Graduation

Caroline got to participate in graduation this year. St. Mary's pairs graduating high school seniors with a senior kindergarten flower girl. It's a really sweet tradition. Several times throughout this spring semester Caroline got to have little dates with her senior, Hannah. They had picnic lunches and a special chapel together and frozen yogurt outings. Caroline became quite enamored with Hannah. I think they were a good match!

Both of them looked so beautiful.

I made Caroline's dress. It was so much fun! I'll show you some of the "behind the scenes" details in another post.

I spent some time doing Caroline's hair. She was thrilled to have curly hair for a day.  When she said her prayers that night, she thanked God for letting her have curly hair that day! It's the little things in life...

Caroline and Shelby have been friends from day one of JK. I look at this picture and see them taking a similar one 12 years from now (sniff, sniff). They have a really special friendship and I pray they will be friends for life.

Caroline has had the most incredible teachers this year. I am so thankful she has had these two women to guide and challenge her not only academically, but spiritually as well. It is a huge blessing to know that the Godly virtues we are striving to instill in her at home are also being reinforced at school. God has been so good to put faithful, beautiful, strong, grace-filled believers into her life outside of our home.

We are very proud of Caroline!

Field day

Caroline had field day last week at school. Peter and I were able to go and watch all the silly races. I was really impressed with Caroline's agility and coordination, especially at the tossing game. I guess taking her to all those Grizzlies games has paid off. She was channeling her inner Marc Gasol! Seems like she's just full of surprising abilities lately!

 

Soccer

Caroline decided she wanted to give soccer a try this spring. We were impressed with how well she did. She was assertive and fast and intuitive. The biggest surprise? Her favorite position and the one where she performed the best was goalie. My quiet, introverted, book-loving homebody had such a great time playing that she wants to play again in the fall.

Kevin got to be the substitute coach for one game.

 

She got a trophy at the end of the season. She is so proud of her "golden" trophy. And we are really proud of her!

(Helen is cracking me up in this picture. She's plotting how she's going to get her hands on that shiny trophy. She did.)

It excites me to be a part of the process in which my children are discovering what their unique talents and abilities are. Of course, I'm not-so-secretly wanting for all three (too much?) to be musicians. Regardless, I hope and pray they embrace their talents, never take them for granted, and always use them to God's glory.

Easter outfits

I know! It's been almost a month since Easter. I just today took pictures of the girls in their dresses.

For the girls' dresses, I used a Bonnie Blue pattern called "Jenna Leigh". It's a wrap dress that buttons in the back. I've made this dress a couple of times before (my goodness - Helen was little!), but hadn't done the smocked yoke version. I'm hoping this floral print will make a good transition into the fall and winter months.

For my sweet baby boy's outfit, I made a bubble (Maja's Heirlooms). The pattern has 2 inches of smocking, which takes no time at all. I decided to mix some embroidery with my smocking and created a little bullion stitch bunny. I'm completely obsessed with how cute the bunny is. It's a Peter Rabbit for my Peter!

I had so much fun putting this boy outfit together. Isn't it adorable? I love it. I'm so happy there are more little boy outfits in my future!

And it just wouldn't be a photo shoot at our house without some drama and silliness.

Boston girls' trip

I'm a lucky girl. I just got back from a fantastic weekend trip to Boston! One of my dearest friends, Brittany, is living in Boston for a year while her husband does a fellowship. I'm doubly thankful - Brittany is such a sweet friend and a fantastic tour guide and my husband is amazing for taking care of our three kids all weekend by himself. Can't wait for the next girls' weekend!

Check out Brittany's post on our trip. She's got a few more pictures and details of our weekend.


We took the Freedom Trail tour.

We ate...

(The Beehive)

...and ate some more!

(Mike's Pastry - cannoli disappeared like some kind of magic trick after I took this pic)

We shopped at Quincy Market and found comfy and cute new shoes.

(Apropos footwear - a very interesting stop)

We saw lovely buildings and gardens.

 

We found the resting places of some very famous Bostonians.

(Samuel Adams actually had nothing to do with the beer other than in name.)

We became Red Sox fans by proxy.

I had a fantastic time. It was so good to hug my friend's neck and experience a little bit of her life. She was an awesome tour guide. She has really immersed herself and thrived in Boston. I'm so proud of her.

I missed my littles and was so extremely happy to see them waiting for me as I exited the airport terminal. I brought back a couple of Boston surprises.

(Need a better picture! It's so cute, but I think he'll be 5 before it fits!)

I've got to say that my husband is the greatest. He was completely unfazed by my absence. He was 100% behind this trip and I am so grateful. He and the kids even had a little adventure of their own...

(Mud Island River Park)

Pregame downtown fun

We like the Grizzlies a little bit around here. We've had to plan our attendance as a family this year around Caroline's school schedule, which eliminated most week night games. We had tickets for a Saturday night game a couple of weekends ago and decided to head downtown early.

We took the kids on a carriage ride. The girls picked out the prettiest princess carriage they could find. They were absolutely thrilled with the entire ride. It was so fun watching their delight.

The girls even got to meet and thank Barney after our ride.

I'm not sure if this happens at every home game, but there were some fun slides and bouncy things set up on the plaza outside the Forum. We spent a couple of minutes letting the girls get some wiggles out.

A friend once told us that his kids got really excited about sporting events when they had a specific team player to cheer for. I think I've mentioned before that Caroline's favorite player is Marc Gasol. She's a super fan! Who wouldn't want this cutie in their cheering section?

The Grizz are headed to the playoffs and we couldn't be happier for our favorite team!

Peter: 9 months

Length: 27.5 inches (26%)
Weight: 16 pounds, 9 ounces (4%)

How is it that my baby will be one in three short months?

Spring inspiration

My friend Brittany is always finding cute inspiration on Pinterest. She does such a great job of doing some of the things she pins. I realized that we had done a few projects around here that I had pinned, so I thought I'd highlight them.

We made large Easter eggs.

 

Source: familyfun.go.com via Emilee on Pinterest

I was certain that the girls would love this project. It was an invitation to make a huge gluey, sticky mess! Nope. They spent about 2 minutes participating. Kevin and I did most of the eggs. We had a great time.

For our Easter lunch dessert the girls helped me make some little bird nests. Yum!

Source: thecurvycarrot.com via Emilee on Pinterest

Here's ours, displayed on one of my most cherished heirlooms, my great-grandmother's Limoges platter:

Helen had to bring a snack to school a couple of weeks ago. It was "R" week, so we made a yummy rainbow. I don't think I officially pinned this idea, but I know my friend Laura made this snack. It was so fun to make and everyone at school loved the idea.

Carpool

I'm thankful for a very patient little brother and his beautiful blue eyes.

Easter weekend

We had a really great Easter weekend. We took advantage of the long weekend and headed up to Kentucky for a long-overdue visit with my parents and my sister and her family. 

Friday night, Papa planned a slumber party for the bigger kids. Hope there will be room for Lila and Peter in a couple of years!

Everyone woke up ready to hunt Easter eggs.

Papa gave wagon rides behind the lawn mower.

Peter had his first adventure swinging under the maple tree.

We got a good picture of the five of us. (It's a good thing, too, since I neglected to stage any photos on Easter Sunday.)

We ended the afternoon with a picnic lunch in a shady spot.

We headed home Saturday afternoon becauseI had to sing and ring Sunday morning. It was a wonderful weekend.