The calm before the storm

It was a pretty laid back week this week. Ellie had a parent observation night at dance. On these nights we get a sneak peak of their dances, but most importantly try on costumes and adjust as needed. Mack had a couple of T-ball games in which he is improving with each game. We actually had nothing to do this weekend, which has been nice. Mack and Worth went to Monster Jam in Tallahassee, FL. The girls and I stayed in Valdosta and got some summer clothes shopping taken care of. Ellie has, all of a sudden, shot out of all of her shorts. They look like underwear on her, so we had to go buy some bigger shorts and some new summer dresses. As much as I hate to admit it, it was so nice to shop with the girls minus Mack. Ellie even commented, "Mom, it IS really fun to shop. I never usually like it because Mack whines the whole time." We missed him, but we got a lot done in a short amount of time minus the really cute 4 year old monster.

The end of this upcoming week will be Emma's 7th birthday. This week we will be preparing for her birthday party which will be Saturday. It is REALLY hard to grasp that sweet baby Emma is no longer a baby anymore. :( More to come on that next post!

Ellie in full concentration with costume donned. 

The ballet dance is beautiful 

Ellie's jazz class is 3rd and 4th grade combined. It is a HUGE class. So big, in fact, that they dance in groups taking turns during the performance onstage. There is not enough room on stage for all of them. They did such a good job though. It is amazing what these dance teachers can do and how creative they are with the performances. 

Jazz ready

I'm in love with the tap costume. Very 20s flapper girl. It's going to look great onstage. Tap is much harder this year. Ellie leaves tap with very sore toes and feet, but she has learned a ton this year, and she absolutely loves the class. 

Friday night on the new back patio furniture. Bowers pile up. 

Mack's ears were safely covered for the Monster Truck Jam. 

He had so much fun with his daddy, and continued to talk about it  all night and was still telling me about it this morning. 

Gymnastics Exhibition 2018

This weekend was the annual gymnastics exhibition. The girls still LOVE gymnastics. We only have it once a week, so we don't do team or anything. It is mainly an adjunct to dance. Gymnastics is such a good sport for core strength and coordination. I don't mind continuing to let the girls take it. They have gotten better every year. Emma is still in level 1 and Ellie is a level 3. They both did so good this year, and I was so proud of them. Ellie finally has her back hand spring! It was definitely a mental thing with her. She has been holding back because of fear. One day I went to pick her up from gymnastics and her coach said, "She just did her back hand spring! She said she was going to do it, and she did it!" Ellie has been doing them continuously since then! I'm incredibly proud of her for overcoming that fear.

I apologize for the shaky videos. We were at the exhibition for over 3 hours watching both girls. Mack was over it after the first 30 minutes and was wallowing around in my lap as I was attempting to take pictures and video.

Ellie walking out at the beginning. I think she was really nervous. 

My best attempt at getting her picture as they called her name. 

Floor routines first. 

Next up was Ellie's bar routine. This is terrible video quality but she was a mile away from where we were sitting when she was on bar. She did so well, especially with her dismount. 

Last up was beam. I didn't get a good enough video of her vault, but is was the same vault she did last year. 

Once Ellie's group finished, we waited on Emma's group to start. 

Emma walking in. 

Emma paused just long enough for me to get a shot of her stretch as they called her name. 

 Her vault was first.

Doing a hand stand to flat back after her vault

Her floor routine was next, straddle rolls. 

cartwheels

    Bar was up next for Emma:


Then beam:

I was proud of this little girl who is so competitive she came home and worked on her floor routine AFTER the exhibition. 

I took the kids to get yogurt after the exhibition since we were there from 11:30am-3:00pm! They changed up how the exhibition went this year, and with the girls taking classes on different days, we were basically stuck there all afternoon. I am always glad to watch them though, because due to our crazy schedule, I can never sit during their regular classes and watch. I will say, the hardest part was enduring Worth and Mack's complaining. 

Spring has arrived!

Despite one or two cool days over the last couple of weeks, I do believe spring has arrived. T-ball is in full swing, and Mack loves it. The girls are winding down in dance and gearing up for an upcoming gymnastics exhibition. This week we got to see cousins and have fun at Mia's while the Dads and Granddads played in the Tift Green golf tournament. We've had a lot of outside time because the weather has been awesome. I haven't been the greatest picture taker over the last couple of weeks, but here are a few highlights. I added a video of Mack's first time at bat. He was a little confused about where to run (and still is.) We've reviewed it several times that he has to run to 1st base, not 3rd after he hits the ball. T-ball is so entertaining to watch!

One afternoon outside, Ellie made herself and her siblings a snack that included yogurt covered raisins,  cut up string cheese with toothpicks, and granola bars. She was all about her presentation. 

Mack all dressed up for his first game. 

Mack and his best friend Luke discussing their strategy. 

Mack was more interested in his hat that catching the ball . They don't keep score, they just let each team bat twice while the other team stands around the field and try to catch the batted balls. Mack did get his feathers ruffled a couple of times fighting his teammates for the ball. 

These were the cutest 3-4 year old t-ball players out there. 

Emma is really into biographies right now. 

Mack finally got a good hit at his second game, and he ran in the right direction. 

This past Thursday night, one of my best friends from high school, Becky, was in town from Atlanta. She is the one on the bottom right of the picture. We all gathered for dinner at Steel Magnolias. I haven't seen her in about 2 years so it was so good to catch up! 

