Bowlin Beige

With all of the graduation festivities and holidays, we ended up having Ainsley's birthday party a few weeks after her birthday. She went to a local art studio that hosts parties and classes. She and her 'big kid' friends had such a great time painting a flower with their hands! Listening to the teacher's instructions. Painting her background Everyone having fun! Quick break for story time with Daddy (while the paint dries).  Putting on the finishing touches. The completed masterpiece!  Time for cake! The kids show off their work! Such a fun day for our birthday girl! And then she promptly passed out on the way home.

Preschool graduation seems like a silly thing until you actually have a child graduating from preschool. How did this happen? She just started going to our church preschool a few weeks ago... or was it a few years ago? I can't keep track - it's all happening too quickly! I'm not ready to have a child in elementary school! Now she'll be in 'real school' for the next 13 years of her life! And then she'll go away to college! What happened to my little girl?! ::Deep breaths:: Not only did Ainsley get to celebrate her fifth birthday this week, but she also gets to celebrate the end of the school year. Here are Ainsley, Ava, and Julianne on their last day of school. They've been best buddies at preschool for the past two years. She is going to miss them so much next year! At lunchtime her class had their end-of-year picnic. It was a hot day but we had fun saying goodbye to her friends. Her teachers made an amazing book for each kid, with pic...

It's so hard to believe that our little girl is turning FIVE today! What a busy week - birthday party at preschool on Tuesday, real birthday celebration with family on Wednesday, preschool graduation on Thursday, and a birthday party with friends on Saturday. It's a week jam-packed with celebrations! Ainsley has been the light of our life since joining our family five years ago. Arriving a week early, she has always been in a hurry to do things faster than everyone else. She has a hard time understanding that life is not a competition! She makes us laugh everyday with her silly songs and dances. She fills my heart with joy every time she draws a picture filled with hearts for me. And although she encourages her little brother to be her partner-in-crime, she does a wonderful job watching out for him and making him smile when he is upset. Our little bug is such a special girl - I can't wait to watch her grow up and see the woman she becomes. Happy birthday bug! http...

We have a group of friends from college, who we used to leave near in DC. We all got married around the same time and had our kids around the same time. Our yearly trips to the lake and to Kiawah, holiday dinners, and children's birthday parties are always things we look forward to. Even though we don't live near them anymore, we always enjoy the time we get to spend together. In May we went to northern Virginia and spent the weekend with them. We got to meet the newest baby, Lauren - we are now officially evenly matched eight-to-eight with parents and kids. The kids played, the adults visited, and we all ate lots of good food and drank good wine. I even got to enjoy cake on my birthday! Thanks to the O'Neills and Swearingens for hosting us at your beautiful homes!

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...