Mother's Day 2013

The week of Mother's Day wasn't such a pleasant week at our house. All four of our babies were sick with either strep throat or a horrible stomach virus. There were several days that this is what our house looked like:

So, on Thursday before Mother's Day, I ended up not being as lucky as I thought I was going to be, and ended up with that dreadful virus. I was sick, for days (5 to be exact), so on Mother's Day I felt like doing absolutely nothing (and couldn't even if I wanted to!). I did get to go to my mom's where she had a delicious lunch for my family, my sister, and all of my grandparents. So, even if we didn't do anything too exciting, I got to be with the three most influential mothers in my life:

and I get to spend every single day being the mother of these 4 precious kids. Awesome!

Mr. & Mrs. Tankersley

On Saturday, May 4th, my beautiful little cousin, Leslie, married the love of her life, Todd Tankersley. Even though we are cousins, since our moms are inseparable sisters, all of us are more like sisters than we are cousins. We were all so excited to celebrate this wonderful journey Leslie is about to take, and we are also excited to welcome Todd to our crazy family. Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Tankersley! We love you both!

Mr. & Mrs.

The beautiful bride with her beautiful sisters, the gorgeous mother of the bride and her gorgeous sisters, Cheyenna with Ansley and Elsie, and the kids talking to their great-grandparents, Nulan and Pearl, before the wedding:

Jackson was a ring bearer, while Ansley and Elsie were flower girls. (There were 2 ring bearers and 6 flower girls. It was beyond adorable.)

The lovely bride and groom; Ansley & her "aunt" Leslie, Elsie and "aunt" Leslie

Leslie and Todd with all 8 of the ring bearers and flower girls; my 4 little sweeties; Dillon and Jackson carrying the sign Here Comes The Bride right before Leslie walked down the aisle:

First dance as husband and wife; Father/Daughter dance & Mother/Son dance:

The kids had a blast at the wonderful reception (held at Red Tail Golf Course) dancing the night away:

Our Family, and a picture of the cousins:

What a beautiful,great, memorable day it was!

Ansley's Spring Recital and Ballet

This past weekend the studio where Ansley Kate takes dance had their spring tap recital and ballet, which was The Little Mermaid. Friday night was the tap recital (which Ansley and I rushed to in between Leslie and Todd's wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner), and then she was an "under the sea" mermaid in Sunday's performance of The Little Mermaid. Studio K did a fantastic job with both the recital and ballet, but Eric and I were so impressed with how wonderful The Little Mermaid turned out. Great job to all of those that work so hard to put on three incredible shows in one weekend! Ansley has absolutely loved taking dance this year, and is not happy about the summer break. :) Now for a few pictures of our little ballerina:

Here is Ansley's sweet little class that she has danced with this dance year. How cute are they?!

Ansley with mommy, daddy, Mamaw Di and Aunt Jessica after watching her in The Little Mermaid.

Getting ready for her ballet and tap recital, Little Mermaid program, and Ansley with the ballerina that played Ariel:

Of course she wanted to show off how her tutu twirled:

Our beautiful little dancer:

April 2013

I'm not sure how the months are coming and going so incredibly fast right now. I feel as though someone has put time on lightning speed and there is no way of slowing it down at all!  Here are a few glimpses into our busy month:

Jackson and Ansley spent the night with Mamaw Di and Papaw Fred the first Friday in April so they could get up super early and be by the creekside ready to throw their line in right at daybreak on Saturday. They caught six trout that day, and seemed to really enjoy their fishing trip with Papaw Fred! (It was realllly cold that morning.... which is why they had on so many clothes- ha!). They came home and cleaned the fish (okay, Papaw and daddy cleaned the fish) and then that night we had some yummy trout for supper. Jackson  and Elsie are like their mama and don't love fish, but Ansley on the other hand ate quite a bit. The next night we had a little leftover and she even asked if she could have some fish tacos.

We had some beautiful days and while Jackson was at school, the girls and I spent every second we could outside. It was a long winter, and we were thankful we took advantage of the gorgeous weather, because by the end of April it was nasty, cold and lots of raining.... again. Vada Belle can now climb up the stairs on her little slide by herself, and I don't know who was more excited about this- her, Elsie, or Ansley. Ansley was busy this month with dance practices and rehearsals getting ready for the spring recital and ballet. When she wasn't dancing or stuck inside because of rain, she was outside playing with her siblings and finding bugs and worms to play with.

Elsie decided to get into her and Ansley's little make-up kit (thanks, Mamaw Di). She did her lipstick all by herself- could you ever guess?! Elsie has loved spending as much time as she can outside this month, and the girl absolutely loves to swing. I think she could sit on the swing for half the day and be content.

Jackson started t-ball this month and is absolutely LOVING it! The kids are so adorable to watch and very entertaining. He is still loving school, but I think he will be glad for summer break to be here (soon!).

Vada Belle turned 10 months old and loves playing with her brother and sisters. She is finally getting to where she realizes that it is okay if mommy is out of her sight for a second. Her favorite thing to do is eat, and that is something she never really stops doing. :) 

This month I got to celebrate and stand beside one of my very dearest and best friend since kindergarten, Hope, while she said "I do" to her now husband! She was an absolute stunning bride, and the whole wedding and reception was so amazing.

