Kaitlyn's class...

Kaitlyn and Madison both enjoyed a field trip to the Alabama Children's Theater. Jeff went along with Maddie's class and I went with Kaitlyn's. This is a picture of Kaitlyn and Alex, her best friend.





Here's a few kids in Kaitlyn's class and her teacher Ms. Corley.



Enjoying McDonalds lunch with friends.

Tea with American Girl Samantha...

Last Thursday night we went to a great event hosted by a public library here in Birmingham! The library we went to was over 80,000 square feet and is totally amazing. We are all looking forward to going back and spending some time there. Anyways, Jeff sniffed out this free, "Tea with Samantha," so we booked out spots and headed out. The night consisted of a play put on by the staff of the library, snacks and a craft.
Here's a picture of us waiting for the play to begin!




This is what Jeff does at any break he has, even a minute or two. I had to laugh when I met up with him and the girls today at Claires. He was sitting in the ear piercing chair and....you guessed it, he was reading his book. He's read 18 since we've come. I'm still riding on the high of finishing, "The Outsiders" in jr. high. "Stay gold, Johnny, stay gold." Sniff sniff.




The girls brought their dolls and introduced them to the crowd. It was fun to see all the different dolls and lots of girls wore outfits that matched.






Here's the "after party" with the stars!!

Alabama to North Carolina and back...

Just checking in from another whirl wind week!! The girls were off for Spring Break so we went to N.C. to visit family for 4 days. Before we left, however, we did see Derek Webb (Who's he? See here) in concert at the Chapel at Samford. Here's a picture of him for those who care!



After the concert we drove over 7 hours to Jeff's parents house. The girls really are champion travelers and we only stopped for gas. I always love spending time where Jeff grew up. Mrs. Kuhn's decorating style is "family pictures and everything the kids have ever made." There are tons of pictures all over the house and it's fun for all of us to look at them. Well, actually, they do have pictures of each of their children and their spouses and the one of Jeff and I is pretty scary. I think we took it ourselves and it's the angle that shows nose pores and everything. We pulled in around 7:30p.m. and had the most delicious dinner we've had in a long time waiting for us!! What a treat. Here's one of my favorite pictures of Jeff....what's not to love?? The blue and yellow praying hand plaque is something Jeff made at camp when he was a kid. Even though it'll stain you if you brush closely by, it still hangs in the kitchen. How cool is that?




The next day (Friday) was Bethany's 7th birthday. We celebrated all day and had a picnic supper on the way to Ben's (our nephew) football game.








We had the best time at the football game catching up with Kenny (Jeff's brother) his wife Marie, their 3 awesome sons, and even Uncle Mike came from TN. We also got to meet our nephew Matthew's girl friend. Her name is Elizabeth and, yes, she is just as sweet as she looks. Matthew is going to Furman University and has been chosen to spend 6 weeks in Canada to work as a student intern with the conservative party in Ottawa!! It was great to spend time with everyone and we really enjoyed the boys. They really are pretty amazing guys. Still waiting for Kenny and Marie to write that parenting book...









Matt and Eizabeth...





Scrapbooking with Auntie Marie...



Hanging out with Kenny's family...





A great "cook-out"...

You can do a lot in a day.

Whew.

Yesterday was one full day. We left the house @ 7:20 am to make it to school in time for Maddie and Ang to leave on a class field trip to the Museum of Natural History in Anniston, Alabama. Anniston is about half-way between Birmingham and Atlanta. Angela loves museums, especially the ones on Natural History (Please read this in a sarcastic tone...) but she'll do anything for her kids so she trekked along. It was a great trip as you can see from the pictures below.

Maddie and her teacher Mrs. Crowe (this lady is one huge answer to prayer!) eating lunch at IHOP (International House of Pancakes).



The typical "I went to the Anniston Museum of Natural History" photo...



Maddie's class - yep, that's all of them. (actually one was missing - Ang)



Maddie and Jalia, one of her best friends at school.



During the school day I went to Samford and did some research as well as going through the whole "Bod Pod" experience. Yes, I mastered my claustrophobia long enough to survive. I also learned that I am one of the more "fit" clients that Candi is working with...which doesn't say much for the others. Maybe I'll tell you more about that later. At 3:00 I picked up the other girls at school and we went to the local public library. It's an amazing library and one that we'll be frequenting (only about 3 minutes from the school). We killed some time there waiting for Maddie and Ang to return to the school at 4:00. They made it back without a hitch and then we launched out on a surprise for the girls. We were on our way to the "Build-a-Bear" workshop (they got gift cards for Easter) but I told them we had to stop by WalMart on the way. They were a bit confused because the WalMart was a long way out of the way. With the traffic it took us almost an hour to get there. What they didn't know was that Ace Young, of American Idol fame, was doing a "Meet and Greet" for his fans at that WalMart from 3:00 to 5:00. We hadn't told them because we weren't sure we could make it due to afternoon traffic. As the traffic worsened we told the girls (at 4:53) what we were trying to do, but warned them that we probably wouldn't make it in time. They are very spiritual girls so they began to pray. (Maddie also crossed her fingers...Not sure about the theological implications of praying with your fingers crssed to see an Americal "Idol") We pulled into the parking lot at 5:00 on the button, telling the girls not to get to excited because we had probably missed him. I let them out and they ran in to look with Ang while I parked the car. I got into the store just in time to see the girls pleading with Ace's bodyguard (who was probably 6'3" and 350 lbs.) to let them in. He had told them no, but their pleading softened him and he lifted the rope and let them in...they were the last one to see Ace. They were pretty excited as you can see below...








After a while of hearing the kids sing our praises as the best parents ever, we headed off for "BUILD A BEAR". This is something they have wanted to do forever, so it was fun to watch them enjoy it. Take a look for yourself...







We finally got home @ 7:30 pm. It was an exhausting but amazing day.