Sophi's 5th Birthday: Pink Pajama Pancake Party AND a Pizza Picnic in the Park

Say that 5 times fast:)  Sophi's 5th birthday happened right as school was ending and we were privileged to hang out with the big birthday girl not one, but two days in a row!

The first night was a pancake supper.  Pancakes (plain, chocolate chip, blueberry) and all the fixings!:

The favors were a hit!  Hula hoops and a mylar balloon picked especially for each birthday guest:

Because of the menu, candle-blowing was first on the agenda, after the special pancake decorating for the birthday girl:

One very happy almost 5-year-old:

 What a beautiful big girl:

With her best big brother and big sister:

Little sis and cousin looking on:

Poor girl fell asleep just waiting for everyone to finish so she could open her gifts:):

Lots of pink pajamas going on:

 Ninja star tutorials on the back porch with Uncle Ryan:

The next day was Sophi's "real" birthday so we met in the park after church for some pizza and play time:

 Maggi getting her swing on:

Rosy cheeks and static...both playground staples: 

On a mission:

The birthday girl and her sweet friend:

 Making the merry-go-round go round:

Happy birthday dear Sophi!  We had a blast celebrating with you:)

Girls, Girls, Girls

On Saturday morning all the Georgia ladies of the family piled into the Lucas wagon for a day trip to Knoxville.  The occasion?  My fabulous Aunt Sylvia hosted a mother/daughter brunch in honor of Mother's Day.  When we arrived at Syl's we met up with Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Charlotte in addition to many more ladies--Sylvia's daughters-in-law, their mothers, sisters, daughters, and even one handsome little son who was 3 going on 70:).  It was super special to spend a day with everyone and just to remind myself what awesome women I have in my family.

Once we got there Maggi and Molly spent LOTS of time playing with this cute little kitchen Sylvia found at the Classy Flea in Marietta and Sophi dug right in to the goody buckets!:

I meant to get pictures of all the yummy food--I'm a sucker for luncheon food in pretty serving dishes--but alas, I was too busy eating it...tomato pie, spinach mushroom quiche, couscous salad, ham, fruit, muffins, a cinnamon wheel.  YUM.  And here are some sweet little teacups that Syl's granddaughter made for the kids:

Cute, huh?  Top of an icecream cone on a cookie with a gummy peach ring  for the handle.

Love this one of Maggi and Karma!:

And here are Grandma Dot and Marci sharing a smile:

Here we are gathering to pray:

Marci, Maggi and Stella:

Molly enjoying the spread:

Aunt Sylvia and her nieces:

Sophi, Clark and Sophie eating on a tuffet (that's what it looks like to me anyway):

It was fun to have 4 generations to take pictures with.  I love this one of all the Roach girls with Grandma:

And here are the Bounds sisters with their mother:

Dad stopped by when "official" girl time was done.  Here he is with Charlotte:

And here are the Bounds and Roach girls

And here we are with the little girls too!  A hard pic to get for sure but everyone's there in body if not in face:)!:

Here's another special picture.  Don't know how long it's been since we've taken a Roach family picture with the 5 of us:

So glad we got in a bit of Granddaddy time on mother/daughter day:

Thank you, Sylvia, for such a special opportunity and for such a lovely (and delicious) time together. 

Happy Mother's Day!

When we got back home that same evening Ryan had a special early Mother's Day surprise for me.  I hope to show pics of that soon!!

On Stage

Today was Molly's spring music program at preschool.  Because our sanctuary is undergoing renovations starting this week the program was held in the same place as Guys and Dolls.  Molly was excited about that for sure and told me she was going to "do Guys and Dolls".  She was also quite thrilled about the dress she wore today.  It was a beautiful hand-me-down from her friend Ella and it's great for spinning!

When they were getting lined up she looked out and smiled at the audience.  There's her friend Bella (from my last post) right behind her.

I actually got there in time to get us the perfect seat and wouldn't you know Molly ended up standing BEHIND the blue-shirt kid and the flower pot the whole time.  And of course the batteries went out in the camera too so I had to get up in the middle to walk around and get a good view of her (I'm such a parent.)

 And here she is again this time standing beside her friend Ella (you know, the original owner of the dress:)  (She's definitely a full head shorter than any other 2-year-old.)

And now the greatly anticipated "Five Little Ducks" by the two-year-olds of EBC Weekday Preschool (well, 3 of them at least):

Note: the 2's actually sang two more songs than this but that was when Molly was blocked by the plant and the blue shirt...so I'm just including this one.

And just for kicks here she is with her "best friend", Arena, performing on the real Guys and Dolls stage.  If you listen carefully you'll hear Molly suggest that they sing ABC's and then Arena changes the words which makes Molly crack up:):

Spring Break...a bit late.

Well, it's been nearly a month now since our much anticipated spring break.  I figured it's better late than never to share some pictures from our decidedly low key week.  The hope was to "accomplish" something but I'm afraid the only thing accomplished was a bit of laziness, lots of togetherness, a couple of picnics, some spontaneous out-of-the-ordinary cooking and art projects, and maybe a bit of laundry for good measure...in short, I'm pleased with our "accomplishments".  Since the weeks preceding and following spring break have been the busiest yet, it was nice to finally just hang out with Molly.

Doesn't my baby look all grown up shopping in her heals:

We used some of our extra time one evening to finalize our family car shopping.  We ended up with a Toyota mini van and, though I thought I'd never be a mini-van driver, I love it!

When evenings aren't pressed for time there's more room for this:

This is the playground at a public school less than a half mile from our old house.  They've redone it since we lived there and it's nice, new, and empty.

Molly had her first overnight guest!  We watched Bella for our friends while they had a toddler-free 24 hours to spend together before the arrival of their second baby (who just arrived 2 days ago now!)

It was a good time:)!

My favorite! The girls with Ryan's name artwork:

Listening to showtunes and making some bird's nest cookies:

This girl's a natural in the kitchen.

 I told her to put three eggs in each nest so she'd count them out and then every other one say "oops, I put in four" and then eat one of the eggs to fix it...smart cookie;).  My favorite girl:

We took a day trip to Tennessee to FINALLY meet baby Judah but of course I didn't bring my camera:(.

We ended up the week dying eggs and reading books about Easter (my next catch up post).  We've accidentally made it home with one or two (or four) hospital gowns over the past 2.5 years.  They make great finger painting and egg dying smocks!

She loved watching the tablets dissolve...ahh, memories.
The finished product:

And I couldn't not put this one in: