Bowlin Beige

With kids, there are always a variety of celebrations before holidays. This year we've had the chance to enjoy many Easter activities with both the kids, as Parker is now old enough to understand the attraction of eggs filled with candy. We started with our community Spring Fling a few weeks ago. They had a petting zoo, pony rides, egg hunts, cake walk, and other fun games. The kids had a blast, even if it did creep into their nap time.  Checking out the chicks. Cowgirl! She had to hold every single bird at least 4 times and then show everyone else how to do it. What do I do with these?? High-five for the Easter bunny! Fun bus! Next came the Easter Bonnet Parade and egg hunt at Ainsley's preschool. She picked out all the things to decorate her hat and received her first lesson on the temperature of a hot glue gun (a hand down from my grandfather, which amazingly still works)!  The whole class Egg hunt. Showing off their goodies. Last weekend the kids were at Nana and Papa's...

Sadly, today is the kids' last day with Miss Robin. We've known since last month that she would be taking on a new job, but it's taken a while to fully come to terms with the change. We didn't tell Ainsley until last weekend - she still has a difficult concept of time and we didn't want her worrying about it too far in advance. But this week, our last three days, have been more about celebrating all the wonderful things Miss Robin has done for our family over the past (almost) 4 years. Ainsley was just 13 months old when we 'discovered' Miss Robin, who we found through a contact at our church. Ainsley's first Halloween at Miss Robin's home. It was here that she met her favorite friends, Davis and McKenzie, as well as others who have come and gone over the years. Miss Robin didn't hesitate with our spunky little girl, teaching her valuable life lessons such as patience and kindness. When Ainsley was old enough, Robin encouraged us to si...

This week was my spring break from school so we took the opportunity to schedule a family ski trip. Well, almost all the family - Parker stayed home with Nana and Papa. Ainsley, Eric and I headed off to Snowshoe in West Virginia. Ainsley had a fabulous time and wasn't scared at all. She loved ski school and made some new friends. Here are some highlights from our fantastic trip! Taking a catnap through the mountains. It sure is hard to sleep on these windy roads! Finally arrived in our room! We had a great 2-bedroom condo in the middle of the village, right on the slopes! View from our room . Sunday night tubing! Ready to hit the slopes! Our little ski bunny. Eric and I enjoyed some ski time by ourselves while Ainsley was in ski school. Too busy waving at her friends to stay on her feet. She's a natural! After a long day on the slopes, we enjoyed the indoor/outdoor pools. That's our litt...

We are so lucky that our babysitter, Robin, also provides special celebrations for the kids at her house. Here are some fun pictures from Parker's birthday party with the other kids!

Thank you to all our friends and family who made Parker's birthday so special. He was a typical two-year-old - energetic, moody, and completely attached to Mommy. Here are some highlights from his birthday! Friday night we celebrated with a cupcake with Nana and Papa. Sunday, his birthday, we started the day with a trip to Waffle House. He even ordered his own waffle from the waitress! " Waffle please!" Although today the temperatures reached 70 degrees, we couldn't have anticipated that so we held Parker's birthday party at Romp-N-Roll, an indoor children's gym. We picked up his cake from a local bakery, and made the mistake of showing it to him right before the party. Note to self: Never buy a cake that has toys on it.  He wanted to get his hands on that dump truck. Nothing we did could distract him from that obsession. The party started, friends arrived, kids were playing, and he spent the whole time crying and throwing himsel...