St Patrick's Fair

Every Spring my Grandma's Catholic church hosts a carnival/fair.  It's much smaller than what typically comes to a shopping center, but still fun for the kids.  Today we decided to go have fun at the fair and we were excited that cousin Hannah was able to join us!!

Grant wasn't able to ride much but he loved riding the train a few times today!!

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo.....

Kindergarten Registration

I can't believe it....it's time to register my sweet boy for Kindergarten!!!

I remember being so nervous taking this step with Kate.  Are the public schools good enough?  Is this the right elementary school or should I try to get her in at a school with higher test scores?  Will she get the teacher I requested?  Will she have friends and good kids in her class?  So many uncertainties....

Thankfully now I have not too many worries/uncertainties with Gabe.  We love SMES!!  I still have to pray he makes great friends, and hope that he gets Mrs. Cobb, but I am certainly more confident about all of this now than I was two years ago with Kate.  I am so sad that he is leaving Happy Apple and those sweet years are almost over, but also very excited for him to begin this new journey....

We also ran into another sweet future Kindergartner....Riley!

Gabe still insists this is who he will one day marry...only time will tell!

They do make a pretty cute little couple.  :)

Earth Day

We don't always celebrate Earth Day, but since Kate had art class this afternoon I thought it would be fun to do an Earth Day art project with the other kids.  They all did such a great job!!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

It's my birthday!!  :)  I am blessed with such an amazing family!

Tonight we met for dinner at the Japanese Steakhouse....yummy food and fun for everyone!

After dinner we went to my parents' house for cake!

Thanks for making my day so special!!

Happy 1st Birthday Quinn!

Grant's only baby friend right now is sweet little Miss Quinn....and today she is ONE!!

I was so excited to take Grant to his first birthday party for one of his friends.  But what I wasn't intending on was for him to get sick this weekend.  :(  I was sooo sad for him to have to miss today.  Kate, Gabe, and I still went to celebrate with her but I sure was sad to go without Grant.  He would have had so much fun today playing with all the other babies!

Happy 1st Birthday Miss Quin!!!!

Thanks for inviting us!

While the babies enjoyed playing inside, the big kids all had a blast outside on the bounce house....crazy kiddos!!!

Solo Cups

How to entertain 6 kids after school???

Give them a stack of Solo cups of course and let them have fun!  :)

Beautiful weather

The weather has been so nice the past few days so we have taken advantage of it and spent alot of extra time playing in the backyard!  Here is Kate with our sweet Dash.  Dash is one of the oldest and sweetest members of our family!

This kid is ALL BOY!

Barefoot, dirt, bugs, cars, and trucks......

He is also a great little helper.  :)

This picture makes me laugh.

See the strained smiles on Kate, Gabe, & Casyn??

That would be because they do NOT want Grant in the sandbox messing with their stuff.  Hehehe.  :)

I decided to do something special this afternoon and let the kids make homemade ice cream!!

They had fun shaking their bags....and of course loved eating the finished product!

My crew!

I love that Grant walks with his hands in the air most of the time right now to help with balance....so cute!

We often hear owls in the morning but this time one of the two we often see flying was actually sitting in a tree in our yard!  I wasn't able to get a picture of it looking at us but we were all still excited!

Disney On Ice

One of our favorite shows has come back to town...Disney on Ice!!

Disney does everything great, and this production was just that.  We love seeing all the characters and princesses and watching all their stories retold in a unique way.  

We're ready for the show to start!!

We loved Dare to Dream and are already looking forward to Disney on Ice next year!!!

We got to see all our favorite princesses and their handsome princes!!

All smiles for the show!

Outside the arena, after the show, it was time for pictures

of my very own princess and her two charming little brothers.

My little Prince Charming!

This sweet little princess tried so hard to get Grant to pay attention to her and really wanted a picture with him, but sadly he wouldn't give her even a moment of his time and would NOT stand next to her for a picture.  : /

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Time to celebrate Daddy!  Happy Birthday Jon!

We love you so much and look forward to all that this next year has in store for us!

Spring Break - Part 2

Another day....lots more fun!

We began our day at the playground on base.  I love coming here with the kids because it's close to home, never crowded, lots to do, and fenced in!!  I wish more parks had a fence around them so I could worry less about someone running off too far!

After playing a bit on the playground we drove over to the bowling alley!  The kids love to bowl and we really need to start coming more often.  So much family fun!  After a full day we ended our night back in Jacksonville for dinner and games at Dave & Busters.  The kids got lots of tickets today and left with new toys!  :)

Spring Break - Part 1

 It's Spring Break and guess who has come to visit us for a few days??!  Aunt Myra and cousin Andrew!!!!  Of course we have lots of fun planned to keep us busy starting with a trip to Jacksonville.

Our first stop:  Adventure Landing!

They wouldn't let Grant go in the go-carts so he found his own racer.  :)

Next up:  Laser Tag!

The equipment was a little heavy for the kids and I don't think either of them pulled the trigger hard enough to make a real shot, but they thought they won the battle and certainly had lots of fun running around attacking each other.

Next up: Rebounderz

Endless trampolines to burn up any remaining energy and even a giant foam pit to jump into.  We all decided to jump....but I don't think Jon and I had any idea this was for kids and athletes only!  After 5 minutes I was completely exhausted.....what a workout!  And this foam pit....never again!  Jon and I both jumped in...once.  It was almost impossible to get out and I was completely out of breath once I finally managed to get out.  The kids, on the other hand, LOVED it!  They kept trying to up their game on the jumps and perfect their landings....so fun to watch!

Grant was NOT thrilled about having to wear a helmet, but he sure did look cute!!

And finally, to end our fun day in Jacksonville, a walk on the beach and dinner at Joe's Crab Shack!