Vacation is Near!!

Our family is anxiously awaiting for when we leave for the beach. We leave 2 weeks from today. We counted up the days we will be there 13 DAYS!!! YIPPEEE!! This girls will get to start a week early. Nana and Papa Jim will be coming next week for the girls and they will go home with them in Alabama before joining us in South Carolina. What will I ever do with no kids for a few days. Clean house - maybe / maybe not. Tanning bed and gym here I come.

My dear husband is surprising me with an early anniversary present. Since we will be traveling on our actually anniversary date we are celebrating while the kids are gone. We were trying to decide what to do, and he asked if he could pick it and surprise me. I said yes since this is the man who surprised me with New Orleans (preKatrina) and Cancun. He is taking me the fabulous Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. WOW!! I can't believe. I thought maybe one day get to visit (especially the bunker), but never get to stay. Did you know there was a dress code to be on property? Well, there is. I have been given the go ahead to buy a dress for dinner. I have such a wonderful husband. This is second gift he has given me this year that has made me cry. It makes it really hard to be mad at him. I LOVE NOEL DEAR!!!

The Baptism and the bump

Sunday the 11th was Hannah's baptism. She was so excited about finally getting to have her baptism. Grammy was here to get to see it. Noel and I gave her a card and flowers telling how proud we were of her. I don't know who was more excited Hannah or Noel getting to baptize her. I also thought it was appropiate for her to wear last years camp t-shirt - "God's Word - Soak it up".

After Hannah's baptism I was trying to go back down the steps and lost my footing on the wet steps and fell backwards sliding down the stairs. The entire congregation hears Noel saying "Oh, no!", and they think Noel had fallen. Nope, it was me. I fell and sprained my wrist. So we will all have something to remember her baptismal day. You can read more of Noel thoughts on my fall at pastordear.blogspot.com.

I am trying to get better about updating. We are all just ready for the beach.

Emily's Birthday Party

Saturday June 10th was Emily's birthday party. We had ten kids at the party - Abby, Julia, Hannah K., Hailea, Matthew, Rachel, Jenae, Hailey, Hannah, and Emily. This was a tropical birthday party, and we had hoped to play in the sprinkler. True to Ohio weather cloudy with a slight breeze and 70. We thought it was going to rain so we waited to the last possible moment to decorate, and in case of rain I was to try to figure out how to put 10 kids and parents in our small house. Thankfully no rain. All the kids had a great time. Hailey Smith especially enjoyed the sidewalk paint, but didn't like getting cleaned up.
Here is Emily's cake. She saw it on Martha Stewart and decided that is what she wanted. I know it is not exactly like hers on TV, but I think I came close. What do you think? So we can say we ate monkey for her birthday. Several of the kids wanted the ears, and one said no to the ears because of ear wax.

Dance Recitals and Grammy's Here!!

I know I am behind on updates so here is the first one. Mom finally arrived!! She loved flying and is looking forward to getting to fly again. The girls were so excited for her arrival.

We survived 2 dance recitals. Hannah's only lasted for 3 hours and thankfully for Emily's we got to leave at intermission. Hannah and Emily both did a beautiful job on their dances. I was impressed with all the dancers in the entire production. Definitely a higher level of compentency and difficulties than our former recitals. We are also happy for reserved seating.

Now that dance is over we now focus on birthday party.

School's Out & Happy Birthday Emily!!

The day has arrived that Hannah has been looking forward to, the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!! It is a busy week around the Dear house - school, dance practice and recital, birthday party, and many other miscellaneous things in preparation of mom's arrival (3 days!!).

This past weekend it is hard to believe that Emily is now 5 years old. She is no longer a preschooler. :( It just seems like yesterday she was a baby. For her birthday we got her a My Little Pony Celebration Castle and you can see in the picture how excited she was to receive it. WOW the number of little ponies at our house!

Noel and I are looking forward to next week, spending some time together at the Southern Baptist Convention. We hope we will get to see some of our friends from down south. Who thought I would ever say that? Mom is very excited about getting to stay with the girls and see some of the sights of Ohio.

For all of our friends from the deep south - COME VISIT!! Ohio, so far, is beautiful this summer, the grass is green and the flowers are blooming, and Noel is learning which golf courses are the nicest.