Maelee's 9th Birthday!

Ok, by the time this is posted, she'll be almost 9 1/2, but like I *always* tell myself with this blog, better late than never!!!

We feel like Maelee really has transitioned this year to basically "tween" from "big kid." She is growing up so fast and in a lot of ways, it is such a fun phase. She definitely still challenges us with various quirks and particular demands, but also continues to blossom and mature into such a fun, thoughtful, creative, shining young lady! 

Her ninth birthday festivities spanned several weeks as her actual birthday fell in between spring break and Easter then our church retreat, so she was able to really stretch the celebrating. Both my mom and I were able to have special dates with her before her birthday, then we marked it during our visit to NC with a surprise ice cream treat when out to dinner, her actual birthday was filled with LOTS of fun, and she had a party a couple weeks later! 

 A trip to the American Girl store with Nana for their birthday date!

These two laugh A LOT together!

Shopping trip and Five Guys date.

Goodness, I treasure these one on one times with my big girl!

The morning of her birthday, I took her out with two of her closest friends from church to brunch in Del Ray and they had a blast afterward creating a little "film" about traveling! They were all so cute together!

My parents were able to come over later that evening to finish off the day.  Like usual, she was pretty giddy over all her gifts, but she was especially excited to get the first Harry Potter book, an amazing microphone from Nana & Pop-Pop, and her very own mp3 player from us. We had fun with that one, wrapping the tiny present in box after bigger box after bigger box...

It may have taken a while to get the little gift out, but it was worth it once she did!

 

 

It was a pretty great day.

Since there was no school on her actual birthday, I surprised her at lunch and for donut treats the day after.



More birthday photos
HERE!

Then she finished off the weeks long celebrating with a bang! Several of Maelee's closest friends from school came over after the school carnival for a hot dog dinner, a JoJo Siwa bow cake, and popcorn with The Greatest Showman. Plus an epic sing-a-long. It was a fun (and exhausting!) night.

After dinner, cake, gifts, and LOTS of singing, it was time to wind down with a movie.

It was a sweet little party.

More birthday party pics

HERE!

Finishing up with Maelee's 9 year photo shoot! These definitely showcase her personality and interests. Soaking up these last several months before she enters double digits!!!

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!