Our First Garden

Neal and I have never planted a garden before, but we thought it would be a fun and exciting project for the kids to try. My parents usually have a huge garden and it is soo much work. I'm not interested in that right now. Maybe later when the kids are older and they're not so much work. But for now we're going to try a small one. I don't have high hopes seeing as how we've never done it and I planted 80 tulip bulbs in this same spot last fall and only one came up. Not to mention that our kids have no concept of not stepping on the plants. As you can see Charles-Allen is almost standing on Emmy's mint plant while posing for the picture. She would totally have a fit.

Even though it might not produce anything they kids love watering it and even getting the weeds out. Our strawberry plants did have some little red strawberries on it, but Charles-Allen picked them this morning. We also have squash, tomatoes, mint, watermelon and later we're going to plant pumpkins and sunflowers. It should be fun.

On a different note I was going to try to take a picture of the beautiful robin's eggs that are in our birdhouse, but when I opened it up the mama was in there. It nearly scared me to death. She has never been in there before so I wan't expecting her. She must be getting ready for her babies to hatch. She has 5 eggs and they are so pretty. Last year a robin, I don't know if it was the same one or not, had 4 or 5 different sets of babies in here. I never got to see the babies, but I did see the eggs. My kids saw the babies, but everytime I would get around to checking they would already be gone. I'm going to keep it checked this year. I don't want to miss seeing the babies again. Maybe the mama won't get me.

Ring Popular

Parker had her first taste of a sucker this week. She absolutely loved it. The kids always get a ring pop at the ballgames and when we got home I think Ally laid hers down. It didn't take Parker long to gank it and the rest is history. I thought she was going to eat the ring part. There was nothing Ally could do to get it back from her.

I love the messed up hair. Apparently when Ally was painting her nails earlier in the week she thought Parker could use some nail polish in her hair. Such a sweet sister. Her loves to share.

That ring pop must be good. Makes me want one.

Just a Swing'n

We got a "new to us" swing set for Parker's birthday. The kids love it and so do I because they would spend all day on it if I let them. It has a tire swing, an acrobat bar, two regular swings, a clubhouse, and two slides. Oh, and let's not forget Emmy's favorite, monkey bars.

When Ally and Charles-Allen wake up it's the first thing they want to do. They don't even bother to change their clothes.

Here are Ally, Julian and Ethan at Parker's birthday party. These stairs lead up to the monkey bars. I wonder how they think they're going to get across them?

Charles-Allen waving from his camp.

Happy Birthday Parker!

Our baby is 1 year old already!!! Where did the year go. She is so big and such a happy baby, still. She is almost always content and she loves her mama.

She still doesn't have much hair, which has never happened with our girls. And she still is not interested in walking. All of our other babies were starting to walk by 10 months. Parker is taking her time and that's fine by use. I want her to be a baby for as long as she can.

We had a party for her Sunday. Both Neal's family and my family came over and we grilled out and had yummy food. Parker is not so happy here because she wanted something to eat and no one was sharing.

She finally found Aunt Kristen who was happy to share her cake with her. Unfortunately, I don't think Paige was so happy about it.

Timber Drive Dance Fest

Since Emmy goes to year round school the school year is nearly over for her. At her school they always have a Dance Fest where each class learns two dances and they perform it outside for the school and parents. I think it's such a neat idea and I love looking at the dances they come up with. Her school does such a good job of exposing the students to all different types of learning. Plus Emmy loves to dance.

Here she is sitting with her class, watching the other classes dance.

This was one of the dances. They had to hold each others hands and dance around the dance floor doing different moves, but they always had to stay connected. I think it was similar to a country clogging routine.

This was the second dance. They liked it the best. It was to more upbeat faster music and they didn't have to hold anyones hand.

Boy's Game

I did manage to get a few pictures of Charles-Allen and Ian warming up before the game. The coach will have to make a note to not put them beside each other during a game. Because of all the food they ate and all the pregame playing their uniforms are dirtier than they would ever be in a game. I told you they were cute in their uniforms.

Emmy the Catcher

Emmy played catcher last year a lot and this year she thought she would give it a try again. She sure is cute, but I think she thought it was too hot. I told her just to be happy she was fully protected. I would think that would outweigh being hot. She wasn't buying it. Then to top it all off she her toe got stepped on and the nail broke into the quick.

I think she looks so tough in all that catcher's gear.

Game Time

The girls had an exciting first game. The coaches couldn't get the pitching machine to throw right so we were loosing until the last inning. Then Kyleigh, Emmy, Elise, and Marleigh all made hits and everyone scored a run except for little Marleigh, but it wasn't her fault. She was on third and the batter got out. We ended up winning 4-3. The girls were so excited.

High fives all around.

You would think they had run a marathon with all the water they drank.

Here are all the cousins sitting in the dugout cheering on their team mates.

Marleigh, Emmy, Elise, Kyleigh

Opening Day

The spring time is super busy for our family. I barely have time to post in bulk the things we are doing. And I have yet to read about what all my friends are doing on their blogs. One of the reasons it's so busy is because our kids play ball at the our community rec. This is Emmy's 4th year playing and Charles-Allen's second. We have a friend that has 4 boys, they all play, her husband helps coach all four boys and they are each on a different team. Wow! I can't even imagine how they get it all done. Anyway, last week was Opening Day. It's kind-of a big deal. They have a ceremony, prizes, pictures, and everyone has there first game. So we're pretty much at the ball park all day. We love it though. Except for all the money our kids want to spend at the concession stands.

This is the girls hang out after the ceremony and before their first game. They're a mess. I'm sure Kyleigh taught them those hand tricks and she's the one looking all sweet and innoncent. Go figure.

Ally looking sweet as ever.

Now they're thinking about how they're going to win.

Here is Parker at her first game just happy to be there. Yay Parker!

I have no pics of the boys before the games because they wouldn't stay still long enough. But they are super cute in their uniforms.

NC Aquarium

On Good Friday we decided to take a trip down to the coast and have a day of fun. First we went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. I grew up near the coast and I've been a few times. It was much smaller than I remembered, but it was so much fun.

Neal and Emmy loved the jelly fish. In one tank the light kept changing colors and the jelly fish would look purple, blue or hot pink. It was really cool.

I think the kids could have stayed there all day. They were amazed by all the aquatic life.

Parker at The Aquarium

There wasn't a lot for Parker to do at the Aquarium. So she spent a lot of time trying to get out of her stroller.

Or trying to get the heck away from her sister. I don't know what Ally is doing to her here. But I, like all good parents, grabbed the camera instead of trying to stop her.

Here she is just glad to have that crazy girl off of her.

Finally, she gets to see something other than Ally in her face.