Easter Sunday!

The girls were so sweet Easter morning. They both got new beach bags, Minnie bathing suits, charms for their charm bracelets, a mermaid for the pool, and some candy. Hannah got her Donald Duck, and a baby Cookie Monster. Emma got her Cookie Monster play dough, a Dora ballerina figure and a hello kitty figure. They also got some candy, bubbles and little yellow ducks.

Church was wonderful. We had beautiful music and a great message. I love the song "Christ The Lord has Risen Today. That song always brings tears to my eyes. Our message was about being

from good to great. Emma was precious going up for children's message. I was nervous about Hannah in church. I thought she would want to stay with us since she was not her total self, but she wanted to go to her class and never cried about that. I loved the girls' dresses. We even got a pretty good picture of all of us at church. We had a lot of family at church today and it was so nice. After church on Easter we do a butterfly release. The kids love it and it is such a great symbol of new life!

us four

Kelly with the girls

walking into church

back outside for a picture with mom and mammie

Emma and Brandon

Emma and Joey after the butterfly release

After church we went right to mom and dad's with family and friends to eat lunch and have our annual egg hunt. There was an extra bunny this year! My dad surprised everybody and dressed up! There were also so many more kids. Hannah started to not act like herself again. She became pretty sleepy and acting like she did not feel well after getting eggs. She took a good nap and we took her back to the ER after she woke up just to have her pneumonia checked again. To say the least, I was exhausted. We did not get home until 10 at night. Bo decided he would stay home with Hannah on Monday since I needed to go back to work. I was so thankful for that. I had three big meetings at work and was ready to get back in routine as long as Hannah had a good night, which she did. Hope everyone had a nice Easter!

giving mammie her present

my parents and the girls

egg hunting

Easter Bunny!

all the kids minus Hannah who was napping

Friday and Saturday (April 22nd and 23rd)

Easter festivities began Friday evening with coloring eggs. It was just me and the girls. Bo had a softball game and the weather was not nice enough to take the girls out since Hannah had a little cold. They both loved coloring eggs and putting on their stickers.

getting ready!

love this!

go Hannah!

their finished Mickey and Minnie eggs!

On Saturday it was daddy's day to be with the kids as I had a hair appointment. After that I went shopping all by myself!! I managed to get new shoes and a new bathing suit from Dillards, another bathing suit/cover up from Everything But Water and a plentiful bag of clothes from Loft. I really enjoyed time to myself since I barely had any in the past week. When I got home I realized Hannah's cough had worsened. I took her out and run a few more errands hoping the fresh air would help her. However, I called the doctor when I got home. The doctor suggested giving her a half teaspoon of honey to help soothe her cough. Great. I gave her the honey, which she loved. I gave her a bath and put on her pajamas. Bo was going to put her to bed and Emma and I were going to my mom's to deliver some food and the Easter eggs for tomorrow's lunch and egg hunt. Halfway to my mom's Bo calls me in a panic telling me Hannah had broken out in hives and was having an allergic reaction apparently to the honey. I told him to quickly give her some benedryl and drive her to ther ER - I would meet him there since I was right by it. So, my mom had to meet me at the ER to get Emma. We were there about three hours - but they were great about rushing her back immediately. They monitored her well and eventually her swelling went down. As the doctor listened to her he said she sounded like fluid may be in her lungs and she needed an xray to see if she had pneumonia. Little Hannah was great as usual. She never cried. In fact, she entertained everyone in ther ER quite well with her talking and singing. When getting the xray she sat right on the table and said "cheese" to the camera. The xray did show some fluid but not enough to be overly concerned. So, we left the hospital with a steriod for her allergy, and an antiobiotic for the potential pneumonia. She was also supposed to stay on her inhlaer as well as her benedryl. At this point I was already overwhelmed. It was 11:00 at night - we had to get Emma, get home, get Emma in the bath, pack all of the Easter gear/clothes for Sunday after church, and of course the Easter Bunny had not come yet! Anyway, it all works out of course. Hannah slept soundly as ever because she was so tired after showing off at the hospital, but thank goodness she was okay. So, we now have allergies to peanuts, eggs and honey. Luckily Bo noticed it happening and we did not have to use the epi pen. Thankfully we knew just what to do and the doctors all told us that we did everything right.

