Spring Break

We are now home from Spring Break. Laundry, cooking, and unpacking make us quickly remember why we love vacation so much. We had a wonderful time in Florida at Grayton Beach. It was our 2nd year in a row to go with Brooke's family to stay in a beach house. The weather some days was chilly as seen in the above picture (click on picture to enlarge), however, we did have one day in the upper 70's.

The highlight of our first day was Jonathan loosing his first tooth. He was eating pizza when he noticed his tooth was suddenly missing. Needless to say, his pizza must have been a bit crunchier that evening! What a big boy.

Grace enjoyed being at the beach with the family, but she was not interested in getting any sand on her. She stayed on the beach blanket or in someone's arms, but she did not explore the land as we had anticipated. What a beach beauty.

David could live on the beach 24/7. He can hardly look at video footage or pictures without asking when we are going back. He was much braver this year about standing near the waves, but he still preferred the small inlet of lake water next to the ocean. David is our little fish.

There is a lake next to our beach house that joins the ocean in high tide. It has a small channel of water that heads towards the ocean that the kids love playing in. This picture shows the deeper section in which they pretend to swim. We only had one day warm enough for them to get submerged in the water.

On a cooler day the kids voted for the option of sand burial. This was a hilarious moment on the beach. At one point there were three floating heads on the sand. David needed help digging himself out of the sand. Jonathan and Katherine wanted to nap there.

The Girls

Our good looking daddy.

The whole family enjoys daddy's time off from work. We can't wait until next year's beach trip.

If You're Happy And You Know It...

Grace is often found in our bed in the early morning. Although it would be nice for her to stay in her bed the whole night, I would not be awakened with such a joyful neighbor (not that Jeffrey is grouchy). Grace wakes up by first clapping her hands together and smiling. Before her eyes even open, Grace anticipates another fun filled day of joy. There is something to be said about this kind of attitude towards the day. Nothing is better than a reminder with a precious face!

Girl's Night Out

Girl's night out was a fun time to reconnect with Kelanie and Rachel, two of my best friends from college. I hardly knew what to do without any kids around. I actually ate a meal without having to cram it down my throat while feeding everyone around me. We so enjoyed our "Shekinah" reunion and time together as friends. The week included several family hang times that were filled with drama, dance, and music. The kids loved it.
Check out Kelanie's new CD at: http://kelanie.com

Where have we been?

The last few weeks have been eventful. Jeffrey has had two weekends in a row travelling, which makes life on the homefront very interesting. Thankfully we had the Winter Olympics to watch each evening. Sandwiched between travel, we tried to celebrate my 30th birthday, but with little success due to sickness (Jeffrey caught an awful cold) and family schedule. Therefore, I am still in my 20's! However, I think this weekend celebration is about to occur. Kelanie, my roomate from college, is visiting so Friday night will be girls' night out on the town. A family party will follow sometime later. This is of great interest to the kids because they want to know when we are finally going to eat cake.
Grace is now crawling, but not at high speed. She is content to crawl across the room to explore something of interest and then hang out for awhile before trying somewhere new. The other kids are thrilled and perplexed. Thrilled because she is such a big girl. Perplexed because she thinks she is such a big girl and it is time to play with all the toys she has seen lying around!

We had a snowy day a couple of weekends ago- and yes, Katherine is trying to make a snow angel in our powdery dusted yard. We have not had enough to really play in yet.

Jonathan is busy teaching Grace how to play the bongos. She really enjoys the attention from her big brother.

Having Kelanie here was so helpful at the park yesterday. It was the first day in many months since we have been at a park. Boy are the kids a lot bigger and braver. David has no fear of anything. I don't know if I can keep up with all of them by myself. Needless to say, Kelanie was a big hit and quite exhausted herself.