ShinDig

Life is better with friends. 

Missed you Kim and Amy!

Bowling Birthday Bash!

So we have had a couple of birthdays around here... and although it is still hard for me to believe we now have an eight year old and two five year olds! 

This year we decided to have a party that was not at our house. (At the request of the kids and the husband). So the kids (the boys really, Liv just went along with it) picked a bowling party.  

Here are the pics to prove how fun the party was! 

Bowling Birthday Cake. Yes I bought a special pan to make a perfectly spherical ball... if you want to borrow it let me know!!

The birthday cuties. Made the shirts myself with printable iron - on transfers. Thought they turned out cute. Wish I would have invented that!

 

Bowling cutie. Sort of looks like she is standing in front of a walker, but it is actually a ramp that little ones can use to roll their bowling ball down the lane. made bowling a lot easier for the smallest among us.

Watching his ball... hoping it will make it all the way down the lane!!

The older crowd. Definitely the most into the actual game.

Goofy cousins.

Now for the best part... singing and eating cake!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Morning!

Time for the egg hunt.

Three Easter cuties!

A Lesson in Local History

Our town, like many other Eastern towns, is home to a battle from the Revolutionary War. Each MArch on the anniversary of The Battle of Guilford Courthouse war reenactors come and reenact the battle at a local park. This year we went and watched the reenactment and walked through the soldiers camp. The kids (well, mostly the boys) really enjoyed watching and asking questions.

If you are particularly interested in the battle itself you can click on the link above to educate yourself.
Below are some pictures of our day.

Ethan with his best bud.

As you can see the soldiers also reenacted dying. This was the hardest part to explain and do the gravity of war justice. I majored in history and I love to study the past, but studying and retelling death and war that is a serious endeavor not to be taken lightly. To drop the assumed glamour and see the boys who bled and died on our soil- that is a real challenge- especially with 7 and 4 year olds.

I was impressed with the historians knowledge at the reenactment and how soberly he handled retelling the war. We will definitely attend again.

Long- Distance Cousins

John has an awesome cousin who we love to see and spend time with... the problem is until recently she lived in Austin, TX with her family. But, fortunately her family moved back to the south and we were blessed to see them recently.

Erin and her two girls came for the day and lots of family came over to see them and to catch up. Above are her two adorable daughters with Olivia. Liv was thrilled to have some girl cousins!!

Here are all most of the younger generation of cousins. We LOVED having the Whitener clan with us for the day... hope they will return soon!!

Basketball!

Well, basketball is actually over now. But, I did not want to let it completely pass without letting you see a picture of our all - star. Basketball is Ethan's favorite sport. This was his first year playing on a team and he loved it! He finally worked up the confidence to take some shots at the last game and scored. I don't think I have ever seen him happier!