Getting You All Caught Up {Super Deluxe Edition}

I've become such a bad blogger lately.  I'm really going to try to do a better job.  So, here's what we've been up too.  Miss Natalie came to town for a visit or two.  My little ladies love her.  You can feel it in this picture!

Early morning practices sometimes look like this.....hair in rollers, a mini van stuffed with five kids, a trombone, a baritone, a flute, and mostly smiles.

 Evan reunited with his baritone.  I really enjoy listening to him play.  He got a scholarship for private lessons,  Yay!  Payton will start private lessons at the mid point in the school year after she gets the basics down. She can't wait.

Karsyn is taking on Kindergarten by storm.  She's doing great!  I still miss her like crazy during the day, knowing she's doing so well makes me feel better.

We've went on a Chinese food date or two.

 A few Saturdays ago, the littlest ladies went to a work event with Papa and Nana.  They had a blast!

Earlier that day, Uncle Billy took Evan, Payton, Emily, and Stephen to a comic event at the library.  They got to meet Velma from Scooby Do.  Billy and I used to always call her Janet when we were kids after my aunt. lol.

The girls made lots of crafts.  Evan and Stephen both won a trivia contest. =)

They met Captain America....

 and Spiderman too.

And we can't leave out Wonder Woman.

Payton and Sarah had their first volleyball of the season and won!!!  It was so much fun to watch them play.

Addi and Karsyn went to some friends' birthday party at a cosmic bounce place.  It was so much fun.  Addi wore just the right outfit.

She had a blast!

Karsyn was so excited to see her friends from preschool.  She had to wear her Eiffel Tower shirt.  She really wants to go to Paris.

We've taken a few selfies along the way.  Love my 4!

1, me, and 3.

We went for a walk by the river and stopped for a few fun pictures at a pretty fountain.  Here's our baby bear with a baby bear.

The beautiful big sister of the family.

Adorable Addi.

 And our handsome big guy.

 It was nice to get out and enjoy the fresh air.

Dance started for the girls again.  I didn't get to get a picture of Payton's first day.  It was a busy night for her. She's taking Hip Hop and Jazz. The little ladies have classes on another day of the week.  Miss Addi is starting her 4th year of tap and ballet.

It's Karsyn's 4th year at the studio and 3rd year to be in dance. She is also taking tap and ballet.  

Lastly, we spent some time in the great outdoors with Papa and Nana this weekend.  We grilled out hot dogs and then went hiking.  Five out of six of us love it!

And that gets you all caught up with our little family.

Spring Break 2016 - Monday thru Wednesday

After working the whole weekend, Jason was finally off on Monday.  Our original plans were to go hiking, but we ended up going fishing instead.  We loaded up the kids, along with Sam, and went to our favorite fishing hole - Grandma Beverly and Papa Floyd's pond.  The little ladies had plastic fish at the end of their lines.  So, they spent their time casting their lines out and reeling them in with a fish every time.  That made them very happy.

 Payton went a lure that she had to continually cast out and reel back.  Though no fish would take the bait, she still had a lot of fun.

My fisher girls.

 Sam got the first catch of the day.

 The girls all got a little bored and they headed up to the house to visit with Grandma.  I stayed at the pond with the boys.  Sinking a line in on a beautiful afternoon was quite relaxing.

Jason tried his luck with Payton's lure, but it didn't get any bites.

 Evan finally got a bite.

I loved my view of these cousins fishing.

Evan caught two fish and I caught four.  They were all too small to keep.  Sam was a pro.  He caught around 10 or so and was able to keep this catfish.

 After a few hours of fishing, we headed back to town.  Payton had a party to get to at the skating rink.  It was fun watching her with her friends.

 On Tuesday, the kiddos and I headed to Aunt Jen's house for cousin time and pizza.  We also went and visited Jason at work and then went by Nana and Papa's house for a while.  On Wednesday, Jason, Evan, and Payton got the lawn ready for the cousins to come over, while Addi, Karsyn and I met some church friends at the park.  We were very impressed with the fire pit set up when we got home.

I couldn't get any pictures to turn out, but we roasted marshmallows and made s'moores with Nana, Papa, Grandpa James, Uncle Billy, Aunt Kary, Emily, Stephen, and Sarah.  I got glow bracelets for everyone to wear.  We also got some LED light balloons, so that the kids could play glow volley ball.  It was a lot of fun.

All of the kiddos stayed over for a sleepover.  That will be continued in tomorrow's post.  So far, we've had Spring Break has been great!

The Weekend What

The kiddos and I kicked our weekend off at our favorite Friday night hangout - Addi's SLP's office.  She is continuing to make great progress.  When we wrapped things up there, the kids and I made a trip to the mall.  We had an order to pick up and we also ended up doing a little shopping for Evan.  He really needed a few new shirts. He's grown so much this school year!  I wouldn't be surprised if he's taller than me before he starts the 8th grade.  After the mall, we had McAlister's for dinner.

