Easter 2012

We had such a wonderful Easter weekend!

Saturday evening Audrey and Addison dyed eggs. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I had to call my parents for instructions on how to hard boil an egg. I know, right!! I'm 33 years old and I should've known how to do that...but I don't eat boiled eggs so it was never necessary.

Anyway, I did successfully boil a dozen eggs and the girls had a delightful time dying and decorating them.

Easter morning the girls woke up and rushed in to see what the Easter bunny had left for them. Their baskets were overflowing with goodies.

For the first time (ever, I think) we celebrated Easter at our house. Usually Corey is on shift and the girls and I go to my parents house. This year we did things differently.

My parents and Corey's dad and his dad's girlfriend joined us for Easter lunch. We had BBQ, baked beans, slaw, chips, fruit and dessert.

After eveyone got their bellies full, the men hid the eggs while the women and kids waited inside.

Audrey and Addison had an absolute blast! They wanted to hunt eggs over and over again.

Then the girls hid the eggs for the adults to find. I'm not sure who had more fun, the little kids or the grown kids :)

After all the hunting was over, Audrey and Addison had to inspect their loot and indulge in some of the candy.

Before everyone left to go back to their homes, I took a few family photos.

My little family...

Audrey and Addison with Papa Kenny and Marian...

Grammy and Grandaddy with their little chicks...

We all had such a wonderful time. The weather was perfect, the food was great and the company was fantastic. I am looking forward to doing this again next year.

Green Thumb??

Well, I'm hoping that at least one of us has a green thumb in this family. I can probably count myself out. I've pretty much conquered killing any plant under my care. I'm quite surprised that God even entrusted me with my 2 sweet girls, because I certainly can't keep a plant alive :(

But with the help of Corey, Audrey and Addison, hopefully we will have an abundant amount of veggies from our garden.

The girls love helping us plant, water and take care of the garden.

Audrey was quite the helper with planting the seeds.

Addison was good at trampling on what we just planted, throwing dirt and rocks, and pestering the dogs.

This year we planted Lima beans, peas, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, squash, cucumbers and sunflowers.

I'm looking forward to seeing what becomes of our little garden, so follow along with me as I post updates on the condition of our garden. And as for a green thumb... well, we will see!

Family Fishing Fun

The girls have been begging to go fishing for several weeks. Thanks to some wonderful friends who have a beautiful cabin and ponds, we were able to take Audrey and Addison fishing after preschool the other day.

We started out with a yummy picnic. Then the girls got serious about fishing.

Addison is a beginner at this fishing thing, so Corey and I spent a lot of time getting the fishing line unwrapped from around her legs and fishing her pole out of the water when she got a bit carried away with casting.

Audrey has become quite a pro at fishing. She can cast that line way out into the water. I loved watching her prance around so confident, telling me how to catch more/bigger fish. I tried to take her advice, but I still ended up hooked into stumps, limbs, and trees. I did catch my fair share of fish, though.

The fish weren't biting all that well, but we did catch several. When Corey or I would catch one, the girls insisted on coming over to "pet" the fish.

Once they got bored waiting on the "big" fish to bite, they went over to harass our bait (minnows).

Those poor minnows didn't last long because they were either carried around so long they died or the girls threw them into the water. As a result, Corey and I had to resort to an alternative bait. haha

Finally, the minnows lost their appeal, so the girls spent the rest of the time lounging on the blanket coloring pictures together.

We had such a glorious day full of smiles and memories. All of us are looking forward to our next fishing trip.

Perfect Picnic

The weather has been absolutely perfect here lately. So we have been doing our best to take advantage of all of these glorious days.

We went to the library to return some of our books and select a few more. The girls love checking out their own books. Once we finished at the library, the girls and I decided that it was much too beautiful that day to go home. So, we ran to Chick-fil-a to pick up lunch and went to the river walk to enjoy a picnic and a little fresh air.

After enjoying our meal, the girls decided to walk around and pick lots of "flowers" for me. Such a sweet gesture! My allergies appreciated them too :) You can't refuse those beautiful flowers given to you by these two precious faces, no matter how much they make you sneeze!

Country Girls

These two little girls LOVE the farm!

When we mention going to Grammy and Grandaddy's house, they automatically begin planning what they will do that weekend on the farm.

They enjoy riding on the tractor with Grandaddy to put out hay. And riding on the "grammy-wagon" to put out feed is also a highlight.

The girls would ride around all day on the "grammy-wagon" looking at the cows and often times you can hear Addison singing to them. On a good day, when the girls are calm and quiet, they can pet a few of the cows. Audrey and Addison have learned which ones will allow them to get close.

Since the farm is so precious to the girls and the rest of my family, it only seemed right to take them out for a photoshoot while we were there recently.

I was thrilled with some of the shots that I captured.

Seeing these two sweet girls smile and enjoy the farm makes me miss my Pawpaw even more. I know he would be so happy and proud that his "little messes" love the farm as much as he did. I wish he was here to witness their happiness.

Audrey is learning so much about the animals around the farm. She doesn't mind getting right in on all the action. Opening and closing the pasture gates have become "her job". She is so proud of herself since she can help in that way.

Addison is completely fascinated with the cows. She talks about them, sings about them, and "moos" to them daily...even if we aren't at the farm! This girl LOVES those cows. When she sees her boots, she automatically starts talking about Grammy's house and the cows at the farm.

I love that my girls enjoy the farm so much. It makes me smile to know that we are making memories on the farm much like the memories I have growing up there.

Have you ever seen two cuter cowgirls???

Our Life in Photos

Good grief! I feel like I have been running crazy these last few weeks. I'm not sure why I have such a hard time finding a few minutes to blog lately, but I go non-stop and then before I know it, it is after midnight and I'm exhausted. Between chasing the girls and keeping them entertained and out of trouble, keeping up with cleaning, laundry, and cooking, dance class, preschool, my "paying" job responsibilities and then throw in a few fun trips to the park or museum..."free" time is just hard to come by. So here are a few photos from our life the past few days (most are poor quality because they are from my cell phone, but at least they capture the moment!)

Us girls had a manicure/pedicure day and they enjoyed getting their nails done by mommy.

Addison took the instructions to "sit very still" very seriously. She didn't even want to move for the picture.

This little dudette loves her "glagas" (aka- glasses). She looks adorable even if they are upside down.

Corey bought a huge pile of duck and goose decoys...the girls think they gained new pets. Haha!

For some reason on this particular day, these plastic plates brought a couple of hours of quiet entertainment for those two. Such imaginations!

We love our Children's Hands-On Museum. Audrey's favorite part is dressing up in the old clothes. I think she looks adorable here, but way too grown up!

A day at the park...

Dressed up for Farm Day at preschool.

The view from my back porch on this beautiful day.

How is it that this sweet girl has grown up so quickly??

The weather has been glorious! So we have taken advantage of it by enjoying many picnics.

Addison LOVES to have her back tickled. Every night she will climb up in our lap, raise her shirt and say "Tickle, back, pwease". You can't refuse that!

This girl loves some Fun Dip!

This is a typical night at our house. Both girls snuggled up with their daddy. They love when he's home so they can get lots of playtime and snuggling with him.

Addison pretending to be "Mrs. Brandi" and give Snow White a haircut.

Snuggling with my baby girl.