Camping

The girls and I went on our first camping trip shortly after school let out! My dad and uncle found a really awesome camping area, Jellystone Park, in Luray, Virginia, only an hour from our house.  Although there were cabins, we roughed it out and slept in a tent for 2 nights (although we used an air mattress)!  Jellystone was very kid friendly with 2 pools, a playground, and planned activities every few hours of every day!  There is also a giant twisting, turning slide for those willing to give it a try.  The best part was that there were even bathrooms and showers to make camping a little bit easier!  

Matt setting up our tent!

The slide - Emma didn't want to go down, so I had to pass too! :(

Friday night Matt drove up with the girls and I and helped us set up our tent.  We cooked burgers and dogs on the grill and waited for everyone to arrive.  My aunt, uncle and 2 younger cousins arrived shortly after we did, and my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew arrive pretty late, after we had already eaten.  They set up camp, and we all got to sit around the fire, talk and have a good time.  Unfortunately, Matt had to leave shortly after that.  

On Saturday, we headed out to Hardee's just like real campers :)  After heading to Wal-mart to get the rest of the supplies we realized we had forgotten and steaks for dinner we headed back to Jellystone! Saturday was miserably hot and yet the pool was uncomfortably cold.  I'm assuming because the nights got pretty chilly, the pool was not able to fully warm up, even during blistering hot days!  But we did spend a lot of time swimming both before and after lunch.  They also had these really awesome jumping pillows that even the grown ups could jump on!

Hannah enjoying corn on the cob - fresh off the grill

Hannah loved these fountains way more than the pool!

Emma on the jumping pillow

Brian doing acrobatics on the bigger pillow - he did flips and all!

Christina and Emma waiting to head to the pool!

Sunday we went to McDonald's for breakfast and then had to go back and pack up.  When we came, Matt drove the girls and I and the car was PACKED.  My dad had driven himself and his entire jeep was PACKED, even the front seat.  Now, we had to figure out how to get all of his stuff and my stuff plus me and the kids into his car - let me tell you, that part was NOT FUN!  But because there is a late check out for those camping, we got to freeze in the pool before heading home!

Trying to get everything packed up!

All in all we had a GREAT time and I can't wait to go back next year.  It's pretty inexpensive and now we have everything we need, hopefully next year Matt will be able to join us!

The kids picnicking with Yogi!

Me and the girls!

Schooooooool's Out For Summa

I know this is really late, but I wanted to share some photos of Emma's last few days of school.  About a week before school ended, all of the Kindergarten classes got together for field day.  It was such a blast and the kids had so much fun.  Take a look:

Here she is trying to race and balance a ball on a plunger type stick!

Waiting with best friend, Marquita, for the next game!

Watching the 3-legged race with a bunch of 5/6 year old's was the best part!

The next week, the Kindergarten classes got together for an in-classroom awards ceremony followed by a Teddy Bear Picnic.  I have to admit, I got pretty emotional watching Emma get her "pail" of awards, certificates and summer activities.  Her teacher made them a really nice keepsake that had a poem about watching their progress and on it had a picture of the student during the first week of school and then one from a few weeks before school let out.  I don't have a picture of that, but here are some other photos from her picnic: 

Emma with her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Smith

Emma and best friend Marquita!

I'm still sad that she has finished Kindergarten and moving on up! I've already bought her first grade school supplies, which makes it more real too! But I'm super proud of my little Lou and can't wait to see where life takes her, as long as its slllloooooowwww (well during the easy years, at least!).

Birthday Par-Tay

Hannah had her 3rd birthday celebration at Fun-n-Beyond here in Culpeper.  She had many of friends come along with some special family members too!  

Here are some highlights:

Emma, Christina, Kayla, Emma D. and Abby Rae pose for a photo with Hannah before cutting the cake. 

She was expressionless during the "happy birthday" song :)

And this was her not even out of the parking lot a few minutes! She celebrated with all she had!

Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with her that day and to those that took the time to call her or text me to wish her a very happy birthday!

Baptism

May 23, 2010 was a great day in our house! Not only was me and Matt's first wedding anniversary, and the LOST season finale was finally here, but Emma and I publically professed our belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

I had been baptized in middle school (many years ago...) but really did not understand the significance of what I was doing.  Years passed, I questioned and doubted and have thankfully, made my way back to God so I felt the need to be baptized again. 

About four years ago, Emma's father and I dedicated to raising her to know Jesus, and then when she was ready and mature enough to understand the significance would be baptized herself.  I can proudly say that she knew exactly what she was doing, what she believes and after approval from Pastor GW that she was ready, she was able to join in the baptisms!

My Dad came down and joined Matt and the rest of our Church Family to support me, Emma and the rest of those getting baptized.  Here are some pictures!

Ready? Set..

GO!

OK - during my last post, I explained why I have been so absent on here! Well... I am all done uploading photos and now have everything fresh on the new laptop!  So... there may be an abundance of posts within the next few days (hopefully anyway) !!!! 

Disappearance

I sure have written many blogs in the last 2 months!  Recently I haven't really had anything to "blog" about really, not even anything remotely creative! I also recently got a laptop.  Our other desktop was soooo ancient, so very slow, many bugs and a whole lot of frustration.  When I turn it on in the morning, I can't use it for at least 30 minutes.  Trying to get my school work done was impossible.  It would just freeze up on me for up to an hour at a time sometimes, making getting things done very frustrating. So I took some money I got back from my loans/financial aid from school and saved up some more money and got a laptop that is MUCH more efficient!

However, I don't like to save anything to the hard drive on my new computer.  I use my flash drive for all of my school work and I haven't uploaded ANY pictures off of my camera yet.  I am great at taking pictures (as in I take a lot) and putting them on the computer and then that is about as far as I get.  So now, I'm working on my old computer trying to upload ALL of my pictures up to snapfish so I can finally get them printed.  And I am determined to do all of that before I create a new file on this computer.  So what does that have to do with my blogging? Well, there have been a lot of things I've wanted to share recently, like our new guinea pigs, Emma's dance recital, mine and Emma's baptism together, etc, etc, but I don't have the pictures to go with it, so I just haven't done anything at all. 

Lousy excuse I know - I promise I'll get better!!!

Hannah Fun Facts

In honor of Hannah's 3rd birthday, here is some fun information about her!

She LOVES ladybugs!

She has the biggest and most creative imagination of any kid I've ever seen!

She likes to talk to and answer Dora, Kailan and her other favorite TV characters!

Her favorite silly song is "The Five Little Monkeys" and "Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee"!

She loves to play outside and could stay there forever!

She is VERY cautious and still clings to mommy and daddy!

She has her Dad's awful allergies!

She calls the color brown "chocolate"

Her biggest fear is the dark.

She is incredibly sweet and loving and loves to share!

She is the best cuddlebug you could ask for!

She no longer likes to take a bath which makes managing her curly hair very hard!

But most important, she is the most special, lovable, precious 3 year old that I could ever ask for!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet Hannah Grace!