So, it has been a while since our last post (5 years)!  Not much has happened.  We added another daughter to our family in 2018 (yay Isabel!), said goodbye for now to Poppop and GiGi (2018), LifeWay closed all their brick and mortar stores, so Brantley lost his job and we moved back to Florida (2019), and Becki started working with Beth at nScript.

For the next few weeks...months, we will be attempting to play catch up.  We have tasked the three older girls to post to the blog once a week in 2021 to try and capture the past 5 years and current events.  In addition, the parentals will be adding random pictures and stories to document our craziness.  Welcome back!

To start us off, here are three quick stories of our two year old 

1. Since Isabel could start walking, we made her hold our hand when crossing the street to start (hopefully) a good habit.  Now into her 2's, known as her independent period, when told she needs to hold our hand, she says "I hold Isabel's hand" and proceeds to hold her own hand while crossing the street.

2. Last night she went to the bedroom where mommy was resting and said "knock knock," and proceeded into the room.  Carrying a box with random toys, she announced "Special Delivery!"  She dropped off the package on the bed and left

3. Pretending to read a small bible, she ran her fingers over the page (the bible was upside down), then excitedly exclaimed "Jesus love me!"

Dairy Farm visit

Our first field trip of the year was to a dairy farm that was about an hour away in Mississippi.  It was a lot of fun - we got to help wax the cheese (& take some home to age it in our refrigerator), see the cows get milked, feed the baby cows a bottle and take a tractor ride to see the whole farm. 

Daddy's first day!

Brantley started back to school this fall, this time as a PhD student!  Here is a pic of our favorite guy on his first day : )

Smiles

Glasses

Ava got glasses this year so she could see better and Emma got a new pair.  They determined Sophie's eyes were all better on their own, so no glasses for her!

First days!

Ava started first grade in August and we also all started back to Classical Conversations, this year with Emma & Sophie joining us. Here is a pic of Ava's first day as a first grader and a pic of all the girls on their first day of CC...

Swimming

We are blessed to live across from a pool and this summer Emma & Sophie were finally old enough to take lessons.  So, we spent a lot of mornings at lessons this summer and quite a few afternoons practicing!

Isn't it beautiful?

When Brantley was gone for work, the girls and I went to early church one Sunday and they sat with me.  Sophie drew quite a few pictures while listening and one of them she handed to me and said, "Mommy, this is the cross Jesus died on, isn't it beautiful?"

BooKoo Bounce

Our church's annual visit to BooKoo Bounce with preschool families:

First Dance Recital

Some pictures from Ava's first dance recital in June.

And she is 6!

Ava turned 6 in June.  How that is possible I am not entirely sure.  She is a very thoughtful, very kind, very smart, very fun little girl and we love her very much! Here are some pics of her last night as a 5 year old and also of her actual birthday.

6th Birthday Party

Ava had a birthday party this year.  A few of her friends and her cousins came to a pool party.  They swam and dived and had lots of fun! The only pics I got were of her cake so here those are : )

Field Day

Just a few pics of our field day from May.  It had rained, so it was held in the gym, but lots of fun was still had by all.

Classical Conversations

We participate in a program called Classical Conversations last year for Ava's kindegarten school year.  She enjoyed going every week and learning new memory work, doing science experiments, learning about music & art, and making some new friends. Here is a pic from the last day.

Big Pancake

We have been told for a while now about a little place near us called City Diner. They make great pancakes and they are HUGE.  So, when our Aunt Aimee was visiting in the early Spring, Ava & I took her, Morgan & Jack to visit.  It turns out the pancakes really are as big as a pizza!

Sophie-ism

So, I am writing this Sophie-ism so we don't forget.  A while back, Sophie was upstairs for "nap" time for about an hour.  Brantley went upstairs to get her, and she told him, "Daddy, I read seven books and had to go potty so I ran out of time to take a nap, sorry!"

Easter 2015

We had a lot of fun hunting Easter eggs at the City Park Egg Hunt and at First Baptist New Orleans' Egg Hunt (we also went to an Egg Hunt in Oviedo with our cousins but didn't get pics of that one)

.  We got to be in Florida for the actual holiday and attend church and celebrate with family.

Bunny Bread

Back in the spring (so Ava's kindegarten year) we took a field trip to Bunny Bread factory with our homeschool group.  We got to see how the bread was made and packaged and everyone got a yummy loaf to take home, which Ava thought was wonderful!!