Grace's 1st Birthday

My good friend, Cynetta, had an adorable first birthday party for her sweet baby Grace! So hard to believe she is ONE!! Happy Birthday, Grace!

Diggin' into her smash cake! She devoured it!

Aunt Rita

My dad's sister, Rita, is in town from Colorado. She is helping my grandma pack for her upcoming move to a retirement community. If you think of it, could you please pray for my grandma? This is quite a transition for her (and all of us really). I feel so sad for her as she'll be leaving behind many memories of my grandpa. It will be hard for all of us to say goodbye to the home that my grandparents shared and where my grandfather passed. I will keep the blog updated on her move!

King's Island

The girls and I packed up our stuff and headed south for our annual (or sometimes bi-annual) trip to King's Island! We met up with Uncle Scott, Aunt Heather and the kids. It was a beautiful breezy day and since school was still in session, it was not busy at all! In fact, on many of the rides they would just let the girls stay on for another ride! What a fun day... we were there from the time the park opened at 1o and practically stayed until they closed at 8! We were all exhausted, but had a BLAST!

So excited!

The big girls on the small roller coaster! Claire and Anna both said their favorite ride was the "big" roller coaster! I even enjoyed that ride!

Claire, Catherine and Caroline with Charlie Brown (Anna was terrified of the "puppet"!).

Spencer's first ride at King's Island! So cute!

Another favorite!

They loved playing in the water!

Memorial Day Party

We had a Memorial Day family party at Uncle Shawn & Aunt Kristen's house. The kids enjoyed swimming and the adults enjoyed chatting and eating!!

Swimming with cousins is the BEST!

We also got to meet Shawn & Kristen's newest family members, Aggie the Cocker Spaniel and Calico the kitten! So ADORABLE!!

We are so excited that Claire is now swimming! We worked a lot on it when we were on vacation last week. Way to go Claire!

She always makes me laugh!

Sweet girls!

Last Day of School

Claire's last day of preschool was today! Wow... what a quick school year! Claire had a great year and really grew to love her teachers. Ben and I are so thankful for those two Christian ladies who truly invested their time, energy and love into our sweet girl. It was a blessing to see Claire become one of the leaders in her class and according to her teachers, she was their "saving grace". We pray that she continues to be a strong leader and a good example to other children!

Vacation FUN!

Does it get any better!?!

Cubbies Award Ceremony

So hard to believe that the AWANA year is over! Claire participated in her second year of Cubbies. She really enjoys everything about Cubbies and does a great job memorizing her Bible verse every week. We pray that she will hide God's word in her heart. There is nothing more important!

Claire and I were apart of the Elephants group!

Two cute Cubbies!

Next year all four of these girls will be in Cubbies!

Singing the Cubbies song! It's hard to tell, but we had almost FIFTY clubbers this year!

Claire getting her award!

Bounce U

The girls have so much fun at Bounce U and ask to go often. Since it was rainy and cold, we decided to head there with some of our friends from church! Fun times!!!

I think it's cute that they like to go down the big slide in the same sack!

Anna & William taking a quick break from bouncing!

So proud of Claire... she's mastered this huge climbing net!

Once you get to the very top, you get to go down the slide! She must've gone up eight times!!

So funny! I love how Elliott is holding Anna's hand and explaining air hockey to her!

A little air hockey, anyone?!?!

Fountain Fun

We have been impatiently awaiting the arrival of the warmer temperatures and though we weren't expecting them so soon and to be so warm... we will GLADLY take it! We are an outdoors family for sure. I can only take being couped up inside for so long. So, now begins our fabulous days spent soaking up the sun, swinging, taking walks, swimming and enjoying the great outdoors!!!

We live about two minutes from these fun water fountains, so you'll find us here at least once a week in the summer!

We love all the free activities! This day they had balloon animals and face painting!

Anna with her kitty balloon and ice cream cone face painting!

Another fun day at the fountains... can't get enough of the water and warmth!

Ahhh, summer! We LOVE you!!!

Art Show

The girls and I went to the Beavercreek District Art Show to see our neighbor Ally, who is an art teacher at Beavercreek High. The girls adore Ally (and her husband Matt and their dogs Belle & Chloe!). It was fun to see the artwork of Ally's students and we even got a tour of her classroom!

Miss Ally and the girls in front of one her art exhibits.

There were several art stations for the kids to do various arts and crafts!

Lunch with Grandma

We had a beautiful day to spend with Grandma McDowell! The girls played outside while I enjoyed chatting with my Grandma. Wonderful!!!

Spring '11

Some sweet spring photos of the girls!!!