Noelle loves to tell time!  She’s got it down but is still learning how to practically use the clock to understand how much time has passed or will pass.  She’s doing great though, and her progress this year at school has been incredible.  One day, she and I were working on this dry erase clock, and I told her I was going to trick her.  She was so giggly as she did the hands perfectly for 9:45 in the morning.  Then, she wrote me a special message on the clock: Busted, got it!!!  She loves to play, and teaching her is so much fun with her spunky positive attitude!

Anna Kate started dance two weeks ago for a little spring/summer mini-session.  She LOVES dance and is really good at it!  She just doesn’t like the monotony of studio dance year round.  It gets tedious and boring for her at age 3-4, but she’s all about this class!  Rose was in the hallway outside the room entertaining herself, lol!  So far, she has never been to the ER or had any broken bones.  It’s a wonder!  These two children are complete opposites in personality and demeanor, so we’ve got awesome variety around here!

Last weekend, we managed to squeeze in a few parties during our healthy day, lol!  Here’s Livy, Anna Kate and Rose at Jacob’s Pump It Up party! 

While Mike and the littles were at Jacob’s party, Noelle and I went to Kendall’s art smart party.  It was really neat!

Rara took Anna Kate to Livy’s party at the park that same morning!  Divide and conquer!  Birthdays are so much fun… headed out the door to Berkley and Hudson’s right now!  Hope everyone is enjoying this awesome weather.  Sunshine shine on!!! 

Love these sweet pictures I found on my camera, compliments of Noelle!

Last week, we were sick one or two at a time with the stomach bug all week!  We thought we were getting better, and then another family member would start up again… always in the middle of the night.  We were exhausted!!!  One night, Rose and I were both sick, and Mike slept with Rose beside the commode.  It was the worst stomach bug I ever remember us having!  All that is to say, we did lots of this… dressing up, making up plays, and going crazy!  At least we were together… and as this beautiful spring weather blew in to Texas, so did our healing!  We have enjoyed doing yard work and playing out in the sunshine this week!  Hopefully we’ll have a nice long stretch of good health from now on… please join us in prayer!

Mrs. Paula let all the kids load up the goodies in their Easter eggs… they absolutely loved the sneak peek, and it made them feel so special to be helping!  She has the best ideas!

Week before last, Anna Kate got to go with a group of her school friends on a field trip to the Science Museum.  I love Mrs. Paula’s pics!

Looks like our girl had a total blast!  So thankful for Mrs. Paula and the way she captures Anna Kate’s preschool memories on film!  It’s just so cool for me as camera mom to get a little breather, but not miss out on the action.  Anna Kate and I love looking through the pictures as she tells me all about her experiences.  It honestly helps her solidify her memories and remember her life better.  We are blessed!

We just had to stay and play a little longer in "Jackson-Bill” Easter weekend.  Rara and Poppa and their big country yard are just too much fun for our city girls, and Harper and Fancy Nancy are the icing on the cake!  They love every minute of their toes in the grass running around with not a care in the world.  This is the good life!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the three of us at John’s wedding in 2009.  Michele and John, may all of your hopes and dreams keep coming true!  I’m so proud of you guys and love you very much!!!

Rose couldn’t wait to play in the doll house with her sisters!  Isn’t this such a magical place!?!  So thankful our family owns a little piece of heaven on earth!  For you new readers, this doll house was from my mother’s childhood that her father built for her and her sisters to match the house he built that they grew up in.  It was in Granny’s back yard throughout their childhood and my own (along with Granny’s clothes line; I’ll never forget her beautiful slips and silk gowns blowing in the wind with fresh sunlight shining through them).  Anyway, when it was time to sell Granny’s house once she passed away, we transported the doll house out to the family center so that a piece of their childhood would always be with us. It was a big part of my childhood too! I remember many afternoons over at my grandmother’s house playing in this doll house. Noelle found a book in there today that had my name in the front of it in my own kid hand writing. Watching the girls play in the dollhouse this afternoon filled my heart with unimaginable joy! 

Rara got the girls decorative keys that work to open the doll house this year.  Each girl kept their key safe in their new purses.  They were so excited to unlock the doll house and feel a sense of ownership in it by having their very own key.  That was so cool, Rara!

This picture is golden!  Moments like this happen constantly at our house, lol.  Anna Kate was not having Noelle’s feet on the table, but Noelle was so absorbed in her book, she had no clue!  And Rose had smarties, so she was in her happy place!

