Splash Park and Blueberries

We were finally able to fit in a few summer activities here around home this past week. It seems as though we've been gone every other week lately, and I know that before I can blink, summer will be over. Julia starts school on the 13th of August (!), and Lily starts on the 6th of September, so if we want to do any more fun stuff this summer, we'd better get a move on!

On Tuesday of this past week we went to a splash park in Kinston. I really really wish we had something like this in our town, because the girls absolutely loved it! And it was only $2 for the two of them to get in! When we first got there, there were at least 30 other kids with a day care group playing in the water already, but after about 15 minutes they left and Julia and Lily pretty much had the whole park to themselves, except for a couple of other children. If we can work it out, I'd love to take the girls there a few more times before the summer is over.

On Friday, my mom and I left early to go and pick some blueberries (without the girls!). We picked about 12 pounds in about an hour, then came back to pick up the girls and go to the Farmer's Market. We bought some zipper peas (anybody ever heard of those?), some red potatoes, some peaches, and a tomato. So for lunch, we added in some corn and some sauteed squash and onions that I already had at home, and we had ourselves a vegetable plate. And when I say "we," I definitely don't mean Julia and Lily. Maybe one day they'll eat their veggies. For now I'll just keep tricking them with veggie "chicken" nuggets. Which leads me also to say that I feel really old, because I got really excited about all the delicious vegetables we were eating. When I was growing up, I only really liked a few--and I do mean a few--vegetables. Now I like tons of them! So there's hope for Julia and Lily after all, I believe. Oh, I forgot. They did eat the fresh peaches. That counts. And Lily had a couple of helpings of my fresh/frozen corn. What was I thinking?!? They're practically vegetarians.

And just what did we do with the blueberries? We made blueberry jam, double blueberry muffins, and cream cheese blueberry bundt cake. And they ALL turned out deliciously.

Lily helped crush the blueberries to make jam.

Julia helped pick the stems off of some of the blueberries.

Nashville on the Fourth!

I realize that jumping from Easter to July 4th is not quite "keeping up" with my blog, but it's better than jumping from Easter to Christmas, right? Right.

We took a family trip this past week to Nashville to visit my brother and sister-in-law and their adorable daughter, Layla. My mom also went along for the ride. We set up camp (aka 2 queen-sized air mattresses) on Matt and Beth's living room floor and stayed for 3 nights. 

Layla is almost 18 months old now, and boy, has she grown! She can say so many words since we last saw her, and she is so busy! All three of the older Edwards grandchildren are really chatty, and it's easy to see that Layla will follow right in their footsteps. Matt and Beth were both off work for the fourth, so we got to spend all day with them, which was really nice.

For lunch we all met with some of our friends from college and their daughter, also named Lilly. Time really does fly by, but it's so good to be able to reconnect and laugh and hang out with great friends. We planned to eat at Bread & Company in Green Hills, but it was closed for the holiday. We tried Zoe's Kitchen instead, and it was really good! Afterwards we drove over to Opry Mills (It takes forever to drive anywhere in Nashville, by the way!) and did some shopping. The girls got to ride on the carousel and play on the indoor playground and ride on one of those outrageously expensive mall stroller things, so they were set.

We also got to meet up with Beth and Jeremy and Brooklyn later on in the afternoon for supper and for our annual tradition of watching the fireworks together. It is always SO GOOD to see them and spend time with them! Julia and Lily hadn't seen Brooklyn since she moved away, so it was really sweet to watch them as they reunited with each other and laughed together. 

Downtown Nashville was crowded and hot and crowded and hot, but if I had the chance to do it all over again, I would. We got to our place on the ground about an hour before the fireworks started, but there were concerts going on onstage in front of us, so the girls enjoyed dancing and being silly, and we enjoyed laughing at/with them. When it was time for the fireworks, the Nashville Symphony took the stage and played as a "soundtrack" to the fireworks. It was incredible! (It was also really hot and crowded outside, did I already mention that?) We got back to Matt and Beth's house around 11:30 pm. (Did I also already mention that it takes FOREVER to drive anywhere in Nashville?!? I am so spoiled with my small town!)

