Camp Friendship 2011!

Hard to believe that another year at church camp has come and gone but it has! Last week, I left on Monday to head down with the rest of the counselors and jr. counselors (high school / college kids) to camp (Versailles State Park) and then all of the camp kids (including Allie!) came down on Tuesday. This year's theme was Basic Training: Spiritual Warfare and it was great. It's a camp for those kiddos that have completed 3rd, 4th or 5th grades, both boys and girls. This is my third year to go as a counselor and Allie's last year to go as a camper...sniff, sniff! Kinda sad that she's done with it but I'll still get to go year after year! : ) I had 8 girlies and 1 awesome jr. counselor in my cabin, which we named "Magnificent Majors!" We have tons of activities, like crafts, swimming, hiking, games, water gun fights, etc.....never a dull moment and always busy. But the most awesome times are spent at night in chapel, learning from an amazing teacher we all call Mr. Dave....he is so great with the kiddos. By the end of the week, we had several kiddos take the commitment to follow Jesus and one girl was baptized there too.....wow, awesome week, full of God's work and tons of fun at the same time! Can't wait 'til next year!

Lauren's debut as a flower girl! : )

My cousin's daughter, Brooke, got married this past weekend and both Lauren and Allison were in the wedding. Lauren got the chance to be a flower girl (which she has been looking forward to doing since Brooke & Andy asked her to be in the wedding, probably over a year ago!) and Allie helped w/ the greeting of the guests and the guestbook area. All three of our girls (along with Jason and I!) have really been looking forward to this wedding. Brooke & Andy are such a great couple who love each other and God with all of their hearts and seeing them share that love with others is just really special. So we knew it would be a wonderful event to be a part of! And surprisingly, although having their wedding day jammed pack with things to do on our list (Lauren had a bday party of a close friend's to go to in the morning, we had a grad open house to get to of a niece and had to get to the wedding early for photos) we all got there on time, with everyone smiling and ready to go.....holy cow, for our family, that is AMAZING! : ) What a wonderful evening we had....here a few pics of the fun.....I absolutely love weddings, brings back wonderful memories of the day Jason and I said "I do".....love him even more now than that special day! : )

Last day of school, awards day and summer has arrived! : )

Gonna fit a few things into this entry as we have survived awards day at school, the last day of school, field day and now summer has finally arrived at the Massey house! WOOOOHOO! : ) Lauren was a bit sad when she realized that school for her would be coming to an end for awhile....she is not a morning person (takes after her mama!) but once she's awake, she loves heading to school and adores the friends she has made this year in her class so when she finally got that it would be over for awhile, she was not too happy about it! But having a big and very fun party on her last day, along with getting her kindergarten diploma made for an awesome way to end out her year of fun! : ) Allie, on the other hand, while she misses seeing her friends every day, she is pretty glad to be able to sleep in and have the summer to hang out, listen to her music, draw, ride bikes, and play in the neighborhood with her friends! : ) She is done with 5th grade (yeah!!) and is excited to be in the 6th grade, which is still in our elementary school, so she and her friends will be the "top dogs" next year at school! Katelyn finished her "parents day out" program at her school too so all three of our girlies have officially "survived" another year and we are ready for NO schedules and some time to relax! : ) Bring it on!

Derby Fun.....oh and Happy Mother's Day! : )

We celebrated our annual Derby fun down at the Ramsey's house (family friends!) in Louisville this weekend. Given that my hubby is a true born Kentuckian, we have to celebrate this event....and the Ramsey's do a wonderful job of hosting such a fun day. They share an awesome spread of food, while everyone brings a dish or two as well....then we all have a good time of watching the various horse races all day long (if you are not familiar with the Derby, there are actually many races that lead up to the big one that early evening, I've learned alot since marrying my Kentucky man!), eating, laughing and having a great time as always. This year, we headed back home that night since the day after was Mother's Day. We hosted a little get-together at our house on Mama's Day, with my mom and dad, my sister, brother-in-law and their kiddos.....very laidback, with a bucket of chicken, some yummy sides and my favorite and one requested mommy's day gift....chips, salsa and cheese! :) Great weekend and very thankful to be a very blessed mama.....

Happy Easter!

Easter has arrived....rainy and a bit chilly but it's still springtime in Indiana and a very happy Easter! We started our Saturday with Katie's 2nd soccer game and this time, the rain held out until afterwards and the weather was warmer (almost 60!) so she LOVED it! She was a mess of mud when the game was over but she played the whole game and "Coach Daddy" was very proud of her! After the game, we headed to Mt. Auburn Church, where Allie attended preschool years ago, to go to their annual Easter Egg Hunt and Carnival. They always do a great job for this event and the girls love it. I spent the rest of Saturday running errands while the kiddos and Daddy enjoyed some time hanging out at home. Sunday, we started our day with Easter baskets for the girlies (they each asked for a book this year, LOVE THAT!) and then had our Easter pancakes, eggs and bacon breakfast before heading off to church for the mornin! We helped with the greeting this morning at church so we had to get there a bit early and for the Massey family to not be late, let alone early....that is an Easter miracle in and of itself! : ) But we did it and had a wonderful morning. Church service was amazing.....awesome music and a great message. Reminded me again how blessed we are to be a part of such a wonderful church family. After service, it was off to Grandma and Papa's house to have Easter lunch with the family. We enjoyed Grandma's wonderful food (ham, potatoes, beans, rolls, corn, coleslaw, cake, etc...YUMMY!) and then improvised due to the wet weather and had the annual egg hunt inside. Papa always gets a TON of candy for the eggs and this year, there were 101 eggs hidden all together....holy moly! The kids always have such a good time with their cousins on Easter. Then we stayed the day there to hang out and enjoy some family time before heading home. We are all a bit tired tonight but what a wonderful weekend we had celebrating Jesus' resurrection......Katie (who just turned 3) seemed to get it a bit more this year when she came running out of her Sunday School class this morning, smiling from ear to ear and yelling at the top of her lungs..."Mommy, Jesus is ALIVE!".....yep, that is good news sweetie! : )