Cousins

Sophie & Abbie with Alexa & Taylor

Katie & Sophie

another outtake of the girls

Here's a few pictures which mainly the family will enjoy. Sophie got to visit many of her cousins while we were in Kentucky, some for the first time because Matt's mom has five siblings and just a large extended family. We don't come and visit that often and we aren't able to see everyone each time. We were able to see Matt's cousin, Josh, and his wife, Mary, along with their girls, Alexa & Taylor. Sophie had a great time with them! I think she was bossing them around because she said something about them being her servants. I wonder where she gets her bossiness from? =) One morning, we took the girls over to visit Matt's cousin, Crystal, and her daughter. They have some goats, ducks, chickens, a dog, cat and rabbit. Of course, neither one of our girls got to friendly with the animals while we were there. When Abbie did want down, one of the goats pushed her over. Then, she really wasn't happy!!

We were glad that we could visit Matt's grandparents and many of his aunts, uncles, & cousins. Sophie really enjoyed getting to play with several of her cousins.

A Fantastic Time 4-wheelin'

fun times!!

As you can see, 3 out of the 4 of us had a terrific time riding around on Gary & Jo's four wheeler on Thursday. Then, we drove about 45 minutes to see Matt's mom's side of the family, near Ashland, KY. Abbie was taking a nap so she missed out on all the outdoor fun. We didn't really know if Sophie would like riding a 4-wheeler or not but she loved it! She wanted to keep going and going and didn't want Daddy to stop!! Don't worry-her Daddy didn't go that fast. (I made these pictures larger than normal so you'd see proof of us riding the 4-wheelers.)

Down on the Farm

Sophie with Eehaw (sp?)

silly Sophie with Uncle Gary

Can you see the pure joy on Sophie's face as she drives the John Deere?

Yah-hoo!

This past week, we travelled up to Kentucky to visit some of Matt's extended family including his grandparents and many of his aunts and uncles. It was quite cool when we got there last Wednesday but on Thursday, after it warmed up, we were able to go outside and ride on 4-wheelers. Sophie got to drive the John Deere tractor too! That morning, we headed over to a cousin's farm and the girls met his donkey up close. The donkey was cute in his own way and loved the peppermints we brought! Abbie did not want anything to do with the donkey!! She started crying. Sophie was OK as long as there was a little distance there. We were laughing as Uncle Gary was holding her because she was fully extending her legs-not so comfortable if someone's trying to hold her.

Family Egg Hunt

Abbie's thinking about her strategy

our girls

Aunt Martha & Uncle Phil with Sophie & Abbie

Abbie's "on the move"

On Saturday night, we headed over to Uncle Jim & Aunt Linda's to spend time with Nana's side of the family. Aunt Mary Tom just celebrated her 102nd birthday this week but we hadn't had a chance to be with her. We got together to celebrate Easter and her birthday. We planned to have a simple egg hunt and then have dinner. My cousin Chris's little girl, Grace, fell and cut up her face pretty bad right before the Easter egg hunt. Poor Grace! We waited a little while and then decided to let our girls go ahead and hunt some eggs just in case it was too dark later on. Grace needed some time to settle down too because she was pretty upset.

It was Abbie's first egg hunt but she was amazing! We gave her a basket and she just started hunting eggs. Every so often, she'd dump her eggs and start again. It was hilarious! I couldn't believe how she knew what to do and was such a natural. At Sophie's first egg hunt she was a little younger I guess and she wasn't walking at the time. Sophie just sat down with the first egg we found and played with it. Back to the present though. After dinner, Grace felt like hunting for some eggs so she helped hide and find the eggs. The girls all had fun hunting for the eggs.

All in all, we had a nice Easter. I'll try to post pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses soon!

Easter Party

Sophie and some of her classmates with the Easter bunny!

Sophie hunting for eggs

Ms. Sandra's class after the egg hunt

Abbie playing in the car

Matt's parents left town on Wednesday and Sophie's Easter party was on Thursday. It was a very busy day for me but everything went pretty well. Abbie rolled with the punches as we dropped Sophie off at school, then ran a few errands, went back to Sophie's school for an early pizza party (complete with visit from the Easter bunny) and then made the trek out to the playground for the Easter egg hunt. Abbie was really a perfect angel that day! After the egg hunt, the kids all headed home. Sophie was the friendliest I'd ever seen her around the Easter bunny. I couldn't believe it! When we've been to the mall, she won't really have anything to do with him. I was like, "Sophie, I'm really proud of you!" because she was high-fiving him and grinning from ear to ear, sat in his lap, etc. I found out later though that she knew beforehand that it was one of her friend's dads so that explained it!

All of the kids seemed to enjoy the Easter egg hunt. It seemed to be more fair because all of the kids got plenty of eggs so I was happy about that. Going out to their playground is an adventure because the church where Sophie goes to school has major construction going on right now. It was a perfect day for an Easter egg hunt! Sophie & Abbie enjoyed playing in the yard later that afternoon. Sophie has to share her little red car now. They like to see if they can both fit in it but it doesn't work so well!!

Springtime Fun

Who's the "baby" in the crib? Wait a minute here. =)

Sophie enjoying all of the early birthday fun

Sophie & her friend, Kate, at the church Easter egg hunt

Sophie with her new cash register

While Mimi & Paw-paw Tom were in town, Matt & I took Sophie to the Easter egg hunt at church. We had intended to take Abbie too but she was kind of fussy that day and we didn't know if she'd get much out of it anyway. Sophie enjoyed seeing several of her friends but only got a few Easter eggs. She didn't seem to mind though. I think this Easter egg hunt was a good "warm-up" for the egg hunts later in the week. =) Sophie got a new cash register for her birthday. She was excited because she's wanted one for a few months now! She also got an MP3 player which she & Abbie have both enjoyed!

Sophie and Abbie loved having their grandparents in town and having lots of attention showered on them. Sophie helped them wash dishes one night which was sweet!

Mimi & Paw-paw Tom's visit

Sophie is so excited that Mimi & Paw-paw Tom are in town!

our family riding on the carousel-what fun!!

how sweet!

We celebrated an early birthday for Sophie with Mimi & Paw-paw Tom since they wouldn't be here next month for Sophie's birthday.

Mimi & Paw-paw Tom were able to come down and visit us for a few days during Mimi's Spring Break. We were just disappointed that it was so cold for most of their visit so that we couldn't visit the zoo or be outside more. We still had fun though. Sophie was hoping for a Cinderella cake to celebrate her birthday and that's what she got. She was totally surprised and excited when we brought out a cake for her. She even got to open up a couple of birthday presents that were brought from Virginia. What a special treat!

An "Eggstra" Special Project

Sophie's busy dyeing eggs

Sophie showing off some of her favorite eggs.

Our first purple irises to bloom! Hooray for Spring! It makes me happy!

On Monday while Abbie was napping, Sophie and I dyed some eggs. I hard-boiled them that morning and then we got to work that afternoon. It was really a lot of fun! It was sort of a new experience for both of us because I hadn't dyed eggs in years. I bought a cheap little egg dyeing and decorating kit from Target. Sophie LOVES projects so she was really excited about it! Sophie loved mixing the colors and using the stickers, etc to decorate her eggs.

This is totally unrelated but I included a picture of our first irises to bloom in the backyard. I was really glad to see that some bloomed because we transplanted some of them from my parents' yard last year. They look so pretty! I love spring with all of the beautiful colors and things in bloom! I also love Easter and everything that goes along with it.