Beach Time

The family went to the beach for the weekend. It was a much needed mini-vacation. We loaded up our stuff Friday and headed for the ocean blue. A friend of ours let us borrow her beach house. It was a beautiful Saturday. The hubby and Caroline went bodyboarding while Abby and I sat in our chairs just relaxing. Mattie isn't a huge fan of the sand so she was content to just sit in her sand free wagon. She took a nice long nap which gave me lots of time to myself. Of course, I forgot the camera so the only pictures are the ones on my phone. I'll be sure to take the camera on our next trip. I'm hoping to take some day trips this summer since it took us less than two hours to get there. And since we went to the beach this weekend, I won't have to worry about trying to fight the crowds next weekend.

Back from a Looonnnng Break

I've taken a break from the blogging world. I've actually taken a break from a lot of things. I am hoping to get back to blogging on a more regular basis very soon. With school coming to a close, I will have a little more time to keep up with blogging and some other projects that have been neglected as well. Here is a quick update with no pictures. That is something I have neglected to do also. Take pictures. I haven't picked up my camera in over a month. I'll get it together soon I hope!

Mattie:
She continues to keep all of us grounded. Her contagious smiles and happy outlook on everything really helps to put prospective in life. She is still into everything. Climbing and making a mess is her number one source of entertainment. Forget the toys, she'd rather have the stuff that is off limits. I have found her on numerous occasions in the pantry with entire boxes of cereal and spaghetti noodles surrounding her on the floor. I keep asking her if she is trying to play "pick up sticks"? We are making small gains in communication, but I'll take it. We are using signs, sounds, and picture cards to help with her wants and needs. She is finally going up to the refrigerator and pointing to the picture card with her cup! Small steps but steps moving forward!

Caroline:
Poor Caroline. She is so stressed! This is the week of EOG's (End of Grade tests). She is very worried about the whole process. She has been doing well in school so I'm not too worried. She is just bent out of shape and we are all feeling the effects. I will be glad when this week will be over! Caroline continues to play softball. She has been doing a great job and really loves playing the catcher position. She also is into the silly bands craze. Grandma sent her some this weekend and she is having a blast sorting them and trading them. Thanks Grandma!

Abby:
Abby is the complete opposite of Caroline. EOG's? What are they? That's her attitude. She isn't bothered at all by them and in fact is sleeping like a baby. She just finished her school ball season and is now getting ready to start rec ball. She is itchin' to get back on the field. She too is into the silly bands. Thanks Grandma for hers too!

So that pretty much wraps it up. Hopefully, I'll dust that camera off very soon and get some pictures before the kids graduate college! And maybe it won't be another month before you see another post!

A Month in Review

Wow! A month has flown by and where have I been? Well quite busy as usual but add a two year old to the mix and much of the time is spent keeping after her! We have been pretty busy with the girls and their ball season. Caroline has now started her ball and will have her first game Monday. It will be quite fun trying to juggle the days when their games overlap and I'm rushing home from work.

So here are a few highlights from the last month. Caroline celebrated her 9th birthday! I can't believe 9 years have flown by. For the most part, she had a nice birthday. The one thing we could have done without was our first case of head lice! Yes, we came across this on her birthday. Not only her but Abby too. So we spent the entire day treating, picking, and washing everything! I had to laugh considering this was the week before Easter and I told everyone I was going on an egg hunt! Now that we have had our 2nd treatment, I am breathing a little easier. I'm just hoping that they are gone for good.

Caroline got a Justin Bieber Cd for her birthday. We hear "Baby, baby, baby Oh" every hour of the day to the point that Mattie walks around singing "bab, bab, bab" too.


We also have an addition to our family. Frisco had 5 cute little kittens! It was amazing to watch her give birth. The girls have really enjoyed the kittens. We plan on giving them away and then time for Frisco to get fixed.

We have been on vacation this past week. We've tried to take advantage of the beautiful weather. We drove to the beach for the day. No pictures...I forgot the camera. Mattie hated the sand at first but after about 45 minutes she figured out that she could walk in it. Thank goodness I had helping hands to keep up with her. We also went to the pool one day. It was actually warm enough to swim.

Mattie has been quite busy herself. I rarely get front view pictures anymore since she seems to always be running in the other direction. Here is her Easter Picture. Ha! That's pretty much what you see.

At school, she had her first Easter Egg hunt. I love this picture. She is so excited! I really don't think it was because of the eggs. Really just because she got to go outside. She did pick up a few eggs and then it was off to trouble.

You see Mattie is climbing on everything!! We have to rescue her from tables, chairs, and whatever else she can find. I finally broke down and bought a leash for my child. It looks like she is wearing a little bookbag, but with this little stinker.....we are going to need it!

I hope that I will be able to get back into the swing of things with blogging very soon. Summer vacation is just around the corner!

First Round of Pillowcases

On Saturday, a friend of mine and myself got together to make our first round of pillowcases. We originally got the idea from an organization called Conkerr Cancer. This is a wonderful organization. You basically just make these bright and fun pillowcases for children with cancer. Our Joyful Stitchers Ministry is going to meet tomorrow to learn how to make the pillowcases. It is our hope to put a little extra smile on their faces during the difficult trials of their lives. So I was looking for a local drop off for our pillowcases. They only have 2 locations in NC and we were really hoping to possibly do something locally. We may branch out later but for now I think we need to just get our feet wet. So I contacted our children's hospital locally and they are very excited about our project. She even said that she would let us take a tour of the children's hospital on the day of our first drop-off. I am so excited and can't wait to start making more pillowcases!

Photo Fun

Hooray for warm weather! We have had some beautiful days this week. We took advantage of this nice weather before the rain rolled back in. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of Mattie. She is such a ham. I had a hard time deciding which ones to post. She gave me so many cute shots sitting on the porch chair. Here are a few of the many shots I took.

Purity Ball

A couple of weeks ago, Abby went to her Purity Ball at church. What a special night it was for her.....and her parents too! We had a wonderful dinner complete with a chocolate fountain. Every girls dream come true. All the girls also were given a purity ring as a reminder of their commitment to stay pure. The dads were given the honors of putting the rings on their fingers. The girls were also given a china plate and a letter of encouragement from women within the church. They ended the night with lots of dancing and giggling. I made a smilebox below of the evening. You can click on the photos to get a better look. We had a really great time and would like to thank all the volunteers for all their hard work!

Create your own digital scrapbook

Wordle

Wordle is a website I learned about in one of my technology workshops. I love this site. It takes a passage of words and and jumbles them all up. The more the word is used the larger the word becomes. You can change the color and directions of the words also. Hop on over and have a little fun with this website. Here is a Wordle I did with the Down syndrome Creed. You will have to click on the image to see it larger. I can't seem to figure out how to post it large.

Abby made this one on softball.