Finishing Off April

School pictures that were really good, but honestly, they take
pictures 3 times a year and I already bought the fall ones!

Been LOVING some fresh strawberries:)

Teaching him to play checkers!

This has become a several night a week occurrence!  Love
this spring weather!

She's been flying through Harry Potter... and loving the spring
weather too!

This kid is a true dare-devil!  Scares me to death!

Ice cream up at North Greenville University after school!
Check out the mountains in the background!

So this is how C entertains himself during S's piano 

lessons... checks to see if I'm watching, checks to see

if piano teacher's daughter behind him is watching, all clear,

then... YES!!

Splurged on a pedicure:)

Gigi sent S this new dress!  It is so pretty on her!  She didn't even
know I was taking this picture, it is not posed!  Natural
beauty!

Team soccer pictures - it's crazy, they take each kid's picture
individually and then PhotoShop them into one team picture!

Random pictures appear when kids get ahold of your phone!

S at her BFF's bday party!  They love each other!

C and Olivia at her pool!  I love that our neighbors have an
awesome pool!

Lazying around:)

Last Soccer Game

This morning was C's last soccer game of the season!  It always goes by so fast!!!  

I had every intention of bringing my nice camera and getting some good pictures, but the kids were rough housing this morning and S took C's head to the nose!  We were concerned that it was broken(and after waiting too long to get C's nose reset when he broke his because the referral was lost in transmission and then they had to put him under and RE-BREAK his nose to fix it, so we weren't taking any chances this time!!!!!) so I spent the first few hours of our Saturday at the doctor's office.  Luckily, it was NOT broken!  But, in the rush to get out, I forgot my camera and also didn't get to the game until half time, so this is all I got!  

The boys had a great game and won so it was a good way to end the season.  Not that anyone is keeping score(cough, cough!), their record for the season was 5-2-1.  Not too bad!

The little boy on the opposing team, Andrew, has been on our
basketball team the past two years so it is always fun
competition to play against friends!

Reading All Stars Baseball Game

The school system teams up with the Greenville Drive baseball each year to sponsor a Reading All Stars night which includes a lap around the field, tshirt, free book of the child's choice and a ticket to the game.  Tonight was threatened by the weather, but it turned out to to be chilly(this was the first time I have EVER been COLD at a game, usually I am sweating buckets!!) but dry evening to enjoy a baseball game!  You don't have to ask me twice to go to a game!  Since the boys had karate, it was just me and S and we could have stayed all night, but because it was a late game on a school night we stayed for 4 innings and then caught the trolley back to our car!  We loved it!!

We found Grace before the pre-game lap.

Parents were not allowed to walk with them, so I was able to be
in the stands taking pictures:)

I didn't realize when I bought the tickets over the phone that
we were front row!! I picked them up at will call and was very
excited!!  I don't think I've ever sat in the front row either!  If
I known, I would have brought a glove because I was a bit anxious
about the possibility of a foul ball coming our way!

We also found Sara(from dance the past couple of years at the old
studio) who came and sat with us!:)

Ballet - Swan Lake, Act III

S's ballet studio had a performance tonight at the Peace Center and the girls wanted to go watch!  We made it a girls' night out with a dinner at Tupelo Honey and a lovely ballet, even I thought it was really good and I don't usually love ballets(unless my kid is in it of course!!!)!  

Earth Day - Soccer Game, Flowers and Gardening

We spent a lot of time outside today!  And enjoyed it to the fullest! 

This kick was an awesome one!

We got the garden planted... although it was pretty windy and
I'm concerned that we didn't do a perfect job of keeping them in
little hands... carrots may be growing in the middle of the yard!

Done!  Tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, okra, zucchini, squash,
cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe, broccoli(that was already planted
from earlier in the spring)

Planted some flowers in the yard for the first time since
we've moved into this house!

Screened porch greenery

About a month ago we got some new, amazing chairs for the front
porch so I had to put a little something out there as well!

School Dance

Oh how do I get roped into doing these things?!?!?  I'm just lucky I guess!  LOL!!!

The school dance was this afternoon for 3rd-5th grades.  S was excited about it, and C and I were just there to endure!  But, at the end, we all had a lot of fun and watching the kids enjoy themselves so much is worth every loud, crazy moment of the day!!

Glad that I was at least able to have a friend to sell candy with me:)

S and Kiersten including C in their dancing fun!  S was so sweet to
her brother today:)

Conga line!

Check out all that insanity!

State House Art

S was honored today by SC House Representative Mike Burns for her artwork that was chosen out of all the third graders' work to be hung in his office at the state house in Columbia for the next 12 months!  I had to sign a waiver earlier in the week to allow it to be hung, so I was given a heads up that it was happening and and made a point to be present.  But I didn't tell her!  

What a happy and very surprising moment for her!!

Arbor Day

Several weeks ago S brought home a flyer about an Arbor Day contest.  I honestly did not think anything about it, but a few days later she was asking about it again!  She was determined to enter this contest so I got her a poster board and supplied the glue gun, but she did the rest completely by herself.  She completed the project and proudly submitted her entry!  Then, out of the blue, we got an invitation home that she'd won 3rd place in the county for her poster!  What!?!?!  She was super excited and could hardly wait for the celebration!

After school today, we went to the Kilgore Lewis House(this place was beautiful and the weather was beautiful!!!!!) to honor our little Arbor Day artist!  The Greenville City Council treated these kids so well, with a ceremony, presentation of awards, their very own black cherry tree(apparently this is the state tree... did not know this!) and a reception with a full spread!  

C was chosen to help with a presentation of all the
things that trees are used to make!

A Few Extras from Spring Break

We had a date night cooking class!  It was SO.MUCH.FUN!!

Then we took a walk around downtown Greer!

The weather was amazing!

At 7:45am on Monday of Spring Break, we had to be all the way
across town at S's annual eye appt!  When I scheduled it last year, I did NOT
realize that it was Spring Break.  By the time I did figure it out, it
just wasn't worth rescheduling because this is a doctor that it takes
like 6 months to get into to see.  And, her vision was 20/20 and we will
be back again next year(I did check to make sure next when I was scheduling next
year's appt that it does not fall during Spring Break!!).

When we got home from Virginia on Sunday night, we
were surprised to find that the Easter Bunny had not
forgotten us!

S waited very patiently during our trip until we got home
to get into her new quill/ink kit!  Thank goodness because
that was a seriously messy task to make!

First time at Dillard's this year - and with some of our friends!

We should have gotten an after picture!  That ice cream was
EVERYWHERE by the time the 4 of them finished!!