RT Family Picnic

Every year, RT does a family picnic and it is something we all look forward to each spring.  This year it was a carnival themed day and so much fun!  There were carnival games, food trucks, rock climbing, trampoline bouncing, cotton candy, inflatables, and more. :-)

The first thing the girls hopped in line for was the trampoline bouncing.  They were harnessed in and attached to these giant bungee cords that basically helps them to jump super high!

 They both loved it and I though for sure Hudson would want a turn, but after waiting in line with the girls he changed his mind.

What he did love were all of the carnival games and the prizes he won.  My purse kept getting more and more full with all of his goodies.

And after eating some delicious food truck lunches, they were back at it again.  This time they pulled out the big guns and were all determined to win a stuffed animal.  Daddy might have had to help pull this off, but they were all so happy!

And, don't let them holding those animals fool you.  Y'all can guess who ended up like a pack mule by the end of the day...ME!!!  

Before heading out they got to try the jousting, which was pretty entertaining for all of us watching.

 It was a great day of fun, friends, and family and Hudson is already asking when we can go back!

Happy Birthday Harper!!!

Harper turned 6 years old today.  I can hardly believe that she is six!!!  In my head I still see her as a chubby little 2 year old walking around with a head full of curls sucking her thumb.  Instead, she has grown into a beautiful little girl that we all just adore.

She is smart, sensitive, sassy and has lots of spunk.  Someone once told me that the middle child is like Oreo filling...the sweet stuff in the middle that holds it all together and that couldn't be more true of our sweet girl.

We celebrated all day long and her real party will be next weekend with friends.  This morning was so cute because Handley had asked me last night what time Harper was born.  She wanted to do a countdown to the actual moment that Harper would be turning 6 and that is just what she did.

We started the day with a candle in her Poptart, because that is exactly what she wanted. :-)

Just before lunchtime we picked up her best friend from her class and went to Chick-fil-a before heading to Harper's outing of choice, Skyzone.

It is an indoor trampoline park and the kids all had so much fun.  I was a little worried it would be too crowded since it is spring break and today was a rainy day, but they do a great job of keeping everyone safe, separated by ages, and still having lots of fun.

After jumping and flipping their little hearts out we had some downtime at home while we waited for Robby to get here.  Then we went to dinner at Harper's choice, Moxie Burger, before coming home to let her open up her gifts.  She had a great day, had lots of calls and birthday wishes, and feels so big to have to use two hands to show her age!

At 6 years old Harper:

• loves to play school.  
• practices writing and her math facts all on her own because she enjoys it so much. 
• can be a bit of a klutz and is constantly running everywhere she goes. 
• enjoys soccer and the constant movement it provides. 
• has fun at tumbling and loves flipping around. 
• is very indecisive and takes forever to make up her mind. 
• still sucks her thumb and I have tried everyone to get her to give it up. 
• is very sensitive and gets her feelings hurt very easily. 
• hates having her hair fixed and prefers it to be wild.  
• still requires a lot of sleep and although she doesn't nap, she falls asleep the second her head hits the pillow. 
• is my snuggler and loves to cuddle and sit in my lap. 
• adores talking on the phone to anyone that will talk to her. 
• doesn't really enjoy watching television that much. 
• loves school, loves her teachers, and loves learning. 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!!  We had a wonderful day yesterday.  The kids were up early to check out their Easter baskets so we went ahead and got ready to go to the early service at church.  It was a beautiful morning and a beautiful service.  

I bribed the kids with a little more candy so they would pose for a few more pictures.  :-)

Then we went to Gigi and Papa's house for their egg hunt, which is always tons of fun.  The bunny goes all out there and they have the best time running around finding eggs.

Their favorite eggs are the ones that are golden or glittered because they know what is inside...$!

 We were all so excited to have Rylan and Heather there with us for the day.  The kids all get along so well and just love playing with their cousin.  Since they are moving back to Colorado after the school year ends, this might be the last time they hunt eggs together.

Gigi had some fun toys for the kids to play with and they spent hours outside having fun and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Egg Hunts

My kids love egg hunts and this year they got to do a few.  On Friday morning, Hudson's class had their class party and egg hunt. I was lucky enough to be one of the party moms so I got to see all of the cuteness.

Then on Saturday morning we went to the egg hunt at our church. It was pretty chilly and it had rained the night before so everything was wet and muddy, but they didn't seem to mind and still had lots of fun.

The Easter Bunny was also there...

And also a petting zoo with lots of fun and interesting animals. 

 We spent the rest of the day seeing Cinderella, playing outside, and having dinner at our favorite spot, Moxie Burger.  Then everyone went to bed early to get ready for the Easter Bunny's visit and Easter Sunday the next day!

2nd Grade Musical

Tonight was the 2nd grade patriotic musical at school.  Handley's class, along with the other 9 2nd grade classes, have been practicing for this for a few months.  They've been learning songs, learning their lines, and gearing up for the big night.

After dance today we did a quick change, ran through Chick-fil-a for dinner for the kids, and then made our way to the school.  I though we were early (30 minutes ahead of the start of the show) and I still had a seat WAY in the back of the cafeteria. That's OK though because when it was time for her class to come up and say their lines the people behind us didn't mind us standing to get a better view.  

