A community....

We joined a co-op community for the first time this year called Classical Conversations and it has been great....we have a wonderful group of families that we meet together with once a week for support, encouragement, ideas, and learning.  The last meeting of the school year consisted of games, snow cones, fun times and an awards ceremony for those that had memorized and recited all of John 1:1-7.  They received a special Bible Memory pin for doing so.  Both E and J.D. received an award.  I am very proud.  On a funny note, one morning John was going over a catechism book that we are slowly going though...it said to have the kids memorize Genesis 1:1...In the beginnning God created the Heavens and the Earth....John had each of the big kids say it and then turned to Molly and started to prompt her..He said, "In the beginning..." and Molly said, "was the word and the word was with God."  We all, with jaws dropped, clapped and celebrated with her...instead of saying Genesis 1:1 she too was quoting John 1: 1-7...In the beginning was the word and the word was with God....Amazing how much they pick up when you don't even know it!

Emily's "class" of mixed 4th and 5th grade girls that she did lessons with.

J.D.'s special friend

At the end of the year "Finishing Well" ceremony for the parents and grandparents, each "class" did something on stage.  J.D.'s class did a verb dance.  Emily's class sang, played on a tin whistle and signed Amazing Grace. 

Get Away....

John and I had a real treat....we were invited to a wedding at St. George Island in April and a family at church offered for us to stay at their beach house in Apalachicola Bay.  What a blessing our weekend away was. Some good friends kept the kids and for two nights and three days, we were alone....what a wonderful time we had!  We read out in the yard looking out over the beautiful water for hours!  We talked about everything under the stars!  We prayed together.  We ate together.  We laughed together.  We also danced together at the wedding....everyone was very impressed with John's dance moves :)

The weather was unbelievable...so so pretty!

John enjoying some oysters

We thought the cake was beautiful!

Work peeps!

We stayed late and had a great time....

Happy Resurrection Day

Finally posting pictures from Easter!  We did a little Easter craft called a resurrection garden showing the tomb and the three crosses on the "hill."

And the stone rolled away on Easter morning...it was a pretty centerpiece for our table Easter week. 

Ha Ha!  This picture makes me laugh...can you tell it was REALLY early and everyone had just crawled out of bed!  J.D.'s face (he hates the lights on in the morning) and Molly's hair are hilarious!

 But we all recovered from the early morning and made it to church on the beautiful Easter Morning!

After church we drove to Thomasville to eat lunch and hide eggs with John's parents and all the cousins.  We all missed Grandma being there....oh how she LOVED Easter!

The grown ups hid 300+ eggs for the kids to find!  Nanny had prizes to give out for tons of different categories...even "least found eggs!"

J.D. found the Golden egg with $5 in it!!!!

And another little Easter Craft....bird nest cookies!  So cute!

Happy 40th Anniversary!

 I decided to throw my parents a 40th Anniversary Party on Easter weekend....My parents wold never do this for themselves and I thught my mom would kill me for having it at her house but all and all it went really well even if the people over 80 years old that we know almost gave away the entire surprise!  And a 40th Anniversary is something to celebrate for sure!!!!!

The surprise!

The guests and dear dear friends

And then a crazy cow showed up....dressed up like a bunny rabbit for Easter!  I think everyone thought I had lost my mind!  But my mom does have a thing about cows and it was almost Easter....I did the best I could you know :)

He was handing out Easter eggs....

And then out pops my brother......from the COW COSTUME!!!!!  Now my parents were totally surprised by this!  (we should have a picture of my brother being dropped off down the street by his friends, dressing in the chick-fil-a cow costume and me walking him down the street to make his entrance....now that was hilarious) !!!!!!

 Giving his big sis a high five for the great idea we had:)!!!!!!

The cook!  We had BBQ chicken, tons of sides, and two cakes!

 And we dyed some Easter Eggs! 

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad~Thanks for staying together through thick and thin!