Grandparent's Day

Friday, April 12, 2013

Today was Grandparent's Day at Bible Center Preschool.  This year Emily's grandparents could not make it to the show, but as luck would have it, Daddy was off so he got to go!  And that meant that he got to tape the whole show for me since I could not go either!

First, the kids did a couple of songs in Spanish to show off their new foreign language skills. Then they recited all of the pledges - to the American flag, to the Christian flag and to the Bible. 


After that, they sung a couple of special grandparent songs. Then they did a very special piece with hand bells ("God is so Good") and Emily got to be one of the hand bell ringers!  They did a great job and Emily rang her bell at just the right times!  Then they closed out the show with a couple more songs including one about gumdrops and candy and, my personal favorite, "You Are My Sunshine"!  It was a great show!  So proud of her!!

Man I wish the backs of these guys heads were not in this picture.

Welcome Nora Nicole!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Uncle Scott and Aunt Karen finally welcomed their brand new baby girl into the world on April 11, 2013 at 9:20pm.  Nora Nicole weighed 6lbs and 13oz and was 18 inches long. She is a tiny little thing, but both Karen and Nora are happy and healthy and Scott is thrilled.

Emily was very excited about Nora's arrival.  We explained that Nora is her new cousin.  Emily is convinced, though, that since Nora is a girl she must be her sister.  After several minutes  debate on this point, we finally agreed Nora could be her cousin/sister.  Cute.  Emily has already offered to share her toys.  I hope they do grow to love each other like sisters.  AND, I should add that I am super excited to have my first niece! 

WELCOME NORA NICOLE!!!

EASTER!

Sunday, March 31, 2013

This year we really got to celebrate Easter two times!  The fun started in Martinsburg when the Easter Bunny left Emily a small basket for Emily.  The fun continued outside when we discovered the Easter Bunny had hidden eggs all over the front yard!  Emily loved running around collecting them.  Turns out the eggs contained Easter goldfish crackers and lots and lots of quarters!  $5 in all!

Emily and Everett on Easter morning!

The fun continued when we headed home (on the plane again) and found that the Easter Bunny had been there too!

The Easter Bunny left a trail of chocolate mini eggs around the house and up the stairs leading Emily on an adventure all the way up to the guest bedroom closet where she found her basket!  Her basket did not disappoint.  The Bunny brought a set of Sofia the First people, a Thumbelina video, a small stuffed bunny jelly beans, a chocolate bunny and much more.  Emily was thrilled with the basket.  Overall she definitely had a GREAT Easter!

Admittedly, I wanted to keep the bunny for myself.

Visit to the Great Grands

Saturday, March 30, 2013

We got up early Saturday morning and headed to out to the farm to see Great Grandma and Granddad Miller.  I love to go there.  It is peaceful for me somehow and Emily loves to go there to see all of Great Grandma's teddy bears.  It makes me smile to see her run around playing with all those bears.  And on this visit, Great Grandma let Emily take one home.  She slept with it that night and has really taken to it.  We were not able to visit longer than a couple hours, but given their advancing age, all visits no matter how short, are precious.  I think these pictures say it all. 

First Flight

Friday, March 29, 2013

After months of discussions (and arguments) we finally took our first flight in Daniel's plane, with Daniel as pilot and we flew up to Martinsburg for Easter weekend.  I must admit the plane was much smaller than I pictured, but I also have to admit that the flight was a little better than I thought it would be too.  Emily LOVED it.  The flight out to Martinsburg only took about an hour but with safety checks and tests and the drives to and from the airports in Charleston and Martinsburg, it still took about 2 and a half hours, but even so, I do have to admit it was better than the five hour car trip. AND we made the trip safely!

Daddy at the controls!

Emily sporting airplane headphones!

Coloring Eggs

Monday, March 25, 2013
Still in the Easter mood, on Monday evening after work we colored Easter eggs!  We ordered pizza and had Jeff, Melissa and baby Jacob over to join the fun.  The kids seemed to have a great time...despite the fact that poor Jeff ended up with brown eggs (error by purchasing agent, Jason).  So let's just say that his eggs were a lovely shades of earth tones.  Emily's white ones produced some great colors, though.  We also got some Jello molds and made some fun Easter Jello jigglers.  It was a pretty fun night overall.

Bunny Brunch 2013

Sunday, March 24, 2013

I have lost count of how many years I have been chairing the Bunny Brunch for the Ronald McDonald House, but I think I might be coming up on 6 years now.  Even Emily has come to expect it and looks forward to "Mommy's Easter Party."

Just as in past years, Bunny Brunch featured a visit from the Easter Bunny (who posed for pictures), arts and crafts for the kids, games, a yummy brunch, a raffle of lots of themed Easter baskets and much more.  It was a great event and lots of fun and we raised a lot of money for a great cause.

All dressed up and ready to go!

We have been having the event at the Charleston Women's Club for many years and it really is the perfect venue!



Beautiful setting!







Great baskets!



Yummy food!

Emily even won a basket!!

Lots of neighborhood kids had fun!

 

Random Fun Times

Despite several illnesses, we still managed to have some fun this month, believe it or not!

Emily got to go see Daddy's airplane!  But, they have not flown together yet!



Nothing as sweet as best friends!

Trip to the mall!

 

Playing school!

And of course we found time for a couple of birthday parties too!  This one was for Mallory Halloway, one of our neighbors, and she had a Sid the Science Kid theme complete with lots of fun science experiments for the kids to try out.  Love the taped up glasses and t-shirt cut to look like a lab coat.

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Luckily, Emily was mostly healthy for St. Patrick's Day!!

March Came in Like a Lion

Well, the lack of posts this month is mostly reflective of the fact that we have spent a good deal of March sick.  The first weekend of the month, I came down with a stomach virus. Yuck!  Daniel was out of town and Emily and I were on our own.  Even yuckier!  But luckily my precious Emily took care of me most of that Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunately, she came down with it the very next day!  Poor EE!

I actually thought it was only a 24 hour type bug, but for me it lasted about 4 days.  For Emily it only lasted about 48 hours.  We thought all was well by the beginning of the second week of March, but no such luck.  I left WV for a conference in Miami and while I was gone, Emily came down with Strep!  Then just 3 days later the stomach virus came back again! 

And then on top of all of that, yesterday she slammed her fingers in the bathroom door at school and has one finger that looks pretty bad.  But, after two doctors (Bonnie and Daniel) examined said finger, it was determined that it was probably not broken. 
It has definitely been a rough month!  Let's hope that April brings a little more health...in addition to the much anticipated spring flowers.