Picnic at the Park

We have been park rats recently. Any opportunity to go to the park and we GO. Truly! I have been soooooo sick of being stuck in the house the last several months. It has been a much needed break and we love enjoying the beautiful weather! Today we went to a nearby park and had a play date with some of our friends. Deanna & I brought food for a picnic and that was a real treat! My friend Jenny also came with her two youngest boys, Rowan & Beckett. Her daughter Lane is in the first grade and was at school. I took care of Lane 7 years ago in the NICU. She was a 28 weeker and I was her "primary" nurse. Needless to say, during the close to 3 months she was there, I became really good friends with her mommy & daddy! It's so nice that we have kept our friendship all these years!
It was a a fun day at the park!!

Swinging is sooooo much fun!

Our picnic lunch!

Olivia, Claire, Anna & Landon swinging!

I love the cheesy smiles on Landon & Claire!


Rowan & Beckett playing on the slide! Such sweet, sweet boys!


Miss Independent! She did NOT want my help at all!

Jenny & Deanna hanging out with some of the kiddos!

Walking down the slide. My daredevil. I'm not use to this and I'm not so sure I like it either! She scares me to death!

I was so proud of Claire. This is the first time she actually played at the park. Normally all she wants to do is swing.

Rowan, Claire & Landon on the swings! Claire & Landon spent most of their swing time on their bellies!

Kite Expo

Okay, so I think we may be full fledged kite geeks! We have really gotten into the kite thing. It's a great family activity and Claire & Anna both seem to really enjoy it!
Over the weekend we went to the Air Force Museum for a kite expo! We had a fun time and also enjoyed seeing all the airplanes as well!Claire doing a puzzle while we waited for story time to start!

Story time was all about kites!

They even had a craft after reading the kite books. The kids made a wind sock!

Anna coloring her wind sock!

Claire had so much fun flying the indoor kites! A sweet volunteer helped her!

She really started to get the hang of it!

We walked around the flight exhibits afterwards.

Grammy & Papa posing with the girls in front of the Raptor, which is the plane that Uncle Brad works on at Lockheed-Martin in Atlanta!

Claire had a great time touring the planes!

Grammy & Papa with their girls!

1 Year Anniversary

Last March my Grandma had us over to give Anna the quilt she made for her. That was the start of the tradition of our monthly lunch date. We haven't missed a month since then! We love our time with my Grandma! I know it's hard for her to come to our house, so we go over to see her. Our menu has stayed the same month to month. We have chicken pot pies, Coke and a dessert. She makes Mac-N-Cheese and applesauce for the girls. We try to stay about three hours just hanging out with her and talking. I truly enjoy my time with her. She has such amazing wisdom and is a Godly woman. I think it's so imporatnt that my girls are exposed to their great grandparents as much as possible. We also make frequent visits over to my other grandparents house as well! They all have done so much for me that I feel like sharing my girls with them is just a small way to say "thank you"! I wouldn't trade our time with them for anything in the world! PRICELESS! Great Grandma McDowell with Claire & Anna.

March 2009 So sweet how Claire is looking up at Grandma with such adoration. The girls really love her!

The day Anna received her handmade quilt from Great Grandma McDowell (March 2008)! We LOVE the quilts she's made for the girls! Such a sentimental gift!!! I love that I was able to get monthly pictures of the girls on their quilts!

A couple more pictures from last March!

We love our great grandparent time!

Big Girl Anna's Birthday!

On Thursday we went over to "Big Girl Anna's" house for her birthday playdate! It was fun to celebrate Anna's third birthday and to be with our friends! Anna's birthday is at the end of January, but due to a lot of sickness, Brittney wasn't able to get everyone together until last week. It didn't matter... we had a great time nonetheless! HAPPY 3rd Birthday, ANNA!!!

The kids played so well together! The mommies all commented on the lack of meltdowns at the party!

Claire wearing her "Big Sister" shirt and Anna with her "Little Sister" shirt! The rhinestones don't show up great in the pic!!

I am so glad I captured this picture of Joshua & Claire playing salon! Joshua is curling Claire's hair while she is blow drying! This vanity was a huge hit with the kids!! I can't wait to put Claire's together (just need to find room for it!!).

The babies... Grant, Benjamin & Olivia. Kinda sad that Anna is no longer in the baby club! She's a big girl now!!

The birthday girl! Anna is really such a sweet, sweet girl! Claire really enjoys playing with her!

Anna found big girl Anna's rocking horse! Go Horsey Go!!

Landon, Noah & Claire enjoying their pizza and lemonade!

Anna liked the pizza & lemonade too!

My smiley girl loved playing with all the big kids!

Snowmen was the theme of the party and Brittney had an adorable snowman craft that the kids really enjoyed eating, I mean doing! It involved lots of marshmallows and candy!

The kids posing with the finished craft... cupcakes with the snowmen! It was too cute! L to R: Noah, Joshua, Landon, Claire & Anna

Anna blowing out her candles!

Anna

I found the dress that Anna wore for her newborn pictures in a larger size and she wore it last week to church! I thought it would be fun to see how big she has gotten in a little over a year! My girl sure has grown a lot!

Anna at 3 weeks of age.

January 2008

I love these two pictures of my girls in their matching dresses (different colors of the same dress, I should say!!)


Anna 14 months later! So appropriate that she's doing her "So BIG" motion! She is so big!

Anna puts her hands over her mouth when she giggles! Such a silly girl!!!

Looking at her pretty dress!!

Go Fly a Kite!

Since it was such an absolutely beautiful day on Saturday, we decided to go to the park after we left my parents house. Grammy & Papa met us there and brought their kites. It was a windy day so it made kite flying a lot of fun! I think kite flying is going to be our new hobby... we had a blast!

Claire chasing the kite!

Anna loved running around in the open field!

Grammy & Papa with their little kite flyers!

The highlight for Claire was actually holding the kite handle all by herself. She is still talking about flying the kite!

Look how high Claire got her kite! She's a pro!

Wow!! Good job Claire!

Claire trying to get Daddy's kite!

I think Ben had as much fun as the girls! Kite flying is a family sport!

Of course we can't make a trip to the park without playing on the playground equipment!

Anna & Papa crossing the bridge!

Gotta love the swings!