Abigail just walked in the bedroom and asked if she could hibernate….I feel like I’m coming out of blogging hibernation !

I can’t believe how long I’ve been away from this blog.  It makes me sad, in a way.  This blog is a special part of me, a place I enjoy coming and writing and sharing my pictures.  But, the reasons I have been away are all good!  The girls have been wonderfully busy with school and pre-school, church, play dates, and after-school activities.  I’ve been super busy with my work and doing things with the girls and around the house.  We’re redoing the girls’ bedroom in pinks and purples and doll houses….it’s turning out really cute and I just love spending time in there with them, reading with Gracie or watching them play while I work on writing a little code on my laptop.  Steve is ridiculously busy with work.  Life is, overall, very busy but mostly very good right now. 

The glaring exception to that is, of course, the BP oil spill in the Gulf Of Mexico.  For the last six weeks, it has been a huge and menacing concern for our community.  We’re less than two miles from the Gulf, so it only makes sense.  The only thing I can compare it to is that it’s been like waiting two months for a monster hurricane to hit.  Except with a hurricane, there are things to do, preparations to make, and everyone tends to be in such a frenzy before a storm comes that there’s not really a lot of time to just sit and worry.  In this case, there’s less of a frenzy and more of a sense of dread.  Not a good situation…not at all. 

I’m hopeful that we’ll all have a little time to slow down and unwind a bit here in the next few weeks.  And, I hope that means I’ll have more time to spend with my poor, neglected blog.  At least I know when I do have time to write, I’ll have lots of fodder!    (I love that word)

Here’s a little snapshot of a few of the things we’ve been up to the last couple of months (I’m listing these out, so I’ll know what I need to go back and journal…it’s hard to keep it all straight if it’s not written down)

1. Gracie sang in the Easter Musical at church
2. Abigail sang at church (loudly, very loudly)
3. Gracie performed in her school play, Animal Action
4. Gracie started Girl Scouts
5. Abigail sang with the Cherubs' Choir at church
6. I turned 41! I got an iPhone for my birthday.  Normally, I don’t think getting a cell phone would be a blog-worthy occasion, but oh my gosh!  this phone?  LOVE IT!  It’s really helping me with my organizational skills, believe it or not…and I think this one purchase, more than just about any other, is making juggling my working mom/stay at home mom/keep up with international conference calls and round-the-corner birthday parties life a whole lot less stressful.  And, it’s cool….so cool….to be able to take video of the girls.
7. Both girls had Leprechauns visit them at school...Abigail insisted on calling the Leprechaun "Pot Of Gold"...she kept saying, "The pot of gold came to see me.  The pot of gold messed up my classroom.  The pot of gold is so naughty!"
8. We celebrated spring break with crafts, science projects, a trip to Krispy Kreme and multiple egg-dyeing sessions
9. I've cooked a slew of really good new recipes that I can't wait to share with you
10. We visited Stennis Space center in Mississippi
11. The Easter bunny brought the girls bikes for Easter...they are a hit.
12. Steve's family visited on Easter Sunday...we attended the sunrise service...it was awesome!
13. We redid the girls' bedroom
14. We had an after-school tea party...it was such a hit, we decided to host a formal one for my mother and grandmother for Mother's Day
15. Abigail had International Day at school...her class was Kenya
16. Gracie had May Day at school...her class sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider
17. We participated in the Beach Clean Up day ahead of the oil spill
18. Gracie sang with the church kids' choir
19. We went swimming multiple times at the lagoon at the beach...Newsflash...Abigail's swimming skills didn't diminish at all since last summer...big shock there!
20. Gracie had Art Gallery night at school
21. Abigail's preschool hosted their second annual Alex's Lemonade Stand to raise money for pediatric cancer
22. Gracie had her very first violin recital
23. Our backyard pool is open for the summer!
24. The grass in our backyard looks amazing...Steve is the man!
25. The girls have had playdates, playdates, and more playdates.
26. Abigail had her end-of-the-year program at school...she was a ladybug.
27. Abigail had her last day of school...I think she was very sad.
28. Gracie had her kindergarten graduation
29. My sister and her family came to visit for Memorial Day...we spent the majority of the time in the water
30. We went to have lunch at Lulu's....Abigail got a hair braid wrap...Gracie got a glitter tatoo
31. Gracie had her last day of kindergarten...she is officially a first grader.
    We've attended birthday parties at the beach, a jumping place, a water park, an amusement park, and a farm.
32. We signed up for the libraray summer reading program.  Gracie’s read five books in five days.
33. We went to story hour at the state park.
34. We saw a Chinese acrobat perform.
35. Steve started with a new company at work...so far, so good.
36. I took graduation pictures and class pictures for Abigail's preschool.
37. Our air conditioner went out...we're making do with a window unit for now.

I have so many pictures to share (I looked back and I’ve taken more than 2,000 since March 1st…yes, you read that right…I have issues, what can I say?), but I’ll just leave you with a couple for now:

My beautiful beach….Emmie – with Abigail and Ruby in the background, building a sand castle.  This was last Monday.

And the girls on their last days of school:

Abigail:

and Gracie with her amazing kindergarten teacher:

And just for fun, here’s a few scrapbook pages I’ve done over the last couple of months.  I go in cycles of scrapping a good bit and then not scrapping anything…I guess right now I’m in an upswing