End of First Grade

Last Thursday was Trinity's end of the year party. I was able to find a sitter for the younger two and go enjoy this day of celebration for her. I was so glad that I did. She has had an amazingly wonderful teacher this year who had been a great help throughout the year with all kinds of stuff. We have loved her.

Trinity's grade is pretty big - 9 classes of 18 students. That makes all grade events pretty crowded. Their party was a big event too. All the classes went outside and got to enjoy a picnic lunch, games, bubbles, make-your-own-trail-mix and general slightly organized chaos. Here are some pictures from the festivities. You'll also notice her new haircut. It's a great summer cut - it wasn't supposed to be that short, but that's where it ended up.

face painting (I think that's supposed to be a butterfly)

fun with bubbles

hand tattoos - a see a butterfly theme

playing a bean-bag toss game with her class

picnic lunch with Trinity's friends Alyssa (in the purple), Ms. Castleberry, Addison and Jordyn
lunch time

Trinity and Michael (they are in church together, TAG together and were in the same kindergarten class last year) - they are great buds

A Day Without Kids

Last Saturday was my second 5K run and a first for Craig and I to run together. I was looking forward to it, but about two weeks prior to the run, I could tell that I hadn't been training appropriately. I was excited about running for little Grant and seeing my friends Brooke, Amy and Brad. Saturday morning, we got up early, had a good breakfast and headed out to Marietta for the run.

the reason we ran - little Grant

Craig and I with Brooke and Joey

team run for Grant

We were pleasantly pleased to also see Brooke's husband, Joey, at the run. We checked in and a bit later began our run. It was a little harder run than my first one. I attribute that to a late night the night before and not training as much as I should have. However, it was a great time with friends and Craig. Craig was wonderful enough to even walk with me during some of the event. We finished together, hand in hand. Our time was 32:49, just under a minute less than my last run. In the end, I was actually more energized in finding our next 5K and training more for it.

hanging out before the run

ready to run

the run in progress

coming in to the finish line

all done

Following the run, there was a great little festival with food, drinks, Icees and giveaways. We were able to stay around for the awards ceremony and the raffles. We-okay, really Craig-won a brunch for four people at a great restaurant. We can't wait to enjoy it one day. It was a great time for Craig and I to simply enjoy the festivities.

Craig and his winning brunch certificate

Afterwards, we headed home and debated what to do with our free day. A whole day - no kids. The options are endless. We checked what movies were playing, but nothing really sparked our "have-to-see" interest. We decided that a nap would be in our best decision for the rest of the day. And it was wonderful!!!! Rarely, do we get two to three hours of completely uninterrupted time to simply rest. Our back door was open and we were able to enjoy listening to the light rain outside. Perfect!!

Following our nap, we headed over to a graduation party for one of our 15 seniors from church. We've known Kate and her family since we've been at Crabapple. I can't believe that she's graduating. She's been a great sitter for our kids and we've enjoyed lots of time together through youth trips and dinners out.


That night, we got the chance to hang out with two of our former youth, David and Christy. We had a great time of amazing fellowship, yummy smores and encouraging conversation. We pulled out old pictures and got to reminisce about some times from a while ago. It was exciting to hear about their plans for sharing God's love overseas. It has been exciting to watch them grow and blossom in wonderful ways! Sometimes when the youth work gets tough, it's good to be reminded that it's all worth it!

Girlz InC Kickoff

Last week was a busy week. We had a crazy-busy weekend leading into last week and then it was Trinity's last week of school and time to get ready for our annual Memorial Day camping trip. However, I'm getting ahead our myself. We'll break it out into a few different blogs. Let's start with last Friday.

When Trinity got out of school, Craig and the kids loaded up and headed down to Bowdon. Due to our busy schedule, we had arranged for the kids to spend the weekend with Craig's parents. It worked out wonderfully.

Friday night brought a kickoff to a new ministry for the youth girls at our church - Girlz InC. The InC stands for Identity In Christ. Young women are completely overwhelmed with all types of messages of who they need to be, what they need to look like and what they should be doing. However all of that is so different than what scripture tells us. About a month ago, my friends Paula and Laura and I decided to begin a new ministry which focuses on helping the girls determine who they are, in the eyes of God. We were really excited to start it with a fun slumber party at my house.

We had a blast. We played games, ate yummy goodies, enjoyed some wonderful spa treatments and had a meaningful Bible lesson time. Paula, Laura and I were treated to themed makeovers by the girls (I was rocker, Paula was 80's and Laura was Hollywood). Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I had to retire early to get some sleep before my 5k run the next morning, but I heard that the late night movie and next morning's breakfast went off without a problem. I'm already looking forward to our next event - a pool party in June.

the girlz

general mingling

playing the "Who Am I" game

Makeovers for everyone

the whole group

breakfast on Saturday morning

Kalyn's Last Day of Preschool

Friday was Kalyn's last day of her 3 year old preschool class. To mark the special day, her teachers decided to have a picnic lunch with the families and a tee-ball game. I'm not sure if they still thought that was a good idea after the game began. It was so cute and amusing to watch. Kalyn got a good hit, ran to first, meandered to second and the was soon lapped by the boy who batted behind her. I think she eventually made it home.

