Spring is here! : )

Trying to catch up a bit before this Easter weekend arrives....which yes, it is Good Friday so I guess it has arrived already! I'm a little slow sometimes..... ; ) Lots to write about lately.....Allie is still enjoying guitar lessons and Lauren is catching on quite well to her piano lessons as well. Now on to little Katie, who has begun soccer at our church! Oh my, for the youngest and smallest one out there, she is a hoot to watch! : ) She started out her season (last week was our first game) with being pretty mad at her coach....oh, which happens to be her Daddy! It was, of course, wet, rainy, muddy, cold.....perfect conditions for soccer......and he wanted her to go out there and get in the game. Well, mama didn't do such a good job at making sure she had on enough clothes to keep her nice and toasty so she was wet and cold by the first 5 minutes so needless to say, she was NOT happy! The first few pictures depict her mood quite well!!! But by the 2nd half of the game, she got into it and had fun. We are hoping for better weather for the next few games so she can really enjoy it. We have also been having fun with three more additions to our family.......we are "babysitting" for three baby chicks for a few days. One of friends had them and is headed out of town for awhile so we decided to have them over at our house, especially since the timing of Easter weekend works out perfectly to add them to our family! They are very cute, a bit stinky and sometimes not fun to clean their cage up after (thank you Daddy for doing this job for us!) but those qualities are also kind of like our kiddos too so we think we'll keep them for awhile longer....the chicks and the kids! HAHA! Finally, we kicked off our weekend with a great night tonight....Allie performed a solo in her school's talent show! She was a bit nervous and excited and did great! We were sooooo proud of her! She had to try out to be in it and there were only 3 other kids from her grade in it. It was alot of fun to see all of the kiddos and how talented these Waverly Elementary kids really are! Now ready for a busy weekend, full of fun and family! Most importantly, we'll be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.....so thankful for what He did for us.....I absolutely love sharing His love with our kiddos and reminding them what this holiday is really all about! Happy Easter!!!

Spring Break!

We were able to take a little getaway over Spring Break to Columbus, Ohio. Not exactly the sunny and warm location that we would have loved but hey, I'll take hotel maid service, eating out and swimming in the indoor pool any day! : ) Jason had a trade show there and because it was during our spring break week, we decided to make it into a little family trip and have some fun with it! The girls and I enjoyed shopping, playing some board games in the hotel room and visiting the downtown Columbus library during the couple of days that Daddy was working. Then, he was able to take Friday off so after the trade show, we were able to spend the day at the COSI (Childrens Science Museum) there in Columbus. We have been there once before, about 3 years ago, when Lauren was just under 4 years old and Katelyn was only about 2 months old so they were able to really enjoy it this year....and Allie had a good memory of it from the last time so she was really excited to revisit it! We had a great time in Ohio.....swimming, hanging out, enjoying lots of food and just relaxing and having fun together! I love family vacations! Now back to the "real" world....but only 2 months until summer break!!!! The countdown begins..... ; )

Catching up.....

Seems like it's been awhile since I've posted on here....been busy with all kinds of activities, work, school, etc....and time just gets away from me! So, here is what we have been up to since my last post back in late February:

• We celebrated Jason's birthday.....30-something! : ) We hosted my family for dinner with one of his favorites......apricot pork, red roasted potatoes, green beans, salad and garlic bread! YUMMY!! We had a nice time of fellowship and fun in honor of his special day. The girls always LOVE when one of us has a birthday so they of course enjoyed making a big sign for him and decorating with balloons and cards. We also surprised him with an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen...one of our favorite things right now!
• We also celebrated shortly after Daddy's birthday our 15 year wedding anniversary!!!! Jason asked his parents (Nana and Papa) to come up and stay overnight with the girls at our house while he and I were able to go stay in Indy at a nice hotel for a getaway.....YEAH!!! We ended up doing one of my favorite things to celebrate....EATING OUT!! We had lunch at PF Changs (love it!), dinner at Bynum's Steakhouse (oh yeah!) and brunch the next day at La Peep's! Does it get any better than that? We laughed that we must be getting old....we most enjoyed going back to the hotel after our nice quiet dinner out to watch the NCAA tournament games (uninterrupted!) and made fresh-brewed coffee in our hotel room! HA!!! : )
• We also celebrated in another way this month.....both of our older girls brought home awesome report cards! In fact, Allison made the A/B honor roll for the first time!!! Woohoo! Honestly, we've never made a huge deal out of grades...not that we don't put a strong emphasis on education in our home but we've always taught our kiddos that school isn't the most important thing in their lives and that we care more about their hearts (and knowing God lives in them and they show others His love) than their brains...but given the struggles that we've been thru with Allie having a learning disability and the hardwork that she and I have put in since her early years.....we just had to make sure and celebrate a bit for this wonderful achievement! We are very proud of our girls and their accomplishments, most of all, because of the wonderful kiddos that they are, inside and out!

We are excited to kick-off Spring Break this weekend....no alarm clocks for a whole week...YES!!!! We aren't going anywhere warm and sunny this year but do get to get away to Ohio for a few days of hotel/restaurant life as Daddy has a trade show to attend in Columbus, OH so it works out great for us to tag along....looking forward to the break! Hard to believe that it's almost April.....soooo ready for warm weather to arrive soon! : )

Our oldest turns 11! Holy moly......

Wow, hard to believe but our first-born turns 11 today.....where has the time gone?! And you only turn 11 once, right??!! So, we celebrated in the same Massey "crazy and fun" style as always and had a weekend of parties! : ) I hosted 7 girlies at our home on Friday night....Jason was gone for 10 days on a church basketball team missions trip to Brazil so he was not able to help out so I went at it alone and all in all, we did great! : ) I took the girls to the bowling alley (while my sister kept our younger two overnight...thank you Aunt Amy, HUGE help!) then out for pizza and then we headed back home as Allie had set up a 'spa' in our basement for them to have fun with....they got their fingernails done, their toenails painted, feet soaked and massaged, necks massaged, hair done...whew! They had a ball! : ) I think I finally turned the lights out on them at 1:3o AM! She wanted just a cake with a peace sign on it....in her words..."Nothin' fancy Mom, you know I don't really like that princess stuff anymore!" Aww man, she is growing up! : ) I think the girls really had a good time together and hopefully they will spend today resting up since they all had the day off of school!

Then Sunday, we picked up Daddy at the airport (yeah!) and then headed back home to celebrate her bday with our family! Aunt Amy wanted to make her cake for this party and since I had already made her one, I was more than happy for her to volunteer! What an awesome cake she ended up making, Allie LOVED it!

Again, another wonderful time of good food, lots of fellowship, and great memories made....I love our family!

Valentine's Day Parties! : )

I was one very busy but very blessed mama this year as I was able to take Katelyn to her "parents-day-out" at school on Valentine's Day so she could take part in her party as well as that meant that I was able to help at Lauren's kindergarten party in the morning, then in Allie's 5th grade class in the afternoon. Definitely made for a crazy day but totally worth it! Both of the older girls love when I come in and help out and Katie had a great time at her school too....and Jason even had roses and chocolates sent to me even though he was away in Brazil for a church missions trip....how sweet! Ended our busy day with dinner out at the girls' favorite restaurant....the Mooresville Ponderosa and then took Lauren to ballet class. By the time we were home and all tucked in our beds, we were one very happy but very tired family! : )