Easter Weekend

We have had the best weekend! On Friday, we went to watch Oak Grove play a little baseball and it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day!!! Yesterday, J went to Jackson to meet his dad and watch the Braves play, and Nana came to Hattiesburg.  The kids had the best time with Nana and kept her busy all day while I was able to work on a few craft projects and got started on the major organization/clean out project we have to do before our home study visit happens.  We still have some work to do, but some progress was made for sure while the kids were busy!!!

Our church had a 6:00 am sunrise service down by the lake this morning.  The kids were still asleep so they stayed with the Nelsons.  The service was the perfect way to start the day and get our hearts focused on the victory that the Lord had over the grave! 

After breakfast, we snapped a few pictures and headed to Big Church.  Ella Kate has been begging for me to take her in to the service instead of the nursery for months.  I have resisted honestly because I didn't want to wrestle her and make her be quiet on my own since J is busy working during the services.  So I decided that today, with the help of the Nelsons, she could go to Big Church.  She was PERFECT!!!  We will see how next week goes...

 Thank you Nana and Pop for all your help this weekend!!!! We enjoyed your visit!!!

 While taking this picture, Ella Kate announced, "I'm going to marry you Patrick Jones!"  We will be showing this photo in their rehearsal dinner slideshow!!!

 Preach it Brother!!!!!

 These pictures just make me happy!

 Happy Easter!!! He is RISEN!!!! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!!!

Putting Together the Pieces

We are super excited about a new fundraiser opportunity!!  Please check out http://orphantoours.blogspot.com/ to see how you can help bring Emma home!! Thanks so very much!!!

Real Branches

Mom and Dad joined us for church today.  It was a busy morning for Ella Kate because she got to come in to Big Church waving palm branches with all the children in the church and then she sang with the preschool choir.  

She kept saying, "Mommy, they let us wave REAL palm branches!!!"  Apparently in her mind, it was a really big deal!

Little Missy loves the stage!!!

A huge THANK YOU to Kay Kay and G for all the help this weekend!!! We sure enjoyed it!!!!

A Little Egg Hunt and a Show

Today was a crazy busy day for us!!! Ella Kate and I have been anxiously awaiting this day for some time now and have spent an enormous amount of time talking about all we were going to be doing!!!  J was out of town for a retreat this weekend, so our first excitement was when Kay Kay and G came to our house!!! YEAH!!!!  Once they arrived, we went down to the church for the preschool Easter egg hunt.  Ella Kate has pretty much dominated this event the last couple of years, and this year was no exception.  The eggs were a little more difficult to find as now she is part of the age group where the eggs are actually hidden instead of just thrown out on the grass.  Nevertheless, she found herself a bucket full and was quite tickled to find her beloved skittles in a couple of the eggs.  She gladly shared all the chocolate with me =)

After filling her basket, it was time for some playground fun. Walker decided to get in on the action since he had to watch the egg hunting from the sidelines.

My sweet little guy got a haircut this week!!!  Bye Bye baby mullet, hello big boy!!!

We enjoyed some Chick Fil A for lunch per Ella Kate's request before heading to see Pinkalicious the Musical at the Saenger Theater downtown.  Ella Kate has been so looking forward to seeing the show for months, and let's be honest, I have been pretty pumped up as well.  

 Kay Kay even bought EK her own big bag of skittles and a crown and wand.  

 The show was really great and Ella Kate LOVED it!!! It was the perfect length to hold the attention of all the little people and it didn't hurt that we were on the second row, front and center.  I was really impressed with the performers and EK was just too precious as she watched so seriously and then would laugh, clap, and get so tickled as the story went on.  She has already started talking about what show she wants to see next.  

Time for Some Spring Cleaning!!!!

Please check out our adoption blog http://orphantoours.blogspot.com/ to see all the details about our upcoming garage sale and how you can help!!!!

The Beach

And what trip to the beach is complete without some beach pictures wearing white?!?!

SB 2013--Part 3

On Friday, Ella Kate and I  went to the Gulf World Marine Park.  I am a sucker for zoos, aquariums, etc!!!  The place was really great and it wasn't too terribly crowded.  

We got to watch the shark and sea turtle feeding.  It was awesome because the tank was an oval shape and we got to walk out over the tank and then down some stairs to observe from below the surface.  Very cool!!! EK liked sitting in the little window because the sharks and turtles literally came up to the window over and over and she would just get so tickled.  

Our next stop was to see the alligators.  She has recently been obsessed with talking about alligators.  I have no idea why though.  Those hands on the hips...stop it!!!

The highlight of the reptile show for EK was the alligator of course.  She about couldn't contain it when the alligator relieved himself on the stage.  Funny stuff!!!

Of course EK had to stand like the flamingos...

and she was super pumped to see all the birds.  She said this one was Scully from Jake and the Neverland Pirates so she needed her picture with him.

We watched the Rough Toothed Dolphin and Sea Lion show.

Then we got to see the Bottlenose Dolphin Show.  They were my favorite of the day by far!  Luckily, we took notice of the signs and sat on the 10th row out of the "splash zone."  It was far too cold for that business!!

Ella Kate and I had such a fun time on our little marine life adventure!!!

SB 2013--part 2

The second part of our spring break was spent at the beach.  Some sweet friends of ours gave us their condo for a few days so we were able to go enjoy some time away.  J's parents offered to keep Walker so we were able to have a little bit of special time with Ella Kate.  Although I missed my little guy like crazy, it really was nice to give EK my attention and do the things she wanted to do without having to worry about W's schedule and what all he might get in to.  Disclaimer:  There are a ton of pictures!!!

The weather was a bit cooler than I would have liked, but EK didn't mind finding other things to keep her busy in the mornings.  The condo had a great little playground and she had a blast pretending to be a pirate.  I guess maybe she has seen one too many episodes of Jake and the Neverland Pirates from the way she was talking like a pirate.

Once the day warmed up to about 60, EK thought it was time to hit up the splash pad.  I was cold just watching her!

The pool was heated so she and Daddy went for a little swim.  You have to love that J is wearing a pull over in the pool!!!!

After all that fun, we hit up the outlet mall and let EK pick out a treat at the Disney store.  Sweet thing was so overwhelmed when she walked into the store.  She chose a sleeping beauty doll and she has not let it leave her side since.  We went to a yummy dinner and EK got to be the captain of the ship.