Ms. Elaine tries to get the class organized for the game

It's a hit

and she's done

Xander kept saying, "Mommy, I pay ball. I pay ball."
After the ball "game", everyone pulled out their picnic blankets and lunches and we had a great, relaxing meal. It was fun to watch the kids interact and hang out with one another.

Following the lunch, Ms. Elaine gave each child a gift - a baseball whistle. Great! All in all, it was another fun day. Ms. Elaine and Ms. Melba were great teachers - both Trinity and Kalyn have been in their class. We love our teachers!!

Kalyn & Ms. Melba

Kalyn and Ms. Elaine

Xander's New Haircut

Thursday night, Xander got out of the bath and I began to dry his hair - simply by rubbing a towel over it. This is what came out of that -

I thought it was adorable. Craig , however saw it as a time for a haircut. So, they headed out to the back porch and Craig began cutting. Here's the end result.

He looks like such a little boy now. He's so proud that daddy cut it too - he'll tell anyone that comments on his hair.

By the way, it's not really cut unevenly - apparently he has a bit of a cowlick on the right side. All his hair is cut the same length.

Awana Awards

It's the end of the school year which also means that it's the end of year for Awana also. Wednesday night was the awards celebration night for all the kids who have worked so hard with their verses this year. Both Trinity and Kalyn went through the Awana program this year - Trinity through Sparks and Kalyn through Cubbies. Both of them finished their books and received their awards. Here are some pictures from their ceremonies.

Kalyn's Cubbies Class (3 and 4 year olds)

Kalyn receiving her 1st book award from Ms. Susan and Ms. Sabrina

Trinity's Sparks Class (kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders)

Trinity would the only one moving in the picture

Trinity receiving her 2nd book award

After the awards ceremony, we celebrated by taking the kids out to Bruster's for some yummy ice cream. It was such a special way to end a special day!!

Mom's Day Part Two

I have to say that I had a wonderful Mother's Day. My morning began with my wonderful hubby bringing me breakfast in bed! A true treat! A little bit later, my precious children came in to wish me a happy mother's day. The girls had notes that Trinity had written for each of them. However, they were quickly curious to find out why I got to eat in bed.

We had an amazing worship time at church. Our pastor had a great lesson from 1 John2:3-17. We're in the midst of a series entitled, "Can I know that I know God?" The points on Sunday were (1) Am I conforming to His image? and (2) Am I practicing His love? One part of the sermon that spoke most to me was the idea of love - the idea of being full of goodwill and desiring to share that goodwill as well as being unwilling to abandon, prizing someone above all else. I thought these were amazing definitions and a true challenge to us believers.

As we were driving home from church, Craig asked what I would like to do. I said that I'd like to have a simple picnic lunch on our back porch, then everyone lay down for a nap, then head to the park and an easy dinner out. So, that's what we did.

Only deviation was a trip to pick out my gift. I had told Craig a few months ago that I wanted a new picnic basket. Our current one, we received as a wedding gift - almost 13 years ago. However, I would not have thought it so difficult to find one. He searched online and found some, but most were very expensive, filled with items we didn't really need. We spent one morning jumping from shop to shop without a picnic basket in site. So, he offered up the option of getting a new basket-sized cooler. However, he wanted me to pick it out, so we did.

Then we headed to the park. Our neighborhood park has a great playground and lots of room for the kids to run around . . . unless their is a huge lacrosse tournament going on. Which apparently there was. It was chaos, a madhouse. I just couldn't believe it - that first of all, someone would schedule a tournament on mother's day weekend and secondly, that so many would participate. We sat, slowly inching our way through the park, only to turn around and leave 30 minutes later. The park was completely packed - way beyond any capacity it could possibly hold.

So, we left and headed to Trinity's school - they have a nice little park that's open to the public. We pulled into the parking lot to find what else, but an extension of the lacrosse tournament. Crazy!!! However, the playground was completely empty and we had a great time playing.

We finished the night with a relaxing dinner at Sonic - which included a free dessert for me!! YA!!! We came home and got to open the gifts that the girls had made for me at school. Kalyn gave me a scrapbook of her year at preschool. It included pictures, drawings and memorabilia from her year. Trinity gave me a booklet entitled, "I love my mom" and a very pretty drawing. They loved their gifts as much as I did.

It was a great finish to a great day. I pray that each of my mom readers out there had a blessed mother's day!