Spring Break and "Firsts!"

Spring Break for our girls was April 5-9. We left that Monday morning and drove down to Sun City Center, FL (near Tampa) where Jason's grandmother lives. She was celebrating her 90th birthday later that week and a lot of family were coming in to town to surprise her and have a little party. Our girls traveled really well - thank goodness for portable DVD players. :-) We arrived Monday evening and were able to spend a little time connecting with Jason's parents, sister and her little girl, and Aunt & Uncle.

Tuesday was a low key day with a morning in the pool. It was a little chilly, but Jason braved it with Emma and Heidi. I chose to stay dry with Rachel. That evening our family surprised Great Grandma at dinner. We all met at a restaurant on the beach. This was the FIRST time she had met Rachel. We had a wonderful dinner together and enjoyed the sunset out the window.
This was also the FIRST time any of our girls had seen the ocean (we think), as well as their FIRST time on a beach with sea shells. Emma and Heidi have been to lake beaches, but no ocean beaches. They did not get near the water, but enjoyed walking and playing in the sand.
Wednesday, our family - along with Kirsten, Becca and Grandma - went to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. It's a very nice aquarium and we enjoyed our visit there.
While we enjoyed all the fish and wildlife, I think the best part was the water park set up they had outside. We spent the last hour of our time there outside while the girls played in the water.

Dry Emma
Emma down the water slide - starting to get wet.Wet Emma.Drenched Emma. :-)
Wet HeidiThankfully I did have towels and a change of clothes in the car for both of them. They really had a good time though. Rachel just thought the whole day was exhausting!
Thursday morning we decided to go try to see some manatees. There is a manatee viewing center very close to Sun City Center that Jason and I have been to before. However, they didn't open until 10AM and we arrived there about 9:15. So, to kill some time, we found another beach to enjoy. Heidi really enjoyed picking up seashells and Emma enjoyed throwing them back into the water.After the short beach walk, we went back to the manatee viewing center. We walked around their museum and out on to their board walks to try to see manatees. All we saw were VERY large fish. (You can see them in the water behind Heidi - the dark lines are the fish.)As we were leaving, we talked to someone who works there and he told us it was the wrong time of year to be able to see manatees (the viewing center is actually only open November - April). See, the viewing center is set up right next to a power plant. The power plant warms the water right there. So when the ocean water is cold (Dec - Feb), the manatees come in to this area for the warmer water. However, in April, the ocean water is plenty warm enough for the manatees, so there is no need (or desire) for them to come in to this area. So, we came home with two stuffed animal manatees and that's the best we could do. We'll just have to try to go back sometime when it is colder.

After seeing no manatees, it was time to go get ready for Great Grandma's birthday party. It was a nice, small gathering in the building she lives in. Cake, punch, and lots of pictures to share. I think she really enjoyed it and I'm glad we could all be a part of it.Some more FIRST things for the week:

Rachel's FIRST time in a pool.Rachel's FIRST time on a beach.While we were away, Rachel's FIRST tooth came through.

It was a really fun week. A few more great family pictures...

Emma telling Grandma a really good story.Cousins (Rachel & Becca)!More Cousins (Emma, Rachel, Heidi, & Becca)!!!

Happy Easter!

We had a really fun Easter. It started with our annual church Easter Egg Hunt, the Saturday before Easter. We have a family at church who has hosted this event every year for the last 25 years! They have a great backyard for it and everyone always enjoys it. They "hide" hundreds of filled eggs and the children are released based on age - starting with the youngest, of course. Heidi and Emma each enjoyed picking up the eggs and filling their baskets. Rachel will get her first turn next year. :-)

Emma hunting for eggs.Happy girls with full Easter baskets!Counting the eggs.Easter Sunday we enjoyed an Easter service FULL of praise to God! After church and Sunday school, we headed up to Dahlonega to celebrate Easter with my family. We enjoyed a delicious lunch together and Grammy had Easter baskets for everyone. The hit in all of the grand kids' baskets was bubble blowers. So they all went outside and played with those for awhile.Then it was time for an Easter egg hunt. It started with Grammy hiding the eggs for all the kids. Then it turned in to the older kids hiding them for the younger ones. Although it really made me laugh how they would hide them, then follow the younger ones around pointing out where they had hid them. :-) I thought this was an Easter egg HUNT. ;-) But everyone enjoyed it.
Since Rachel didn't take part in the bubble blowing or Easter egg hunt, here is her picture from Easter.