We got home right when Jason got off of work.  The little ladies went to bed and the rest of us stayed up and watched Netflix together.  Saturday, we spent the day doing this. And why yes, Addi is wearing the same clothes as she did the night before.  And no, I don't know why.  

When Jason got off of work Saturday evening, he started working on our dishwasher.  It was starting to sound like a helicopter and leaking water like crazy.  I was beginning to think it was time for a replacement, but after watching several Youtube videos, Jason got it working like new again.  Unfortunately, it took him until the early hours of the morning.  So, we were church skippers, because Jason really needed to rest up. That afternoon, we went on a picnic and a hike with Nana and Papa.  We had so much fun!  Payton carried our pack this time.  Here she is with Nana.

Our little family plus Papa on the bridge.

 It had rained earlier in the week, so we spotted a lot of animal tracks.  This print belongs to a deer.

 Here's our little family about half way through the hike.  There are a lot of benches along the way.  Five out of six of us are looking.  We'll count it a success.

And here's the very cute Nana and Papa.

After taking a few pics, we hiked down to the creek.  We got closer to the water's edge this time.  Papa pointed out some big turtles that were sunning on a log.

 We hiked around another ridge on the creek and saw a lot more animal tracks.  Then, we saw three Whitetail does!  That got our group pretty excited.  Before we finished up our hike, we saw a baby snake.  Jason and Papa assured us all that it was just a baby grass snake.  In all, we hiked a little over a mile and a half.  We enjoyed it so much that Papa declared it our family sport. =)  We already can't wait to get out and have more family come along with us.

I hope your weekend was great too!

The Weekend What

After taking a few weeks off of blogging, it sure feels good to get back into the groove of things.  This weekend was a whole lot of busy and a whole lot of fun.  We kicked it off Friday evening by going to Family Fun Night at school.  Our little family's picture made it online. =)

 Our first stop for the night was at the 'Hole In One' game.  Addi was first up.

 We picked this game, because we knew a very special girl was working it.  Anywhere Miss Natalie is, that's where my girlies want to be.  The National Honors Society students were working all of the games.  Karsyn got a hole in two. =)

 Payton has excellent form.

Evan also did quite well.

Next up was the corn hole game.

Then, the littlest ladies did some bouncy time.

Saturday, we had an adventure planned.  Aunt Kary had told us about a nature center and we went to check it out.  We kind of fell in love with the place and already have our next trip planned. We took a picnic for lunch and then hit the hiking trails. Here is my crew with their walking sticks in hand.  We loved looking at the tadpoles in this little pond.  (Side note - we've been having some beautiful spring weather this winter.)

 The hiking trails were quite nice.  There were a lot of nice benches along the way.  The one under this beautiful tree was donated by the girl scouts.  The kiddos and I had to take a seat.

 Here's a closer peak.

 Then, we were back at it on the trials.

 Jason and Evan were deciding on which trail to take.  I'm grateful that  Jason has such a great sense of direction!

I think you can tell from our gear that we are avid hikers.  Our pack gives us away. ha ha ha!

Addi and Karsyn were fascinated by the big hole in this tree.

 The trails were really nice and had a few built in steps and bridges along the way.  It was great for hiking novices like us.

 My favorite part of the hike was making it to the creek.  The kids all really liked the sand.  Karsyn renamed the area "Sandy Dunes."  We were cracking up, because Addi and she were renaming everything on the map.

We covered about 2 miles of trails in about an hour.  Jason and I could have probably hiked all day, but we wanted it to be an enjoyable experience for the kiddos, so we called it a day.  On the way out, we were greeted by this honker.  I'm not sure what was on his mind, but he was letting us know something.

We got home and took a little nap.  We grilled out for dinner and then soaked up the last few minutes before sunset at the park.  The girls had a lot of fun on the jungle gym.

 The boys played Horse.

The girls love the spinners.

 Karsyn was trying so hard to push Addi fast.  It was making Addi crack up.

 To make my pedometer happy, I jogged a few laps around the playground.  On one lap, Jason thought it would be funny to have "Chariots of Fire" playing as I made my way around.  We all were cracking up. Sunday morning, we got up and went to church.  Evan went to the nursing home ministry and out to lunch with a friend.  The rest of us ate a quick lunch and then got some scooter time at the park in.

Of course, there was a fair amount of dandelion picking that took place.

After our park excursion, we spent a little time resting.  Then, we did some grocery shopping and picked up our Evan.  After dinner, Karsyn and I headed to a friend's birthday party.  She had the best time bouncing, sliding and jumping the evening away.

And that my friends was our weekend.  It was really wonderful! I hope yours was too!