Mother's Day

MOTHER'S DAY...a day to celebrate...being a mom of four beautiful, healthy, loving children...my mother who has been through so much in her 60 years of life and continues to be there for me each and every day...my mother-in-law who is extremely generous and giving...my mom friends who listen to me and encourage me to be the best mom I can be.

The Saturday of Mother's Day weekend, the girls and I went to a mother/daughter luncheon and fashion show at church. We made paper dolls, ate a delicious lunch and watched a fun, silly fashion show put on by the drama team. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon with my girls.

That Sunday after church we met MIMI and PawPaw at the club to continue celebrating Mother's Day.

MIMI and Lily or "Mini-MIMI" as we like to call her

Mom's Munch

The Preschool classes get to invite the moms up to school for a special Mother's Day celebration. Aubrey's was right after drop off so we enjoyed a breakfast treat together. Her teachers helped her make me this beautiful flower pot.
While all the moms and kids were together, we took the opportunity to surprise Ms. Day with a baby bag full of goodies for her new baby boy that was to arrive in two weeks. Ms. Day was very appreciative of all of her adorable gifts. Aubrey's Pre-K class with Ms. Day and Ms. Mory
That afternoon, right before pick-up, I went back to school to celebrate Mother's Day with my twin girls. The girls are not in the same class so I had to do a little running back and forth. I was thankful that their classrooms are connected by a bathroom :-)

Lily presented me with this beautiful corsage when I entered the room.
We enjoyed some fruit, cheese/crackers and a cookie...two times!
Emery was very patiently waiting for me to come to her class. One of my good friends/co-workers has a son in Emery's class, so she helped be the 'mommy' while I was with Lily.

Both girls gave me a gift that contained a precious picture frame that they made. Of course, it had a picture of them in it!
By the end, I decided it would be easier to have them together in one room. They enjoyed it also. I love these times of not only getting to celebrate being a mom to these amazing children but getting to spend time with them in a different element. I am so proud to be their mom!

Easter Sunday

The kids got up very excited to hunt the eggs we had dyed that the Easter bunny had hidden in the backyard. (side note: it was an extremely humid morning and all the dye on the eggs was dripping off into the kids hands but that didn't stop most of them :-)

Carter was either not completely awake or not sure about the possibilities of what he was going to find hidden in the yard.

There is always some kind of friendly competition going on in the Hall house...this one was a race to see who could get the most eggs the quickest.

The girls decided to take a break from their hunting to show their little brother that it is fun and easy to collect eggs.
And then he realized he didn't want to miss out on any of the fun!
Dressed and ready for church.
We love getting to enjoy Easter brunch at Champions with the Chenoweth family.
He is Risen. Alleluia!
Love, The Hall Family

First Fish

Our friend, Heger, had his 4th birthday party at Swanny's. It is a restaurant with great food but it also has LOTS of wonderful things to do...fishing, golf, a playground, karoake. I am embarrassed to admit that it is less than 5 minutes from our house and this was the first time in the 10 years we have lived in Houston that we have been to Swanny's. Needless to say, we all loved it and will be back!

The birthday boy 'rescued' a crawfish from the boil. Mike baiting the line so the kids could do some fishing.
Lily caught the very first fish in the Hall family. We were very surprised and very proud of her. Lily isn't normally the adventurous one (she is more shy and reserved when it comes to trying new things) so this was an exciting moment.
Carter barely stopped to eat he was having so much fun fishing.
Carter's first fish...can you see it?
There it is!

We are not sure which is more comical...Carter catching his first fish with a little pink/purple fishing pole or the size of the fish. Either way, all that matters is he was very proud of himself and that little fish!
Although fishing was the highlight of the party, there was plenty of other fun stuff to do including swinging...
...golfing......and hanging out listening to people sing karaoke.

Emery, Lily, Sydnie, Sally and M.K.

Dying Eggs

Just a few pictures to capture the annual tradition of dying Easter eggs. This was Carter's first time to be a part of it. Aubrey definitely did her best to be 'in charge' of the situation. (She is more and more like her mom each day :-)

Everyone chose an egg...

...wrote their name on it...

...patiently waited for their turn...

...took a moment to smile for the camera......watched very carefully...
...as they dyed the eggs.

Good Friday Family Service

The kids and I went to our annual Good Friday family service. It starts at 5:00 so Mike wasn't able to meet us. Gabby (8th grade) and Mackenzie (7th grade) are two girls who are very helpful for me whenever we have events/activities at church. They love the kids and are very good with them. We started in the sanctuary with some praise time and then a brief drama presentation of the Easter story. The kids don't get to be in the santuary too often so when they do, it is very impactful.
How does a panda fit in with the Easter theme???

It doesn't...since this was a community event we were doing some advertising for VBS. The theme this year was PandaMania.
Then we headed outside for an egg hunt and to play with the bunnies and chicks.

Gotta show Momma what I collected!

Easter Tea Party

Sweet coach Ellen promised the girls another tea party based on if they all got one of the hardest skills they need to know for Level 3...the front mill! They did it so they were able to enjoy an Easter tea party with cookie decorating, nail painting and egg exchanging.

Aubrey with her teammate and friend, Annie
Ellen is also Emery's coach so she graciously included her in the party. She was thrilled to be hanging with the big girls.
It isn't a tea party without painting fingernails!

Gettin' ready to pass out her eggs. By the look of that hair, she practiced really hard that day :-)

Carter wasn't invited to the party so he watched through the window and made plenty of attempts to be silly to get the girl's attention.

the (Level 2, almost Level 3) girls