Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Lauren is six today!  Jason and I are are so proud of  Lauren!  Though we are thankful for her intelligence, we are even more thankful for her tender heart and the kind way she treats others.  Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Spring Sports

We've been busy the past few months with soccer and gymnastics. It is amazing how much the girls have learned and being involved with sports is a great way to meet new people. Emily wasn't old enough to play in the soccer program we chose, but she loved gymnastics! Watching Lauren play soccer was amazing. She has come so far from the days of picking flowers, watching clouds overhead, and getting tired after just a few minutes. I think my favorite thing about watching her play is that even though she is right in the middle of the action and doing her best to score or pass to her teammates, she is so sweet about it. In the last game, another girl kept grabbing her jersey to keep Lauren from moving the ball down the field. After a couple of minutes, it became clear the other coach wasn't going to do anything. I was really frustrated and wanted to tell Lauren to give the girl a good hard shove, but Lauren never lost her cool or got mad. She just tried to dodge the girl as best she could. Usually, I'm glad to be done with soccer, but I'm actually a little sad and looking forward to next season!

Happy Mother's Day!

I've had a wonderful Mother's Day!  The girls brought me cupcakes from Muddy's, a beautiful bouquet of lillies, and a gift card so I can do some shopping.  Jason's instructions with the gift card - do not spend this on stuff for the girls.  He knows me well.  Emily was a little sad about the lillies when I had to move them due to the allergic reaction I had after they brought them in the house. I love lillies, but the out of control sneezing isn't fun.  Emily kept crying, saying, "I'm so sorry, Mama.  I'm so sorry."  We tried a new restaurant for lunch and then I hit the computer, trying to decide what I wanted to order with my gift card.  I know, I don't waste any time!  I hope you've had a wonderful Mother's Day, too.

How can it be May?

Am I the only one who is in shock that May is here already?  Next week is Lauren's last week of school!!!  I think I'm excited about this - excited about not having to get up early and get her to school, not excited about playing referee with both girls at home.  We celebrated our first Easter in Memphis.  It was a wonderful day, worshipping Easter morning at our church and then spending the rest day with friends.  The day before we went to our church Easter egg hunt.  We were a little overwhelmed with 55,000 eggs and all the details that go into planning a hunt that large, but it was a pretty awesome experience.  I'm not sure why the pictures are coming up so grainy on the blog, but here the girls are in their Easter dresses in the courtyard at church:

And here's Emily at the end of the day after church, lunch, egg hunts, and about 7 hours of playing outside:

1800 miles in 9 days

On March 11, the girls and I left Memphis for a nine day, 1800 mile trip, to visit family.  Jason chose to stay home and work - riding 1800 miles with us is not his idea of a vacation.  I was more than a little anxious about this trip, but we had a wonderful time.  My parents live about five hours from us, so we spent our first night away from home with them and then they joined us for the rest of the trip.  We loved visiting my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew in North Carolina and my mom's family in South Carolina, with a quick stop to see my college friend, Amy, stuck in between.  While in NC, we stopped by the beach for a picnic and picked up shells, but it was too windy to stay for long.  About 5 yards from the beach, Emily started to yell, "This is close enough.  I'm not getting any closer to that water."  This could make for an interesting beach trip this summer!  I am so thankful for that time to reconnect with our family and the girls are already asking to plan another visit.  Now that Lauren is reading, traveling is much easier since she can read to Emily and they are both entertained.  They also did lots of drawing and making up stories to go along with their drawing - most of which revolved around an evil step-mother.  Do you think we've watched Cinderella one too many times?  We rarely pulled out the DVD player, though Emily told me that choosing what DVD to watch could be a way to exercise her brain.  By day nine,  I was ready to see Jason, sleep in my bed, and be back at our church .  I've never been so glad to be back in the Delta!  Jason was excited to see us too.  He thought he was going to get lots of rest, but after about day two, the house was just too quiet and eating out by yourself starts to get old.  This week has been devoted to laundry, exercise, and not going any farther than ten miles from home.

**The pics above are from a visit to my sister-in-law's great grandmother's farm.  I love the old house in the background of the third picture.

Loving our Neighbor

A couple of Saturdays ago, we headed out early and went to help our Sunday School class rehab a home for people with disabilities.  The entire house was repainted and given a DEEP clean.  Outside, in some places, the leaves had been on the ground so long they were more like mulch/compost than leaves.  Jason painted most of the time - this is a labor of love for him because he hates to paint and the girls and I tackled the leaves.  The men who had lived in the house came by to thank us and it was such a sweet time to interact with them.  Later, another group of more severely disabled men and their caregiver came by to see what we were doing with the house.  One of the ladies who works with the non-profit that maintains the house, SERVS,  began to cry as she told me that one of the men was more communicative than usual.  She said, "Seeing these children is speaking to him; it is communicating to him, and now he is trying to communicate."  As we raked, I told the girls that what we were doing was loving our neighbor.  I am so grateful that we had that opportunity and I hope that we can partner with SERVS again.

Funnies from Emily

In my January recap, I can't believe I forgot to mention that we celebrated Emily's fourth birthday.  How can she be four already?  She makes us laugh all the time.  Here are some funnies from her:

• "Mom, if you would let me have a baby brother you would never have to worry.  I would feed him and change him and clean up his throw up."  Me, "God could send us a baby sister."  Emily, "No, I'm only interested in a brother."  This was out of the blue one day after dropping Lauren off at school.
• "It isn't fair!  I need a real live person to sleep with.  You get to sleep with daddy, but I've got nobody!"  Emily is totally over having her own room and wants to move back in with Lauren.
• "Daddy, when I get married, I'm going to have a beautiful pink Belle dress, gold shoes, and I'm going to wear a crown in my hair."  Jason's response, "She is four and she is already planning her wedding!"
• "Daddy, instead of Quiet Mouse, let's play the one that talkest the mostest wins!"

Emily is definitely a talker.  A couple of weeks ago, when picking her up from the childcare at the gym, the worker informed me that "she knew EVERYTHING there was to know about our family thanks to Emily!" I asked Emily what she told the worker and she said, "I told her that you loved Nana.  Then I made up a bunch of stuff I thought would be a funny joke!"  Fabulous!  When I drop her off in Sunday School, I always wonder what in the world she is telling her teachers, too.  I guess we need to work on not sharing the family secrets!