The Bucklers: SPRING!

For those of you complaining about the lack of posts lately, here comes a doozie for you! :)

As seems to be the case every year, Spring 2009 has been very busy! The season was kicked off in March with Alli Lane's 4th birthday, followed a few weeks later by The Masters, which is always a fun time in Augusta, even if you don't make it out to the National. The girls donned their Masters clothes, and to prove that Boots' shirt was a Masters shirt....

...well, it may not be pretty, but she's showing off the logo. :)

Dede and Gigi visited for Grandparents' Day at EDS; below is Alli Lane, laying in the doorway, "reading" a book, and waiting for Dede to arrive the day before the "big day" at school. She was so proud to have both of her grandmothers there! As the children sat on their carpet squares, the teacher told the visitors something about each child ~ something that the child had told the teacher to say. In true Alli-fashion ~ because as we all know, she does not have the problem of lacking confidence ~ Mrs. Scroggs said that Alli "is very beautiful, very sweet, has pretty curly hair, loves to play 'Spidergirls' with her friends Abby and Kate, and loves to play on the computer," among a couple of other things. :) Alli also showed off by pointing out the state of Washington on the class map! As sometimes happens with Daddy's schedule, he wasn't able to be at school that day, but he loved hearing all of Alli's stories about her special day! After we left EDS, we had lunch at Alli's choice of a restaurant: Moe's.

Brad and I did some planting in the yard in early April. Alli Lane was a big help, and Boots basically hung out in her little red car or cruised around the yard, eating Cheerios from her cup.

Of course we had a wonderful Easter! Brad was on call on Easter Sunday, so we were not with family that day. We are so blessed, though, to have such sweet friends here in Augusta with whom we could spend the holiday. It's not surprising to note that their husbands were either on call or post call that day, as well. Thanks to the Greggs and the Harpers for including us for Easter!
Alli Lane loved dying the Easter eggs, and the Easter Bunny made a big stop at our house! He left several eggs to hide, as well as lots of special treats and a couple of toys for the girls.

The girls "dressed down" for lunch at the Gregg's house ~ Easter dresses, but not their Easter "best."

And they actually posed for me! Well, even if Alli was holding a pig, this counts, right?

A new favorite pasttime is for them to both be in Boots' bed at the same time. Notice Boots' face is red from crying (uh, screaming is more like it!), but she was all smiles when Alli Lane joined her for some sweet playtime!

We have done lots of fun activities! A spring/summer favorite is picking strawberries! Daddy even went with us one day when we went with the Lewises and brought home 2 huge bucketfuls of berries. I did some research and made all sorts of delicious strawberry dishes, including strawberry barbequed chicken! Of course, I forgot my camera that day....

We have several Spring birthdays in our family. We aren't able to celebrate all of them with family, but we were able to make it to Baby Philip's first birthday party in Atlanta! The girls had fun and were exhausted on the drive home. :)

The 3 cousins ~ Boots, Philip, Alli Lane ~ with their monogrammed panties/diaper covers.

Brad's birthday was in May, and the girls helped me with several special surprises for him. He was on call the night before his birthday, which meant that he worked well into the day on his actual birthday, too, to complete his 30+ hour stretch. When he got to his car, he found posters that the girls had made all over/inside of it. We had the house covered with signs and posters for him, too:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Alli also helped me make Daddy's birthday cake. Brad's favorite is a cream cheese poundcake; Alli added her personal favorites: sprinkles and candles!

BOOTS

Boots is growing and changing so much and is at such a fun age! In a nutshell, she is simply hysterical, and she has so very much personality packed into her little self! It is so hard to believe that my baby is 17 months old! She has begun to love joining in on arts-n-crafts time, and this is the first time I let her use markers (Color Wonder) to make her own artwork.

Even at this early age, she is a little priss! Notice the bracelet and the purse (she loves her accessories!), and even though she really doesn't have enough hair for it, she will sometimes "ask" for a bow. We tried one out around the house one day. (I should also say that she is obsessed with shoes!! Obsessed! We are starting her "early," just like Alli!)

She loves her naked time, and will often insist that we take off her diaper! And she always has a bag of some sort hanging from her arm, usually with random items stuffed inside.

Silly girl!
"Where's Boots?"

ALLI LANE

What can I say, besides that spring in the life of a 4 year old can be a seriously busy time! There were countless events at EDS these past couple of months ~ I don't even have pictures from all of them! Her end of the year party was a blast, and I have already mentioned Grandparents' Day, which was such fun.
They kicked off Spring with the annual Spring Fling ~ the kids played all sorts of fun games outside ~ "golf," ball, hopscotch, bubbles, jumping slides, and tons of other fun activities ~ and then they had a picnic outside.

Her class (well, most of them)

Alli Lane and her best buddy at school, Abby Gunnels

There was also "dress like a farmer" day ~ the children helped to shuck corn and got to taste it prepared in different ways.

However, the most special event was the Daddy Daughter Dance!
Needless to say, both the proud daddy and the prissy little princess had a wonderful, very memorable night!

Girls Night Out ~ the last one before several of the girls leave as their husbands go on to complete fellowships in other cities or take "real jobs" somewhere else. We will miss you, Ashley (to Savannah), Kristin (to Atlanta), Brannon (to California), and Melissa (to Jacksonville)! "Losing" friends to fellowships and jobs is certainly one of the hardships of life during and after residency....
Thanks for hosting, Ashley!!

Before the Lewises left town, we had them over for dinner; we grilled out and let the girls play in the yard and on the deck. We will miss them! Both Alli and Boots will miss their little playmates!

Alli Lane and Peyton

Lauren and Elizabeth

And of course we had one more parent observation day at ballet. Alli Lane will miss having Peyton in her class next year! They had such fun together!!