Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!!

On Friday, August 28th, our baby girl turned 6 years old!! Could someone please tell me why time flies by when you are having fun? It feels like just yesterday we were in the hospital awaiting her arrival! Craig and I were thrilled when we found out that our second child would be a little girl and that Drew would have a baby sister! We couldn't wait to finally meet her!! We had faced some "complications", but I won't go into those in this post - I still need to post her "birth story" on here. When she was born, she was absolutely perfectly BEAUTIFUL in every way. In the last six years she has brought so much joy to our lives. She can make us laugh, smile, think "awwww", and all of those other sweet (and sometimes sassy), girly things that little girls do. She is our little princess and we love her with our whole hearts!!

We have had a busy weekend, celebrating her birthday!! Her party will be in a couple of weeks, so look for pictures of that coming soon (or as soon as I get to them - you realize I still have a lot of catching up to do)!! She wanted to go eat at Mr. Gatti's on Friday night, so since it's tradition for the birthday person to choose where we eat, that's where we went. Mimi, Poppi, Aunt Jennie, and Uncle Jon Jon met us there. We were going to go watch our hometown high school team play Friday night too, but the game was postponed due to rain. We went to Drew's baseball practice Saturday morning, had lunch, and then went to the mall. We came home to rest for a little while and then we got ready to go watch those Bulldogs (the game was scheduled for Saturday at 6 due to the rain on Friday). When we arrived there was standing room only on the Bulldog side of the field! We decided that we would go have dinner and then we went to see Craig's brother, Chris, his wife Julie, and our sweet nephew Haston. Uncle Ovid was also there, and we had a lot of fun spending time with all of them!! This morning, the boys went out in the woods (something about a tree stand, but I don't get into all of that so...) and Mikayla slept in. I've been getting a little cleaning done, and Mikayla and I are about to hit the pool!! Mikayla says this is her "birthday weekend" - every morning as she wakes up, she asks "am I still the birthday girl?". Well, it sure has been a busy one!! Busy, busy weekend, but very fun!!

Happy Birthday, Mikayla!! We love you Bigger Than the World!!! You will always be our "little princess", no matter how old you get!! We love you!!

Another Dance Competition!

Mikayla's second dance competition of the year was held at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium on April 18th. She danced her clogging routine with Brooke and then she danced her tap routine with Alana. I loved their clogging costumes this year - she and Brooke posed in them before they went on stage. She and Brooke are good friends (they also went to the same daycare) and I hope they always will be!

Mikayla and Brooke onstage as they open their clogging routine!

Mikayla and Brooke end their routine! We didn't get to stay for awards because Craig and I had to get to Greenville for "Larry the Cable Guy", but Brooke and Mikayla's routine won 1st place!! We are so proud of our girls!!
Mikayla and Alana begin their tap routine. I also liked these costumes this year!!

A better picture of Mikayla and Alana on stage! I had to take a picture of them on the screens because I couldn't use my flash. Alana and Mikayla also won 1st place with their tap routine. Mikayla was thrilled to receive her "prizes" when she went back to dance class on Monday, the 20th! Way to go Mikayla and Alana - we are so proud of you!!

Our "hind-catcher"

Drew's position this past year in baseball was catcher! I've found some of my favorite pictures of our little catcher from the season and wanted to post them here. This was the first year that Drew played in a league that needed a catcher on the team (instead of coaches in that position), so it was of course the first year that Drew played this position. He loved it, so much so in fact, that he said he would like to play catcher in fall ball. That's right, Drew has decided that he will be playing fall baseball this year instead of soccer. We will be playing for a different association in fall ball though, since BSYAA does not offer fall baseball. He will not be hitting off the pitching machine, but instead the coaches will be pitching to them overhand. I can't wait to see how Drew does!! I think for his first year playing catcher he did an amazing job - even catching a foul tip for an out!! He's our baseball king for sure!!

Drew throws the ball back to the pitcher.

Craig helps get Drew's catcher's gear on. I was glad not to have that job!!

He looks grown here to me...

I loved watching him put that hand behind his back. Who knows what position he will play as he continues with baseball. I loved watching him play first base last year, but watching him play catcher was a lot of fun this year too!!

3rd Nine Weeks' Award's Day!

After we got back to school from Spring Break, our school hosted our Awards Day for the third nine weeks of school. Another special day for our students, and especially for Drew and Mikayla!! I was thrilled to be able to enjoy Awards Day with both of our angels again. First, I went to Drew's Awards Day while my students were in related arts that morning.Drew walks back to his seat after receiving his first award!

Drew shared his poem, Sharks, with everyone that was in attendance. Craig and I are very proud of Drew's writing this year. This same poem has been published in two anthologies this year!! Drew goes up to get another award!

Then I got to go to Mikayla's Awards Day right before mine started that afternoon. Again, I worked with Mrs. Batson to plan for my Awards Day to begin 30 minutes after hers so that I could see Mikayla. This also worked well because we shared a set of twins this past year.

Mikayla was thrilled when she saw me walk in the room!! That smile says it all!

Mrs. Batson was getting ready to announce the class' best musician. What she was telling everyone leading up to the award let me know it would be Mikayla before she even announced it. You can tell by this face that Mikayla knew it too!

Mikayla looks at her awards once she returned to her seat!

Her class showed us a finger play that they had been practicing so they could show the parents. Mikayla loves to dance/act so this is right up her alley!

Craig and I are extremely proud of our children and they accomplished in school last year!! We hope they will continue to do this well in school!!

Happy Easter!

I know saying Happy Easter sounds funny since we are already into August, but that's how far I'm behind with my posting. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get caught up since I still have not posted pictures from our trip to the beach, our trip to Gatlinburg, and now (after this weekend) I have pictures from Chimney Rock and Lake Lure. I also have tons of fishing pictures to add since that is something we have been doing a lot of lately. Since school is about to start, it will be hard for me to post regularly, but I'm still determined to get everything in.

So, Happy Easter it is! Easter Sunday was a lot of fun this year! Craig and I helped Drew and Mikayla dye their Easter eggs the night before and they left their basket for the Easter bunny. We woke up Sunday morning to them "ooohhhhing and ahhhing" at what the bunny had brought and then we all got dressed for church. After church, we went over to my mom and dads house and then headed across the street to my Grandma's house. The picture above was taken at my mom and dads house with the baskets that Drew and Mikayla got over there. I have a couple of family Easter photos as well that my sister took for me, but our faces were shadowed so this one is better. Also, please excuse Mikayla's hair - she decided that she no longer wanted to wear her bow after church. Sometimes you just gotta pick your battles!! We had a great Easter dinner with family and then the kids got to have an Easter egg hunt - always a favorite with them!!

Mikayla rushes off to find some eggs! Go girl, go!!

Drew thinks he spots one...

Mikayla and Drew count their eggs and open them to find their goodies. Some of the eggs are filled with all sorts of candy, and others are empty.

Later that day, Mimi and Poppi came over to our house to hide more eggs for Drew and Mikayla. These eggs had been filled with money!! Most eggs had change in them, but a few lucky ones had dollar bills!!Mikayla's bag is filling up quickly!!Drew uncovers one that had been hidden in the dirt!!

Poppi helps Drew and Mikayla count their eggs and their money!! They were shocked to realize that both Drew and Mikayla had found the exact same amount of money!! I breathed a sigh of relief...you know with kids, everything has to be "equal"!

We had a wonderful Easter spent together as a family and enjoyed getting to spend time with our extended family too!