Have you filled your bucket??

Each Friday, Anna's school has a student-led chapel service. The older grades have had many turns at this throughout the school year, leaving the final few weeks of the year for the young first graders. Anna's class has been practicing for a while. Their theme was "Filling your bucket". The premise was that you should encourage each other and be positive throughout the day which not only fills up your own bucket but that of others as well and when you are hurtful and unkind you deplete your own bucket and that of others. It was a very sweet message. Each student had a speaking part and did a great job. After the short skit they led the whole school in a scripture verse and a song. Overall it was so sweet and I was glad to see so many parents there to support the kids.

all lined up waiting for their speaking parts

anna did a great job of memorizing her part

caroline came along to support anna and loved it

anna with her sweet teacher, mrs. brown

Field Day

Harding Academy has field day each spring. What's great is that they split it up between grades 1-3 and grades 4-6. Anna's class was so excited about all the fun games that had been set up for them. Luckily the huge rain storm (that later spawned tornados and much damage) waited until later that night and we had a great day. Anna's class sported pink and purple hats with their read-a-thon shirts. Because of my occupation, I was nominated to be the offical scorekeeper for the class. Good thing they gave me a calculator because some of the points were complicated to tally!! In the end, their class did not make the final two, but were so gracious to cheer for one of the other first grade classes that did and took the ultimate championship! What sportmanship indeed.

anna doing her best at one of the games
anna and her good buddy cody

Caroline's Spring Program

The early childhood spring program was today for Caroline and she was so cute. We were surprised when we reviewed the program handed to us when we entered that she and her friend Mya were slated to say the Pledge of Allegiance. The girls went up to the microphone and did recite it. Mya was a little easier to hear than Caroline but they were cute. Caroline's class sang several songs and she actually did participate this time. There were songs in Spanish and overall a great end to the year for the 2 year-old classes. Next year is graduation.......but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet!!

mya and caroline reciting the pledge of allegiance

mimi and papa celebrating with caroline
gramma and grampa excited to see caroline after the big show

the big sisters were there to support the little ones

A-Day!!

Gary and I thought it would be fun to take the girls to the Spring football game in Auburn this year since we did not make it to any football games last fall. We had so much fun. We drove down and stayed in Auburn on Friday night. The girls had not been to Auburn in a while and were definitely excited about what they thought they might get to do and see. They were up bright and early on Saturday morning all decked out in their cheerleader outfits. We headed over to the Fan Fest which was set up on the practice fields (which look identical to the real field in Jordan Hare Stadium) and let the kids play. We happen to be in line to enter behind Gary's college roommate from his fraternity, Skip Greene, who also was in our wedding. We have not seen him in forever and were able to catch up with his wife and two adorable kids. The kids got their faces painted, jumped in the moonbounce, played games, threw the football on the field, posed for a picture with the dance team and so much more! We headed over for the game and the stadium was PACKED. It was unbelievable. Crowds really don't freak us out around Auburn because we are used to the stadium being full and there being just as many people outside the stadium as there are on the inside. Turns out it was a record for attendance at the spring game....63,000 people endured the high temps to get a glimpse of what they will see in the fall. It blew me away also that ESPN was broadcasting the game!!

One thing I found odd was that EVERYTHING at the concession stand cost $4.00. You want a drink, $4.00. You want some skittles, $4.00. You want a hot dog, $4.00. I guess they made a lot of money off the huge crowd who paid $5.00 to get in that day.

After the game, those who wanted autographs got to go down on the field and see the coaches, players, cheerleaders and mascot. Luckily, we have girls and got away with a few cheerleader pics and one with Aubie. The line to get Coach Chizik's autograph was from one end zone to the other!!

Overall, very successful trip to Auburn. We capped off the day with dinner at Niffer's Place, which we found out is approaching its 20th anniversary in Auburn. We loved that place in college and glad to hear it is still doing well today.