Rachel's 6 Month Photo Shoot

So, she'll be 7 months on Easter Sunday, but she's still technically 6 months - so here's her 6 month photo spread. Too cute!!!

Yard of the Month

So as you may or may not know, ever since the floods in September of last year, we have been trying to figure out how water is getting in to our crawl space. The conclusion was that the grading of the landscape around our house allowed for water to pool up next to the foundation, soak in to the ground and eventually get in to the crawl space. And with all the rain we had in the fall, and really through the winter too, the ground is saturated.

So we decided to have the ground on one side of the house and in the back regraded to allow water to flow away from the house. Additionally, we installed a drainage system of pipes to move the water away from the house.

All of this work was done last week and there's still a little bit of regrading and smoothing out to do this week. Then we'll put down grass seed and straw and hope we have a yard by Summer. :-) If not, maybe we can open it up to be a dirt bike or 4-wheeler track for the neighborhood. ;-)

The best thing was when Emma got off the bus the afternoon after this started, she asked who made the mess. I told her we had some men helping us move some dirt and put in some pipes. She said, "No, the leprechauns did it!" Being the week of St. Patrick's Day, apparently some leprechauns were causing some problems in their classroom - making lots of messes - so she felt the leprechauns had been at our house too. :-)

This is called Georgia Red Clay. Doesn't it look like fun?
Trench through the front yard to the street.The side "yard" after the pipe and drain boxes have been installed.Our back "yard." Now isn't that pretty. This is where we have to visualize grass. :-)There's something kinda fun about having a Bobcat parked in your front yard. :-)

Rachel at 6 Months

Rachel was 6 months old on March 4. My how time flies! She continues to be a very good, happy baby. At her 6 month check up, she weighed in at 14 lbs. 12.5 oz. and was 24 inches long. We are seeing signs of teeth (stuffy nose and drool), but no pearly whites yet.

She is sitting up on her own very well. She enjoys sitting on her quilt in the playroom with her collection of toys. Her flexibility amazes me how she can reach straight out way beyond her toes to reach a toy that she wants. She does a good job entertaining herself - and Heidi always enjoys helping too.We have recently pulled out the jolly jumper and the exersaucer - both of which she seems to enjoy - at least for short periods of time.We have introduced her to rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, peas and sweet potatoes. However, she has not seemed gung ho about any of it. I have been blessed with two very good eaters thus far - maybe she's going to be my picky one (like I was - I've gotten MUCH better!). :-)She's getting a nice layer of fuzz on her head. The jury is still out as to what color it's going to be - but let's just say, it is not getting darker.

She babbles a lot and can be quite loud at times. I wish I had been recording at the dinner table a couple nights ago - it was practically deafening with Rachel "yelling," Heidi singing loudly, and Emma laughing. It was a little overwhelming, but I had to just smile.

I hope to take Rachel to get official 6 month portraits made, but in the meantime, here are some recent pictures.

Our chunky little monkey!Rolling over!So these are called toes.Can I have some of your water, Mom?
Three happy girls in their blue PJs.

Conversations with Emma

Grammy was kissing the back of Emma's neck.

Grammy: I'm going to eat you.
Emma: I'm not your lunch.
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We were out to dinner and received a complimentary dessert - very chocolaty!

Jason: Do you want some ice cream, Emma?
Emma: Uh, no thank you.
Jason: It has chocolate in it.
Emma: OK, I'll give it a try.
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When we were out to dinner, we saw Emma's bus monitor.

Jason: Emma, who is this?
Emma: It's Mr. Lonnie! He's my favorite bus driver!
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Rachel was babbling.

Emma: She's talking to me!
Laura: What is she saying?
Emma: I love my sister Emma.