April

Our month started out with a string of vacation days in Luray, Virginia.  Our friends graciously let us use their farm house for a family get away.  The undistracted time together was much needed.

Rooke discovered he REALLY likes tapioca pudding!

A walk through the quaint downtown area revealed a collection of painted rocks which the girls thoroughly enjoyed

Vacation legos!

We went on a few hikes in the Shenandoah National Park and surrounding area 

We were in Luray for Easter and Bridgette decided to make a "Christ is Risen!" cake =)

Easter brunch followed by an egg hunt!

The photos I find on my phone . . .

Girls' night with our Beauty Counter face masks =)

Fresh faces!

The girls and I rode our bikes to meet up with the guys for an outdoor pizza dinner (thank you, G-Daddy and Grammy Deb for the treat!).  There was some fun artwork on the wall nearby . . .

The library opened to the public again for the first time and this girl wanted to be first in line!  The browsing was limited, but she still found a hefty stack of books to bring home.

The night before I had an expected follow-up cosmetic surgery from the melanoma removal and reconstruction last year.  Bridgette was especially concerned about my surgery and insisted that my face looked just fine.  =)  Thankfully, Kaye K and Big Daddy graciously came for the week to help with the dailiness of life while I recovered (which I did, much to the surgeon's and my delight).

Kaye K and Big Daddy stepped in to help with our co-op's Medieval Day.  They were able to see Gretchen perform in a short scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Meanwhile, Uncle Steve had helped Bridgette build a trebuchet for the catapult competition at Medieval Day.  It was an impressive build from scratch!

Bridgette painted her trebuchet and was ready to launch the marshmallows.  She won Best Design!

A special Saturday spent catching up with sweet friends

March

Bridgette and I tried out a new (to us!) bike trail with our turn-around point being frozen yogurt.  Yum!

Swimsuits in March?!  These girls took advantage or an extra warm afternoon for some water fun

It's official.  He's taller than me.  It truly feels like this happened overnight.

Gretchen made a grilled cheese board for dinner!

Rooke's end-of-year science experiment was to determine the sugar content in Pepsi, apple juice, and Gatorade.  He worked hard, and we both learned a lot as we completed our first middle school science project!  Turns out you should reach for Pepsi or Gatorade first if you're trying to avoid sugar.

We have a "school room" in our house, but no one really uses it to do their school work.  Why sit at a table and chair when you can prop yourself up on the landing?!

Working together to create a medieval castle for their history project

The photos I find on my phone . . . 

Gorgeous Gretchen!  Aunt Vallerie is good at taking photos and I was so grateful to receive this one, capturing my favorite red-headed girl

Beautiful Bridgette

She loves to check the mailbox, especially when it's her birthday! =)

For Bridgette's ninth birthday, we took some friends to ClimbZone, one of her favorite indoor activities.

Happy 9th Birthday, Bridgette Kara!  She requested German Chocolate Cake.  Bridgette is easy to celebrate; she's fun, easy-going, happy, active . . . all the makings of our favorite third grader

Another birthday request: a trip to Barnes & Noble.

We were grateful to finally see Grammy Deb and G-Daddy after a long span of separation during the pandemic.  They came just in time to help us celebrate Bridgette's birthday, which was a gift in itself.

Bridgette is a huge fan of the Adventures in Odyssey these days.

G-Daddy is really into disc golf and hooked Rooke up with some discs to start his own collection.  

Thank you for driving all the way up to see us, Kevin and Deborah.  It was a great visit!

Rooke out a new sport this spring: lacrosse.  He made it to several practices and was just started to get the hang of it when he took a blow to his left hand at the end of practice one night.  We like to say he was "sticked."  He and I spent that night in the ER where they confirmed a broken bone.  Major Bummer!  He handled the disappointment better than I did.

The end of his lacrosse season.

That's a bell pepper.  What?!

She would do anything for a smoothie.

Picking our teams for the March Madness bracket.  Bridgette makes her choices based on the team mascots or geographic representation!