A Trip to the Farm

On Friday, we took a trip to Frying Pan Park where we used to go pretty often when we lived in Herndon.  Spring is always a great time to go to the farm because there are lots of baby animals on the farm to see.  As always, the girls love checking out the animals, riding the tractors, having a picnic, and playing on the playground.

We met the funniest little goat in the barn.  He LOVED the outfit Nina was wearing.  It was either something about the color or the texture of the lacey part of her top, but we were all getting a kick out of this little goat. I checked a couple times to make sure he wasn’t actually chewing holes in her shirt, and he wasn’t.  He just wanted it in his mouth and wanted to nibble on it gently.  Several other kids came over and offered the goat their jacket or shirt to see if he’d chew on it, but he’d inspect them but didn’t want anything to do with them.  However, he stood up on his feet for at least 10, maybe 15 minutes, with Nina’s shirt in his mouth.  It was hard to get her to leave the barn because she really felt like she and the little goat had a special connection.  She kept talking about missing her little goat and wanting him for a pet.  Very cute…

Lyla really liked the chicks and the baby pigs!

Hanging With Friends

You may remember a post from June of last year when I was at a baby shower for two little boys who were going to be joining the home of our friends, Mike and Meg. Well, the boys arrived home with Mike and Meg in the fall, and every time we've hung out, I haven't had my camera with me. So, when they were over for dinner last night, I had to remember to pull out my camera and snap some photos.

The boys brought over their stomp rocket, Meg showed our girls how to play it, and the kids got to play together with it in the back yard.

After dinner, the kids played downstairs in the toy room, and they all decided to give Meg some beauty treatment. Isaac and Joshua took turns brushing, blow drying, and curling Meg's hair. It was very cute!

Isaac decided to "take a picture" of me while I was taking a picture of him!

It was great to all hang out and have some fun together.

Easter

On Easter, Lyla was still feeling bad, so she and I stayed home from church while Mark and Nina went.  It was Nina’s last day with Konrad, so he went to church too! 

---

After church, we packed up and went over to my parents’ house for the Easter egg hunt and a nice lunch.  It was a beautiful day, and Lyla perked up in the afternoon, so the girls enjoyed a great time hunting eggs in the back yard of my parents’ house.

We tried to find lots of creative places to hide the eggs!

             After a great search, the girls found all the eggs.  We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying a nice meal together and playing outside – happy to enjoy the day with everyone feeling better!

Date Night

This past week definitely doesn't rank in the Simpson family top rated weeks. It's actually been quite a rough one. Nina got sick with a flu on Monday and stayed sick through the end of Wednesday. Grandma died Tuesday. I left for Pennsylvania the same day that Lyla got the flu, and Mark stayed behind with the sick kids. I got home yesterday evening, and Lyla is still sick as of today. It was Nina's spring break week, and we had some fun things planned, but all of them had to be canceled. Combine that with a confusing week of trying to discern our next destination in life, and I can easily say I am hoping for a much brighter next week. I'm not putting that out there to invite others to join the pity party we were temped to throw, but I do say that because, after the week we've had, one little girl in the house was in need of some special attention. That came this evening in the way of date night for Nina. Mark and Nina got to escape from the house for a dinner out at Nina's favorite pizza place and ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins. Of course, Konrad got to come!

In Loving Memory

Grandma Smith (1917-2011)

The Difference a Year Makes

Some of you may remember a post from last year that I did on Palm Sunday when Nina had her first appearance singing Hosanna. What a difference a year makes! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it's a tradition at our church on Palm Sunday that the kids do a palm processional while singing their Hosanna song. Please forgive my awful video skills. When I finally got in a good position to get a good video, I sat there holding my little Vado thinking I was getting great video only to discover it wasn't recording the whole time. So, I only have three short vidoes that I can't combine into one. Ugg... I think I'll stick with my camera.

Konrad and Cousin Time

So far, this has been a pretty big week! Nina came home on Wednesday with Konrad, the squirrel. Konrad has one visit with each kid in Nina's preschool class, and this is our weekend with Konrad (actually, we get Konrad even longer since spring break is next week). Konrad has had an exciting visit so far, and Nina has very much enjoyed having him here. He helped us plant a bean plant... He hung out with Nina and Lyla when they were having a little dance party... He went to donuts with Poppy, Emme, and Ryleigh... He has his own bed, and Nina gave him some PJs, and for some reason he sleeps with clips on his ears...

He was there to witness Emme's first lost tooth at the family dinner on Friday evening...

And after an evening with the family at Mousey and Poppy' house, he's in attendance for a third sleepover this week.

It's been a busy week of lots of cousin time and Konrad time. The Williams famly will leave to go back to NC on Sunday, but thankfully Konrad will stay with us over Nina's spring break. It would be very sad to see them both go at the same time!

