Spring Break

Spring break has come and gone, and now we're back in the swing of things.  Hallelujah!!!  Just kidding... kind of.  I sure do love my kids, but it's exhausting trying to keep them entertained!

We stayed around town and didn't do too much, which was kind of nice.  No soccer practices or games, no weekly tee ball practice, no small group obligations led to open days to fill.

Here's some of the stuff we did!

Nicole & Adam's wedding:

Sydney, Lindsey, Raegan, and Alexandra.  Can you tell who is 8 and who is 18?

Taylor and her favorite teacher

Congo line!

They had an indoor s'more fire pit thingy.  Parker ate prooooobably 10 s'mores.

Lighting the sparklers.

The gang- Tim, Monica, Chris, Mary, Stephen and me

April Fools Day:

Purple and blue milk... 

...and eyeballs!

Home Depot Trip:

Sleepover on the couch!

Six Flags!

Parker's first roller coaster- the Mine Train!

Monster Mansion

Crazy mirrors

Hanson cars

Eek!  Taylor is driving!

This girl rode her first "real" roller coaster today... this is at the Scream Machine.  She also rode the Cyclone!

Hunkering down during the tornado warning.  A tornado landed a few miles from the house!  Thankfully our friendly neighbors have a basement:

Science experiments.  

Hair cuts!  (mine is shorter, blonder, and I now have bangs!  eek!)

Crazy weather:

 The girls spent the night at Grandmom and Dee-Dad's house one night last week.  This was seen on the ride home.  The girls had a blast, hanging out, going to a farm, and seeing Boss Baby at the movies!

Cousins sleepover:

My sister and her fam came down Friday to spend the night.

They got to watch Parker's tee ball game!

Me and Kerrigan.  She's almost as tall as me and she's ELEVEN.

Parker's team!

Let's see what else we did that wasn't photographed.  Raegan came to play three days.  Peyton came to play a couple of days.  We ventured to the library.  Did some painting.  Played outside when we could.  Worked on our garden.  Watched movies.  I was getting over strep throat (for the 3rd time since November, for those of you who are counting) so I was a little bleh and tired.  But we made it, we had fun, and now the countdown to summer is on!

Basket Raffle

This year, I'm in charge of all the Room Moms at the girls' school.  I basically have it easy until February rolls around and... duh duh duuuuuh... it's time for the big Basket Raffle!

The Basket Raffle is one of the PTO's biggest fundraisers of the year.  Each class has a different basket theme, and then they fill the "basket" with themed items, and people can purchase raffle tickets in hopes to win them.  It's relatively cost-free for the PTO, as each basket is filled by donations- either by the class' parents or by companies.  It always amazes me how great these baskets turn out.

I spent many long hours at the school, collecting the baskets when they were due; putting them together; wrapping them in cellophane; making bows; taking pictures; and transporting them to the library.  There were 36 baskets in total, so this all took a lot of time.  FINALLY- we were done.  Then came the hours of volunteer time to actually sell the tickets.  All in all, I made up for any lost volunteer hours during those few weeks!

Here are some of the baskets:

There were around 10,000 raffle tickets purchased, and only 36 baskets, so... you do the math.  Not great odds. I purchased 25 raffle tickets and spread the wealth into several baskets.

Guess what?  WE WON ONE!  I couldn't believe it!  We won the "Date Night" basket.

We got a few restaurant gift cards, movie gift card, froyo gift card, Redbox gift card, Atlanta Botanical Gardens tickets, "Parents' Night Out" gift cards (where The Little Gym and a karate place will watch/entertain your kids while you go out), a picnic basket, canvas painting for two, a picnic blanket, and- Parker's favorite- the teddy bear!

Woot woot!  So exciting.  Now Stephen and I need to start planning some dates!

Soccer

The girls' soccer season started about a month ago, and we are in the full swing of it now!  They have the same coaches as last season and mostly the same teams.  Both girls' teams are undefeated so far.  It's really fun to watch them play.  Here are some of the pics from this season, so far:

Sydney:

Taylor:

Taylor just scored... love her expression!