She did great and they all sang their little hearts out.  I loved seeing all of the red, white, and blue and it made me super excited for summertime and the 4th of July.

Weekend Update

Our Friday started off so sweetly!  At pre-school the three's were doing a "spring sing" and we got to hear our boy sing in the big church.  I kept asking him what songs he was going to be singing and he couldn't ever tell me.  I wasn't quite sure how this would all go down.  All the kiddos did so well and I was super proud of Hudson.

He was so happy to find us in the crowd and although he might not have sang all of the songs, he stood up there, smiled and waved to us every chance he got.  Here he is walking of the stage and still waving!  

He was so happy to have Robby and I both there to see him sing and felt so proud of himself for doing a great job.  

When we got home that afternoon he and I stayed outside to play and enjoy the sunshine before going to pick up the girls from he bus stop.

On Saturday, Gigi and Papa came to watch Harper's soccer game with us and then stayed for dinner.  Harper did great, ran fast, and even got to play goalie for the first time this season.  She had a lot of fun and loved having fans cheering for her.  

This morning the girls enjoyed waving palm branches in "big church" for Palm Sunday.  They looked so sweet and I am so happy we are involved with a church that does so much to include children.

We spent the rest of the day playing outside, enjoying our new swingset, having a playdate with neighbors and ending the evening with scores over the campfire.  It was a wonderful weekend and we are excited about just one more week of school before Spring Break!!!

Orlando - Day 4 {Disney World}

On our final day in Orlando all I wanted to do was sleep.  Seriously!  Disney is exhausting, but knowing this was our last day I really wanted to make the most of it, so we were up and ready to go bright and early.  We had to go ahead and check out of our room so we quickly got packed up, had the hotel hold our bags, grabbed a quick breakfast, and again rode the shuttle to the Magic Kingdom.  

Very early on we tried to ride a lot of the rides in Fantasy Land before it got crowded and we succeeded.  We rode the Tea Cups (twice)...

...then Dumbo...

...then Barnstormer (twice)...

...and finally the classic carousel.  

Around this time we were scheduled for our first Fast Pass and we made our way to ride Ariel's Undersea Adventure.  The kids liked it, but they all kept asking when it was going to go fast. Ha!  They all love the speedy rides best.

After the ride we stopped in a few gift shops to let the kids look for a souvenir.  We had told them they could each pick one thing. Hudson actually picked his with no trouble the day before.  He wanted a Buzz Lightyear "grabber" as he calls it.  It looks like the things you pick up trash with so you don't have to actually bend over to pick it up.  In fact, I saw the people working at Disney using something very similar to pick up trash.  I have no clue why he wanted it, but he did so we let him have it.

Handley settled on a pair of earrings that had her birthstone and a princess pen...both great choices in my book.

And then there is Harper.  This girl cannot make a decision to save her life.  And it isn't just about which souvenir to pick.  She is this way with EVERYTHING.  What shoes to wear, how to wear her hair, what book she wants to read at night, what snack to take for school.  She will hem and haw over the simplest decisions for worry that she will make the wrong choice.  We went back and forth between 2 gift shops at least 4 times before we finally forced her to pick.  And you want to know what she settled on...a Frozen coffee mug.  Yep, all of that for a coffee mug.  :-) Whatever.  She was happy and has proudly sipped her hot chocolate from it at home.  Part of her back and forth paid off though because one of the employees at the store saw and he sprinkled magic fairy dust on her hair.

Around this time everyone was needing a break and I was happy to learn earlier in the day that the parade that is usually at 3 PM would also be happening at noon that day, which meant we would get to see it!  This is one of my favorite things about Magic Kingdom.  We found a shady spot, parked ourselves and the stroller, and waited for about 30 minutes for it to begin. Robby went off to find us some lunch and the kids were content to just sit and relax for a little while.  We ate in the shade and then it was time for the parade!  It was fun seeing all of our favorite characters sing and dance on amazing floats.  

Of course the girls loved the princesses and Tinkerbell best, but Hudson loved Captain Hook and this dragon.

And no parade at Magic Kingdom would be complete without Mickey and Minnie!  

After the parade we split up and took advantage of some more Fast Passes.  The boys went to visit Mickey...

While the girls said a quick hello to Rapunzel and Cinderella.  

After meeting back up we did one more switchero.  The girls went with Robby to ride Space Mountian, which was their absolute favorite ride of the entire trip.  While they were off doing that I took Hudson back to his favorite ride, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and then finally it was time to head out.  We got frozen lemonade on our way out of the park and sat together to eat it while we waited on our shuttle.  While we were sitting there recapping our trip, Harper said she hopped she wasn't dreaming.  I asked her why and she said because she'd just had the best time and hoped it all really happened.  That was the sweetest possible thing we could have heard and the best way to end our trip.

For memory's sake, we'll just pretend that is when the trip ended and forget about the long security lines, rushing through the airport, dealing with a very tired and very cranky 3 year old who didn't want to ride in the stroller, me swearing we will never all bring carry-on luggage again, and the exhaustion we all were feeling when the "magic" of Disney had worn off.  I'm going to let all of that just slip out of my mind and remember ending on the good note.

Seriously though, it was an amazing trip, the kids were as well behaved as they could be (considering one of them was 3 years old) and I know we all made memories as a family that we will be talking about for years to come.  And that, my friends, is what matters most!