On our last day in Nashville, we ate lunch with the Thomas's at Bread & Company (yay! I've decided that it's my favorite.), then went back to Opry Mills, where the girls got to ride the carousel again and play on the playground again and ride one of those stroller things again. They were happy. Until they got tired. Then everything came unglued. We said goodbye to our friends, then headed for the car. But not before we stopped at the GiGi's cupcake kiosk and the Sweet CeCe's kiosk. Man! I love vacations!

We ended our trip with pizza and dessert back at Matt and Beth's house with Beth and Jeremy and Brooklyn, where we all just hung out and laughed and talked together. We drove the whole way back to NC on Friday and got back into town around 11:30 pm.

So now we're home for a while. Well, for a little while. Next up: our church youth group trip to Washington, DC. 

Spring Break, part 1: Easter

Around Easter every year, the girls end up hunting eggs, in some form or another, no less than 3 times, and this year was no exception. Our first hunt was at Julia's school. This was on their last day before school let out for Spring Break, and it was really cold outside. Okay, it wasn't in the 30's or anything, but for the beginning of April, 50 degree temperatures seem really chilly to me. Here are a few pictures from Julia's school egg hunt.

Julia was really excited to see me and Lily there for her Easter egg hunt and party.

Our second "egg hunt" of the season was at an Easter event at a local church here in Winterville. And I use the term egg hunt loosely, because you'll see why.

It was called The Great Greenville Egg Drop, and judging by the name, it was going to be fabulous. Thousands of eggs would be dropped out of a hot air balloon for kids to "hunt." The only problem was the less than ideal wind conditions. The event coordinators tried once to get the balloon up in the air, but failed to do so because of strong winds. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally they just came around to all those who were waiting and handed out six eggs a piece. I can't say we weren't a little disappointed, but we were really hungry too, so we were anxious to leave and grab supper somewhere. Nevertheless, here are a few pictures from the Great, Grand, Marvelous, Spectacular, Greenville Egg Drop.

Now. The third egg hunt was on Easter Sunday after church. And since my girls are in different age categories, they are hunting eggs in two totally separate fields on the church grounds. So I'm only able to get pictures of one child hunting eggs. This year, I stayed with Lily, and Ti stayed with Julia. And I had the camera. So it looks like I have a few more pictures of Lily than I do of Julia, but I explained why, so it's okay. Without further adieu, here are pictures of our church egg hunt, along with a few pictures of the girls with their Easter baskets and a picture with Mimi and Papa and Layla.

So that was Easter. And the beginning of our Spring Break. I'll talk about the rest of Spring Break, though, in my next post.

my little bowl

I love pretty little colorful things. This time of year especially. Spring just naturally causes me to be drawn to brightly colored things. And to see those colors usually brings a smile to my face.

Which brings me to my tiny brightly-colored teal bowl.

My bowl is not fancy. It's not even the most unusual, unique thing I've ever seen. But as long as I live, it will always bring a smile to my face. Honestly, though, it's not really the bowl that makes me smile.

It's the fond memories attached to it.

My best friend moved away almost 3 months ago to a town that is, according to Google, just 4 minutes shy of a 20-hour drive away. And I miss her terribly. She's the kind of friend who always knows the right things to say, always knows the best way to encourage, and always causes you to want to draw closer to Christ. Thankfully I got the opportunity to fly out to visit her this past weekend. We talked, we laughed, we cried, we got a pedicure. And we shopped. Which brings me--again--back to my little teal bowl.

