Nana's birthday

Paw-paw and Nana by our front door the night of our family party

Aunt Martha had found some great decorations for a 60th birthday including this sign, some confetti and plates/napkins. My mom didn't want a big deal made out of her 60th birthday. Oh, well! We didn't make too big of a deal of it but my feeling is you've gotta celebrate birthdays, especially the big ones. It should be a fun time to get together with those you love and it's a great excuse for a party so why not celebrate when you have a birthday?!

Early Birthday Celebrations

Sophie's Toy Story cake

Sophie with her new diary

the Waggoner side of the family (minus Skyler who had just left)

us with my mom's side of the family

Over Easter weekend, we had a big family party for Nana and Sophie to celebrate an early 60th birthday for my mom and Sophie's 6th birthday. We invited both my mom and dad's families who live in town. There were about 20 of us total. I put a lot of time into getting ready for this big event-cleaning and cooking, etc. Thankfully though, I asked family members to help bring food so it didn't all fall on my shoulders. The weather turned out to be great, the food was wonderful and we all had a good time. Everyone was sweet to remember both Nana and Sophie's birthdays. We celebrated early this year because we knew that we would be out of town on the actual weekend of their birthdays. We had 2 birthday cakes because Sophie really wanted a Toy Story cake. I wanted my mom to have a nice cake that didn't have a childish theme. I wish that I had taken more pictures that night but there was a lot going on!

Easter activities

Sophie & Abbie at our neighborhood egg hunt

Sophie's dyeing Easter eggs

Abbie's proud of her personalized egg

me and silly Abbie

This past Saturday, we went to our neighborhood egg hunt in spite of all the rain from the day before and a little bit that morning. Both of the girls wore their rain boots and that was good! Sophie enjoyed seeing some of our neighbors and some friends from school. They had some yummy doughnuts and juice at the egg hunt too. The Easter bunny made an appearance. Abbie didn't want anything to do with him but Sophie & I got our picture made with him. The funny thing was that after trying twice to get her to meet the Easter bunny (at the mall and at our clubhouse), Abbie decided she would go and see him the next day at the mall. She did great! She's still not crazy about people who are dressed up (particularly if their face is covered) but she's getting there.

Later that day (as the girls anxiously anticipated Mimi and Paw-paw Tom's arrival) we dyed some Easter eggs. They both enjoyed doing it!

Happy Girls

We found out that Matt's parents were going to come in last weekend. Abbie loves to help clean so she helped vacuum, make the bed, etc. I don't remember what Abbie was laughing about but I hope she continues to enjoy cleaning! Sophie wanted to get in on the action too. She's wearing a T-shirt that never fit me right but it's a dress on her. =) The girls were very excited that Mimi and Paw-paw were coming to visit!

Three Amigas

Meagan, Abbie and Ava Grace

I'm behind on blogging. Sorry about that. Our internet wasn't working for a day or two, Matt's been travelling, we've got his family in town now, etc. Life's just busy sometimes. Last Friday, we had two of Abbie's friends from church and her school come over to play. Abbie loves to play with Meagan and Ava Grace! It was a beautiful day on Friday. We played inside and then went outside for a while. The girls had a great time playing in the sandbox for a little bit. They liked our bright blue sand. It was a treat because we don't play in it everyday! Sand just makes such a mess to clean up. They stayed and had lunch with us and then played some more. The girls enjoyed sitting at their own little table. It was funny before they came because I lit a scented candle. I've gotten out of the habit of lighting candles very much. Abbie sees that the candle's lit and she said, "who's having a birthday?" =)

Abbie has been a big help this week as we were trying to get the house ready for company (Matt's parents came in for a visit). She helped me make the bed, she helped us vacuum, pick up the toys, etc. I hope she continues to enjoy doing things around the house. I can always use extra help! I'll try to include pictures of our Easter festivities next time!

Huntsville Space and Rocket Center

one of Sophie and Abbie's favorite things-a kiddie ride (they rode this a bunch of times)


Abbie is conducting some space experiments on a space station

The girls were laying down like real astronauts in an Apollo space capsule model.



Sophie playing in one of the kiddie areas

Last Saturday, we decided to head down to Huntsville to visit the Space and Rocket Center.  We have a membership at the Adventure Science Center in Nashville so we could do most of the exhibits for free in Huntsville.  Sophie had a unit about space at school so we thought the girls might enjoy at least parts of it.  It was a beautiful day!  When we arrived at the Space & Rocket Center we discovered that it was pretty busy because they were having these Moonbuggy races.  Many colleges had brought teams to compete in racing these self-made moonbuggies. It was kind of interesting to watch them.  We decided that overall, our girls were a little young for a lot of what they had to offer at the Space and Rocket Center but they did enjoy the kiddie areas a lot.  Their favorite area had a kiddie ride that went up and down bouncing as it went, almost like the adult version of the ride.  The girls rode it repeatedly! 

Sophie enjoyed learning a little more about launches to the moon, etc.  There was a lady there who let our girls try on the special boots that astronauts wear when they are walking on the moon.  They were pretty heavy!

Tigerthon Run

Sophie's class before the run

Sophie, Sydney and their sisters.

Olivia and her brother, Grant

This past Friday, we had the Tigerthon at Trinity. I volunteered to help and Matt helped me out by staying with Abbie and then bringing her to watch. It's a big fundraiser for the school. It was so cold and the kindergarteners ran first thing in the morning! Anyway, Sophie ran a couple of times and then she mainly walked. She acquired my love for running (ha!-NOT). She walked most of the time. They held the run out in the parking lot. It was really cute though because the little siblings loved getting out there and running! Abbie ran several laps around with Matt or Sophie. Sophie's teacher, Mrs. Rogers, dropped her camera during the run so we hated that! The day after the Tigerthon, we drove down to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. I will try to post pictures soon!