Burgundy and Gold Banquet

Last night, Mark and I were invited to attend Youth For Tomorrow's annual Burgundy and Gold banquet. I don't have a picture to accompany this post, but Mark was looking very handsome in a nice suit, and I was wearing high heels that I hadn't had the occasion to wear in over a year. Where is my camera when I need it! We took the girls over to my mom and dad's for another cousin sleepover, and we headed into the Tysons Ritz Carlton for a nice evening. While the overall purpose of the evening is to raise funds for YFT and celebrate it's successes over the past year, our purpose there was to hear the story and testimony of their first rehabilitated sex trafficking victim. This young girl, now just 15 years old, had the courage to stand up in front of a room of over 1,000 people and tell her story. She told of her entrapment into forced prostitution as a preteen, the years of fear, anger, and hurt that enveloped her at all times, and finally, her restoration as she's found hope, significance, restoration, and her savior, Jesus Christ, while at YFT. A couple months ago, I had spent the afternoon at YFT, talking with their admissions director (and the sole champion of this young girl in her early days at YFT) about the issue of domestic trafficking, and she shared the very difficult road this young girl has had to take to be restored to the young lady standing in front of the audience last night. All too many people had given up on her, thought she was too much trouble, thought that restoration was out of the question for someone who had been through what she had, yet restoration was possible. It was so impactful to see, first hand, a truely changed young person. A girl who was once angry, used, hurt, and without hope is now a survivor, filled with purpose, validated in who she is as a young woman, and bringing hope to others. It was an awesome thing to witness!

Outnumbered

On Monday night, we had Shenley, Emme, Ryleigh, and Layne over for a sleepover. Mark was sufficiently outnumbered - 7 to 1. Our girls are headed over to Mousey and Poppy's house tonight for another cousin sleepover, so my dad will be thankful that Garland gets into town today so he's got other male to attempt to balance things out. Good luck!!!

Hawk Hunt 2011

Since the Williams girls are in town for the week, we had the annual Hawk Hunt today. As always, the girls were SO excited. The Hawk Hunt is a much anticpated event every year, and all the cousins were very happy to see each other again! We had a great time today. To see the slideshow of the pictures from the Hawk Hunt, click HERE.

Sister Update

People often ask me about the relationship between Nina and Lyla - are they great playmates, do they get along really well, are they good friends? Thankfully, right now we're at the stage when the answers to those questions are, Yes - most of the time. Since Nina and Lyla are the same age difference apart that Shenley and I were, I know there will be days when they'll be best friends; I know there will be days when they'll be locking each other out of their room; I know there will be days when they'll be arguing over who gets to drive the car or who borrowed the other's clothes without asking, but I hope, through it all, they'll always be friends like they are now. I know there were days when I irritated Shen to no end, and I know there were days when I felt like Charles Schulz when he said, "Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life," but we ended up great friends, and that's what I hope most for Nina and Lyla.

Buddies

Every day our girls do quiet time since neither of them nap. They have one hour of the day when they play in their room with their toys, books, etc. This is how we found Lyla after quiet time. She had enough energy to pack her egg chair with things from her room, then gave in to the tiredness. Even though she probably only slept for about 15 minutes of the quiet time, it was probably a good little recharge for the evening ahead. After quiet time, the girls were so excited for our buddies to come over - so were Mark and I. Our friends, Jill and Mark and their kids, were coming over for dinner and to play and watch the basketball games. Mark and I have a great time hanging out with Jill and Mark, and our kids have a great time with Jonathan and Kate, so it's a great match! The kids always have so much fun playing together that we hardly hear anything from them all night which makes a great night for the adults too!

Donuts with Poppy and Oliver

If there is one weakness all three Simpson girls share, it's a love of donuts. When you're pregnant, people often ask if you're craving anything. With Lyla, it was donuts. I definitely didn't eat them as often as I wanted to, but I ate them more than I do now. I've heard the wives tale that your body craves what you are lacking when you're pregnant. So, what is my excuse with donuts? Could I justify that my body just craved fried flour and sugar coated in delicious icing? No, I think pregnacy "craving" was just an excuse to warrant a donut. Anyway, since Lyla was in utero while I was eating a lot of donuts, I can see why she loves them, but the theory doesn't quite hold true for Nina. When I was pregnant with Nina, I wanted burgers all the time, and it's taken her nearly five years to eat one.

Back to our story...yesterday morning was Donuts with Poppy - a much anticipated morning when we meet my dad for a donut breakfast. The girls always get their favorite - a chocolate iced donut with sprinkles! The evening before, the girls wanted to do paintings to take to Poppy. We could tell he really enjoyed his paintings... Later that evening, the girls stayed home, and I joined my mom and brother to catch Poppy's acting debut in the play, Oliver. The school that my parents work at was putting on a community theater performance, and after months of practice, it was finally show time. My dad was in charge of all the set changes and had a role in the chorus and the role of the Governor. The play was great. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take any pictures during the play as they didn't allow flash photography, but when the lights came on between acts, I did snap a quick picture of Pops making a quick exit after changing the set.

One very exciting part of the evening for the actors was that Robert Duvall was in the audience (no lie). He has a house by the school and evidentally had been invited to come, and he actually came. Who knows, maybe that was Pops' ticket to stardom! :)