Butterfly Pavillion

Anna received a butterfly pavillion for her birthday. This is basically a net pop-up type home for butterflies. The gift comes with a coupon to send off for 10 caterpillars that we can then watch transform into butterflies. The girls loved watching the various stages and at the end were sad to let the butterfiles go. They definitely want to do this again and I think it is an awesome science lesson!

anna the morning that the butterflies started to emerge from their cocoons
our first butterfly!
one butterfly and several others in waiting
release day....girls were excited but sad too
caroline was a little nervous having one on her hand but then thought it was awesome!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day....a day I have often stressed out about trying to plan for others. I've tried to tell myself that it really is not that important to worry about but still I think that is just part of my nature. This year was one of the first years in my memory that I did not see my mom on Mother's Day. She was in Dallas keeping my nephews Blake and Drew for a week while my brother and his wife were in London. I did feel sorry for her being by herself. My brother and I both sent her flowers and we celebrated with mom at our house before she left, but still not the same!! Dad invited all the kids that were in town to dine at the hotel on the campus of U of M for Mother's Day. We had a great lunch, enjoyed the company and had a great day. The weather was a little cool, but overall a nice day. The girls were great (Caroline kept thinking it was my birthday) and let me chill out for the afternoon. I was very appreciative!! I enjoyed the nice flowers, cards and my best present was a new color printer/scanner for our office at home. This may sound dorky, but Gary and I have had the same printer (no scanner) for the entire time we have been married....yes, 12 years. It has served us well, but it is time to upgrade seriously. I think Gary is also tired of hearing me complain about being downstairs on my laptop and not being able to print wirelessly. He solved all the problems. Yay!! Maybe now I can scan in old pictures onto facebook and embarrass my life-long friends!!! Happy Mother's Day!!!

the girls posing ever so sweetly with me before church

Harding LOVES their Parents!!

Today was parent appreciation day at Caroline's school. It was nice to have a joint day to recognize both the mothers and father, especially since father's day is after the school year is over. Caroline was excited for us to share breakfast with her and the spread was very nice. She worked hard on our gift and was happy to give it to us in her classroom. Of course, she thought it was a Christmas ornament which really made me laugh. So sweet and I am so thankful for the school where our kids attend as they really do love the parents!

caroline is so sweet!!
loved our gift...not sure it will work as a Christmas ornament as Caroline thinks it should, but still such a cute gift!

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!!