My mom kept the kids for Eric and I, so it was quite weird to eat a wonderful meal, with two hands, and not have to cut up someone else's food or worry about them getting bored. :)

I also had one of the biggest honors of my life, I got to be with another one of my best friends, Angela, and her sweet husband, Laramie, as they welcomed their second child into this world, baby Henry. It was such an amazing experience! I was in the operating room with them so I could take pictures of this wonderful moment, but I don't even have one picture of that sweet baby to post (don't worry- I did my job, I just had their camera.) :) I'll have to go steal one off of Angela's facebook or something....

We were also busy this month having wedding showers, craft nights, and getting ready for Leslie and Todd's big day... which I'll post some pics of soon. Here is a picture of a few of the cousins (several were out of town or working) celebrating Leslie.

And here are a couple "just because" pictures of my cute babies:

Easter 2013

I noticed when I went to do an April recap that I never posted any Easter pictures. Oops! My sister & brother in law have a beautiful beach house on Topsail Island, and like last year, all of our family was able to go and enjoy a long weekend there. Last year Eric wasn't able to go because of work, so we were so glad that he was able to join us this time. Unlike last year, it was pretty chilly and we weren't able to get in the water or play on the beach unless we had on a sweater or coat. We had a great time and enjoyed spending time with family, laughing, watching the kids play, spending time just relaxing, and celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. Here are a few moments of our weekend:

Visiting the battleship

Playing on the Beach:

Special moments at the beach house:

Silly, fun moments:  (We were excited Travis and Kodia came and spent the day with us!)

Checking out what the Easter Bunny brought before getting ready for church:

                                                 (This lucky crab was given the name Magenta)

Dressed up in our Easter clothes:

The girls in their dresses I made for them, as well as Jackson's bow tie.

Hope your Easter was wonderful! 

March Happenings

I've been kind of slack lately about blogging, so I thought I would give a quick recap of our March happenings. At the beginning of the month Papaw and Jackson had an appointment to go get their haircut, so Ansley decided that she would go with them and get her very first haircut. She knew exactly what she wanted (which was only to get around an inch trimmed off), and even though you couldn't tell that she had anything done really afterwards, she was excited about showing off her new haircut! :)

Ansley then went three days later, on March 8th, and registered for kindergarten, which of course made this mama super sad.

Jackson got to spend a lot of extra time at home with the girls and I this month because of the several snow days we had. His Easter party at school even had to be postponed because the day they were scheduled to have it, they missed school due to snow. So, for this school year he missed school on Halloween, his pajama/movie day the day before Christmas break, and the Easter party.... all because of snow. Needless to say, I think just about everyone is ready for spring! Eric and I went to Jackson's parent/teacher conference, and we were very happy with his teacher's report and his report card. Jackson also surprised us this month when he brought home a letter stating that he was going to be in the school's talent show. Several weeks before this he had brought home a note saying when the auditions were for the classroom level, grade level and school level were. I asked him if he wanted to do anything in it and he said, "I don't know- maybe break dance?" :) Flash forward a couple of weeks and he brings home on a Thursday a letter saying "Congrats- your child has made it to the school level competition of the talent show" and said that the next day he would be competing with the others that made it to this level to see who goes onto the county level, in front of the school. Jackson was so excited, and so were we! When Eric and I went the next day to watch him perform (which was a recitation of a poem, by the way), we were surprised that he got up (he was first), did his thing, and wasn't nervous at all! He didn't make it to the county level, but honestly I don't think he even knew that this was a competition. :) After the talent show was over all Jackson cared about was getting to Greensboro, because that is where we were headed to celebrate cousin Amelia's 2nd birthday (which was the cutest "Goodnight Moon" themed party you could ever think of!).

Elsie is becoming more and more like her big sister everyday in the fact that she is becoming princess obsessed and only wants to wear dresses/skirts. If you put a shirt on her, just make sure to tell her it is a dress and the pants are "leggings." I wonder how much longer we are going to get by with this. ;) Elsie loves to go hang out with one of her mamaws or at Miller's Farm Supply on Ansley's dance days, and if you come visit she'll probably cry to go with you! She is definitely an independent little one these days, and her personality and spunk keeps us laughing and on our toes 24/7.

Vada Belle learned how to clap, go from a laying to a sitting position, and has started pulling up on things this month! She is ALWAYS putting any and everything into her mouth, which with three older siblings around there is always something in the floor. We have had many talks about making sure legos, barbie shoes, little tiaras to tiny princesses, etc. are out of the floor, but it seems like that is a hard thing to remember around here.Vada also went to her 9 month checkup on March 25th, and she weighed in at 13 pounds 4 ounces, and was 26 inches long. My sweet and small gal!

Maple Syrup Making

I can remember when we were little my parents would get buckets and hang them in or around some trees, and we would watch as they filled up with what I thought then was water. I remember them doing this best one year for Tiffany's science fair project for school. Eric and I (well, mostly Eric) have now made maple syrup several times. I have had several friends ask me how to do this, and it isn't that difficult at all! You need to do this early spring, when the nights are still really cool, but the days are warming up. The first step is to tap some maple trees by drilling a hole into the tree and creating some way to catch the sap (Eric used a coupler with black pipe attached to it, where as my dad used tubing.) Then, catch the sap into buckets and when they are full, empty them and keep the sap cool.

After you have quite a bit of sap (I believe it is around a 40 to 1 ratio), then you boil it down until it is 7 degrees above whatever boils at. Dad and Eric started out with between 125-130ish gallons of sap, and ended up with a little over 3 gallons. It is so yummy!