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.

Kallie

Pictures of Kallie taken over Mother's Day weekend in Charlotte.

Playground in Charlotte

After Audrey's graduation we stayed the weekend to celebrate Mother's Day with her as well. On Friday Matt and I went to Hickory for a couple of meetings and the kids stayed with Gaga and had fun playing at home and making me some fun Mother's day gifts as I found out later. On Saturday we went to one of the newer parks in Charlotte and the kids had a great time. We love playgrounds!

Maddie in a swing for children/people with handicap. I have only seen one other park with these, so I thought it was great! No one else needed it and the kids thought they looked cool so we let them try them out.
Kallie hanging out in her stroller. She loves to be outside and watch kids, so she was content sitting and playing with her rattle.

I did want to try her in the swing - and she loved it! She swang (?) for a while.

Matt pushed Maddie and Davis - so there was a lot of "Higher, Daddy, higher!!"

That night Adam, Sommer, Matt, me, and Tom made dinner for Audrey to celebrate Mother's Day with her. Adam and Sommer gave her an ultrasound picture!! So excited - we are going to be Uncle Matt and Aunt Amy! Maddie, Davis and Kallie will have a new cousin! Sommer is due November 28th and will find out if it is a niece or nephew on July 6th.

Gaga gets her Masters

The Thursday before Mother's Day we went to Charlotte to attend Matt's mom (Gaga) Audrey's graduation with her Masters. Here is Matt and Aunt Lori (Audrey's sister) entertaining the kids before the graduation started.

Getting their energy out before they went in and sat very well during the graduation.

Maddie with her Uncle Adam

Yeah Gaga - we are proud of you!!

Gaga and Apple

Audrey with her boys

Me, Matt, Kallie, Maddie, Davis, Gaga, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Sommer - Apple was taking the picture.

Gaga opening cards and gifts after having "surprise" Graduation cake - Maddie actually told Audrey about the cake at dinner - but in her defense no one told her it was supposed to be a surprise.

Morning at the Museum

Back in May we went a friend Amy and her little boy, Luke, to a museum in downtown Raleigh. I actually used to take my pre-k kids here on a field trip, so it was kind of neat to be able to take my own kids. We did storytime and just let the kids walk around the museum a little. The story time was a little long and the boys got a little restless, but they were able to see some snakes and Davis even touched one. Here they are sitting on the "bleachers" in storytime.
The butterfly room and dinosaur room are always a big hit for the kids. One butterfly landed on Davis's face as soon as we got in the butterfly area, but I didn't have my camera. Another butterfly landed on my shirt and then on my camera. I bent down to show Kallie the butterfly on my camera and looked away for a second to check on Davis and when I turned back around this is what I found...

Can you see the poor butterfly caught in Kallie's grasp? Amy snapped this picture of me as I am trying to figure out a way to gently let the butterfly free. Thankfully the butterfly flew away instead of falling to the ground...

Another butterfly landed on Amy's stroller and the kids are checking it out.

After the museum we walked to a new farmer's market and had a picnic lunch in the shade.

Amy brought some chocolate cupcakes without icing, but Davis still made a mess :)

My sweet friend Amy and her son Luke. We were right outside of her old work building and she was able to see a lot of her old coworkers.

Fountain by the farmers market - that we didn't actually get to because it was so hot and the kids were ready for a nap after the museum and lunch and some bathroom breaks. We figured out we should have just done lunch, the fountain and the farmers market.

Looks like Davis wanted in that water! It was actually less than an inch deep - just ran over the bottom and looked deeper.

Maddie saw this funny statue outside of one of the shops and started talking to it like a friend so I snapped a picture.

Davis then wanted me to snap a picture of him with this horse statue.

3 worn out friends