Visits and Easter

 We were lucky to have Grandpa (or Dan as Cate prefers to call him), Zoe, Tiana, and Jason come and visit us.

 We visited the usual places and ate some really yummy food while they were here.

 We also had our big egg hunt on Easter, but we had to hold it indoors due to rainy weather. No one wants to hunt eggs in the mud, am I right?

 We also checked out Sloss Furnaces.  It was really cool.  The picture below is what Abby did when I told her to stand next to Zoe for a picture.  She is a stinker.

 Grandpa stayed with the kids so Lewis and I could go to a fancy dinner with Tiana and Jason at Highlands.  It was really tasty and we had a great time.

 We were so glad to get to spend time with all of them, and were glad they got to visit Alabama one last time before we move away!

Photo dump

I just wanted to share a few photos of what we have been up to these past few weeks.  Mostly it's been the same stuff.  Soccer.  Ballet. Soccer. YW. Activity Days. Baseball.  School trips. 

 Brooks has had a rough few months with his asthma.  He has missed several days of school and has had multiple trips to the dr. office and one to the ER.  One time we were waiting a really really long time to see the dr.  and he drew this lovely picture.

 Once again I can't get over how amazing Alabama is in the springtime.  My azaleas are more full this year than ever before.  Thanks for the beautiful send off!

 I also got to go on a field trip last week with A's class to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.  Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Dr.  ML King Jr. writing his famous Letter From Birmingham Jail.   I hope you will click on the link and read the letter.  I am grateful for people who stand up for what is right, even when it isn't popular.

 Rev. Shuttlesworth who was the leader of the civil rights movement here in Birmingham.

 Look at the all the beautiful and different skin colors in A's 4th grade. What a blessing.

 In her assignment after the trip A wrote that she was grateful for the civil rights movement because she would be sad if she couldn't go to school with Zoe.  Zoe has been a great friend to A and she is black.  I'm so glad to live now and for how far we've come, but we aren't there yet.

 This week I got to go with Brooks and the 2nd grade to the McWane Center.  Here he is waiting for the IMAX to start.  The IMAX dome is really cool but sometimes makes me dizzy.  I was really excited about it this time because I had minor laproscopic surgery last week to repair a hernia and I was tired and sore after a couple of hours chasing these guys around!

 We loved seeing the octopus being so active.

My cute kids a few weeks ago after church

Aiden's birthday party

For Aiden's 10th birthday this year we decided she would get to go to a fancy restaurant of her choosing with Lewis instead of having a birthday party.  After making this decision and after her birthday she realized how many of her friends had never been to one of her parties and how devastating it was that we are moving this summer and on and on.  She laid it on pretty thick and a small party with a couple of friends turned into 13 friends invited to a themed birthday party that she planned and organized almost completely on her own.  If you know Aiden at all this probably doesn't surprise you.   Even if you haven't seen her in years. :)

 She wanted a travel theme.  I was the flight attendant.  Here we are on the plane.  Brooks and his friend David were the pilots so we had some rough spots.

 We had dinner in Thailand.  Tom Ka Gai soup and stir fry with noodles.

 We painted with mustaches and had dessert crepes in France.

 There were other stops to Ghana to do some beading and America to make some other crafts. 

 The invitations were boarding passes and each traveler got a passport that they put together at the beginning of the party with their picture and personal info.  They got a stamp at each country.

It ended up being a really simple and fun party! I think A might have a future in party planning!

We are going live today!

We have been working so hard to get the house ready to put on the market and today is the big day! I am sitting here nervously waiting for the real estate agent to come and thought I would post some photos of the house in a rare clean and empty moment.