Cutie Kate!  Loving every ounce of this middle child!

Aww… God love this sweet little bunny!  Noelle has worn her bunny ears almost every year, I think.  I just leave them out with the baskets, along with some others, but she’s the only one that’s interested in wearing any and goes for these each year.  It’s really cute!

What’s next, Rose?

My sweet little angels!

Anna Kate told me that she needed some privacy in this picture, lol!  She’s so funny!

Love Anna Kate’s pinky up like a true little princess in the left picture!  Noelle was having a blast chillin’ with her bunny ears!

Anna Kate plays the most pretend out of our three girls.  She really gets into it, and I often find her very involved in her little make-believe worlds.  She is a very creative little kid who stays busy in her mind all the time.  She is very much like me in that way!

I really think she could taste this piece of cake.  I loved watching all three of the girls play the day away in the Arnett girls’ doll house.  Just precious, and the way life should always be.

We finished off the day with Rose giving Noelle’s toe a kiss because she stubbed it… beautiful wonderful day I will never forget!  The day that started off rainy and dark, turned into a magical wonderland full of fun and love and laughter!  Thank you God for all of our love, blessings, and FUN!  Amen!

Thank you Poppa and Rara for having us over for Easter weekend.  We look forward to this tradition all year long!  The next adventure of our fun Easter day was opening our eggs to discover what treats were inside.  We always open our eggs on Rara’s doll house porch each year!

On to opening eggs…

Guess who got the golden ticket!?!  Rose!!!  This was her second year in a row to find the winning egg.  She got $25 in golden dollar coins!  They have a winner in each age division, and our cousin Melissa won the other golden egg.  I helped Rose both years but had no idea which one was the winner, or even if we had it!  We were so surprised and excited!!!  Rose was SO proud; truly, she got it and she felt like she had done something so great.  It was awesome to watch her beam with pride.  She did work really hard picking up all those eggs!  She was so determined!

Happy moments of the day…

Anna Kate is always smiling at someone, this time it was Rara, who was so thoughtful to grab the camera to capture more Easter moments!

The Pond and Banks families… at the end of such a fun reunion! 

Kay Kay and Grandpapa are so awesome to drive to East Texas with us to celebrate our Risen Savior together, out in nature, God’s special creation.  It’s so refreshing, you can only imagine!  I love taking pictures with my girls because someday, they are going to be beautiful young women surrounding me, and I’m going to be their sweet old Momma… loving these times when I’m still young too, because I know they are fleeting chapters… life happens so quickly… seemingly when I’m not looking… so I love taking little breaks and remembering that it’s happening now, and I don’t want to miss it!

The girls are crazy about cousin Harper!  Rose was eating something sour in this picture, and Harper was checking it out!  It was toward the end of the afternoon, so this is the best picture we got of the four of them, but it’s precious, and I love it!

Noelle and Harper have a sweet little bond.  Noelle was showing her how to give a big good-bye hug.  You can tell Harper felt like a big girl and for a minute when they were hugging, Noelle just closed her eyes and cherished the moment, smiling as big as she could.  It truly melted my heart… these precious precious girls!!!  Granny would be tickled pink… hopefully she already is!

And then all of a sudden, out of no where, the sun came out in full force to finish off the best Easter ever!  Cousin Amber made blankets for the girls, which was a huge labor of love!  They are so cute and comfy… THANK YOU, AMBER!!!  She’s followed our blog ever since Noelle was born, and this is the first time she’s ever gotten to meet them in person.  It was awesome!  I asked her if the girls are what she expected in person from growing up with them through pictures on the blog.  She said that Noelle is a little more reserved than she expected and just as sweet as she thought, that Anna Kate looks just like I did when I was a kid and reminds her of Rara’s mommy, my Granny, and that Rose will be my spitfire, lol!  Her words, not mine.  She said they are all adorable and very good girls, which made me so proud!  It was neat talking to someone who grew up with me about my kids that has actually seen them grow up via the blog.  Noelle has been talking about technology in her class at school, and it really has changed the world around us.  I’m so thankful for the friendships that I’ve made, and the smiles and laughs of our precious girls that we get the privilege of sharing with you guys each week.  Family is what our blog is all about, and I’m so blessed to share special moments of our family, God’s most sacred unit, with you!