Isn't that cute?

When all of my kids were little, I often dressed my girls alike on special occasions or sometimes just because I had coordinating outfits for them. People would see them and say "Awww, isn't that cute?" Well, it got the stage where Bethany didn't want to wear the clothes that are matching, but Felicia still enjoyed dressing like Ellie.
Until recently, that is. Now, I don't really buy matching stuff anymore and even if they have similar items, I don't try to make them wear them at the same time, but out of coincidence this morning, I had pulled a dress from Ellie's closet at the same time Felicia was in her room choosing her outfit to wear to church and when she came in Ellie's room and showed me that she had picked the same dress I had for Ellie, I had to giggle and say,"Look what Ellie is wearing!" Felicia was going to change, but I convinced her to just wear it, they weren't going to be in the same class at Sunday School anyway. She did wear it and I was able to take a few (probably last) photos of the them being twins in their dresses. Another stage in their lives ending, but it was fun while it lasted!

When is it summer?

Ellie, having limited knowledge of time, has been asking me when will it be summer? Technically, of course, it won't be officially summer for a few more weeks, but I told Ellie it was summer when school was out. Of course, school is already out for her but not her siblings, so this leads her to still ask the question. Today, when I watched her running and squealing through the sprinkler in the front yard I thought to myself "Now it is summer". There are certain things that make it feel like summmer to me:

Running through a sprinkler in the yard
hearing the ice cream truck come through the neighborhood
the smell of sunscreen
lots of flip flops all over the house
freezer stocked with popsicles
cold fresh watermelon--mmmmm....

4 for 4 !!!

It is a challenge every day to serve a meal or snack that every one of my children will eat. There inevitably is one or more who doesn't like this or that. There are, however, a few that stand out as favorites in our household. Anytime these 4 foods are served, EVERYONE eats and is excited about it!
Apple Cinnamon Jiffy muffins ( 1 package for breakfast)
Bacon ( 1 pound pkg. for the whole family for one breakfast)
Strawberries ( a 2 lb. container gets eaten in one day)
ice cream (who doesn't love that?!)

A few other foods that rate highin our house are ham, bread in any form (bagels, dinner rolls, garlic bread etc..), Fruit Loops, raspberries, yogurt (although diff. kids are partial to diff. flavors)

Rock Gospel Show Choir

Bethany and Sam are both in our church's Rock Gospel show choir middle school group. They have practice every Monday from 4:30 to 6pm from Sept. through June and in July they go on tour for a week to perform for groups and organizations or churches. Bethany went last year to North Carolina and her favorite performance was for a Boys and Girls Club there. They also got to do fun things like whitewater rafting and touring The Biltmore House and The Billy Graham Library.
This year they were supposed to go to Baltimore, but because of the economy and the high cost of the trip, they will now be touring locally half of the week and then down the VA Beach for 2 days. They perform 4 times a year during Sunday morning services. They love it because they sing and perform to music that is appealing to them, more upbeat tempos and some rap style.
The picture attatched is one taken last weekend at a comunity picnic event where their group served and sold food as a fundraiser. Sam and Bethany are standing next to each other NOT looking at the camera.
Their next fundraiser is selling tickets from a local photographer for a family portrait sitting. Anyone interested in on-location shoots of their kids or family, give us a call--only $10.00 and you get a free 5x7 as well!

Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day with good friends at their house for a cookout. The kids had fun swimming in their pool and jumping on the trampoline. It was a nice day to end the long weekend.

My Black Thumb

Every Spring I get so excited to see pretty flowers and gardens and I want that in my yard, so I set off to buy lots of plants and flowers to hang,plant in containers or the ground. After about 3 weeks, only the strongest remain! I have learned that foliage is not particularly my friend and even though I try my hardest to keep them alive,most manage to wither and die on me. I now keep my expectations very low, stick to only planting green shrubs and bushes that require little to no maintenance and just add very few annuals twice a year for a pop of color. I recently purchased these flowers for two large planters in the front of the house and I had a pretty Verbena given to me by Ellie's preschool class as a thank you for being the class room Mom this year. I took a chance and planted it because I had really good luck with Verbena at our last house, it just spread and spread and had great color on the ground in the warm months. Wish me luck!!!!

The Birthday Party !!!!!

Ellie's fabulous 5th Birthday celebration was held this morning at Divas and Dudes where Ellie and her guests enjoyed dresssing up, getting hair, nails and makeup done, doing a fashion show and singing and dancing on stage. What more could a girl ask for? She was in heaven!!! The girls all had a blast and now Ellie is already busy playing with her new gifts out on the back deck with her big sisters.
Ellie, I hope all of your birthday wishes came true!

Happy Birthday Ellie !!!

