May

May was such a busy, but great month. What made it great was finishing finals, but the sad event that occurred was that I can no longer refer to myself as being in my "20's," which makes me feel so much older. More on that later, though! So finals could have not gone better, and then came Mother's Day. When Chris asked me what I wanted to do, truthfully, the last thing I wanted to do was sit through a restaurant wait after church, so I voiced my opinion (I know... such an unusual occurrence), and got my wish of Chipotle at the park. It was so stinking cold that day, but I didn't care, I just really wanted to get my hands on Emilia's new fancy kite!!

Emilia and I both prefer these kind of bouquets to wake up to in the morning! Breakfast is served!

My first time ever flying a kite... Emilia was quite a good teacher!

So what do you do when you are feeling old and sorry for yourself? Eat all this chocolate covered fruit pictured above... check... clean out your closets (every thing feels better when your closets are clean!)... check... sign up for a half marathon... check!

After spending the day cleaning out closets we went out for a yummy dinner at our favorite place... Marina Grogg and Galley

The dessert was almost as sweet as the company!

For Mother's day I actually ordered my own gift... weird I know, but Natalie, a girl I had met, does the most amazing paintings, and was doing them to raise money for the March of Dimes walk, so I could not resist, and actually ended up walking at the MOD walk with her and her daughter, Brynn. So here is a picture of her taking a picture of Emilia to work from. Getting a toddler to hold still can be tricky... had I wanted a sucker in the painting, I have a feeling we would have had no problem, though!

When I was in high school, we actually had, on two different occasions, foreign exchange students living with our family. One of them, Petra, has since returned to her home country of Croatia, gotten married and had three beautiful girls, and became an amazing Christian and a missionary to all who meet her and hear her testimony. Her and her family return to the states every three years and I was so happy to be able to spend some time with them while they were here. Pictured above are her oldest and youngest, Mia and Emili. Dora is her middle one, but her and Emilia were playing and couldn't be bothered with holding still long enough to get a clear photo! :) I wish they lived closer, but am so proud of their dedication to serving the Lord in Croatia.

Last but not least, we spent much time getting the garden ready for this summers crop...

Emilia was quite the little helper in digging the trenches to walk in, and finding the worms for the tomato plants! We have enjoyed some yummy tomatoes, peppers and onions so far this year!

March and April are finally here!

So I know blog updating is long overdue, but it seems like there is never enough time in the day, and then so much time has passed that I think I will never catch up. Since school is starting next week, this is a fact that if I don't catch up now, then I never will, so as I speak, er... type, I am going through photos and will be updating where we have been lately... or at least what I have taken photos of! Emilia's first haircut was long overdue, so in March I took her for her first haircut ever, meaning she has never even had a trim up until this day, and has not since then either...

before

During... I was wondering how they would be able to get kids to hold still for this, but apparently a sucker and TV go a long way!

 

Hudson went with us to first show her how it was done since he is such a big boy and has done this many times!

The damage, okay maybe I am being dramatic... it was only about an inch!

The happy campers sporting their new styles!

My sister, Heather, wanted to run over to the kids store, Justice, afterward, and since they only sell older kiddos clothing, Hudson and Emilia kept me entertained.... needless to say neither one of them knew I was taping them since the camera was just "sitting" on my lap! I have no idea what song Hudson was singing to, but it was hilarious, and he seemed to know it well. Had Emilia not interrupted his impromptu concert, I think people would have been asking for autographs! Kids are so funny!

 So when Hudson's concert was over, Emilia seemed to have felt the music in a different way...

 

It is so hard to dance and play with toys at the same time!

  

 Then at the end of March we took Emilia to Disney on Ice with a few of her cousins. We surprised her that morning with the choice of outfits fit for a princess...

And her choice was of course Cinderella... no surprises there!

The little girls had a ball, and even Chris was a good sport about it! :)

All the excitement left her quite exhausted!

Emilia and I also discovered yet another reason why we LOVE Dean and Deluca...

They have the yummiest cupcakes that taste best when bought for no reason at all. They are almost too beautiful to eat, but we managed without much difficulty!

Then came the Longview Kite festival. I was sad I had to miss it because of work, but Chris and Emilia had a ball, and she even came home with her own real kite.

I love this picture of the two of them!

Finals were rough this spring, but I found that I could take Emilia to a coffee shop with a movie on my laptop and get more done than had I tried it at home. She likes to do anything that "big girls" do, but skipped the coffee for a hot chocolate!

Play dates got me through the stress, though... something about seeing the kiddos use their shoes to paddle through the storm and past the alligators made me think I could easily get through finals... after all, I had textbooks to help, and they were just using size 9 shoes! :) One a side note, Bella totally looks like she is screaming, "MAN OVERBOARD!" According to Emilia... "Baby Bella had her smiles on today!" And I have yet to see her without them on!

Easter morning we had an extra guest, and so we had twice the celebrations with the Easter baskets...

    

My sis, Melissa, had to work, and so Lily stayed the night with us so she could go to church on Easter morning!

They both looked so beautiful in their Easter dresses!

They all loved Aunt Tammy's Easter dinner, egg hunt and chocolate bunnies... especially the chocolate bunnies! :) 

Some funny pics.... Emilia and my Aunt Tammy have quite the funny relationship, and then there is little my little cousin, Andrew, who she thinks is very cool!

The weekend was also quite busy with Hannah's ballet, but a lot of fun!

 Ahhhh... then came more finals........ thank goodness for my little helper!

 

And then of course the celebration picnic in the park....

CHIPOTLE... our fav!!

Then came the March of Dimes walk in April...

I made Emilia her own special shirt...

Here's the front and back... quite fitting I thought! :)

I was really excited to be able to go this year since I no longer work every weekend. It was so amazing to see the little ones I have cared for all grown up like this one...

Emilia was being shy with this little guy, who was one of my NICU favorites, and I was amazed with how big he has gotten!

Even Darth showed up for the walk... to show his support and scare little kids I'm sure!

And my very FAVORITE NICU grad.... I have a right to be partial! :)

And after a long day... a much deserved nap...

Thank you everyone for your support... embarrassing photo to follow! :)