Looking forward to catching a game or two this fall hopefully on the plains of Auburn! Until then, War Eagle!

the eager cheerleaders are up early and ready to go!!

hanging out at fanfest

the girls with two of the cheerleaders after the game

an elusive pic with aubie...his "handlers" were none too thrilled that the girls climbed under the autograph table to meet him!!

Anna is 7!!

Anna turned 7 today and had her birthday party as well. She woke up bright and early at 6:30 am and wanted to open presents! Gary's mom came in town last night and so we all gathered around.....she was thrilled. She got a new digital camera from us as well as some other things and of course there were silly bandz everywhere!! (Why didn't I think of those??) She and Caroline had a countdown all day until the party. It was a blast! We had it at Crossfire Commandos inside Dulin's Sports Academy. The kids loved it as they jumped in the foam pit, sailed on the zipline and competed in an obstacle course. I think the kids were definitely worn out!!

Anna is wrapping up first grade and is such a sweet girl. She's very tall for her class and is a great ballerina, soccer player, speller, reader and is a great sister, daughter, granddaughter and cousin!!

Can't believe she is seven!! Where has the time gone??

a very excited 7 year old is ready for the big day!!

showing off her age and her silly bandz!

taking a break from the action for a pose with mommy

caroilne is all suited up for the zip line

our crazy family, including ally looking on!

Happy Easter!

We had a busy Easter weekend with lots of family in town and it was FUN! I already posted some pics from the zoo and the egg hunt. Saturday night we enjoyed NCAA tournament action as West Virginia took on Duke. My stepmother Julie hails from West Virginia and my brother in law is an alumni of Duke so we had an interesting dynamic.

Sunday morning was fun for all of us. The girls awoke to their stocked baskets and searched for eggs. We had eggs hidden inside...real eggs...do people do that anymore?? We always had that in our house growing up and Mom was awesome at remembering where they all were....did not want to forget where one was and find it 2 months later!! Ally would definitely enjoyed the dyed delicacy but that would gross me out. Anna found most of the eggs and we steered Caroline in the right direction.

James & Lydia and their boys and Mom and Dan joined us for church. We took some pics...hard to get everyone to a) look at the camera and b) smile and c) not get distracted. We did our best.

After church Gary and I hosted all for a yummy lunch then had some fun with the Wii. The kids are getting pretty good at some of the games and you can tell James and Lydia's kids enjoy theirs at home too!

Overall, great Easter...oh, almost forgot...made it through Lent without cheating!! I gave up sweets and french fries and it was tough. I was thrilled to indulge a bit and to remember the sacrifices Jesus made for us and how my sacrifices paled in comparison!!

anna was proud of her finds!

the cousins havng fun before church


the zyrieks

rare couple shot....

sweet sisters all dressed up

Easter Eggstravaganza

We had a HUGE crowd at the Hope Easter Eggstravaganza. A little thunderstorm overnight did not stop anyone from enjoying the big morning. We had both sides of my family in attendance and almost (we missed you Benjamin!) all of the cousins there to enjoy the festivities. We had egg hunts, face painting, games, and many more things to enjoy. The weather was perfect as long as we did not mind muddy shoes!!

anna showing off her eggs!

mimi with the girls post facepaint and balloon animals in tow

matt with henry....a natural at the football toss!!

the perrys, pittmans and zyrieks with the kids showing all their eggs!

anna (6 1/2), benjamin (7 months), madeline & estella (4 1/2), henry (2 1/2), caroline (3 1/2), blake (5 1/2) & drew (3 1/2)....all in the same place at the same time!!

Good Friday @ the Zoo

My brother James and his family were in town for Easter weekend. The girls were very excited to have their cousins in town and we were all excited for a fun family weekend. We decided to load up and head to the zoo on Good Friday. It was a gorgeous day and the day was perfect. The kids had a great time and so did all the adults. Mimi was brave to take all 4 of her grandkids but they were great!

caroline, drew, blake and anna are ready for the zoo!

loving the buddha on the way to see the pandas

blake and anna on the cool carousel near the pandas