Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the greatest dad :) Thank you for loving us, for playing with us, for praying with and for us, for teaching us, for training us, for reading to us, for making us laugh, for taking care of us and most of all being there for us. We love you, Daddy and hope you have a wonderful Father's Day - Love, Maddie, Davis, and Kallie (and Mommy too)
Here's a look back over some of the year.

Day 3 - Poppa's Birthday

Poppa's birthday was the Tuesday after we left, so we celebrated on Saturday night. We grilled out and ate on the back porch.

Maddie and Davis enjoying eating out on the porch.

Davis actually enjoys when she does this - he usually laughs and keeps going back for more.

Poppa with his cake. It has a baseball theme decoration on the top. We picked it up from Dairy Queen and ran in one store really quick and this is how it looked when we got home - icing melted and running down the side - still tasted good.

Davis "helping" Poppa open his gift. He pretty much showed him that he had a present and then started opening it up for him.

Poppa looking at the cards the kids had made for him. One with sports stickers and one with High School Musical stickers - we know what our Poppa likes.

Visit to Mimi and Poppa's Day 2

We went to see my Mom and Dad in Elizabeth City over Memorial Day weekend. We actually got there Wednesday night and left Monday at nap time. The kids were super excited because Matt was able to come with us (he hasn't been to my parents' since before Maddie was born). They could show him their friends and what they like to play with at Mimi and Poppa's house. We did not take any pictures on Thursday, but we played outside with the 2 boys that Mom keeps 3 to 4 days a week and then went to a park to feed the ducks and then after naps played in a blow up pool they have in their back yard.
Then on Friday we went to the Coast Guard beach with one of Mom's good friends. This was perfect for the kids and much better than having to drive an hour to an hour and a half each way.
Here are Kallie and the youngest that Mom keeps. They are actually only a week apart - he is much bigger than little Kallie.

There was a playground right on the beach and Davis preferred playing on this rather than getting in the water.

Poppa with Maddie and the other little boy that Mimi keeps. He turned 2 on Christmas Day, but he loves Maddie and Davis and they all play pretty well together.

Enjoying the brackish water (looks like tea) that makes up the Pasquotank River and the floats that Mimi got them. They also had fun playing in the sand and eating a picnic lunch. We'll have to do this again when we visit Mimi.

Pool Day

Went with Amy and Luke to their pool in late May. It was Kallie's first time in a pool. I was hoping that she would love her little boat because that would be really helpful when taking all 3 to the pool by myself. This is the same boat that Maddie used when she was a baby! She loved it! Maddie and Davis had a blast as well and Amy and I managed to chat and watch 4 children.

Kallie looking cute in her boat

Getting so big!

Maddie taking a spin in the boat - She was walking around since we were in the kiddie pool, but told her she really is too big for the boat.

Luke and Davis hanging out. What good buddies!

How we rode back to Amy's for lunch. We turned these single strollers into doubles :)

Sk8 Jam

We went to Hickory to look at places to rent and while we were there we saw lots of friends and went to Sk8 Jam that our friends Brad and Brandy put on. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying hanging out with some of our dear friends who are more like family than friends.
Maddie with Tyler. He put her up on his shoulders so that she could see the skate boarders and BMX biker (hope I'm using the right terms). I think she might have developed a little crush as after this she kept saying "I want to go see Tyylerr" (saying his name in that sing songy way).

Maddie and Davis helping Kim Kim in the concession trailer.

Who could resist these two? I think Uncle Brad and Aunt Brandy would have made more money if they had helped out longer :).

Sitting in "Uncle" Brad's race car.

Brad painted the car himself.

Don't worry grandparents, it was never on when they were sitting in it!

Friends Night

One Saturday in May we had Claire and Evan over for dinner and to play while their Mommy and Daddy went to a party. I made pizza for dinner and we just had a fun night playing. I snapped a couple of pictures of the fun.

Maddie and Claire had fun dressing up like princesses and playing Fancy Nancy.

The boys would come by and check on us every now and then but they mainly played with trains and cars.

We changed the kids into their pajamas. Here are Davis and Evan in their Cars pajamas. I am surprised I didn't get a picture of Evan with Baby Kallie - he loves her and loves to hold her! So sweet. I think he is just as excited to see Baby Kallie as he is to see Davis.

The girls in their jammys. After we got everyone ready for bed I took Claire and Evan back to their house and put them down for bed and read a book until their parents got home -so nice! Matt put our kids to bed back at the apartment. It was really a great night!

AWANA Awards

As you may remember Maddie has participated in the AWANA program at our church and she has loved it! As a matter of fact, she was so excited about getting her vest that she hardly ever took it off for the first couple of weeks and even slept in it as shown in the picture below.
Over the year she has learned around 35 verses, or portions of verses as what is expected and earned patches to fill up the letter "A" on her vest (Thank you Mimi for sewing them all on!) On May 12th there was an AWANA Awards night and here are some pictures.
Maddie with her friend Claire sitting waiting their turn to sing their Cubbies song and get their awards. Claire's mom, Cheryl, was one of Maddie's wonderful Cubbie leaders this year.

Singing their Cubbies song

Getting her award from her teachers Ms. Cheryl and Ms. Lisa. I really wish I had gotten a better picture of her with them.

Maddie with all of her loot - certificate, stuffed Cubbie bear for her vest, a cup with Cubbie Bear, Lovey Lamb and Ern E Elephant and our favorite - a coupon for a free Kids Meal at Chickfila - our favorite restaurant. We are so proud of you, Maddie and all of the verses you have hidden in your heart! She helped Mommy learn some more verses this year, too!

Mothers Day

We went to church with Tom and Audrey on Mother's Day and the kids made me the cutest cards! I had told Matt that I just wanted to go shopping with him to get a few items from Ross for Mother's Day, so we did that on Saturday while his mom watched the kids. I got several pieces for a really good deal! The kids told Matt they wanted to get me doughnuts and a cake, so they picked up Dunkin Doughnuts for breakfast and a cute ice cream cake in the shape of a pink purse. Here are some pictures we took in front of Tom and Audrey's gorgeous rose bushes.

Trying to get set up for the picture.

A neighbor happened to be outside and took a picture of all of us for us. It was a good weekend in Charlotte. Thanks again Gaga and Apple.