Beach Bag

This may seem so silly, but for two years I have wanted a huge beach bag with open holes to not trap sand. I mean - big enough to hold four towels, all of our sunscreen, sunglasses, beach shoes, sun hats, etc. It is amazing how much extra "stuff" you need for kids at the pool or beach. I have been unsuccessful in finding a bag so far. The closest I have come is a bag not even for sale - the large Children's Place shopping bags would be perfect! But, at my mom's on Tuesday I was flipping through the magazine One Step Ahead - a children's magazine with all kinds of gadgets and other baby products. Well, I think I found my bag!! I ordered it as soon as I got home and i can't wait to get it. It even folds into a little pouch but the dimensions were large and all of the reviews said it was huge and perfect for the beach. I thought I would put it out there for other moms who may had been in my predicament. Here is a picture! It does not look so big in the picture, but go to www.onestepahead.com for more information.

Spring Break

Although I am not working at my paying job this week, I have worked EXTRA hard this week! I have had a "to do" list to accomplish since last weekend and I got to work on it Monday morning.

Monday: made all of my "appointments" for the house, cleaned out and organized the girls clothes, laundry, gym, printed pictures for great grandmothers for Easter, post office, home for naps, to the mall to get summer sandals ( Stride Rite had 25% off all sandals plus $10.00 coupon - four pairs of shoes for $90 - not bad!), purchased new play socks, had dinner at Chick Fil A with cousins - huge thanks to cousin Kelly for helping me in Stride Rite - shoe shopping can be very challenging!

Tuesday: ADT appointment, Stanley Steamer came to clean our carpets and couch, to mom's house for the afternoon since our carpets and furniture was a bit damp from the cleaning, home around 5 to meet Bo for dinner and then all of us went to the gym.

Wednesday - Hannah woke up at 2:00 AM with a low grade fever. So, to the doctor we went Wednesday morning, mom kept Emma at her office while we were there. The doctor said no ear infection (tubes are still in place), no strep - but some hives on her body caused by some kind of virus. She was okay the rest of the day but very clingy after her nap. She continued to run a low grade fever the rest of the evening. I saw her chomping away on her pacifier and looked at her mouth and could not believe the tooth I saw coming in. So, all of this was probably just from cutting another tooth. Bo came home very late and I went to bed early.

Thursday - Hannah was fine - no fever, so today we were supposed to see the Easter Bunny. Both of the girls said they were not going to cry and we went over again what they wanted from the Easter Bunny. Hannah said she wants a Donald Duck and Emma wants the Cookie Monster play dough. I kept telling them, "the Easter Bunny is nice" and "mommy will watch you, but mommy does not sit in pictures with you." They both said okay. I thought, sure, yeah right. I was expecting a picture similar to our Santa picture this Christmas. Amazingly, they both walked right up to the bunny and sat there good as gold. They both had a little toy they wanted to show the bunny, which I think helped them "talk" to him. Baby Andy also did great and my mom got a really cute picture of all three of them. We ate lunch and then I managed to find an Easter dress. Then, I had to rush home to meet a man for an estimate to redo our bathroom floors. That went well and now I just have to go pick out what I want. Aside from laundry, that is all that went on today.

Plan for tomorrow - babysitter!!!! I am going to pick out the new bathroom floors, get my oil changed and get a pedicure children free. Bo has a softball game tomorrow night so we will probably go to that tomorrow evening. This week has flown! We are slammed the next several weekends with activities or being out of town. I hope the weeks continue to go fast and then summer will be here!

Long Day

On Sunday the 17th we had a busy day. We went to church and I had Hannah's nursery class again. Then me and the girls went with my mom to my grandmother's house to have lunch. Bo had softball practice. After we met up again we took the girls to the gym to swim. Emma starts lessons in two weeks so we wanted to get her used to the water again. Go, go, go - that is what we do!

Here is a picture of the girls asleep in my mom's car on the way home from my grandmother's house. They were out.

Mom and I also also saw two homes destroyed by the tornado the night before. We also saw the path it took across 460 and so many trees down. We were so lucky we did not have this near us. It was close enough though . There was one point where I had the girls in the closet when a warning was issued. I put pillows, blankets and their crate of books in there along with Lilly. Bo stood at the front door and I waited in the hallway next to the girls with the closet door open until the warning passed. My sister had a tornado near her house and there was a point where she was in the bathtub with Andy. I hate being that scared. I love storms, but not that type of storm.

Emma at the Ballgame

About two or three weeks ago my mom took Emma to my cousin's ballgame and I stayed home with Hannah while Bo was out of town. I was not up to chasing her around the ball field that day. I just got these pictures of Emma from that day from my mom.

