An EGGStra special Easter!

So fun.  So full.

Four very fun, very full days of being together, hunting eggs,

eating candy, enjoying friends, & being very thankful for our Risen Lord!

We are so blessed!

The first hunt of the Easter season came Thursday at Lillianna's school.

Cupcakes, hidden eggs, friends...oh and little sis!

So excited to find the metallic pink egg...that she brought.

Love these two pictures...so my girls right now.

Ellenie with her mouth full of candy running to hand me another egg...full of candy.

Lillianna, done with hunting eggs, would rather pick flowers.

What a gorgeous week!

BEE U TI FUL day!

SUUUUUPER friends!

FUN FUN FUN in the swing!

PURE JOY!

Ellenie:  I just love your nails! Which salon did you go to? 

Bes:  Why thank you! Don't tell anyone but I did them myself!

Ellenie:  Really?!  Will you do mine?

Bes:  Sure!  I'll bring over my bottle of Bubble Gum Beauty after nap!

Whew!  What a work-out.  Time for a drink.

It's Springtime!

You know it's Spring when you get excited to see the Dogwood blossoms...

You know it's Spring when you get excited to see your Tulip bulbs pop up...

You know it's Spring when you get excited to see...

...the turtle you caught last Summer come out of hibernation!

Hey Jake!  Remember us?

  We "saved" you from the side of the road last summer!

Then after 24 hours of throwing and poking you playing with you, you suddenly decided to leave.

We've missed you!

Why don't you come out and play Jake?  Or eat some nice, fresh strawberries?

What's that Jake?  You don't remember how to walk after you long Winter's nap?

We'll teach you!

Just one foot in front of the other Jake.  If I can do it, you can do it!

That's the way Jake!  Don't go too far!

From grey skies to a great day

Scene:  I left both girls playing quietly in Ellenie's clean room.

  I started a load of clothes and returned...

Me:  Wha-Wha-Wha-What in the WORLD happened in here?! Who made this huge mess?

Lillianna:  Me

Me:  WHY?

Lillianna:  I was trying to help Ellenie find her blankie.

To procrastinate clean-up for a few minutes, we took off our shoes and headed outside.

Well, some of us did.  Others LOVE to march to the beat of her own drummer...

The clouds had parted and it was a gorgeous day that deserved a picnic!

Ellenie:  WAHOO!  Let's celebrate the beauty of this terrific day with

...candy, gum, cookies & popsicles!

La La:  Hmmm...Looks like a perfect day for a treasure hunt.  Little partner, are you up for it?

Ellenie:  You don't have to ask me twice!

LaLa:  Let's GO!

Ellenie:  Vamonos!

Here's to a great day!

Girlfriends

Can you feel the love between these two?

We were so excited to have the Pylant Princesses here to play!

It's still so hard to believe that Lillianna and Mary Bibb were due on the same day

 and that Ellenie and Virginia were born on the same day!  It just doesn't get more special than that!

These two were really cute together.

  They don't have the same friendship that their sisters share but they're working on it.

  They do share a deep love for Dora, fruit snacks, swinging, and their big sisters. 

We don't know why but Ellenie called Virginia, "Miss Ginia" the entire weekend.  It made us laugh everytime.

We all laughed and talked and climbed trees and giggled and played.  It was the best.

Thank you for another special visit!

Far-away friends

Many of my firends live far away.  Or maybe it's that I live far away from them.

We share as much as we can through phone calls, emails, blogs, and most of all, prayers.

While I'm thankful for all the ways I can stay in touch...there is nothing like a good ol' face-to-face visit.

I relish my (much too short) visits with them and miss them even more when they're over.

This past week, we were treated to a wonderful visit from Amy & Lucy!

It wasn't that we did anything super duper special...

it was just so great getting to share a bit of our daily life with them,

 getting to talk and talk without having to get off the phone, and getting to see our children play together.

What a wonderful time.

Are you there Spring? It's us, the Parsons

A picnic at the Riverwalk...One of our MOST favorite things to do.

With YaYa?!  It just doesn't get any better than that!

Well, unless you add finding tiny purple "twirly" flowers,

 rescuing a ladybug from its own home,

and a few baked cheetos...now that makes for one super perfect almost Spring day!

What's so funny?

In a good shoe, I wear a size six,

but a seven feels so good, I buy a size eight.

-Truvy in Steel Magnolias

I love the spontaneous, joyful moments of our days...

The silly-billyness of having two little girls -

one who thinks she can fit into doll shoes and the other who finds it hysterical.

It can be any little thing that gets the giggles going and then none of us can stop.

They both love to laugh, love to be tickled, and love to laugh at the other one.

And then, as quickly as the giggles started, they subside.

The shoes find their rightful owner, and we all go back to what we were doing.

But we're really waiting for the next funny thing to happen so we can start laughing again.

My Ellenie, she LOVES her books...

The more that you read,

  The more things you will know.

The more that you learn,

The more places you’ll go.

Young cat! If you keep

Your eyes open enough,

Oh, the stuff you will learn!

The most wonderful stuff!

- Dr. Seuss

Best quotes of the week

Ellenie:  When I gwo up I want to be a wittle bitty baby.

Lillianna:  So Ellenie and I are eating Girl Cheese sandwiches.

Does that mean Daddy eats Boy Cheese sandwiches?

Lillianna:  I learned a story about Jesus today at school.  He spit in the dirt and made mud and put it on a man's eyes....because the man was blonde.

Then Jesus told him to wash off the mud and he could see.

He wasn't blonde anymore.

Ellenie:  I not Ellenie.  I Princess.

There's nothing better than ice cream...

Except ice cream with a friend!

Sweet Bes was a bit surpised at how much she liked her ice cream!

Or maybe she was just shocked at Lillianna's less-than-ladylike manners!

We just gotta make sure we get every teeny weeny little bitty last drop.  Right Ellenie?

Deep Thoughts by Lillianna

Lillianna:  Mom, I think we should get another baby.

Me:  Really?  Why?

Lillianna:   Um, because Ellenie is getting bigger and she's not really that funny anymore.

Me:  What?!  What do you mean she's not funny?

Lillianna: Well, she doesn't do as much funny stuff anymore.

You know, like eat rocks.

 Remember when she would eat rocks?

 That was really funny.

Oh how we miss our friends...

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.

 ~Elisabeth Foley

It's always so sweet, so refreshing to see how

Lillianna and Bibby pick right up where they left off.

We got to see them on our way up and back this weekend.  What a treat!

By complete luck we also got to see some other precious friends during our quick stop too.

Everyone is growing so big...it's still hard to believe we're not there to be a part of it.

We miss our friends!

We're from Kentucky...We LOVE our cousins!

It's true.

  We love our cousins.

 We really love playing with them, running with them, singing with them, laughing with them,

talking with them, eating with them, and laughing with them some more.

Early last week, we got to see the Millers twice in three days!

First we met them for some fun on the road,

 and then they came to see us for a quick but very fun visit to our house.

They make us SO happy whenever, where ever we see them!

Then this past weekend we traveled to see this little fellow...

He melts my heart.

He is getting so big, moving so fast, and growing so many teeth!

 As Lillianna would say, "He is a workin' baby!"

We were treated to some fabulous hospitality and had a very special visit!

Like I said, We really LOVE our cousins!