Preschool Graduation

Hailey has graduated from her first year of preschool. The school did a program and then each of the childrens names were called to get their "diploma". And then we were able to attend yet another class party.

Hailey singing "I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee"

Not happy she's up there
She's done!

Dance and Gymnastics

Hailey had her Gymnastics Jubilee, where they showcase all that they've learned this year. Hailey's the one standing on the green square
Hailey and her medal, you gotta love the underware coming out of her leotard.

We also had Hailey's first dance recital this year. She and Kira looked so cute out there doing the dance. You could tell that they were the only two that didn't go to dance rehersal (because it was on Sunday) so they were a little lost at time on the stage, but they still did a really good job. Braxton was the photographer of these pictures.

The recital was called Princess in the Tower. Hailey's class were the Star Faries. (Hailey is the second one from the right)

Hailey is the third on from the right.

Braxton and Baseball

Well, this baseball season has been a very interesting one. This was the first time that the kids pitch instead of the coaches. Some of the games were very long and painful, but towards the end of the season the pitchers had become pretty good. Braxton, again was put into the outfield, and sometimes on third base. He has really improved. He was one of the kids that could actually hit the ball, could pretty much catch anything and can throw really far. There was one particular game the other team hit a popfly to left field Braxton stuck his glove out and caught the ball. Everyone was up and cheering, cause no one thought he'd actually catch it. He recieved the game ball three times this year.

Once again we made it to the finals in the tournament. However, during our final game in the 4th inning, the umpires were switched for some reason. We were ahead 8 to 2 and then all of the sudden they were ahead 10 to 8. The ump made some really bad calls. During the last inning, two of our coaches were thrown out of the game, parents were yelling, it was chaos. The boys were just ready for the game to end. It was a 2 1/2 hour game! Glad it's over......Trying to get Braxton to games was always such an ordeal, that I always forgot the camera, so I have no pictures of him this year. Next year I'll do better.

London

The second stop was London. It was a lot different than Ireland, which you wouldn't think because they are so close, but they are. It just seemed two steps ahead of Dublin. We were able to tour the city the first couple of days we were there, which the architecture was so beautiful, you could spend a month trying to see everything and not see it all. The third day we were there we went up to Bath, Windsor Castle and Stone Henge. It was fun to see the countryside. I am a Jane Austen fan, thanks to my mom and in all of her books she talks about Bath, and how it was the place to be if you had money. So I've always been curious as to what it looked like. Stone Henge was exactly how I thought it would be, looks just like all of the pictures. Hyde Park, which is London's equivalent of Central Park.
Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

Some of the architecture...I could have stood and just stared at all of the buildings.

There were statues of all of the past kings and queens, they were really pretty cool.

More architecture, and a statue of Queen Victoria, there were a lot of her.

Windsor Castle. I can't remember the town it's in, but it was about 2 hours outside of London. This is one of the 5 castles that Queen Elizabeth lives in, and is actually her favorite castle. We were able to tour a part of it and it was awesome! Unfortunately we couldnt take pictures. The queen was actually there while we were.

This is the Queens apartment.

Changing of the guard

Another view of the castle, along with the church that Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married in.

This is where Bath get's it's name. There were Roman bath houses that were discovered, that were buried for years.

This was a Roman steam room. They built a floor ontop of the stacks of stone

A street in Bath

Stone Henge

My favorite picture.

We also visited the train station that was in the Harry Potter book. Mike on platform 9 and 3 quarters.

The train station

The end of our trip

Ireland 09

Mike and I had the amazing opportunity to go over to Ireland and London with my parents. After getting through a couple of anxiety attacks over leaving the kids, we were ready to go...:) Ireland was our first stop. We stayed about 15 miles outside of Dublin at a golf resort. The hotel was beautiful! Ireland has to, by far, be my favorite place. It was chilly and drizzly there, but is was awesome! The countryside was breathtaking! There were castles everywhere. I guess I'm more of a country girl than a city girl. We visited a few castles, and went into Dublin for a day. Mike was brave enough to rent a car and drive (they drive on the left side of the road). Which he did a really good job. Charleville Castle, by far my favorite castle. Pretty much untouched, except for the owners. Becoming Jane and Northanger Abbey were filmed here.
This room was still in it's original state, even the walls. This was the Den. The ceilings had amazing detail.

This was the great Hall, or ball room

My parents and I at the Cahir Castle, in Cahir Irleland. The funny thing was, this castle was smack dab in the middle of the town.

Cahir Castle

This is the Rock of Chashel. I was walking through the burial part of the grounds, and there were tombstones as late as 2007.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It's a good representation of how green and lush Ireland is. This was an abbey that was built off of the Castle.

Rock of Cashel

This was inside the St. Patricks Cathedral. The masonry and architecture was so amazing, but it just seemed really dark and drab to be a church.

We also saw the Dublin Castle. The artwork was unbelievable. Can you tell I'm into castles? I think everyone was castled out by the time we were done, but not me. I could have seen 100 more!

My mom and I at Trinity College

Trinity College

Downtown Dublin

Easter 09

We got back the day before Easter Sunday, from Florida, so we were all a little tired. But it was nice that we were smart enough to have the Easter Bunny visit us Saturday morning at the hotel, before we left to come home, so we didn't have to worry about it that night. The kids were very excited to wear their new Easter clothes. After church the Crosby's, the Sampson's and the Hilton's joined us in our traditional Easter feast, which included Honey Baked Ham, my favorite! Then we had a big Easter Egg hunt in the back yard. It was a lot of fun.

Handsome Braxton

Cute Hailey

Hailey furiously trying to find some eggs.

We hide some of the eggs in easy spots, for the little kids, and for the bigger kids we hid them in the woods behind our house to make it a little more challenging.

Preschool Easter Egg Hunt

I seriously have never been to so many school functions in my life! It seems there is another class party everytime I turn around. Hailey loves it though. Her class had an Easter egg hunt and then a snack and did a craft while all the mother's sat around and watched. Yeah, it was as fun as it sounds. Hailey with her butterfly craft.
Heading in to do the hunt. She was so excited to find eggs.

Spring Break 09

First stop....Magic Kingdom at Disney World. I think I was more excited for this day than anyone else. Apparently we go there too much. Go figure. But we had fun. Mike is a master when it comes to the fastpass's, so the day always goes pretty smoothly. We were able to hit every ride and even were able to do some of them twice.

Braxton and Hailey on the Carousel

Hailey and I in line at the Pirates of the Carribean ride.

Hailey, Mike and Braxton at the musical....ok I can't remember the name, but it was a 3-D show.

We have never done pictures with the disney characters before. But hailey really wanted to meet the princess's. So we waited in line. We were able to see Princess Aurora, Cinderella and Belle. She was so excited, but once we actually got there, she was very shy.

Hailey in Minnie Mouse's house.

At the end of the day, we usually watch the firework show, but i talked Mike into trying to go on a few rides instead. So he and Braxton did Space mountain, while Hailey and I did Small World. There as absolutely no body in line! Hailey was not happy that I made her go on the ride, she was tired and ready to go home.

Part two of our trip, was down in West Palm Beach. Mike's mom and stepdad rented a condo down there, so we joined them. It was so relaxing. Kerri came down to stay for a few days, and we hung out at the pool and the beach. Cheryl and Dave also brought their waverunners and we were able to take those out and hang out on peanut island for a couple of days. It was really fun. Even the Maddox's (our friends from Atlanta, joined us) The kids had a great time!

Braxton on the beach

Hailey being silly.

Hailey showing her "Ariel" impersonation.

Getting ready to dump water on Aunt Kerri.