Rolling

 Guess what I can do!

 I can roll from my back

 To my tummy!

I've been practicing a lot so I make it look easy!

Tea for Three

 Saturday was the perfect day for a hot chocolate and marshmallow tea party!

 The girls were very polite as they sipped their "tea".

 Megan was careful and got to use the glass tea cups.

Rapunzel was the third guest. She brings a lot of fun to these parties!

Man Time

One chainsaw

 Plus two hard working guys

 Equals one trimmed up oak tree! (and one nervous momma! I don't like to see Troy up on a ladder with a saw...so many "what if's" go through my mind!)

Their hard work saved us $700 (the estimate from the tree trimmers) and the front yard looks a lot better without the low lying branches. Thankful for my hard working men!

The Beach

 We took an evening walk on the beach.

 I love walking the beach. So relaxing :-)

We gathered a lot of shells for our collection, a lot of sand in our shoes and a lot of memories of God's beautiful creation.

3 Months

 Our sweet Marla Grace is 3 months old already! She is a delight :-) She is such a good baby and loves her brother and sisters. She smiles and coos for them and really lights up when they come around. She apparently likes them more than she does the camera because I couldn't get her to smile yesterday on film!

 She is growing so much and getting all kinds of chubby rolls! We had to move her up to size 2 diapers already. I think she weighs about 12 pounds now. She is still wearing 0-3 months clothes, but will soon be moving up I'm sure.

 She has been enjoying some "tummy time" lately...for about 1 minute. She loves her swing and naps in it most days. She sleeps in her big crib now at night and sleeps for 6 hours consistently before waking to eat. She will grip rattles, toys and the kids hair if it gets too close. It is fun to watch them when she does something new!

 She still looks a lot like Sam's baby pictures, but is developing her own look to me. (don't tell Sam! He loves telling everyone "She looks just like me!") We are blessed to have her!

Easter 2013

 We had a very nice Easter this year. The service at our church was wonderful. In the evening we hosted in some friends from church. The kids were very excited to have someone to hunt eggs with.The Easter Bunny brought the kids bathing suits, snorkels, fins and masks. They are all ready now to learn to scuba dive with Daddy. We are taking them this weekend even though the water is about 70 degrees in the gulf! They have been asking us everyday, trying on their gear everyday, asking a million questions about it everyday since they got the gear :-) I'm glad they are so excited to learn something new!

 Maddie was a big help to me this year! She helped with the Easter meal, cooking and decorating sugar cookies, and dyeing the eggs. She is also very good at entertaining Marla during any fussy times she might have. We are proud of the helpful spirit she has!

 

Sam was very helpful as well. He stuffed the Easter eggs for the hunt and was very good at entertaining our guests even though they were all little girls! He did ask why none of our friends have boys, but I'm grateful he waited till the company was gone!

 Megan Joy is a little mess lately! She keeps us all entertained with her silly faces and hilarious questions.She insists lately on being called "sister". She calls Marla "Little Sister". She says "I'm not the little sister, I just the sister!" We are thankful for the joy she brings to our home.

Marla Grace was done with pictures by the time picture time got here. Or maybe she was upset that the bunny forgot her basket!

Gulf World

 This past weekend we got to go to Gulf World Marine park to celebrate Maddie's birthday with our good friends the Loves. Maddie is in love with dolphins and so she chose to go see them for her birthday. This trip had been postponed twice due to sickness and weather so the kids were more than ready to go on Saturday! The weather was perfect and we had a great time. This is a picture of all the kids dancing before the bird show to the theme song from "Wreck it Ralph".

 Maddie and Sydney watching the turtle feeding. The park is small, but the kids really get to get close to the animals and learn alot about them. This is Troy trying to help the kids pet the sting rays. They all got to touch one eventually and no one fell in the water so I guess this exhibit was a success! 

 Maddie had a great time. She was all smiles the whole day. Megan on the other hand had a rough day that involved me tripping while I was carrying her up the stairs and she fell down a flight of concrete stairs. It was pretty bad. Behind Maddie is the sea lion exhibit. An interesting fact was that the sea lion that performs in their show was born in captivity at the Indianapolis Zoo!

 The kids in the "splash zone" at the dolphin show. This was Maddis'e biggest request was to get splashed by the dolphins and they got soaked so I guess mission accomplished.

 This is the kids in the bird and reptile area. They got very close to all kinds of birds and got to pet a large turtle.

 We stayed about 4 hours and got to see all the shows and exhibits. Perfect timing for the little ones and the momma's who needed a nap. We ended the day at Dairy Queen. It was lots of fun to make memories that will last a life time.

Maddie Turns 8

 On March 14th, Maddie turned 8! We had decided this year that we were not going to do birthday parties for the kids. Instead we were going to let them pick something they want to do around here and let them take a friend with them on a fun adventure. However, we took an unexpected trip North the week before her birthday and her Mimi threw her her first birthday party with cousins! She had a blast and was a little overwhelmed with all the fun.

 Mimi made her a cookie cake since she doesn't like birthday cake (she definitely gets that from her Dad!).

 There were lots of presents, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and chaos! How blessed she was to get to spend her birthday with family :-)

A special thanks to Aunt Melinda who provided these pictures since I left my camera deep in the South.