Our family: May 2009

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Darrell's 6th Birthday Party

I can't believe my little baby boy is six! How did that happen? I just don't know! Thanks to everyone who sent him a card and money. He had a volcano themed birthday party. I am proud to announce that everything went well. Only one person got hurt and she didn't have to go to the hospital so I pronounce the party a success.

Darrell and his friend Cory showing off their Tiki tattoos.

Ella's little friend Sarah.

Mickey and Faith fabulous with face paints and temporary tattoos.

Ella showing off her mustache. lol

Darrell's friend "little" Caleb and his mom Bethany

Darrell's chocolate cherry volcano cake.

Darrell blowing out his candles.

Darrell really thought his card from Nathan and Luke was funny.

Darrell opening cards.

Ella handing Darrell another present to open.

Darrell playing with presents. Caleb chilling on the couch.

Partying is hard work. :)
This is what I did shortly afterwards. Throwing a party that seventeen kids attended is hard work. lol

The Kids' School Program

The kids' school put together a wonderful music program. The kids worked so hard. They decorated T-shirts and memorized songs. It was so great! Each grade preformed a patriotic song. The preschoolers and Kindergartners preformed two songs. Then the entire school sang a song for the finale. The kids did such a wonderful job we wanted to something special. So we had an ice cream party for all the kids who live on the loop.

Here are all the neighborhood kids posing in the T-shirts they made.

Here are the boys goofing around.

Faith, Micky, and Lindsey

Happy Birthday to me!

Turning thirty might stink but it's not so bad when you have good friends. My dear friends Stephanie and Rebekah surprised me by coming over and singing me happy birthday. Stephanie, with the help of her daughter, also made me the most beautiful birthday cake.

Here is my awesome birthday cake!

Here is what my cake looked like after my shower. I asked Ella what she had to say for herself. She said the cake was yummy.

Uchee Creek

On a whim we went for a picnic at Uchee Creek with our good friends the Cooks. They were stationed at Italy too and PCSed to Fort Benning shortly after we did. Uchee Creek has a campground with a nice picnic area and playground. These are a few pics of us having fun before we bailed due to a lack of bug spray. :)

Caleb playing on the playground.

Darrell and Caleb with their freshly cut hair. Nice and short so they fit in better with all the American boys. Apparently, boys wear their hair short here until like middle school.

Ella toting her shoes over to the picnic area.

Faith digging into some yummy sandwiches.

Stephie Cook and Faith hightailing it back to the car after losing about a pint of blood. lol

Here are some deer we saw while we were leaving the camp grounds.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Easter 2009

One of the best holidays of the year is Easter! It is a wonderful time of remembering God's love and sacrifice and of course His triumph! He has risen indeed!

At our house we all get dress up, have an Easter egg hunt, and go to Easter service. I was so happy to have this old family tradition played out in our new home.

Me curling Faith's hair.

Caleb

Darrell

Faith

Ella

Darrell searching for eggs.

Caleb happy because he has found all of his eggs.

DJ with his itty bitty Easter basket. lol

Ella going through her Easter basket.

Rain Forest Cafe

We had the good luck to be able to go to the Rainforest Cafe with DJ's family. Wow, it was such fun. The kids had a blast!

The kids standing outside under the way cool sign.

The kids standing with the giraffe --Darrell's favorite animal.The kids standing in front of the gator lagoon.
Darrell with his cool balloon sword.
Faith with her balloon parrot.
Ella with her balloon parrot.

Caleb is not shown with a balloon because apparently he is too cool and too old for a balloon. Whatever, wish I had the opportunity for a balloon. I would have taken it. lol This isn't actually at the cafe. It was taken at a boutique in the same mall as the cafe but it was so cute I had to post it too.

Coming to the States

Well all good things come to an end. So true are stay in Italy. I will always love Italy. I will miss it's culture and it's beauty. I will miss the wonderful and true friends I made there. Italy where I made my first true home and gave birth to two of my children. Italy is also where I grew closer to God.

Now we are stationed in Fort Benning Georgia. Hopefully we will make a home here as we did in Italy.

Snow

Snow in Italy is a fabulous thing. For one, it happens about once a year. For two, when it does happen school gets canceled.

This is what my babies did on there snow day. The lack of proper snow wear is due to the normal lack of snow and cold weather in Italy.

The kids being silly posing with their snowman.

My baby girl

Ella is my sweet baby girl. I swear the child LOVES to pose for pictures. I don't know where she gets it from. I can't stand having my picture taken. I guess most little girls like it though. I know Faith used to love to have her picture taken. Here our some random pics of my little sweet heart.