Farewell Old Friend

Over 2 years ago we bought the big kids both a fish. Well, Madeleine's died sometime last year and we just flushed it down the potty (which is what you do with fish, right?!). Poor Harrison's fish has been on life support for weeks and I've been checking it daily to see if it's living. How sad is that?! Matt kept wanting to just go on a flush it, but Harrison would not have it! So we waited until one day it finally died.....it was one a Saturday so of course we had to have a funeral.

Here's Harrison all ready to go -- apparently for a funeral you must have a Bible, casket (dead fish in that tiny blue box there) and a gun??? I've learned that sometimes you just go with it...

Madeleine read a Psalm from her Bible. I think it was Psalms 27; I just remember that it was actually very fitting for a funeral.

So long, Goldie Nemo Snapper. You were a good fish.

Spring!

It seems that spring is finally here! I don't think I've ever been so ready to say goodbye to winter and see the weather turn warm. We have been taking advantage of this gorgeous weather by spending lots of time outside and bubbles and scooters are perfect for these warm, windy days.

Catching Up

 Things have been busy around here lately. Here's a bit of what we've been up to....

Matt celebrated his birthday last weekend. We had planned to come home after church and have a big dinner, but we ended up being snowed/iced in that morning. So, we spent the entire day in our jammies, watching movies curled up on the couch together. Matt said it was the best day! We were lazy and just enjoyed being together -- Matt's been so busy lately that he needed a good ol' lazy day. And, what better day than his birthday! We grilled out steak and chicken for dinner and had yummy cake and ice cream. And the kids were so excited to give him their gifts! 

 A couple of week ago, we had a fun playdate with AJ & Titus one Friday morning. It ended up being the last one that just the 4 of us would have -- with bad weather, and sickness we weren't able to connect again before the Wilson's headed to China to bring home their newest family member, Abby. Next playdate there will be 5 of us!! Poor Titus will be outnumbered 4 to 1 by girls. :)

These 2 were beyond cute that morning. We met up at Krispy Kreme for donuts then headed to the park. Charlotte and Titus played by the creek for almost 2 hours while AJ & I had a chance to talk. They were so cute and so good!

 That same friday afternoon, we met up with one of Harrison's friends, Owen, and his mom for a fun playdate at the park. The boys played basketball pretty much the entire time while the rest of the kiddos played on the playground.

Harrison is going to play tee-ball this spring and we signed him up for baseball camp at FHS one Saturday morning. Matt went with him and Harrison had a blast! They ran bases, hit and did lots of other fun things. He came home ready to play ball!

We went to a new members dinner at church. It was such fun! We got to know some people and laughed until it hurt. It's been quite a transition changing churches, but I have no doubt that we are in the right place for us. They had a yummy spagetti dinner that night which was great and we played some fun games.

Random Pictures

 Here are a few random pictures from these past few days --

Madeleine finished her first sewing craft, an AG coin purse. It wasn't too hard and she was able to do a lot of it herself. She did great and it turned out so cute!

 On Monday, the girls had a playdate after school at a friends house and Harrison was my shopping buddy for a quick trip to Sams. We loaded up with a cinnamon pretzel first. It was nice to have this time with him, it's been awhile since we've had some mommy/Harrison time. He talked the whole time and we hit every sample stand and had a fun time.

 With the weather being warmer and finally nice enough to really enjoy being outside we've been taking full advantage! I'm sure it will get cold again, but for now we are loving this warm weather! Feels like spring! We hit the park Tuesday after school to play and the kids found some friends from school there which made it even better. This little girl spend most of her time on the swings being pushed by me. :)

Valentine Baking

 Making holiday cut-out cookies is one of our traditions and it's something I've done since I was little. Sometimes it's all of us doing them, but this Valentines it was just me and Charlotte working on cutting them out -- and having lots of help eating them!

 She was so proud of herself doing these cookies! She worked and worked to make them just right and then watched them bake in the oven. I love this time with her -- these are precious memories.

Muffins with Mom

 The first day back at school after being off for several snow days was Muffins with Mom. It sure was an eeeearly morning getting back into the swing and having to be at school at 7am. Yikes! But it was such fun getting to have breakfast with these 2 cuties -- but we sure look tired. :)

Valentine's Day Overload

 We had a super-fun-busy-crazy Valentine's Day this year! Thanks to pinterest, the kids picked out their valentines they wanted to give their class during some of the snow days that we had in early January. It was fun having them help put them together and be so excited about what they were bringing to school! Harrison did a super-hero valentine that turned out so cute! There were batman, superman, wonderwoman and green lantern.

 Madeleine did these bubble gum valentines. I actually found the gum in the tubes at Sams back in early January -- perfect! We just pulled off the tags on them and added our own cuter tags.

 And Charlotte did a few bouncy ball valentines to give Harrison & Madeleine at their parties. :)

 Madeleine had to make a valentine container and bring it to school. I'm not very crafty, but I think we did ok. Her school's mascot is the Owls, so we made an owl and she was happy with it.

 Harrison's party was first and I was in charge of it -- and I was so busy I didn't get a chance to take any pictures. We decorated valentine bags with stickers, etc. and then they swapped valentines. Then we did an ice cream sundae bar which was a huge hit! We set it up like an assembly line with all kinds of toppings -- chocolate chips, m&ms, marshmellows, crushed oreos, cherries, whip cream, hot fudge, if you can think of it, we had it! The kids LOVED it!

Then Charlotte & I helped clean up and headed down to catch the last bit of Madeleine's party. I did snap a picture there. It's so hard to believe that this is her LAST school party! 5th grade is middle school here and they don't do big parties. :( These 5 years of elementary school have gone by fast.

 We headed to play with some friends after school and then met up with Matt for dinner. We told the kids that they could choose our dinner spot for the night and they wanted to go to IHop, so that's what we did! Then it was home to open their Valentine's day gifts from us. These kids have been spoiled this week with Valentine surprises from both sets of grandparents -- Books from Grammy and Pops (which they loved and started reading immediately!) and candy from Mimi & Grandad (which they also loved!).

 Matt and I got them each a new book, a small candy and a (wrapped) toy -- legos for the big kids and a purse/phone for Charlotte (that she's been begging to get).

 Lots of love, excitement and sugar on this day! I'm so thankful for all of my sweeties!