Easter Sunday

A few pictures from Easter Sunday... which was wonderfully sunny! Although thankful for the rain, we Georgians are just a bit tired of it...

Girls in new dresses...

Hunting for eggs (with 'tips' given by RC truck!)...we still have missing a 'sparkly' egg with a dollar inside if anyone wants to look around our yard for it!

The girls found these cuties in our backyard. Take a look at the size of those feet-- almost as long as their entire body!! No worries about them being abandoned-- their momma was nearby fussing at us to leave her babies alone!

We had a wonderful day with family & friends... celebrating the holiday that means everything to us.

Christmas 2008

So... here's is a bit of a belated recap of the big day...

We went to the 4:00 'Candlelight' service at church (good thing there are not any windows in the sanctuary for the daylight to ruin the effect of the candlelight!!) and then out to dinner with Michael's parents... followed by a Christmas eve ice cream at McDonald's (PawPaw's favorite place!!).

Once we got home, the girls performed their version of the nativity story... last year, they acted it out with themselves as the main characters... this year, they decided to do the 'Webkinz' version and all of the pets were called into service-- complete with costumes. They worked on it all week prior to Christmas and it was darling! Abbie read the story from the Bible and Emma placed the characters at the appropriate time. Take note of the cute 'shepards' and our 'angel fish'!!

Emma poured the milk for "Santa" all by herself this year!

Then the stockings were hung (placed) by the fireplace with care....

And the children were nestled, all snug in their beds (or on their mattress pulled in from their room into their sister's room!)....

And we waited on a visit from "Santa"...

Christmas morning was full of fun and lots of surprises. Big hits for Emma were her 'horse trailer', a new soccer ball and a desk for her room.

Abigail loved her new roller skates, a metronome and games for the DS.

They both were excited to receive a portable dvd player so they can resume movie watching on trips in the car again!

We also received quite a few dvd's for Christmas-- I think these will keep us busy WELL into the new year!

This was Daddy's favorite gift to the girls-- a special edition of t-shirt run just for them by one of the main videography guys in the RC Airplane industry:

One of their big surprises (revealed by a scavenger hunt around the house) was that they are going to Disney for a week in January to attend "Homeschool Days". They are pretty excited (but sad because Daddy won't be able to join us on this trip due to his work schedule).

We followed the gifts with our traditional Christmas brunch and afternoon of relaxing. We headed out in the late afternoon for another tradition-- a family movie. We saw the much anticipated "Marley & Me"-- we have all read at least one version of the book (there are 'kids version' of the book which are much preferable for the younger set-- although the original is a good read for adults). The movie was funny but sad (very true to the book)--but I think they could have wrapped it up a bit more 'cheerfully' (and left out a few of the very graphic 'dog being put to sleep' scenes) as they were billing it as such a good family movie-- I had one sobbing girl and all of us had very red eyes by the time we left the theater. In retrospect, I think we would have chosen something different had we known it was going to be SO VERY sad. Anyhoo...

We followed the movie with our final Christmas day tradition-- a visit to one of the fine dining institutions of the South (and the only place open on Christmas day besides TGI Fridays with their 3 hour wait)..... the WAFFLE HOUSE!!! Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a meal at the Waffle House :-)

We had a very blessed day!

Christmas is in the air...

December has been filled with the usual festive activities... ever since mid-November, it seems our lives have been in a whirlwind! From each of the girls' choir productions to our annual Thanksgiving in Florida to Abbie's Christmas piano recital-- not to mention decorating, shopping and sending out Christmas cards (Yes, I am still clinging to the old tradition of sending cards through 'snail mail' as opposed to cyberspace... I did finally give in to the seemingly standard 'photo card' this year... but only because I wanted to share pictures from our trip... next year I'm going back to regular cards with perhaps an attached photo. I miss regular cards!!)

Here are a few glimpses into Christmas at our house this year (for you, mom!)

First- some of our Christmas decorations...

The fireplace:

The piano:

Our tree (which is happily still very green & drinking water!):

The "Christmas Card Tree" (I got this idea off of a blog that I read and think it is such a fun way to display our cards!):

And here are some of the fun things we've done...

Visiting the "Magical Nights of Lights" at Lake Lanier:

Putting together a winter puzzle:

Emma's 'dogsled' (& please don't tell her that her horse isn't a dog!!!):

Watching Abbie perform at her Christmas piano recital:

Here's a sample of her performance (sorry for the shaky videography & the fact you cannot see her face!!). Enter the password 'piano' and then click the play button.

Abbie plays "Deck the Halls" from Wendy Timms on Vimeo.

A Triple Celebration

Because we've not done enough travelling lately, last weekend we made a 'quick trip' to North Carolina to visit my sister & her family. My favorite (and only!) niece turned one on July 2nd and Melissa & Tom were hosting a joint celebration for Chloe's 1st and America's 232nd birthdays!

It was great to see the Eilers/Feller families-- we haven't all been together since last Thanksgiving. Miss Chloe has probably changed the most (as babies are prone to do) as she is now walking (and running) and I feel certain that talking is just around the corner!

I think it is apparent from the pictures below that Chloe likes cake! In fact, you can see in the second picture that she is doing the sign for "more" (as in, I'd like another cupcake please!!).

After the party and the birthday girl was put to bed, Aunt Missy staged quite a fireworks show for us in the front yard-- complete with about 500 sparklers! She just kept opening boxes! I think we actually wound up using most of them and probably would have gotten through them all if a huge bolt of lightening and thunder hadn't put a quick end to the festivities!!

On Saturday, the cousins enjoyed a trip to "Peppermint Park"-- which is a darling little park just a block away from my sister's house. The girls went here on their last trip to NC and it was on their 'must do' list for this visit!

Uncle Mark even came along and gave Emma a push on the tire swing!

I am pretty sure that it's safe to say that Chloe prefers her Uncle Michael to Aunt Wendy-- probably because I am the crazy lady who tried to make her eat rice krispies and painted her toenails bright red! Oh well... maybe one day she'll like me as much as she likes 'the guys'!!

We also took advantage of this weekend with family to have a little "Kindergarten Graduation" ceremony for Emma. Even though we homeschool, I still think it is important to mark certain traditional educational milestones and accomplishments with the girls and this was definitely one to celebrate. We are very proud of Emma and all of the hard work she has done over the past year. She enjoyed marching into the living room to 'Pomp & Circumstance' and receiving her diploma from the 'principal'!!

We wrapped up the weekend with a few games and of course some piano playing (we only wish we lived closer to Aunt Missy so she could teach the girls!)

Thanks again to the NC family for a great weekend!

Memorial Day 2008

We were able to take a quick break from packing to attend a Memorial Day parade with some of our friends. We used to attend this parade regularly but haven't for several years. It is neat to see a community come out to support our country-- there was lots of standing applause for the veterans and servicemen in the parade. We also got to see several friends who were parade participants which was fun! This was by far my favorite float:

Don't let the innocent smile fool you... he was just as much into grabbing the candy as the kids!

Thank you to all our men in uniform-- past and present-- who have given so much to make our country great. Special thanks to my grandfather, Tata, who is an Army veteran of World War II and to both of Michael's grandfathers (now deceased) who also served in the military. We can never repay the debt we owe you... but I promise we will teach our children to never forget your sacrifice and service to America. Happy Memorial Day!

Easter

Sorry Mom-- this is the best I can come up with for pictures from Easter!

Even though it was chilly, the sun was shining (which surprisingly doesn't happen all that often here!), the baskets were filled, the trees were blooming, the music was uplifting and the message was glorious... He is Risen... Alleluia!!