Emmeline.

Date Night.

I am so thankful I made an effort to take Harris to the Mother-Son Date Knight hosted by Chick-fil-A last night.  We spent a long, hot day running between the Spring Fling and Flag Football and I actually had second thoughts about attending the evening event at all, but we went.  And it was so worth it.

We've watched Ben and Babe go off on a few of their own Chick-fil-A Date Nights and Harry was more than stoked for it to be our turn.  On the drive over, he told me he was so excited that his "tummy felt funny from the bottom up!"

We talked a lot about appropriate date behavior.  He opened doors for me and (begrudgingly) paid for our dinner with my ATM card and then promptly asked me why "boys had to do everything!"  He also informed that he would not be taking a "lovely girl on a date" anytime soon. 

We had a blast answering the conversation starter questions and creating our own shield.  Harris LOVED the "would you rather" questions and kept asking for more.  We also ran into another mother-son pair that are very, very dear to us, so after eating dinner on our own, we joined these guys for dessert.  I'm so thankful we found them before my sweet date ditched me for the playground!

We also, of course, had the best waiters in the joint.  Clayton and Travis are two of our very best guys!

I'm quite certain we were the last ones to leave the event.  We had such a fun time on our double date and can't wait until next time!

I love this guy!!!!

Spring Fling 2012.

We love Primrose.

And we love the Spring Fling.

The kids had a blast running around like crazy, sugaring up on cookies, cotton candy, snow cones, and popcorn, playing games and collecting prizes, and spending a ton of time jumping and sliding on the moonwalks.

I LOVE that everyone at Primrose knows my family.  It's been such a special place for Harris the last couple of years and I'm so excited for Babe to have her turn in August.

Ms. Wendy has been a perfect fit for Harry this year.  God bless that woman.

Harris stuck mostly with the carnival-type games and food.  He's pretty much my kid. :)

When we finally got her off the jumpies, Babe enjoyed having her nails painted and her "poof ball" sprayed pink.  She may or may not belong to me.

Ben and I most enjoyed the "decorate-your-own-cookie" station.  We racked up at the cake walk, too!

Big Nut slept.  But she sure looked cute doing it.

Our childcare providers have been such blessings to our family over the years...

We sure don't take that for granted!  Fun events like the Spring Fling are, quite literally, icing on the cake.

MarioKart.

Biggie, Biggie, Biggie.

Just a quick post of a few of the things you've been up to this week. 

The kids and I used a gift card we found to buy a door frame jumper for you.  I think it was perfect timing...you're a fan of that thing.

And I'm a fan of those thighs.

On Wednesday afternoon, we had about an hour to ourselves, just you and me.  You napped, which is something you don't do when the big kids are around.  You're typically too nosey to sleep.

We've reached the stage where everything goes in your mouth.

Everything.

And the drool has started to pour out.  You're growing up on us, baby girl!

The Captain and Mrs. Haynes

We attended a dinner held for our church staff last night.  The invitation told us to dress in our "Sunday morning attire."

At our church, "Sunday morning attire" is blue jeans.  The Captain and I decided to shake things up.

We went fancy, just for the heck of it.  (Yes, he owns his own tuxedo.)  I don't think I have the words to explain how much fun it is to be married to this man.

Blessings for Braden.

Our sweet friend, Braden, has recently been diagnosed with a neuroblastoma.  We are praying for healing for his little body and peace for his family during this season of their lives and on Saturday we had the opportunity to join a few more of our friends and show our support for Braden by participating in a 5K to benefit the cancer wing at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

(Please excuse Mandy's eye.  She had an unfortunate eye incident the morning of the race but completed the 5K anyway!  Talk about devotion...)

I hope that Brandon and Jessica were as blessed by the event as I was by getting to be a part of the team.  I didn't get a group shot (I know somebody out there did!) but it sure was exciting to join with so many others supporting the Boozer family.  Mom and Cassidy even came out!!!

And then Joshie came out, too, to cheer them on!

The overall winner in the women's division was a 10-year-old girl from our group.  How crazy is that!!!!!  She won a HUGE container of Muscle Milk.  Awesome.

Cassidy finished first in our family, followed by me, followed by Mom.  I owe a huge thanks to Ben for choosing to walk with the "Moms" and letting me run.  He doesn't look too happy about his decision in this picture, but don't let that face fool you.  He's excellent "Mom" material.

Harris and Hadley enjoyed the event, too.  It took them a little bit to warm up to the idea (and to wake up!) but they ended up running the last part of the race and then had a blast playing on the inflatable slide and getting their fair share of snacks at the end.

Too bad this picture doesn't capture all the fun they had.  :)

We're continuing to pray for Braden and would love to have you join us.  You can join the "Pray for Braden" facebook page to stay updated....there will be lots of new opportunities to help support his family in the near future.  You won't want miss to it!

CFA Celebration

Granti made Daddy a birthday cake for his celebration at Chick-fil-A.  She used chocolate cake and vanilla icing (his absolute favorites!) and the closest number candles she had at home.

42, 36...at this age, does it really matter?

We had a fun time celebrating Ben...for the last time this year!!!!!!!!!!

Chick-fil-A really is our home away from home.  We love that place.  And that place loves us.  :)

Big Man's Birthday.

I love birthdays.  Seriously.  I think everybody needs a day of celebration at least once a year.  Birthdays handle that perfectly. :)

And even though Ben's birthday fell on our first day back to work and school after a wonderfully relaxing Spring Break and Easter holiday, we still had a great time making a big fuss over him.

The man loves a big fuss.

We started the morning with birthday balloons (per his request!) and gifts before heading off for the day.  The kids were beside themselves excited for Ben to open the present they picked out especially for him.

It's not every day you get an Uga pillow pet.

I've got to admit I was pretty excited for Ben to open my gift as well.  Hello, game day pants.

I think Ben was pumped...and shocked!  I totally caught him off guard, which is so much fun (and crazy hard) to do.  In fact, he said the only gift that would have been better than the pants would be a Cadillac.  If you know anything about our Cadillac deal, I'm fairly certain that would have worked out better for both of us. :)

After work and school, our family of five headed out to Provino's for the free birthday meal.

A good time was had by all.

Especially when it came time for the birthday spankings.  Thirty six is quite a lot.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday!  The more I understand the implications of Easter in my life, the more I look forward to this day every year.  What a glorious celebration of an even more glorious event...it's almost like Valentine's Day on mega-steroids; there's not a better love story around.

We started our Easter Sunday with a quick family snuggle before heading downstairs to check out the baskets.  Emmy was still sleeping peacefully when the big kids' "wake up time" rolled around, so we left her in the crib for as long as possible.

Harris and Hadley had a great time looking through all their loot.  The candy was a big hit, but Harris' favorite find was his package of Power Ranger "squinkies," while Hadley could not believe that the Easter Bunny left her a pair of princess gloves!  She literally wore them all day long.

Harris couldn't wait for Emmy to wake up, so as soon as she was changed and fed he made sure to get downstairs with her.  My sweet boy spent about ten minutes going through Big Nut's basket, taking special care to show and explain each and every gift that little baby received.  I love his heart.

After filling up on candy for breakfast, we cleaned up and headed out for church.

'This year for Easter, our church took on the challenge of supplying toiletries for an entire year for eighty low-income senior adults registered with the "Saving our Seniors" program in Lawrenceville.  It was pretty awesome...I'm not sure I've ever seen so many bars of soap or rolls of toilet paper in one place!

After church, we headed over to Lil' Ben's house for lunch and an afternoon of fun with family.

We ended the day absolutely exhausted but full of joy.

I can't wait until next year!