I had heard about this one particular clothing/housewares store through another friend's blog, but I had never been to one before. So we searched and found it on her GPS and drove. And drove and drove. And we ended up in the middle of an old neighborhood. And we laughed. And I apologized. But we did end up finding the store, thankfully, and I found out that most of the merchandise is way out of my price range. Except for a few things. One thing--my small teal bowl. It was $2.50 to be exact. Which is extremely in my price range. After looking around for maybe 10 minutes, I purchased my bowl, with its purpose already in mind. I've got it on my counter in my bathroom to put my jewelry in at the end of the day, which means I'll look at it every day, at least once or twice. Which means I'll remember and smile every day and thank God for the treasure He's given me in my best friend.

Refuge

I had a few things I thought of yesterday that I wanted to blog about, but I only remembered one. And I think it's probably the most important one.

I have no idea why this little moment hit me the way it did, but yesterday, as I was sitting on the couch folding laundry, Julia and Lily were playing together. It wasn't long before I heard a thump. Lily had hit her head on the wall. She instantly came running and crying to me.

To me. The first thing she thinks to do when she gets hurt is to come to me for consolation. I know, this is nothing profound. But as I was holding and hugging her, tears welled up in my eyes. It feels really, really nice to be needed like that. I hope that my girls will always come to me like that when they hurt, or when they're happy, or anytime they feel anything. But more importantly, I pray that they will always go to Jesus first, to seek Him first. I've been reading a lot lately about how Jesus is our refuge. I know--but I don't quite understand how--He loves them way more than I do, and He wants them (and me!) to always come to Him with everything that's on their hearts and minds. He is their Father, after all. And He loves us all with an unconditional, unimaginable, indescribable love that will never fade.

Come to think of it, maybe that's why the moment hit me the way it did. Maybe Jesus gave me a glimpse of what it's like when we come to Him.

Valentine's Day! and more!

Valentine's Day went great at our house this year. And we may have pulled it off with a little less candy than usual, since Ti and I are both watching what we eat lately. Ti fixed the girls pink chocolate chip pancakes and pink (strawberry) milk for a special Valentine's Day breakfast. They were tickled pink. (Sorry. That was cheesy.)

I wish Valentine's Day would always fall on a Saturday. That way, you could do some morning festivities without feeling rushed because of work/school, etc.

Julia had a party at school, of course, and I wasn't even planning on going, but at the last minute, I decided to go. (I think that sentence might have too many commas.) And I'm glad I did. Nothing special or out of the ordinary was supposed to happen, this was just going to be her last V-day party at her school. (No, I didn't cry.) Lily was also glad I decided to go, because that meant she would get to go too, which meant that she would get to taste all the yummy party food.

For our Valentine's supper, all four of us went to Chick-fil-A (fancy, I know!). We were planning on going to Krispy Kreme for dessert, but the line was unbelievably long, so we went to Dunkin' Donuts instead.

Just for the record, Dunkin' Donuts does not hold a candle to Krispy Kreme. Period. When we were ordering at DD, the cashier said that they were out of a lot of their normal selection of donuts, but in about an hour or two, some more would be thawed out. Thawed out!!?? All I could think about was that long line of hot...fresh...warm glazed doughnuts from Krispy Kreme...Okay. Enough about the doughnuts.

That was the extent of our Valentine's day.

On a completely different subject, Lily and Julia love to play games on our Mac. I have a list of websites on my share site they can click over to, and PBSkids.org is one of them. I don't know why this is so funny to me, but all Lily wants to do is go to the Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood page and watch the episodes and "field trip" videos. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood! I still don't understand the fascination that most kids have, or have had, with that show. (Yes, I loved it as a kid!) At least it's not Sponge Bob. I hate Sponge Bob.

Also, Julia got a much-needed haircut last night. I loved her long hair, but it was just too long and stringy for me. Now it's in a cute little shoulder-length bob. I think she was more excited about her new look than I was. (And I guess that's the way it should be!)

And last, but certainly not least, I booked a flight to see my best friend yesterday! Sad note-I think that might've been the first flight I've ever booked entirely on my own. Anyway, I can hardly wait! I miss her so much!