Good Times with Family and Friends

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fairy Tale Princess

I just had to add this picture. Evan is going to Princess Camp in a few weeks, so we got a princess costume for her today. She put it on as soon as we got it home from the store and didn't take it off until bedtime!

Vacation Bible School

Evan has had VBS this week with her friends Kassidy and Emma. She has had so much fun! They have a contest each day to see who brings the most pennies - girls or boys. This year they collected over $3000. Some of the money goes to Habitat for Humanity, and the rest will go to buy some animals from the Heifer Project for other countries. She's been excited about taking pennies and even wanted to empty out her own piggy bank. The first day she came home with a CD of the music they would be using. She's been singing and dancing ever since. I wake her up each morning with her two new favorite songs, and she'll first start moving her head to the music, then her hands, arms and then her legs. Her class sang an 'energized' version of Amazing Grace (it sure sounds different on the bagpipes). Her performance was pretty funny as you can see on the video. I don't think we'll ever have to worry about stage fright! In fact, she really wants to be seen. Watch carefully at the very beginning as she pushes her way in front of another little girl.

Catching Up

Mike thought that we needed to play a little catch up so you would know our lives don't completely revolve around Evan. So, here are a few pics from the last few months.

We spent a week in Hot Springs, AR during Thanksgiving and had a lot of fun. We decided it was time to see if Evan could ride a horse since she seems to love them. (OOPS! Did I just mention her name? Maybe our lives DO revolve around our China Doll) Anyway, we went on a trail ride on the side of a mountain, and I think I was the only one who had a hard time!

Mike has spent the last six or more years learning to play the bagpipes. He plays really well and has just started performing. On St. Patrick's Day he was in his first parade and took Evan who rode her bike. (There she is again.)

April 1st we went to an Irish Festival where daddy and daughter both got to wear their kilts. Mike says that a kilt is much more comfortable than he realized it would be. He is always searching for an event where he can wear it. If you hear of any, let us know! We took a break to listen to some groups play, and Evan decided to play with my hair. That turned into trying to bite my nose, which turned into a game to see who would get whose nose first. It wasn't until an hour later that I realized I lost my earring during our wild release of energy!

A few weeks ago Mike & I went to Jefferson (an old civil war town) with some friends. (This time we got a babysitter! No Evan?) Jefferson has such a rich history with many interesting stories that about 10 years ago, it started cashing in on it. There are several ghost tours and haunted hotels you can stay in. Although Mike and I have been on the ghost tours before, we still enjoy going and trying to get scared. On this tour nothing happened, so we decided to make our own haunting. Mike and Billy were exploring an old decrepit house when we just happened to take a picture to show the tour guide we found this newly haunted structure. Funny how the ghosts look a lot like Mike and Billy!

Check out my Slide Show!

Look At Me!

This clip is a little long but pretty cute (of course - but I'm not biased!).

Ready, Set, Go!

The day Evan's been waiting for finally came! We were at the pool at 9:30 this morning so she could jump off the diving board! She began having second thoughts when she first got on it. Sara Beth was able to coax her to the edge, but she was being VERY cautious! She kept her arms to her chest and finally JUMPED! By her second or third jump, she was very comfortable and began swinging her arms as if that would propel her further. She swam the length of the pool once or twice and the width quite a few times. She is also getting pretty good at retrieving dive sticks from the bottom. It is so amazing to see her confidence after just 4 lessons. She no longer hangs onto us. She did start something new today, though. By the end of her lesson, she was so tired, but Sara Beth made her keep at it. Evan would say 'HELP' (with a smile on her face) as she would come up for air. She achieved the desired result (refuge hanging onto Sara Beth) the first two times. After that Sara Beth just moved further away to make her keep swimming. They are a great team!

Our Little Swimmer

This spring Evan played soccer and had a lot of fun, but we think she is going to be a swimmer. She just finished her 4th lesson with Sara Beth and is doing so well. She takes breathes frequently, swims across the pool, dives for treasure and is learning to dive from the side of the pool. Saturday she gets to jump off the diving board!! She and Sara Beth have so much fun together that the 30 minute lesson just flies by.

Miracles Do Happen

That's right, if the McConnell's are blogging, that means there will soon be a new craze because everyone else is ready for something different! We thought this would be a great way to share our joys of parenthood and life together as a family. We hope you enjoy!