More Easter Pics

We went back on Friday afternoon and had more pictures taken with the baby animals, but the girls were not into the animals this time. Since the weather was warmer I put them in the outfits I originally wanted their pictures in. Last time the weather was not cooperating. However, this time they did not like the animals because they could feel their little claws on their legs, where before they had on jeans and couldn't feel anything! So, we got some cute shots with Andy and their other cousin Adair - minus the animals!

A Double Rainbow!!

Yesterday we had some rain. We had just got home so I had the door open. I turned around and looked through the glass door and couldn't believe that I saw a double rainbow! I called for the girls and they loved seeing it. We sang the rainbow color song. It faded about ten minutes later and Emma asked, "where da rainbow go mommy?" I told her that the rainbow went back to God. She said, "oooohhhh." It was sooo pretty and sweet to see the girls look at their first rainbow.

Our Weekend

Here are some pictures of the girls after church on Sunday. These were actually handmade dresses that were mine and my sisters when we were little. Emma is wearing mine and Hannah is wearing my sister's. I love these dresses. They have the smocked matching coat and hat that go with them. It is so hard to find things like this today. I have to give full credit to my wonderful mom for not only getting them made years ago, but for keeping them, storing them and keeping them in mint condition so they are able to be worn by my babies.

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with the coats on

my beautiful Hannah

my beautiful Emma

Bo's Birthday

Bo's birthday was yesterday the 12th, but we celebrated it all last weekend. On Saturday night my family came over and we ordered pizza and had cake. On Sunday he thought just the four of us were going out to dinner, but his parents actually drove from Raleigh and surprised him after his softball practice. They took us to Watermans at the oceanfront - sooo good. When we got home we went ahead and gave him his presents since he was going to have a late meeting on his real birthday. The girls and I gave him a new pair of favorite Agave jeans and a Southern Tide polo shirt. I think I surprised him pretty good. It is pretty crazy that I met Bo right before he turned 21 at Elon. So, we have been together for 10 years - can't believe it. Hope you had a nice birthday honey! We love you!

Nana and Hannah playing at dinner

Bo and Emma at dinner

seeing the beach - Emma was so excited

opening his presents

his new jeans and shirt

Spring Photo Shoot

Saturday, April 9th

My friend and photographer Wendy had a spring photo session at my dad's business with the new, spring bunnies and ducks! The weather was cooler than anticipated so I did not get the dress the girls in their pretty dresses, but the pictures still turned out so cute. The other proofs you can view are at www.wendyspainphotography.com - click proofs and the you will see the gallery. She does such a great job! The gallery has so many cute ones of Emma laughing hysterically. They both loved the animals soooo much.

2010 Picture

A few from this year that Wendy tagged me on from her website!

www.wendyspainphotography.com to see the rest!

Busch Gardens

Sunday, April 3rd

We were on our way to church and I told Bo that I thought it would be so much fun to go to Busch Gardens today after church. He was like, "uh huh." We got to church and my cousins said they were going after church and invited us to go. So, after church we went home, changed clothes, ate lunch all kinds of fast and then hit the road. The kids were super excited since this was not really a planned trip. They both took a little nap in the car and were all energized by the time we were there.

What a beautiful day it was to be outside. We met up with my cousins with their two kids and then another couple from church with their two kids. It worked out really well for the kids to ride the rides. My cousins's daughter Kelly, who is 10, helped Hannah ride the rides that adults could not attend with their children, while, Emma did really well on her own this year. They all had a fun time. Emma enjoyed riding with Cara, a little girl from church. She also shocked me that she wanted to ride the big Elmo ride that goes up and down. She was so cute. Hannah rode more rides than ever before since last year she was still a baby. Of course we saw all of the Elmo characters perform. We just took our time and enjoyed the nice weather and let the kids have fun.

me, Emma and Kelly on the Elmo ride - love Emma's feet hanging off!

The Oscar Ride - Connor, Cara, Emma and Kelly

the balloons

the bugs

the boats

Can't Wait!!

So, I spent almost $200.00 for row A Barney Live tickets. I don't care what many people say about Barney - my kids love the show. The songs are actually really cute. It started out as Hannah watching it and Emma just caught an interest too. So, we are going to this on April 30th and I am sure the girls are going to love it.

I also renewed our seasons passes to Busch Gardens today. Emma has had a countdown for the last two weeks of when it opens. They can't wait to go see Abby and Elmo again. We plan on going over spring break for sure. I also got Water Country passes for the whole summer.

With Easter coming and all that we have planned, we are ready for a fun spring and summer!