April Adventures in NC and WV, plus Easter-ing!

Goodness, looking back, April was a huge month! Lots of action packed into those 30 days... In addition to Easter fun, Maelee's birthday (which will be in a post all in itself to come!), and my special trip to "The Hill," our family had two very short but very sweet trips in April. During the beginning of spring break, we went to North Carolina to visit Mee-Maw & Grandpa, then the weekend after Easter, we traveled to Capon Springs, WV with our dear church community for our annual retreat.  Photos from those trips are in reverse order, so here goes our trip to WV! 

Steve stayed out late Fri night with Maelee for the bonfire while I took the younger two to bed.

These retreats are always a bit tricky with the late nights but the kids love it and it's always a sweet time deepening our faith and our friendships!

Maelee started off the day on Saturday by winning 2 Starbucks gift cards through a fun game to get to know some of the first-timers and we love that she gave the second one (intended to be gifted to someone else) to the gal who was the runner-up!

Our sweet Lilee bun sharing the love with Gay Gay...

And Camille.

Two women who have done SO much for the kiddos at our church and who are dearly loved by our own. Camille recently moved to CO and Gay is transitioning away from some of the Children's Ministry stuff so they will both be missed!!!

Fishing!!!

And swimming!
(In their clothes... Note to self: bring swimsuits next year!!!)

Looking like he owns the place!

Saturday afternoon, Steve took Ollie, Lilee, and a couple other friends on a hike though the woods. They loved it!

It seems near impossible for these two to eat ice cream without getting messy!

The final kid's performance!

That's Maelee helping to lead them up front!

This was our fourth retreat with our church to Capon Springs and it has become one of our favorite annual traditions! We all come away with deepened relationships with our church community and more importantly, deepened relationships with the Lord.

More pictures from Capon Springs

HERE!

Now onto our fun in North Carolina! It was a quick trip, but as much as we could manage with Steve's work calendar, and it was great to see Mee-Maw & Grandpa in their home before they move to Winston Salem in October! We went to the coolest children's museum in Raleigh that the kids had a blast at and we all enjoyed the IMAX ocean movie! We ended the day with dinner at Red Robin and then enjoyed bike riding and more time with the grandparents the next day.

After a full day of play, we went for burgers for dinner and surprised Maelee with an early birthday sundae and singing! She definitely appreciated it.

Soaking up some reading-with-Grandpa time!

And lullabies from Mee-Maw. 

And snuggles with Mee-Maw and Athena!

It may have been short but it was definitely sweet!

More pics of our trip to NC

HERE!

In between our trip to North Carolina and our retreat in West Virginia, we celebrated Easter! The kids did a beautiful job dyeing eggs before Easter Sunday and we enjoyed lunch at our dear friends' home Sunday afternoon, complete with a backyard egg hunt, then dessert and another sweet egg hunt at Nana & Pop-Pop's later that day. We are so grateful to be able to celebrate the day with both friends and family! One of the highlights was reading the cards that Maelee and Ollie made in their Sunday school classes. Ollie worked so hard on his and Maelee's had a beautiful summary of the Gospel written on hers. So encouraging to see that she actually is listening!

Steve told Ollie to make sure to put a "space" after the word "have." 😆

                                     

More pics of Easter fun

HERE!

More snapshots from spring!

Lots more moments from April and May all rolled up into this one post- some big, some small, some mundane, some sentimental... All special moments to us!

Some sweet time with my girls while Ollie had an OT appt.

Lunch outside on a beautiful day with pals Chloe & Evie!

Ice cream date with Nana!

Toward the middle of April, my parents, my Uncle Tom and Aunt Viv, and I had the incredible privilege of traveling to West Virginia to honor my Too-Dad at his beloved childhood home, "The Hill." It was such a special (and emotional!) time.

Lunch break at one of Too-Dad's favorites stops along the way.

Dinner that evening with one of Too-Dad's nephews and nieces and their spouses!

Just thinking of how happy he'd be knowing we were honoring him here was such a comforting thought!

The beauty of The Hill.  What an honor to be there!

School Spirit Day-
Dress up like an animal!

School carnival!

Chuck E Cheese fun for these two while big sis had her birthday party.

Celebrating Holland for her 4th birthday!

3rd Grade concert- Beatles songs!

Our bat girl!
At an Assist Walk/Run/Ride event to support some friends.

Spidey!

Fox!

Best buds Lilee & Emma

I had a super special treat this Mother's Day of attending a beautiful recital given by the director of the flute ensemble I play with who also happens to be the principal flutist of the NSO! My mom and Maelee joined me which made it the perfect outing for the day.  And while we were out enjoying beautiful music, my sweet husband was working hard back home on a delicious meal! I am so grateful to be able to celebrate such a special day with the most special woman I know, my mama!!!

 

Right in the middle of May, our brave Maelee took the stage at the school talent show singing "Fight Song."  She did so well!!! She got the biggest round of applause and all sorts or woots and hollers from the crowd, with the students clapping along. 

Video of our sweet girl singing her heart out
HERE!

We were all so proud of her!!!

She was so tickled that her Nana & Pop-Pop were able to support her!

Afternoon mommy/daughter date over Memorial Day weekend to get our nails done.

Trip into Old Town!

Play by the water,

and at the mirrors art exhibit!

And I'll wrap up this springtime post with some shots of some treasured one-on-one time with my sweet Lilee, as school is about to begin and my youngest is almost a Kindergartner!!!  So hard to believe.  Her 3 mornings/week Pre-K schedule last year allowed us to have lots of time together and she was definitely my little helper and buddy.  I'm excited for the opportunity to get back into more music making with what the fall schedule will hold, but goodness, I'm going to miss her!

Thai lunch date!

Part of my heart right there.

And that's a wrap on some springtime moments!  Our fun weekend in Capon Springs, WV at the end of April and our sweet trip to DE toward the end of May for the Fifer Strawberry Festival and a visit with Mary Catherine will be in a post to come and then it'll be onto all the summer time activities!