VACATION

So much has happened in this last month...where do I begin? VACATION!! The second week in May we took off with my parents to Williamsburg VA. We had a great week of being away. I think the kids highlights were the Condo and the small beach we went too:) Their American history....not so much:)

We did it all...went to colonial williamsburg, jamestown and yorktown:)



The kids loved spending time with mamaw and papaw....Matt and I enjoyed an evening out on a date. I think I'm realizing that with the kids at their ages the beach is a great place to vacation. They literally could play all day in the sand and the water which means I could lay all day sipping a nice drink and reading a great book:) Vacation next year - still to be determined - but I bet it will involve sand and water.

Easter

We headed over to Indiana for most of the Easter weekend. We had lots of fun with my family and with my mom's side of the family. There were lots of snuggles with Granny...

puppet shows galore put on by papa.....

and of course easter egg hunts... I'm so glad the rain held off for us to do it:)

We came back Saturday and I began to not feel so well. We did manage to go through the Resurrection Eggs with the kids (cute way to share the Easter story) and to make Easter Tomb Cookies. I woke up Easter morning with a horrible sore throat....ick! I was so bummed because of course this meant missing out on church but it also meant us missing out on lunch with our dear friends! I literally slept the whole day and gargled lots of salt water (my mom's trick for sore throats) and now am fine. So this year the Easter pics do not include mom.....but look how cute the rest of the gang is!!

You would never be able to tell from these pics that Cooper threw the biggest fit because of course he didn't want to do pictures....how does that always seems to happen?? We somehow squeeked a few out of him!

Fun with Friends!

Last weekend some of our sweet friends from Colorado came to visit! Joel was coming for his job and they decided to bring their whole family early to get some time to visit and catch up! We were thrilled! Joel and Mindi used to live here and go to our church. In fact, the first time we met them was our first time visiting our sunday school class. They introduced themselves and invited us out for lunch after church. Sadly to say that doesn't happen often on a first visit to a church. We felt so welcomed by them and had a great time over lunch. We have been so encouraged by their love for the Lord and for others!

The night they arrived we had several of their (and our) other friends in town over for pizza! That equals 11 adults and 12 kiddos!! So much fun! The kids had a blast!!


Joel and Mindi have a daughter, Lucy, who is about 2 months older than Ava and a son, Noah, who is about 1 week older than Cooper! The last time we saw them Lucy and Ava were just 1 and Mindi and I were pregnant with the boys! It was so fun to see them hit it off as if no time had passed since seeing each other years ago.

The girls had a blast playing with their babies and of course bossing their younger brothers around:) We went to the children's museum a couple of times which was a big hit for everyone!



After just a great time connecting with one another and seeing our kids play together I'm wondering when we can plan a trip to Colorado to visit them???? Hmmm...I'll work on that:)

Spring!!

Spring has sprung around here! Oh how we love it!! Especially on a day like today! We've taken advantage of the warmer weather around here! The kids helped pick some flowers from our backyard and put them in a vase for our kitchen window! Love it!

I've also found a great thing for the kids to do while I'm making dinner...watering the flowers or whatever they find to pour water on:) We bought these elephant watering cans awhile back and pulled them out this week. They LOVED it and didn't want to stop when dinner was ready! I LOVED making dinner without having to break up a fight or pulling someone out from under my feet:)

We've already eaten lunch and dinner out on out back porch! Oh how I wish it would stay like this....there we NO BUGS to contend with!! I've been thinking lots about Spring and as a result Easter and new life and how Jesus is alive on His throne. And with that I am thinking of my sweet friend Jasmine. As most of you know she was a student in the Bible study that I lead and she drowned a few weeks ago. I cling to the truth of this Easter season and take great hope in knowing because she knew Jesus she is now in His presence! Below is a picture of the track team of which she was a part of...they came over to watch the NCAA final game last week. I missed her alot that night. I'm so thankful that I will see her again one day!

Where has February Gone?

I haven't updated in a while so here are some pictures of some of what we've been doing around here.... Ava and Cooper are into PRETEND PLAY...that's alot of what they do all day long:) Here they are with their superhero capes on that they received from a friends birthday party back in the summer.

Can I just say I can't wait until spring!!! This is one reason why...look at that static in their hair:) So ready for no more static, no more hats, no more coats....

We started a new tradition here at our house...LOVEY BUNDLES for Valentines Day:) I'm not a crafty person really but let me say I may have found a new hobby.....anything to do with a glue gun! I made these cute little bags from felt and a glue gun. I found them online and they gave a tutorial on how to make them. So...the idea will be as the kids get older we can put little treats/notes, etc. in each others lovey bundle in the month of February. This year I just put some things in there that they opened on Valentines Day.

We also made a fun dessert in the shape of a heart one day...they love wearing their princess and thomas aprons they got for Christmas.

One of my Favorite Things

One of my favorite things is sitting around a table and hearing students talk about how they are doing and how God is meeting them! I loved hearing them talk about the realness of how difficult at times it is to walk with God and I loved hearing them talk about how they've decided to trust Him rather than themselves!

When we returned from our travels over the Christmas break we came home to this group of friends! They are students and some staff from this past summers X-Project. We had a blast catching up, remembering stories from the summer, laughing and just being together again. I love that God changes hearts and lives....mine included!!!

Christmas....

Just in case you were wondering, I do realize it's mid-January and most stores already have Valentine's candy and swimsuits on their shelves:) BUT, I had to post some pics from Christmas! I don't know about you but we here at the Hardy house aren't so sure about Santa as you can tell from this picture:) Coop sat for maybe 3 seconds and decided he really didn't want to be on this strange man's lap! Ava...well, no pics for her because she wasn't even going to be caught in the same room with this strange man!

We had a great time celebrating at our place as well as our families! Ava loves every single one of her babies she received! Here she is with her American Girl bitty baby whom she named Baby Ava. Her cousin Seth received her twin...wish they lived closer together to play together!

Here was one of Cooper's favorites....a box! After opening lots of fun toys this is what we found him doing...it's the simple things I guess:)

It kind of looks like Ava is pretending to be asleep here in my lap but she really is asleep. This NEVER happens....she laid down and was out in just a few minutes....I absolutely love how much fun she has when we are at our families! She wears herself out:)

I asked Ava what was her favorite gift from our family Christmas at home. Her answer, "My princess bucket!" Remind me next year of the pure delight in their eyes as they open their stocking stuffers which include things like $1 princess buckets:)