will be enough for her to know about him.

The Incredible Westward Movement

The girls were in the elementary play at school in February! I can't believe it's already April - almost May - and I haven't posted these pics yet! WOW! Gracie was a pioneer mom. She had several lines and sang a song in the play. I was so proud of her - she made it through all the lines and the song with no trouble at all.

Caroline was an indian. What a cute little indian if i do say so...she did great as well! She had lines and a song too. I think they had a great time in the play!

Jonas...

Gracie and Caroline LOVE this dog! She may actually be the best dog EVER! She sits on the couch here and watches all of us in the kitchen...

Caroline is letting Jonas pull her across the wood floor!

Good Dog!

It's been a while....again

Well, I obviously don't have time to publish blog posts on a regular basis.....I have great intentions, great pictures, and lots of thoughts to post, but not much time :)

I will be catching up soon. We have celebrated a birthday and Easter, and we have a new addition to the family to introduce. Details and pictures coming soon! Don't give up on me!!!

Snow......

Finally a really good snow to build a snowman in! I think it has snowed at least three times this year already, but the first time it didn't pile high enough for snowman art; the second time it was the dry powdery stuff that didn't work either; finally the third time we have snowman snow.

Jon and the girls went out last week and built this snowman while I was at work. The had some help from our neighbor and Jonas of course...



I love how the carrot is in there backwards. If I were home during the project, you all know I would have had to fix that :) I did ask if anyone noticed and Gracie said that Caroline was hungry and had taken a few bites out of the other end!!!! That made me laugh!



Jon added his finishing touch - the Vandy cap.



I just think this is a funny picture of Caroline.

I wonder what type of snow will fall tonight as I sit here watching the weather report for more of the white stuff!!! I am really going to appreciate the warm weather when it finally arrives. Come on, Spring!

Playing on a Frozen Pond...

I know what you're thinking. A FROZEN POND????? WHAT? YOU TOOK THOSE SWEET LITTLE GIRLS OUT ON A DANGEROUS FROZEN POND!!

Well, yes we did. Now let me explain myself ...


Grandad and Grangran have a pond on their property. Last Saturday, after all the snow and ice was really frozen, Grangran made this picture of several kids playing ice hockey on their pond.




Pretty cool, huh? In my 30 years of life I have NEVER seen a pond frozen enough to play on, so we decided that the kids needed to experience this one!

We sledded on a corn scoop:

Andy -

Caroline:

Gracie:

Heather (she fell off the scoop and Grandad had to help her out a little...)

And...this is me - Marlon fell down when he was pulling me and it was hilarious!

Made snow angels (Caroline and Andy):








Then, we finally (with the help of some of the neighbors) figured out how to REALLY enjoy the pond:








Letting Grandad pull us in a laundry basket behind the mule! It was awesome! We had a great time! I just realized that Grangran (who made the picture CD for me that had these pics on it) didn't put the best pictures on it! There is one picture of her riding in the laundry basket behind the mule...she had fun, but now I think she might have been afraid to have her picture posted on my blog doing so ;)