Anna Kate Kate!

Here's my cute, sweet baby, often referred to as Anna Kate Kate. 

Aunt Terry got her this adorable dress, and I thought she just looked too cute not to photograph.  Only problem was that we were already running late to church (as usual), so there was no hope for a prize winning picture.  

Anna recently learned to scale her crib wall but thankfully never took a tumble.  One morning when I went to get her, she was straddling the railing, riding it like a horse.  We were both shocked!  Joel lowered it to its lowest setting, but in an inch or so, we are out of luck!  (This picture was taken before the lowering took place.)

This is how you will normally find Anna if you visit our home.  Without the night night, I would be dooooomed!  She loves to follow me around crying...I'm hoping she is going to outgrow that stage any minute!

But, when she isn't crying, she can be quite the ham, which I love about her!  She puts underwear on her head any chance she gets, because she knows it cracks Lydia and me up big time!  (These particular undies are inside out training pants, hence the extra fluff, that Lydia still likes to wear at night.  She calls them her fluffy buns.  She never has wet the bed, not even once.  I think we got lucky there!).  Back to the picture, the day this was taken, we had recently taken a trip to Food City, and the lady in the bakery gave both the girls a sugar cookie.  Her hair net must have made an impression on Lydia, because when she got a good luck at Anna Kate, she started cracking up and said, "You look like the Food City cooker!"  Hahaha!

I love my silly girls!

Cousins!

Today I get to babysit Eleonora while Jessica goes to a play with Josiah's class.   These girls will have a great time together, I'm sure! :)

Our Home!

If you're wondering why I've been absent from the blog recently, it's because it has been a whirlwind around here the past few weeks!  Joel and I have been looking around at houses for quite some time and have been interested in one particular house for a while now.  So one day we decided we might as well make an offer.  Well we did, and it was accepted.  So before ya know it, our house was on the market.  And in three days time, we accepted an offer on it for more than we were even asking!  We were shocked!  So now we are in the middle of inspections and paperwork.  We will probably move in June sometime, which will be a far more crazier whirlwind!  We are so sad to leave our sweet little home that Joel has poured so much effort and time into, but we are excited for the next adventure! (Or at least that's what I keep trying to tell myself.). I have taken a million pictures of every detail of our house so I won't forget anything, as if I didn't have enough pictures already.  Just a wee bit sentimental over here.  (Understatement of the year. Ha!)  I thought we needed a picture of us with our house, so I set up my new tripod. (Thanks Heath!) I want to frame it and hang it in our new house somewhere, but Joel thinks that is silly.  Silly or not, it's going up! :)

One day I was talking to Lydia about moving, and she said, "That's it! I've got a great idea!" She ran to the bookshelf and found her Peppa Pig book and quickly turned to this page.

Maybe that method of moving will work.  After all, we are only moving four and a half miles down the road! :)

AWANA Cubbie!

AWANA is a club that gets its name from 2 Timothy 2:15.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed)

Each kid gets a book of verses to memorize, and we meet each Wednesday night to recite the verses to leaders, play games, and hear a Bible story.

I'm a big fan of AWANA!  I was in AWANA from age 3 to 6th grade...I think.  And I still remember a whole lot of verses that I memorized as a kid that I probably wouldn't know otherwise.

So here we have Lydia getting her first AWANA award!  She started out the year not so sure about going to AWANA, but before too long, Cubbies became the highlight of her week!

Thanks to these three super sweet teachers!

Mrs. Danielle, Mrs. Heidi, and Mrs. Vicki

Josiah and Caleb are in the next club up called Sparks for Kindergarten to second graders.  Caleb was in mine and Joel's class this year, and I must say, he was the star of the class!

Lydia was in a class with only one other girl and six boys.  She loved it!  Ha!  I wanted a group picture, but I only managed to wrangle these two boys, but it's okay.  These are her two favorites, based on the stories she tells.  

And here is one of my favorites from my class.  He was the sweetest!

Anna Kate was just thrilled to be there. Ha!

So proud of our Lydia!  And yes, I did tear up when she got her award.  I will never make it at her kindergarten graduation!  Joel thinks I'm nuts, as I'm sure most of you do too.  Haha!  What can I say, I'm just a proud (emotional) Momma!

Almost forgot...here's a flashback to her first night of Cubbies, wearing my old Cubbie vest.  Cute!

May!

Matchy Matchy!

Today we got to hang out with Eleonora while Jessica and Caleb visited the zoo.  The girls have been having so much fun together!  And they sure look cute in their matching outfits!

Buns & Piggies!

Jessica gave Anna Kate her first tiny buns!

And then gave some to Lydia too.

Eleonora had just squirted herself in the head with the spray bottle. 

I'm a pro at getting group shots.....ha!