The Mighty Mississippi

 

I have spoken before of the Connections program at our schools.  It is the Gifted and Talented program and it has been a gigantic blessing in our kid's lives.  Luke has had the amazing Mrs. Knight as his teacher for the last three years and she has made Luke a lover of learning.  

Luke and his friends studied the Mississippi River this semester, they then let the knowledge they had gathered, inspire an art piece.  They had a local artist come teach with them for the month to work on their gallery.  The kids art work was unbelievably unique and beautiful.  It was really amazing to see.  

Luke and his buddy also wrote a poem about the Mississippi River and acted it out.  

So proud of our Lukey!

 

This is Luke's artwork.  It says, "Thousands of soaking miles, This considerable river is the largest in America and her name is Mighty Mississippi."

He made it to look like the "muddy Mississippi."

 

The paper behind his description, he made himself.  He ripped up lots of different papers and watered them down and then molded and dried them into new paper.  

 

Luke's great friend Braden.  They are standing in front of Braden's artwork.  This is just the sweetest.  

Braden's art piece said, "The rivers connected the Missouri poured life into the Mississippi like Luke put in my life- Friendship."

I tear up every time.  How sweet is that?

 

Little Miss got a new tennis outfit and you can tell she was super shy about modeling it for me.

Ft. Lauderdale

 

Stephen and I recently got to sneak away to Ft. Lauderdale without the kids!!  

Stephen had a medical conference he was required to attend and he BEGGED me to accompany him.  

Thankfully, Grandpa Steve volunteered to stay with the kids and we had such a relaxing, fun trip.  

 

We had lots of times to practice our selfies.  

 

And our kisses, ha!

 

Stephen told me he signed us up for a 5K charity race. Come again?

Sigh, so I dragged my relaxed little booty out of my pool cabana and threw on some running shoes.

 

And just look at what I did?  The old girl still has it.  2nd place finisher for women.  Yay!  

Pretty good for someone who hates to run unless it is on a tennis court.

And yes, there were more than three women who ran it, for you naysayers.

By the way, Stephen is definitely the runner in this family and he is so fast.  As he tells it, he won first place in the 7K (he missed the turn around point by A LOT so he ran extra). 

 

We were not driving anywhere so we definitely let loose.

 

Brain freeze!

 

Stephen had lectures every morning so I would work out at the gym and then have the really big decision of the palm tree view while I laid by the pool and read my book or...

 

Lay by the ocean and read my book.

 

 

Or I had this view a lot too!  hee hee   Stephen clearly was relaxed, so funny.

It was a great trip, although I miss just raising the yellow flag on my chair and having a helpful man  run up and get me anything I needed.  I tried raising a flag on the couch yesterday, and nada.  Boo.

Back to reality.  

Big shout out to Grandpa Steve for handling the kids and all of their schedules beautifully.  We can't thank you enough for driving them around and helping with homework and cooking them all nice dinners.  So wonderful!  Thank you!

Happy Easter!

 

Happy Easter morning!  

 

Happy kiddos with their haul.

 

Christ is Risen!

 

Easter service is always beautiful but it was made even more so by Luke and Addison singing in the children's choir.  They did a beautiful job singing "In Christ Alone."

 

These kids just keep getting bigger somehow!

 

After church we headed to Cora's for a delicious Easter brunch.  

Stephen and his mini-me.

 

It was such a beautiful day and our bellies were very stuffed so we hung out on the rooftop deck for awhile to enjoy the view.

 

Little Miss Amelia.

 

Smooches for daddy.

 

Addison likes to take a lot of pictures of Stephen and I.

  

That evening we celebrated Easter with our friends the St. Amants.  There are like a billion St. Amants and they are so fun!  Their family does a giant Easter celebration with tons of games like egg tosses, sack races, three legged races, kickball etc.  It was so fun and we were blessed to be included.  

The above picture is the FINALS of the sack races.  Yes, their were heats!  This is serious business.

Look at Addison holding her own, she was awesome!  

  

Next it was the orange relay.  Pass the orange using only your chin.  This was hilarious.  Two teams, passing the orange down the line.

  

Luke and Parker St. Amant, Luke's buddy from school.

  

Then Luke had to pass it with Ms. Johanna.  We were rolling on the floor laughing so hard at Luke being handled by Johanna.  

 

 

Look at Luke's body language...save me!

  

Better luck with Amelia.  

It was a fun filled, love filled, laughter filled, wonderful Easter. 

So thankful to Jesus for all of our blessings and the greatest blessing of all, our salvation.

Happy Easter! 

Egghunts

 

Treasure Oak Country Club Easter Party

 

This might be my last year getting all three to agree to take an Eater bunny picture.  Sniff.

 

Amelia took a pass on the Easter Egg Hunt but she was a good sport helping the littles.  

 

The Children's House Easter party. 

 Addison is a big kindergartner now so she was in charge of helping a little three year old.

 

Addison's Kindergarten class.

 

Our last little peanut at The Children's House, sniff sniff sniff.

 

Addison + Amanda= the cutest bunnies ever

 

And of course we couldn't forget to dye the eggs!  Too bad only Luke and I like hard boiled eggs because we have a whole lot of them!

More March moments...

 

Derek and Stephen won big time points with Jenny and I because they sent us on a girls trip to Fairhope, Alabama.  We stayed at The Grand and enjoyed every lovely minute of shopping, eating, lounging, beaching and getting massaged.  It was wonderful!!!

 

Lounging.

 

Beaching.

 

The Air Show at Keesler Air Force Base happened again this year!  It was exciting because it had been four years since they put a show on.  We decided to avoid the crowds on base and watch the Thunderbird show on our roof!  

 

Pictures never do it justice but it was pretty cool, it felt like the jets were so close that we could reach out and touch them.

 

Luke LOVED his roof perch.

 

My little monkey is always in a tree these days.

She told me this morning, "Mom, I am going to marry a boy just like daddy, big and strong...but with not so many allergies."  

 

This is Addison in her happy place.  I picked her up from school and told her we are going to Dizzy Duck!!  You would have thought I told her we were going to Disneyworld!  Shouts of joy and Yippee!!! 

It is the car wash.

She LOVES the car wash.  They give her a popcorn, balloon and a drink and she loves to watch the car get washed.  Simple pleasures.

 

This is such a tradition now, we will never stop with the bunny cupcakes.  Five dozen this year!  Addison helped too but I don't know where she was for the picture.