Ellie is 5 and she is so proud to be a big girl! She has been waiting and waiting for this day to come. For the past 5 months, she's been asking "How long until my birthday?" and planning who to invite, what kind of party to have etc...
Her party will be on Saturday, but tonight we celebrated with Brownies baked in individual heart shaped tins and a scoop of ice cream with it. What she chose for her birthday dinner? Pizza Bagel Bites!!!! She loves those things and I haven't bought them in so long so that is what she wanted. Needless to say, the kids were all happy with her choice. She loved and squealed over all of her gifts, she has the best reactions to receiving presents! And tonight, Daddy tucked her into her new princess tent and read her one of her new books and she went to sleep knowing that we love her so very much. Happy Birthday sweetness!

Our Last Preschool Graduate!!!

Tonight our sweet Ellie graduated preschool, on the eve of her 5th birthday.
I am very emotional about this week, my "baby" done with preschool and turning five years old! Amazing how time flies right on by. I am looking forward to new adventures with my kids in a new stage of life, but I'll still always feel nostalgic and wistful remembering those baby, toddler and preschool days. I've loved (nearly) every minute of them.
At the ceremony, as each child received their certificate, the teacher announced what each child had told her they wanted to be when they grew up." Ellie wants to be a Cheerleader" is what we found out. The two occupations chosen by other children to receive the most applause of the evening were "a candy maker" and a "monster truck driver"

Mama, I Need You!

Ellie has taken to saying this instead of asking for help with a specific task, like"Can you hep me get my bike out or can you make me some toast?" She just calls out from wherever she is in the house, "Mama, I need you!" I think how sweet to hear those words from that cute little voice! Because, I know all too well how quickly they don't seem to need you or at least admit it! I love to hear it everytime!

The other day, she said, "When I am five I am just going to call you Mom, because I will be bigger then". I said, "You don't have to stop calling me Mommy because you're 5!" don't grow up too fast, baby girl!!!!

You Go, Girl!!!

We are at the softball field for games or a practice at least 3 times a week. On other days, Felicia wants to throw ball in the back yard. She loves to play. Tonight was her first time pitching and she did a great job! She struck out a few players and she made an out at home plate. We're so proud of her "always ready" attitude.

Mother's Day

Today was a gorgeous day here in VA and we took advantage of the good weather to spend the day outdoors. I woke up earlier than anyone else, as usual and went for a run, but came home and received a great breakfast cooked for me. We went to church and afterward, went to Rockwood Park to play some tennis, play on the playground and visit the dog park there with Hollister. When we came home, I relaxed and did some reading while the kids played outside, then got back out and played with them while Steve cooked a great dinner for us all. Who could ask for a better day or a better family?

BUSTED!!!!

Last week Ellie was outside with Steve while he was mowing the lawn for about 30 minutes. I finally decided to check on her and see what she was doing and caught her with a dry erase marker writing on our deck steps, our slate walkway and our concrete drainage pipe at the bottom of the driveway. She had even written on the siding of the house, but that fortunately came off with a Magic Eraser (thank God those were invented!) Ellie had her first grounding and also had to help try to clean off the lettering.

Mother's Day Tea

I was invited to a Mother's Day Tea at Ellie's preschool on Thursday morning. She was so very exited for me to come to her school with her. We were given a breakfast of fruit and donuts, which you can see Ellie helping herself to (I had the fruit) and gifts that the kids had made for us. Oh, how I will miss these preschool moments!

Buying lunch

Most kids can't wait until they get to buy lunch at school. It's exciting for them to make their own choices etc. Sam and Felicia would buy lunch every day if I let them, but even though it's easier for me to just have them buy, I feel like the lunches they pack at home are a little more nutricious.
My oldest child, Bethany, has finally broken her record of never buying a school lunch in her whole school career so far. She is in 7th grade! When she was little, she was nervous to do it and when she got a little older, she just didn't care to.
Now that she's in middle school, she tells me that the school fries are "the best fries ever" and she's tasted other things her friends have bought. So, she asked me yesterday to finally set up her lunch account. I was seriously wondering if she was going to make it to high school graduation without ever buying a school lunch!

Cinco De Mayo

Did you celebrate? Usually May 5th here in central Virginia is nice and warm, but this year, the day embraced us with lots of rain and damp temperatures. No margaritas on the deck, but I planned a mexican dinner with the family anyway. I made homemade guacamole, bought chips and salsa, and cooked quesadillas. Steve and Bethany made non-alcoholic frozen drinks. We look very festive, don't we? Mere moments after this photo was taken, Ellie ran into the living room crying and burying her head into the sofa because she missed Poppy (her grandfather). When we finally convinced her to join us in the dining room, felicia accidentally spilled her special drink, knocking it all over Ellie, who once more broke into tears.
Just another day in paradise.....

The food WAS yummy, though!

Tennis Anyone?

Our family's new pastime is tennis. Well, it's really just hitting the ball around, we don't actually play by any rules. The kids are really pretty good at this, though. We had a few racquets, but when I found two nearly new additional racquets at a yard sale (both for only $2.00 including a pack of balls!) it was GAME ON for the Lukitsch's!!! We play on the back driveway with a chalk drawn line as a net.
the neighborhood across the street has tennis courts, so we will venture there soon!