End of the year festivities!

May is here (and is somehow already have way over!) - and I love the feeling of excitement I get at this time of year! I have been counting down the days for school to get out and summer to be here! (although I have a feeling in a few weeks, I will be ready for it to all start again!) I sometimes feel like I am still a little kid and have been dreaming about lazy days in our pjs, at the pool, at the beach, camps and fun family time!!

As all of the girls activities and school have been coming to an end - we have had fun celebrating the end of the year with parties and fun!

Ali had her end of the year Beach bash last week - of course it was on the coldest day we have had in weeks and it had to be moved inside - but it was still fun! I had fun planning the party and got to make the little buckets for the kids' lunches....
Ms. Garrett and Ms. Kelly's threes....we have loved this little class and our teachers this year!
Ali and Mary Mac....


Rhodes also had her last day of gymnastics last week....which ended with an awards ceremony! She LOVED it and was precious! Here are some pictures of her on her last day...
She tends to space out a lot at gymnastics - unless there is jumping involved! :)

Dancing to "The Lion sleeps tonight!"
Everyone was supposed to be resting like the lions in the song....notice Rhodeso....
My little gymnast!


This one is my favorite - Rhodes Patrick, #1 gymnast!

And, finally, a few last day of school pictures!

Ali has loved this year with Ms. Kelly and Ms. Garrett!
Last day of school sisters!

Rhodes was not in the mood for the paparazzi - but, the best picture I could get of her with her favorite toddler teachers - Ms. Brooke and Ms. Lauren!
So thankful for our wonderful teachers this year!

To celebrate our last day of school this year, we headed out for ice cream with the Grundmeyers and the Claytons!

Love my little shining stars and so proud of them for this fun year we have had this year! Now, bring on summer!

More Easter 2010!

Oh, how we love Easter time! So many eggs to hunt, bunnies to take pictures with and friends to see!

We had one day where we party hopped to three different Easter egg hunts!

First one, was at 9:00 sharp at the club - we got there at 9 on the dot and almost missed it!




Then, we headed over to Libby Brumby's precious first birthday party!

Then, to Mimi and Papa's for a neighborhood egg hunt! The girls were egg hunting pros by this one - Rhodes piled her basket high full of eggs and Ali went straight for the gold (metallic purple) egg and won a prize!
We also had fun decorating Easter eggs...

Writing notes to the Easter bunny... (Note - Ali does NOT want any special gift giving characters to come inside the house - as in, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Instead, she wants to make sure I tell them to leave the presents outside - that way she will rest easier the night before the big holidays! Cracks me up - and sure helps the sleeping in part of holidays - Ali did not dare leave her room on Easter morning until we came to get her - for fear the Easter bunny may accidentally have missed the note and may still be lolly gagging around our house! :))

We posted these notes outside our house - on our fence. The first one says "Dear Easter Bunny", second says "Hide our eggs and please leave candy!". (we're going to have to work on being more polite to the Easter bunny!!)

And opening Easter morning surprises!

Of course, my camera died after these last two - but, all in all, our favorite part of the Easter season is celebrating the true reason for the season. Ryan and I attended the Maundy Thursday service this year at our church and it was so moving. It is a service I hope to never miss again! Then, on Sunday morning, we of course met my family at church - and squeezed into the row with them! There is also nothing sweeter than being in a packed church on Easter morning - with no seats left in the house - celebrating the resurrection of our Savior and singing Easter hymns with fellow Christians. Hallelujah!

All Afloat on Noah's Boat

Every year, the twos and threes at Ali and Rhodesy's school put on a spring "musical". The past two years, it has been All Afloat on Noah's Boat - so this year, Ali was a pro! I have some good videos I need to add - but, until then, these pictures will show our little performer in action. She is in the back row, in the middle, (big white bow) next to her best bud, Mary Mac. She was precious and we were so proud of her, once again! :)
Little Mimi was the star performer up front too!

Happy Mother's Day 2011!

I have so many posts to catch up on, but wanted to start here as I am still excited after a very fun Mother's Day weekend! If you are someone I talk to semi-frequently -you have heard me talk about this trip I had been so excited & anxious about for months! This past weekend, I finally went on this trip - a trip of a lifetime - to the Hamptons! I was so nervous about flying, yet so excited to get to an amazing place and celebrate one of my best friends since zero...this girl.... (on a way in our Expedition to the Hamptons!)

We spent the weekend in an amazing spot - 16 fun girls....70 degree weather with clear skies...and a 10 bedroom/12 bathroom house in Southampton = perfection! I did not take my camera and this does not do it justice - but here is the one picture I got of our massive backyard. This link gives more pictures, but still doesn't do it justice!!

We spent the bachelorette weekend having lots of good girl time, eating lots of good food, and doing lots of fun bachelorette things. Some of the highlights (that I can mention on a blog! :) include...

A trip to this place...Duckwalk Vineyards

An outing to Tate's Bake Shop....
And, finally, on our way out of town - we stopped in one of our favorite breakfast restaurants we found on the island and had a celebrity spotting....Spotted...Lily Bass....(aka Kelly Rutherford of Gossip Girl)...it was a great way to leave our fabulous weekend away! She was literally standing next to us - but AMGW snuck this iphone picture inconspicuously from the restaurant... It really was the perfect weekend!! And as much fun as I had, I was so excited to be going home to my three loves! I thought I was going out to the car to meet them - but found them before I even made it to baggage claim, waiting there, gifts and flowers in hand....the best Mother's Day gift of all was to see their three huge smiles waiting for me! I brought the girls some cool NYC sunglasses :)........
Some of the loot I was given when I saw them.... (Love that Ali says I am "40" years old on this one!)


Best Mother's Day ever. :)