May Update

May 1st was the Hope for Augusta Banquet.  It was a great dinner and $16,000 was raised for Hope for Augusta's programs.  Here is the link to a video slideshow from the past year that was shown at the banquet.

http://firstpresaugusta.org/hfa-update

We found time one weekend to go hiking as a family.  It was so good to be outdoors and to spend that time together!

Emma says, "Picnic is over, let's go!"

After-school tutoring ended for the year.  Celebrated Mother's Day with a day of rest and lunch at John and Laura's.

So thankful to be the mom to these two cuties!

We all had the stomach bug at some point during 48 hours!  Thankfully it was short-lived!

The middle of May we started watching a very sweet 3 month old baby girl in the mornings during the week.  The girls both love her and look forward to every morning when she comes!  Caileigh likes to help feed her her bottles and Emma is most concerned if the baby doesn't have her "papi."  We are often rewarded with very sweet smiles and coos.  I thought Emma might get jealous - but so far she seems to love having the sweet baby here!  We're are so thankful for this opportunity to help another family out and to love on another little one! :-)

We enjoyed a trip to the Columbia Riverbanks Zoo with Stephen's brother, Jason and his family and we were able to celebrate our nephew, Thad's 7th birthday with him!  We always have a good time with them and the girls absolutely LOVE playing with their cousins.  We are thankful we are just an hour away from them now!

Picnic at the Zoo by the river with cousins!

John Carter, Caileigh and Emma (asleep in stroller)

Caileigh and her buddy, John Carter

May 21st the Summer Reading Program - Reaching Higher started.

Over Memorial Day weekend we camped near Charlotte with Stephen's parents and enjoyed a weekend by the lake, in the lake and on the lake!  Jason and Lori and kids joined us Saturday.  We all enjoyed turns on the jet ski.  I thought Caileigh would like it but I was wrong - she LOVED it!!!  If only I had a picture of her face to share with you.  She rode in between Stephen and I and she would yell - "Faster Daddy, faster! Go as fast as you want Daddy!  Make it bump us up high!  Make it splash us again!  Go faster Daddy! This is fun!"  I have the bruises to prove that we were bounced around a lot and were only staying on by my knees gripping the sides of the seat!  :-) Emma woke up from her nap in time to have a turn.  I was nervous about her going as she isn't known to sit still nor to really like "rides."  She seemed to like it - maybe not quite as much as her big sister.  She would smile at times and when we would ask her if she liked it she would nod her head with absolutely no expression on her face.  When her turn was over and her Papa asked her if she liked it she yelled - "Yeah!"

Another highlight of the weekend was a visit with our dear friend, Blair and her two girls!  We were sad to miss Micah, as he was out of the country but hopefully we'll get to see them again before the summer is over!  It has been a little over a year since we last saw them and all 4 girls have changed so much!  They thoroughly enjoyed each other and spend over 3 hours swimming together in the pool!  I'm glad Stephen had his phone so we could snap a picture of these sweet friends!

The warmer weather has brought lots of fun activities like swimming, playing with the water table, picnics outside along the Riverwalk and lots of time indoors! :-)  We have lots of fun things and trips planned for the rest of our summer so I apologize but it may be awhile before I get back on and update. Maybe I will try to at least do it once a month instead of three months at a time!  Hope everyone enjoys a safe and fun summer!