This weekend was the Tift Green golf tournament in Tifton. We went up Friday night to see all of the Bowers family and let the cousins have some time together. Mia had sprinklers set up in the yard which entertained them for a few minutes. 

Ellie is the oldest of the cousins, therefore, she was in charge as usual. 

First and second cousins from L to R: Kennedy, Kinnick, Mack, Banks, Emma, Grey, Ellie, and Bo. 

Holy Week

Today is Easter Day, probably my most favorite holiday. I LOVE Easter. I love going to church to celebrate the empty tomb and knowing that my savior lives. I love being with family, egg hunts, food, the onset of warmer weather, and beautiful flowers in bloom everywhere. This year has been no exception, minus the fact that Worth was on call.

This past week our church put on it's 31st annual Promise performance, and once again the girls participated in it. It was grueling! Getting my kids there and dressed on time, helping  to herd 15 other kid performers for 5 days in a row was quite a challenge. Doing the math problem in my head daily of when to drop off at other activities, pick up from other activities, when to buy supplies for a class easter party, when we could squeeze dinner in every night, what I was going to do with Mack during the performances, making sure homework got done, etc. just about made me nuts.  However, if one life was changed in any of those 5 nights of Promise performances, I feel that I can take comfort in knowing that I had one small (tiny) part in that life change.

Adding to the craziness this week included Mack's class Easter party which I had signed up to give with another mother, the finishing up of our laundry room remodel, Ellie's end of basketball season party, and field day at Ellie and Emma's school. Somehow we got it all done. Saturday (yesterday) we all slept in and did absolutely NOTHING all day. Well, I did a few home management things, but other than that I'm pretty sure Ellie never came out of her PJs all day. It was such a nice and relaxing day.

Worth has been on call this entire weekend, so he didn't get to go to Tifton with us today to attend St. Anne's and have lunch at my parents' home. We missed him, but he was home long enough this morning to be with the kids to see what the Easter Bunny delivered this year.

Sweet Emma singing at a K-Kids performance for K-1st grades. 

The children of Jerusalem

This year Ellie and Emma stood with the choir and acted out scenes with them. 

They both did such a good job acting their surprise at Jesus'  miracles. 

A week ago, Mack decided he was going to walk to Grandma's house, because he did not agree with a punishment I had inflicted upon him. He made it to the end of the driveway. I was pretty impressed, he had almost everything he would need for a one night stay packed in his bag. He was so mad at  me, but all I (and the girls) could do was laugh and take pictures of him as he strolled down the driveway. He got to the end then came back inside to ask me if he could walk on the "real road"  

He overcame his feeling of injustice to enjoy his class Easter party a few days later. 

Mack and Luke. 2 peas in a pod. 

His sweet class getting instructions from their teacher before the egg hunt. 

Off to find the eggs with their names on them. 

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It took Mack a while, he kept finding all the other kids for them. He finally got the last one though! 

We had the party at our neighborhood playground here in Stone Creek. They had a ball playing more than anything.  Mack's teacher told me at the party that Mack was a leader "a 10 on the scale" were her words. This picture proves it. 

Funny bunny

Laundry room is all finished! 

The colors are awesome, and her decorations added a nice touch. 

I will add pictures of the 1/2 bath when we get a new sink. It looks awesome so far, we just need to replace the old cheap pedestal sink that is in there. 

Ellie's sweet team posed up at the Mill. 

The other Bowers kids needed a picture in the huge rocking chair. 

They got a trophy and a cute t-shirt. They had an awesome team this year. 

Emma was serious about this water game at field day. It was raining most of the time we were there, so all the water games stayed outside while all of the other games, bouncy houses etc., were set up in the gym and hallways. 

Ellie was being seriously competitive. She absolutely LOVES field day. 

This was my partner in crime for the morning. He was off of school for Good Friday, so we withstood  rain for an hour and  a 1/2 at field day before we headed home to dry off and eat lunch. 

Ellie loved disc golf. 

This was my favorite field day picture. Emma popping a balloon. Her face holds the  look of determination she needed to pop the balloon. Hilarious! 

Some sweet little girls in Emma's class. 

Ellie had a turn at balloon pop as well. It worked out really well for me this year, because Elle's class was following Emma's class so I could stand in between the events and watch both of them at their stations. It couldn't have worked out any better. 

Emma and her friend Brooklyn wining the sack hop

The Easter Bunny came!!

If you haven't been able to tell from my previous blog posts, I LOVE to get pictures of them running to their  loot. This is Emma. 

Ellie was next. 

I held Mack back until last, because he had already come out on his own and looked at his stuff without coming to get me first. 

Emma had some serious bed head and wasn't quite awake yet when she was showing me this mermaid tail that the Easter bunny brought her. 

The Easter bunny really made these two happy this year. 

Mack got a Batman lego set that has kept him busy ALL day long. The girls had to jump in this morning and put a few pieces together with him. 

All ready to head to Tifton to St. Anne's for church. 

They wanted to take a crazy picture. 

Waiting on the egg hunt call.

Grandma and papa with the grandchildren. 

I can't say enough about how sweet this little chunky monkey Hardy is. He was either smiling, laughing, or asleep today. I'm not sure he's related to my kids. 

The one half way decent picture of me and the kids. Mack was not wanting to pose for any pictures, so this is the best I got. 

Ellie getting Hardy love. 

Cousins! 

Emma loving on Hardy. This girl loves a baby. 

Hardy fell asleep while I was holding him and Ellie asked to hold him while he was asleep "because he is still then, mama!"