In the past few months, I have been traveling back and forth to Little Rock, Arkansas, Rockledge, Winter Haven and Bartow, Florida and Athens, Georgia...not to mention time at the beach with my bud, Vicki, and general busyness around Columbia. One of my favorite things to do when I have the grandchildren here is take them to the Main Library downtown for story time. Piperkins got me hooked on this after our first visit to storytime in Athens. Below is a picture of Piper with her little animal friends near the Where the Wild Things Grow mural in the children's area.
When Ben spent a few days with us recently I took him to story time as well...he really liked the new animals they had just added to their collection. He is a super hero fan now, and he was fascinated with the Star Wars Dictionary of Characters.
Here are some of my favorite pictures of the Maitland crew from a recent photo shoot done by a friend of Paige and Trevor's. Kinda captures their fun family life.
In February, I traveled to Florida to visit my Aunt Betty, while Garry attended an international builder's trade show. We met up in Orlando and then zipped over to Rockledge where we spent a few days with our dear friends Phil and Jamie. We spent some time boating on the intercoastal and just enjoying our time together.
The builder's trade show was huge...featuring a $5,000.00 Kohler toilet/bidet combination that plays music and is heated/cooled. The picture below is of an original Wells Fargo stage coach...guests could dress up in costume and have pictures taken aboard the coach.
After a few days with the Holtjes, we traveled to Winter Haven to visit with Garry's parents and had a great couple of days with them. After we got home, I promptly caught a plane to Little Rock to visit with Anne, Gene and fam to celebrate the boy's 4th birthday....as I said before, they re really into super heroes!
These are the capes I made the boys to go with their Captain America and Spider Man Masks
Their birthday party was held at Wonderplace in Little Rock. Anne, as usual, made beautiful decorations. The banner was especially creative!
First stop: The costume area where children can dress up in their favorite costume.
Then to the water table..one of McLean's favorites!
I laugh every time I look at this picture...Ben has this strange look on his face because he had no idea who this little boy was standing next to him! It seems a boy not in the birthday party group jumped right into the group as if he were one of them....the grown ups didn't know the difference, but Ben kinda wondered what was going on!
Dr. Ben, veterinary medicine!
Let's look at these x-rays and see if we can't find the problem!
Ben and McLean having some fun time together at the sand table....it used to be blue sand!
Not to be out done by her brothers in the cuteness department, Mary Elizabeth kept up the pace.
Yeah, I know I'm adorable!
All their friends had a great time at the party!
We returned to Little Rock in March and were blessed to be there for McLean's first day of school!
Easter Sunday at our house -
The earth shook with the news. He is not here; He is risen! And in that moment, joy replaced despair, hope pushed past fear, and life conquered death, not just that day, but for eternity. We celebrate the resurrection of Christ for what it meant then and what it means for us every day- a sacrifice that brings forgiveness, renewal, and peace to any of us who put our faith in Jesus.
Poor little Piper was sick with an ear infection and upper respiratory congestion, so she and Larken and I stayed home while Paige, Trevor and Garry attended Easter service. We were able to enjoy our special meal together, not forgetting what we were celebrating!!
Easter Egg Hunt goodies in Little Rock:
The Maitland Girls:
