Rachel Turns Seven

Friday was Rachel's 7th birthday!  It started off a little rocky because she went to bed not feeling good and woke up as we were about to go to bed and ended up being sick... but it was a one time thing - thankfully!  She was fine after that but we still didn't get a lot of sleep that night.  

Michael and I had lunch with her on Friday and then we went out to dinner that evening.  She had one of her friends spend the night with her last night - this was her first sleepover at our house.  We had pizza and got some frozen yogurt and watched "Frozen"... Rachel is all about that movie right now.  She got the movie and the soundtrack for her birthday and that is all we've heard from all over the house all weekend long.  

This was from the night before her birthday - her last night as a six year old.  

Waking up to balloons in her room the next morning.

With her new Elsa shirt from Frozen.

We tried to take a family-selfie that evening... someone didn't want to cooperate very much.

Rachel's friend from across the street has the same birthday as Rachel and her party was yesterday at a ceramic-painting place.  This is Rachel and Bella together.  

And today we had lunch with the family at Olive Garden.  

So cute!

Rachel got this cute dress for her birthday and who wants to try it on??

Thanks to all who helped make her birthday weekend special!  

Now on to the end of school (only 8 days left), swim team (which has already started) and summer!

Jackson's First School Program

This is the first year that Jackson's class has had an end-of-year program at school.  He is in the classroom with the same teacher that Rachel had at 2 and at 3 years old.  So the program will be very similar to some of you that saw hers a few years ago.  

They came dressed up as rock stars for the first part.  To begin with, he didn't want to wear his jacket or bandana...but once the program started, he left it on and did great!

During the program, the teachers dress them up for an international fashion show - Jackson was dressed like he was from Russia.

The little boy beside him here is Logan, his best friend. 

 

Here are a few other pictures that his teachers have sent me over the last couple of weeks from his class.

He went on his first field trip this past Friday...they all got on the bus and went over to the other building for a program practice.   He enjoyed it!

 Practicing writing his letters...

Easter 2014

As I write this, Jackson is sitting on my lap... So there probably won't be a lot of text in this post.  

We celebrated Easter with an egg hunt and a BBQ over at Jeffrey and Constance's house a couple of weeks ago... The kids had a great time doing that!!

And they're off!  

We tried getting a good picture of Barbara and Dawson with the three grand kids, but Chloe wasn't feeling it this time... usually it's Jackson!  

 

Rachel loved holding Chloe!

And then Easter Sunday, we took pictures after church this time... We've got to learn more about lighting with the camera... you think it's going to be fine and then they come out dark. 

These I grabbed on the trolley that morning going into church...

Hope you all had a nice Easter.  We're heading into our busy time - May.  May is always such a busy month for us - Rachel's birthday (in less than 3 weeks now), Michael's big National's trip, Mother's Day, the end of school, swim team starts, etc... So, more pictures to come soon, I'm sure!

Family Fun

We took a trip up to NC this weekend to spend some time with my side of the family - it's been quite a while since we've been there and seen everyone.  

We spent Saturday at Nana's place.  

Jackson looks to be listening intently to what she's saying...

We spent Sunday with Grandpa and the others.  We went over to the US National White Water Center and walked around for a little bit.  It was so windy and chilly outside though - much more than we had anticipated.  We watched some of the Olympic qualifying for the kayakers. 

They climbed on some rocks.

The kids were able to go through a small obstacle course - they enjoyed most of it.

Then we went and had lunch with the rest of the family.  I got several pictures of the kids (the cousins) but not many of the rest of the family - which I was supposed to do this time...

Rachel loved playing with their dogs...She really wants a dog so being able to walk theirs (more like the dog walked her!) was fun for her.  

We had a nice trip.  It was good to be able to see everyone - wish it could happen more often!