Happy Birthday Granddad!

This past week we celebrated my daddy's birthday with a dinner at La Parilla's followed by presents and chocolate cake. We all had a great time and were thrilled to be able to celebrate with him!

Children of Eden

The week after spring break was very busy for Amelia! She was at dress rehearsal until about 9:30 every night preparing for her next musical with Oconee Youth Playhouse... this is Amelia's 11th musical with them!! This musical, "Children of Eden" is a beautiful play based on the book of Genesis and covers the stories of Adam and Eve and Noah's Ark. Amelia was a child of Eden and also an owl on the ark. All of the children did an amazing job and we are very proud to have such a wonderful program here for Amelia to participate in!

Spring practice

Every year Dave is invited to a UGA football spring practice along with other faculty/staff of the university. This year we all got to go with him and see the practice and meet some players and coaches. Following the practice was a delicious dinner catered by Peaches in Athens... yummy!

Spring Break

On Easter Sunday I head out with Mitchell and Amelia to Myrtle Beach, SC to spend our spring break. We stayed with my parents in their camper at Lakewood Camping Resort right on the beach... we couldn't have asked for better weather! It was a glorious sunny and in the 70's/80's all week!! We enjoyed LOTS of time outdoors on the beach, by the pools, playing games, putt putting, boating, and of course eating lots of ice cream and Krispy Kreme!! It was a perfect week away!

Easter

Mitchell and Amelia loved waking up to surprises from the Easter bunny! After breakfast we headed to church for a beautiful service. One of my favorite traditions of Easter at our church is decorating the beautiful cross outside the front of the church. Everyone brings flowers to add to the cross and when everyone is done it is stunning to see!! After church we headed home for a delicious lunch on the grill, then the kids and I packed the car to head out for Spring break!

Palm Sunday

I love Palm Sunday at our church... seeing all of our sweet children waving the palm branches as they enter the church just gets me every time!! After a wonderful service and hearing the children sing, they all get to have an Easter egg hunt. This year it happened to be raining so we improvised and hid all of the eggs inside the church... they had just as much fun finding all of the candy-filled eggs! After the hunt we all head to the fellowship hall for a covered dish lunch... yum!! A great way to spend a rainy Sunday!

Perfectly Polished Formal

Amelia has been going through a program called Perfectly Polished that teaches proper etiquette and many different dances. Each year ends with a formal dance in which they get to show us all of the dances they learned. After the morning rehearsal my friend Krista and I treated Amelia and Merritt to mani/pedi's and then lunch... they loved that surprise!! Amelia and all of her friends looked beautiful in their dresses and had a great time dancing the night away! My favorite dances were the sibling dance and the father/daughter dance... so sweet!!

Greenville trip

Every year our children's choir gets together with the children's choir from First Baptist Greenville, SC for a fun weekend together. This year it was our turn to travel to Greenville, SC for a fun night of games, socializing, and ice skating! The two choirs sang together during the worship services on Sunday morning before we headed back to Athens... they added so much to the services! Our children look forward to seeing their "Greenville friends" every year!

National Anthem

Back in February Amelia was invited to sing the National Anthem along with other 4th/5th graders from OCES at a UGA men's basketball game. They did a wonderful job and we all enjoyed staying for the game afterwards!

Upward basketball season

Amelia played basketball again this winter with the Upward program... we have always loved this particular program because it combines the learning of the game with the learning about having a Christian attitude and memorizing scripture. Amelia played very well this year and we were proud of how she played the game!!