The Big 4-0!

So, it's true, I'm 40 now!!!!  Yikes, that's pretty old!  Ha!  I still think I'm in my twenties - till I see all those wrinkles around my eyes!  Hard to believe…. So, my girlfriends from college and I all turn 40 this year, so to celebrate we met in Charleston, SC, for a great girls weekend!  This was a plan totally conjured up by our super planning friends, Kim and Lesley -- for which I am so thankful!

We took several years off from these group reunions when our kids were younger.  Now that they are getting a bit older, we are committed to reunite regularly!  Nothing, at all, like old friends! 

Seriously, PRICELESS!  There is nothing like picking up as if no time has passed and knowing each other so well.  We have been through so much together.  I'm so grateful to have these girls in my life!

Here we are at an AWESOME restaurant called "Magnolias!"  

Great food and so much fun catching up!

Here we are …  me (Memphis), Fran (Atlanta), Lesley (DC), Kim (Charlotte), Heather (Orlando) and Susan (Cincinnati)!

Susan had to head back home - she was on spring break with her family nearby and was able to meet us Friday afternoon and have dinner!  So happy we were all able to make it!

Saturday, we just walked around the city and shopped and ate yummy food again!

We took a tour in a mule drawn wagon!  So fun!  We heard the history of Charleston and got to see so many old houses and churches.  This is "Rainbow Row!"

On the wagon….

Our mule escorts - about to have their break!

Our last dinner…. so sad to go, but we are planning for our next reunion - next April!  

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  A very special holiday ...

For the past several years, we have gone to Tim's Mom and Dad's house for a late lunch after church and a fun egg hunt!  

I love this picture!  Eli took it as he was outside scouting for photo-worthy subjects!  Definitely got a great one, here!

Susanna dancing on the deck - she always does this funny thing with her pointer fingers when she is dancing - cracks me up!

Frisbee

Mancala

Great fun with family!

Special Kids and Families Bunny Run

The Saturday before Easter, we run/walk the Bunny Run benefitting Special Kids and Families - the preschool that all our kids have attended.  We love this place!  They serve kids with special needs alongside typical kids.  A great program full of wonderful people!   The route for the run passes our house, and we have done this race for about 9 years plus a few here and there before we had kids!  It's really amazing to see so many families coming out to support such a great cause.

The annual appearance by the Easter Bunny is always a hit!

Susanna and Owen and their teacher Ms. Kate.

Eli and Nate finishing up the 1 mile fun run!

Susanna holding her own on the one mile fun run! She passed me!

There she is one the far left! 

So excited to finish her one mile run!

Lindsey finishing up the 5K...

Madeline finishing the 5K...

My friend from high school, Amanda, was passing through town on her way home from St. Louis back to Mobile!  She and her daughters ran the race, too!  Here she is with Edie!

Lilith had already crossed the finish line!  I missed her crossing -she is speedy!!

So glad we got to visit with them!!

Face painting!

After the Bunny Run, we have traditionally died eggs!  

It was so nice outside that we died them on the deck!

Happy Easter!

Coon Creek Fossil Dig

We have joined the Pink Palace Museum the last couple of years - our local science museum, planetarium and IMAX theater.  We enjoy the traveling exhibits, and  Eli, especially loves the science displays.  This is the first year we have been able to go to Coon Creek - in McNary County -  a few hours away - for a fossil dig sponsored by the museum.  The event is free for members, and Eli has been asking ever since we renewed our membership, "When do we get to go hunt for fossils?!"

So, this Saturday was the day!

There was a telescope set up where you could safely look at the sun!  That was pretty cool.  It looked like a big yellow circle!  You could see a few sun spots that looked like pepper specks!

Picking out hunks of dirt from where a backhoe had turned over a large area of land.

looking through our dirt!

We took any finds over to a table to use more detailed tools...

Tim found a shell piece ….

And, Eli found a crab arm!  There were fossil experts there to help us identify our pieces.  Tennessee and much of the southeastern part of the US was covered by water millions of years ago.

Searching in that dirt!

Clay impressions of Tennessee's state fossil: the ptero.

We had a fun time finding fossils!