Happy Birthday, Madeline!

Last week, our baby girl turned 8!!!

Can you believe it?  Eight years old.  Like everyone always says, it seems like just yesterday that she was born.  That beautiful Saturday afternoon that completely changed our life ... made it more full, more fun, more special, and more meaningful in every way! We are so thankful for such a tremendous gift.

Here's how we celebrated this special girl!

Streamers on her doorway when she woke up!

Cupcakes at Eli's t-ball game!

Dinner at El Mezcal - the girl cannot get enough Mexican food!!!

A wonderful birthday party at Sew Memphis.  Lindsey's birthday is only 5 days after Madeline's, so they had a joint sewing party.  They made headbands!

Cupcakes from Muddy's...

Good friends:  Frances....

Ammie ...

and Lindsey!

Making a cake!

Meeting the Flack family at Olive Garden for a birthday weekend dinner!

Birthdays are so fun!!!

Kids' Ropes Course

We had a super wonderful time in Atlanta last weekend!  It was so great to see Fran and Mike and have  more than just a couple hours for the kids to play and nurture their long distance friendships!

We watched Leo play baseball which was so fun and the perfect inspiration for Eli during his first t-ball season!  We went to this awesome Treetop quest ropes course!  It was so fun to watch the kids have so much fun and really feel so accomplished!  Fran, Mike, Tim and I all said we would like to come back and do this, too.... there are several levels.  The kids did the beginning level and then Madeline and Leo did a second course for ages 7+.  Very fun!!  We also ate some yummy food and did a surprise trip to LegoLand Sunday before we left.  Of course, all the kids LOVED that!!!

Here are pics from the ropes course... we were so glad to get to do this adventuring!!!

a couple videos of the adventure!

Back on!

Hi there!  So sorry for the VERY long sabbatical!  Kept thinking things might slow down a bit and get caught up with some review posts of the couple months I hadn't posted - those two months turned into like 5 months --- CRAZY!!!!! So, anyway, I decided to toss the idea of reviewing or I would never post again -- too much to review!  So we will just pick up from here!!!!!!

Spring is here, and there are so many fun things going on!  Eli and Madeline had their individual violin recitals and group concerts.

Madeline had her annual Redbirds field trip with her school yesterday.  Just like last year, it turned out to be a REALLY hot day! 

As we walked into the ballpark, some staff people stopped our group (Madeline, Frances and Forrest).  They asked if any of them would run around the bases to be the "Tooth Fairy" and clean the bases with a tooth brush.  Frances and Forrest did not want to do it, but Madeline jumped in and said, "I'll do it!"  She reported she has 3 wiggly teeth, so it was good timing!!!!

It was a fun day!

It's been a great spring so far!  Can't wait to show you what else is new!  Heading to Atlanta this weekend to visit Aunt Fran, Mr. Mike, Luke and Leo!  Can't wait!