Crawfish and More

We had our 3rd annual crawfish boil with David and Kim yesterday - it was a fun day with great friends and food!

Emily was the bravest with the crawfish this year. She loved playing with her new found friends. Abby wouldn't touch them at all, except for the dead ones.


The creepy little critters...

Look at all that food! All the kids peeled their own crawfish this year - I think they were faster than me. We had tons of leftovers this time around. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with all our extra crawfish and shrimp. If I'm brave, I might attempt etouffee. We'll see.

Later we played some pictionary. Yes, we go all out with the dry erase board. The kids got into it at the end. Can you guess Austin's picture? It's the one with the guy with the chef hat. Clue: It's a country...

Ok, so really it's a sombrero. The correct answer is Mexico.

Earlier in the week... sisterly love at the park near the library.

Austin had his first performance at school... it was a play called "Go Fish." Very cute. All the kids did a great job.

1st graders had a project where they had to design a container for an egg - so when it's dropped from the school roof it wouldn't break. We (James) decided on a football - it had tons of cushion and when we dropped it at our house it didn't break. It broke at school.

The girls before their Easter party on Thursday...

We painted easter eggs this morning. Getting ready for the bunny's visit.

Emily was rockin' a pony.

It was so hot (I'm not complaining - glad the cold weather is gone), the kids wanted to get into the freezing pool. It was 76 degrees. I don't dare get in until it hits 90 degrees. It was so cold, but they loved it! Didn't bother them one bit! I think hypothermia would have set in on me. I also had to turn the air on today for the first time - it was 85 degrees in our house and miserable - on April 3rd!

Poor Emily has forgotten all her skills she learned last year. Hopefully she'll find them soon since I have a feeling that we will be swimming A LOT this summer.

That's all for now! The West Virginia game is on, and if they win we win our NCAA bracket! Go Mountaineers! Hope everyone has a blessed Easter tomorrow!

Happy Birthday to Me

What a fun weekend! I turned 32 yesterday (yikes), but I must say it doesn't feel that much different than 31 :) We had a delicious Chick-fil-A breakfast, headed to the Easter Eggstravaganza at church, came home and got ready for Austin's soccer game. Then our awesome friends and neighbors, Kim and David, came over to watch the kiddos while James and I went out. A great time indeed!

Here's Abby at her Easter egg hunt. Emily wasn't feeling it. She warmed up to the idea a few minutes into the hunt. All those eggs in the background disappeared within approximately 3 minutes. Poor Abby wasn't as aggressive as some of the others and got about 7 eggs.


Of course Austin made up for what the girls didn't get. He started the "hunt" in a sprinter's position. And took off like a rocket when they blew the horn.

There were a bunch of fun activities. Including this really cool "train" - which apparently is available for rent (see the big "ad" on it). They even gave us a flyer after the ride - gotta love those marketers...

Here's Austin in his "car." A barrel of fun, don't you think?

Here are our kiddos stuck in the "cage of terror." Well, not terror... it only went about 10 feet off of the ground.

And what event would be complete without a slide-o-germs bouncy house.

Here's Austin with an egg on his face.

Nice kitty.

Emily went for the ladybug (of course). I mean, who hasn't heard the legendary tale of the Easter Ladybug?

Emily loves her cheese almost as much as me. The cheese on the chip, not the smile...

Here we are - with all our booty. Or lack of booty. Looks like there's plenty of room left for the Easter Bunny to fill those baskets.

This is Austin's amazing soccer goal he made later that day. Notice the ball in the air (and the distance from Austin to the goal). Perhaps it has something to do with the extra practice this week? Or maybe from James acting as coach this week in practice? Goooooooaaaaaallll!

James and I headed to dinner after soccer to a locally owned Italian restaurant. The atmosphere was great, the food not the best - but it was so nice to get away. We did a little shopping, came home and watched the rest of the Kentucky/West Virginia game. We're Mountaineer fans this month since James picked them pretty far in his March Madness bracket this year. Then we stayed up and played cards with Kim and David. It was definitely a great birthday!

Today for Palm Sunday, the kids had a performance at the beginning of our service. They all did a great job. We came home and played and worked in the yard. James even found another snake - yuck. That's the monster all coiled up... He was about 8" long. The kiddos loved "playing" with him.

Spring break pictures

My lack of blogging is a result of a serious lack of sleep. We're talking like 0-4 hours per night, and those hours are not all in a row. Thankfully at my appointment on Wednesday the doctor gave me something safe to take. Last night was the first time I took it, and I thought it was going to be some sort of magic pill - but unfortunately it wasn't. I did sleep from 9:00 - 3:30, but also woke up 3 times in between. I seriously think I got more sleep when I had newborn twins.

I am 30 weeks pregnant now. I'm still feeling pretty good overall, besides being incredibly tired. I passed the gestational diabetes test this time around. Yipee! Must have been all that late-night studying. They also scheduled my c-section for 5/26, but I would honestly be very surprised if I made it full term. Austin and the girls were both not full term. I've gained about 2o lbs so far, and I think it's pretty obvious especially in the evenings. It's pretty funny how much I grow as the day goes on. At step class last weekend I was talking to a girl I see pretty frequently up there and she had no idea I was pregnant. She thought I was "pudgy." Gee thanks. The baby is doing great and is constantly doing somersaults in my belly. It really is the coolest feeling and the kids think it's pretty cool also.

We survived spring break last week. We got out of the house at least once a day. Here are some things we did... nothing too exciting.

Played with chalk.

We made a lot of different things for lunches and snacks... including these "ants on a log." Raisins on peanut butter on celery.

We made jewelery

and shrinky dinks. Remember those? That's Cinderella supervising the operation.

Abby tried her hardest to catch a bunch of footballs. Poor thing. We're thinking about getting her involved in some sort of musical instrument next. James threw about 50 balls to her and she did manage to catch one from all the way across the yard. More of a defensive move than anything else... James was proud.

Emily watched Snow White on You Tube broken out into 10 segments. Another new princess movie she loves.

We went on a nature walk.

Austin was proud of this picture he shot.


A short while after our nature walk, Austin got a horrible rash on his face. This is 7 days later at our lunch date at his school today. It's finally starting to get better.

The challenge continues on learning how to ride a two-wheeler. At least he is smiling below, it doesn't happen often (when he's learning to ride, that is). We are setting a goal to practice every weekend. Obviously it's more mental than anything else. We'll get there.

This is Emily's artwork. On the right is a puppy. On the left is her. I guess the difference is the dog ears?

Austin thought the highlight of spring break was helping out at his sister's soccer practice. So like I said, nothing too exciting :)

Abby and Emily turn 5

My babies are five years old now! I can't believe how fast my sweet girls have grown. James took the day off to help celebrate - we all had a great day. They will tell you the best thing about being five is they can chew gum now.

First stop - the gym. The girls were excited to get their birthday hats.

Second stop - their first professional manicures and pedicures. They loved the attention. Emily picked yellow nail polish for her feet which was a little different...


Third stop - It'z. It was crazy busy today, probably because of spring break. There were several field trips and tons of families.

The first minute of this ride started out ok. Then Emily started screaming at the top of her lungs and even said, "Mommy, I am so mad at you." Like I forced her to get on the ride.... wasn't my idea.



We came home and opened presents and ate cake. More princesses for the girls to play with.

Check out the pretty princess cake. It's going to take us awhile to finish it.