End of the school year

The past few weeks have been a little crazy. Ansley finished up school (K4). We are preparing for our trip to the Lakota Indian Reservation in South Dakota - we leave this Sat. But I wanted to share some pictures.

Ansley has a great school and a great goup of kids. Here they are at the Pascagoula Beach pier. Not a great beach, but the park was fantastic.
Ansley with her teacher and the kids in her class. Ansley was lucky to have Ms. Tipp this year. She did a fantastic job with the kids and taught them so much. We feel blessed to have had her teach Ansley and hope we can get Stephen in her class in a few years.
K4 graduation night - Ansley and Grandad
Here is Ansley walking hand in hand with her best friend Carson. They have the funniest relationship. It is precious to watch them take care of each other like old married people!
Here we are after the K4 program.
Here is Ansley with Ms. Tipp (sorry it is sideways)
Here is Ansley singing her heart out at the program. She did a great job and I have to brag that she won female student of the year!! Top grades and behavior. We were so proud!
And of course, Mr. Stephen has been busy too. There is a gymnastics teacher that comes to his daycare once a week to teach the kids and this lady worked miracles! Parents were invited to come to the last class to watch so of course Stephen had about 12 people there to see him! He did a great job and followed directions so well.

The market in Catherdral Square downtown is always fun. My mom and Ansley walking through the park
3 days of school left! I am so excited to be done for a while. I love my kids and I am so looking forward to being with them through all our summer adventures.

The Ice cream truck....I mean van

Ok, well the ice cream woman in our neighborhood drives what my friend Sarah and I used to refer to as a "kidnap" van. But she is very nice and sells lots of yummy ice cream that is marked up in price probably 300%. Anyway. We of course must buy when she comes in the evenings and tonight was no exception.
Ansley chose a Dora popsicle, while Stephen chose a batman popsicle.

On a side note, neither of my children have ever watched any movie or cartoon with Batman, Spiderman or Superman. But they know exactly who each one is! Strange.

countdown to summer

We are seriously on the countdown to summer now. I am actually not dreading tomorrow (dreading is really not the word considering I do actually like my job and my coworkers and I know that everyone can't say the same) but I am so ready for summer. We have so much planned but also have 4 weeks or so with no travels or commitments and that will be fabulous too.
May 30 we leave for a 7 day trip to South Dakota- More specifically, the Lakota Indian Reservation. A group from our church will be spending the week working on different projects there. The kids are going with us, so I am really looking forward to us all discovering that area of the county together. We will be able to see a lot of really fabulous and beautiful outdoor areas all while hopefully helping the people there with whatever we have to offer. I hope that it will be a trip that Ansley will remember. Of course, Stephen will not but it will still be a great time for us to be together.

Our 2nd mission trip is to Ukraine (most people say "the Ukraine" but Luke says that the people there do not like you to refer to their country as "the Ukraine", but rather just "Ukraine") Anyway - Jamey and I leave June 25 and will spend a week working in an orphanage outside Kiev. We are then flying to London to spend a few days sightseeing before heading home. I am so excited to be able to have this oppurtunity with a great group of people from church. But I am also struggling with the thought of leaving my kids for that long. They will be absolutely fine and happy staying with Jamey's parents, but my heart will be with them the whole time. I am already praying that God will give me a peace while I am away from them. Some very kind and generous people have helped us to be able to make this trip financially. I hope that I can do as much good inthe Ukraine as I possibly can to make me worthy of the prayers and financial donations of friends and family.

Here are a few pictures - Ancley spent the last few days of swim lessons learning to dive. She really does love to swim.

Stephen spent the time at swim lessons throwing the dive toys into the pool. I asked, "don't you want to swim with Ansley?" He replies, "No, that pool too wet."Here are the kids eating supper outside. We like to eat outside when we can - before the swarms of misquitos show up, along with the blazing hot weather. This night we all ate juicy peaches and laughed as we tried to catch the juice before is dripped all over us.


One night last week we went to see Disney on Ice. I think this picture showing Ansley's and her BFF Carson's expression says it all. They loved it! Makes me crave a trip to Disney...Jamey and I keep telling ourselves we need to wait, but it is getting harder and harder to hold off on a trip to Disney!

The park, swim lessons and other adventures

I just gotta dance...

Well, the kids and I played hooky from school and work today. I guess I had a good reason, I really could have worked at least a half day, but I was just not into it today. I know summer is so close it was silly to burn a day, but oh well now I guess!

Stephen has been avoiding biting with his front teeth lately. And after spending hours Googling this particular topic (which is never a good thing for a worried mom to do), I managed to convince myself that his front teeth had started to decay! For several days I have been so worried about his appt today at 11. That was one of the main reasons I didn't work today. He walked right in when they called his name and made the lady look at his shark shirt. I sweated it out for 30 minutes while he was back there. When they said he was finished, the dentist came out to talk to me and said all was well. He just prefers to bite with his back teeth! As Melia said, he is just weird like that. And I will take weird over toddler tooth decay any day! The dentist said how great he did - he let them clean his teeth and told them he had tiger teeth!

We also went to Headstart (hair place) today b/c Stephen needed a haircut. In fact, whenever we would see someone lately the first words out of their mouth would be, "Boy, you need a haircut!" I really like the ladies who work there - they are fast and good. While Stephen is getting his haircut, Ansley is sitting in my lap while we watch. The radio is playing in the background and Apple Bottom Jeans comes on. She slips out of my lap and starts dancing around saying, " Mommy, I just gotta dance to this." I about fell out of my chair! The lady cutting Stephen's hair starting showing her how to booty dance! They danced for a minute while Stephen and I sat there in shock. Now, as far as I know, she had never heard this song before in her life!

I just gotta dance....that's my girl!

Eating it anyway...

Ansley: Did you make these muffins Mama?

Me: Yes.

Ansley: Nanny makes better muffins than you. But I guess I can eat it.

Me: If you think you can manage to choke it down....

Good thing my feelings aren't hurt! Of course, I made them from a muffin mix so it wasn't exactly much effort. :-)

Easter wouldn't be complete without...

a ride on cousin Jimmy's skateboard!!! We had a great Easter this year. The kids enjoyed several Easter egg hunts, lunch and Mamaw Jo's and then played outside with family. Lots of other great adventures this weekend too - picture overload!