Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny visited us and left us all kinds of goodies! Swimsuits, candy, shoes, doodle books, a praying mantis kit and a police motorcycle!

We are so blessed and have so many things to be thankful for this Easter season! God is good!

6th Annual Easter Egg Hunt

We hosted the Easter Egg Hunt this year and had such a great time. The weather was beautiful, the turnout was great and all the kids had such a fun time!

 Quinn and Sara Rodgers covering their ears for the airhorn. We hid over 2,000 eggs!

 Tyndale was not really in a hurry to collect them. He was more interested in opening each one to see what was inside. He especially loved the ones with quarters in them...he put the quarters right into his pockets.

 The Easter bunny visited and Tyndale LOVED him! He immediately brought him an egg out of his basket as a gift. We were joking with the Belks that not a single picture was taken of the Easter bunny without James and/or Tyndale in it. They just couldn't keep away!

Here are the boys with their fave bunny!

Mississippi Children's Museum

Quinn and Melanie and I visited the MS Children's Museum and met the Simms family there. We just love all the fun things they have to do there. Last time we visited Tyndale was with us, so we didn't have the opportunity to spend a lot of time in the art areas. This time we did ALL the art stuff...spin art, gun blast painting, tissue creations...such fun! Here is Melanie in the bubble.

 Melanie and Quinn gun blast painting.

We enjoyed the museum and then ate a yummy lunch at Newks. Fun Saturday!

Easter Eggs

Here are some pictures of dyeing Easter eggs. So fun! Quinn had a puppies and kittens set, and Tyndale had Star Wars. I don't have a pic of the finished product, but they were beautiful! and tasty!

Quinn's 6th birthday party

We had such fun at Quinn's 6th bday party. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the kids played at Bicentennial Park. She wanted to donate her party presents to BARL so all of her friends brought dog and cat food. The volunteers from BARL brought by three precious puppies for them to play with, and they were a BIG hit!

 Aunt Bobbie even stopped by to bring some dog food and give her girl a birthday hug!

This is Abby, Tyndale's friend from church...she was posing so perfectly while I tried (in vain) to get Tyndale to look up and smile for me. She is too sweet! They will be in a class together next year.

When I asked Quinn what she wanted to give out as favors, she said "HUGE lollipops!" So that is what we did and the kids were so excited about them!

Spring Break 2011 - New York City!!

We had such a wonderful week in New York. Get ready for some major pictures because we did soooo much! Here we are on the flight to NYC. So excited about our trip and about seeing Meme and Gee! We got bumped to another flight so they put us in first class...Quinn especially loved all the special treats she got on the plane.

...and off the plane into her first taxi!

We ate lunch at a deli right when we got there...they had so many choices! We had soup and Q had pancakes and bacon.

Times Square!

There were a few firsts for me too...this was my first corned beef on rye...it was delicious!

The Petrossian...the building is stunning...just look at the details! And they serve caviar with everything! On our way to see Eloise at the Plaza! But first a quick trip over to....

Dylan's Candy Bar! It is a super cool candy shop that Quinn has been DYING to see...a very special treat for the birthday girl...today is the day! Dylan's had all their Easter stuff out.

Now to the Plaza...

...and here is FAO Schwarz...amazingly big toy store. A NYC institution.

These FAO toy soldiers are made of jelly beans!

Then back to Times Square/Theater District to see The Lion King. It was a birthday present for Quinn, but all of the adults enjoyed it immensely as well! The costuming, choreography, voices, etc...wonderful!

Quinn at the Top of the Rock.

At Rockefeller Center, statue of Prometheus, Ice Skating Rink.

Then we went over to the Museum of Modern Art. Quinn really loved Jackson Pollack. The flag below is Jasper Johns.

We went to Grand Central Station. The constellations on the ceiling were amazing!

Look how beautiful this ticket station is! The whole place is made of marble.

And we had to stop by the New York Public Library. Here we are with one of the lions out front.

The Statue of Liberty!

Quinn and the view of NYC from the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

Quinn filled out an activity book about the Statue of Liberty and she got a badge that says she is a Junior Ranger for the Statue and Ellis Island. The picture below is the grand hall of Ellis Island. Visiting this area is was so moving to me. Just to put yourself in the place of these people who immigrated here and what they must have been thinking while going through all that was required of them.

We went to the Museum of Natural History and it was really HUGE and very interesting!

Quinn loved seeing this, especially since one of her fave movies is Ice Age.

After such a busy day filled with walking, we treated Quinn to a ferris wheel ride at Toys R Us for being such a trouper! This ferris wheel is 3 stories high, as is the toy store. We got the Little Tykes bus.

Before we left Times Square I took a picture of the New Years' Ball. It says 2012 because they are filming a movie right now...New Years Eve I believe it is called. A follow up to Valentine's Day.

Afterwards we picked up soup from the Seinfeld Soup Man. It was delicious! I got lobster bisque and quinn got chicken gumbo. We all enjoyed it so much!

St. Patrick's Day, we took the subway (had to have this experience in NYC!) up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art...we took the 6! Quinn had just bought her 6 shirt the day before so it was perfect timing.

Here we are with Rembrandt's Self Portrait. And below is Van Gogh's Cypresses.

Then we enjoyed the St. Patrick's day parade. We saw lots of bagpipes and drums and dancers.

Afterwards we walked through Central Park and enjoyed the ducks, ice skaters and beautiful weather.

This was our last day in NYC and Quinn thought that Bun Bun should see some of the sights. So here he is at Starbucks, where we started our mornings.

This is the view from Columbus Circle. This is the floor where Masa is located.

Bun Bun taking in the sights of Times Square. Below, Quinn is at the top of the Empire State Building. We laughed forever because it was really windy on one side and everyone's hair and scarves and dresses were blowing everywhere. So funny to watch!

We spent some time on Madison Avenue. This was my favorite stretch though! 57th St...between Madison and 5th Ave. Dior, Chanel, Burberry, Miu Miu, Yves St. Laurent, Vuitton...and the list goes on.

Quinn especially loved the windows at Louis Vuitton...so imaginative!

We went to the Central Park Zoo and saw a red panda, sea lions, polar bears, snow leopards and many more. We also fed a cow and some sheep at the little petting zoo. It was an absolutely beautiful day and people were out and about in the park enjoying the weather.

Dinner...with a Shirley Temple....and our last trip to a deli!

Quinn enjoying her Starbucks in the airport on the way home. (It's a milk peppermint steamer!) She is wearing 3d glasses below to read her puppies book on the flight home.

We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to do this. When I look back on all that we did, it seems mind-boggling that we could fit it all in! Quinn had so many life experiences and learned so much...it really broadened her horizons. It was such fun to spend time with Meme and Gee and they knew so much about the city it made it all so comfortable and fun. An unbelievably special week!