Spring Break, Birthday Boy and Bright Endings

We got to celebrate part of our Spring Break with Tim, Jen and AC this year! We took them all around Charlotte (Optimist Hall, Queen City Social, OMB brewery, Top Golf) and all around Rock Hill/Fort Mill (Slow Play, Greenway). We had such a great time being with them and promised ourselves we needed to do it again soon! 

Easter sure is an "EGG-cellent" time of the year! I love all that it represents-renewal, resurrection, redemption, and reassurance. Death is defeated and sin can't have power over me any more! Amen and amen! 

Teachers love any excuse to celebrate! Here we are on Pi Day (3.14) where we got to celebrate with pies and cute t-shirts! 

Ms. Carol loves to build Maggie's confidence each time she cuts her hair! I love the positive affirmations she gives and the way she lets our girl know that she is beautiful inside and out! 

Speaking of beauty, this darling got to go out with her Daddy to the Tega Cay dance. She looks so grown up! 

Not to be outdone, Riley and I had our famous "Sushi and Laser Tag/Arcade" date! My favorite part was getting to hear his answers to these questions and to connect with him about life without any other distractions! What a kind, young man I have! 

He tries his hand at this game every single time we go and each time he almost always gets to one or two blocks away from winning the BIG PRIZE! What he doesn't realize is that I've already won the biggest prize of all...getting to be his momma! It's a treasure for sure!

Maggie survived her first camping trip with her troop. She got to share a tent with Nova and help with flipping the pancakes. I'm thankful for the love of outdoors that this is instilling in our sweet girl and for the practical things that she is learning along the way! 

Maggie got to be Louis Armstrong in the wax museum at school. Doesn't she look fabulous!? She did a great job with her presentation in both English AND Spanish!

I got the opportunity to chaperone Riley's 7th grade Algebra field trip to Carowinds where they had done a project on roller coasters. 

We celebrated the last day of school with our annual trip to Pelicans! 

Kimmy raised a lot of money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and we got to attend a special dinner as her guests. I'm so proud of the big heart that this girl has for helping others! 

Maggie finished out Hip Hop with her spring recital. She did absolutely fantastic! 

Just a typical "porch sitting" night with this crew!! Love that Alice captures these moments for us! 

Riley turned into an official teenager this year....YIKES!! We got to celebrate him with 13 gifts (mostly books and Legos) But he did also get a phone this year. And with that comes great responsibility. I pray this fella knows that he has such God-given talents and traits and that He is such a blessing to our world! 

We took his buddies to Wake Park in Rock Hill and let the kids have some fun on the inflatables and with the yard games. He had a great time with his sleepover and got to play video games to his heart's content. Well actually, we had to pause to go to the Wake Park, so he probably didn't like that...but you know what I mean! 

Mother's Day was super special with a Flipside breakfast, surprise Rachel siting, personalized coupon book, charcuterie board, and movie and dinner with my Mom! Being a mom isn't easy, but it sure is the best "job" I've ever had! I had an amazing example and I sure hope I can continue to live up to it!

Riley got High Honors for his 7th grade year which is a great GPA. It definitely was a lot of hard work, sweat, and tears (mostly in Algebra), but he made it and learned some important lessons along the way (like how important Canvas due dates are and how not to get behind on his assignments). 

One of my favorite things that Scouts do is to come together to help an Eagle scout complete his requirement. This act of service reminds me of Jesus' example when he washed the disciples' feet. Nothing was beneath him....even getting his hands dirty with sweaty, stinky feet. I hope that the call to serve others is one that all of us will do (even without being asked).