Introducing......

Emma Joyce Reed

My brother and his wife just welcomed their first baby today! A healthy little girl and, I must say, she is oh so cute!!! It was sheer torture having to look at her thru the plexiglass of the nursery! I simply couldn't wait to get my hands on her. And I finally did. I see lots of snuggling and canoodling with this little angel.

A marshmallow thief

My girls LOVE sugar and apparently I am not supplying enough to suffice their needs. Case in point; I was vacuuming in Hanna's room today and found a half eaten bag of mini marshmallows wedged between her

clothes hamper and the wall.

This sheds some light on why she hasn't been hungry at breakfast.

Some light summer reading

We went to the library to beat the heat and left with WAY too many books. Hanna & Haley couldn't wait to get home to read them. Haley is actually "reading" books from home and Hanna is the one that loves to look thru all the library books. We've been checking out books related to the season so we could understand all these mosquitos & cicada's that have blessed us with their presence!

Hanna's pre-school graduation

On Wednesday we went to First Presbyterian preschool for Hanna's "cap & gown" ceremony. Mrs. Lynne shared something about each child before handing them their diploma......."Hanna is my most loving and affectionate child. I often have to ask her to stop kissing the boys." Ha! What will kindergarten bring! Hopefully she's gotten all of that out of her system! Look out kindergarten boys!

On Friday was the school program of her class and the rest of the classes. They were all so adorable. I have to remember back when Hanna first started preschool and it seems forever ago!!! She is definitely ready for kindergarten and reminds me every time we pull into our subdivision as the new elementary school is being built right across from our neighborhood entrance! She is so excited at the thought of riding her scooter to school.

She has grown up so much in the last year! Physically and emotionally. She is trying to be a better big sister and is a great teacher and role model to Haley. Her patience only goes so far you know. I wonder how they will be next fall when Hanna is gone everyday! A much longer day than she has been accustomed. She is so worried that she will miss me (doubtful). I will definitely miss her more than she does me! I think the girls will miss each other the most.

We will miss Mrs. Lynne and our awesome group of friends. So sad that they all can't go to the same kindergarten! We are going to keep in touch this summer as much as possible. We've got summer camps scheduled, VBS, swimming, gymnastics, play dates, and whatever else we can fill up the summer with. Either way it is going to fly by and my little Hanna-banana will be starting KINDERGARTEN!!!!! I'm so excited for her!!!

Easter weekend 2011

Blake and Alex both had baseball games. We got to see Blake pitch!

Alex hit his first ball. So exciting to be able to see it!

Blake had an awesome hit!

Sweet brothers after their games.

We colored Easter eggs. Aunt Cathy had a suitcase full of dress-up stuff......didn't take Haley long to ask for it!

Easter morning before church.

Sweet Haley.....Aunt Cathy let her pick a flower.

Blake, Alex, Hanna and Haley with Nunu.

Hunting Easter eggs......

and more eggs!

We had a FAB Easter weekend in Knoxville with Jason's family. We arrived Friday evening and grilled steaks and played until way too late! Saturday we went to Blake and Alex's baseball games. They were so much fun to watch! We came back and had lunch and got to swim the rest of the day!!! The weather so nice! We went to dinner by boat and came back and colored eggs and got baskets ready for the Easter bunny.

We went to church Sunday morning and came back for brunch with friends and hunted Easter eggs. The girls had such a great time that they cried and didn't want to leave! I usually do too!

Haley has something to say......

and it's her very own fashion statement.

Nothing says spring like a bathing suit, cover-up, tights and rain boots.

Chardonnay Easter egg hunt

Waiting with great anticipation for the neighborhood Easter egg hunt!

Listening to the rules and getting ready......

Haley was on a mission to find a golden egg.

We found lots of colorful eggs......

and picked a pretty pink flower but found no golden egg. Neither Jason nor myself put much (if any) emphasis on finding a golden egg but when both were captured she was profoundly upset that she didn't have one. I do remember as a child being quite stressed about hunting the "prize" egg, whatever it was. I never did find it.

Beauty and the Beast

Belle stopped by..........I had to play the Beast.

Fancy Nancy & making pizzas

We went to one of our favorite local toy stores this afternoon for a Fancy Nancy pajama party!

H & H couldn't wait to meet her. She was fancy alright, from her sunglasses all the way down to her shimmery shoes. She went around and met all the girls.....Hanna introduced herself; Haley introduced herself........as Kenny. Hanna piped up and said, "That's NOT her name. Her name is Haley." So Haley said, "I know! I am preTENding that my name is Kenny but my name is Haley."

They were mesmerized by her beauty and her fancy sunglasses.

Once she could break away from the hugs and lavish kisses being bestowed she was able to read a Fancy Nancy book. My girls sat intent and listened to every word. They love to be read to.

A very Fancy Nancy!

While the girls waited to get their fingernails polished they got a bag of popcorn. That will distract my kids any day!

Finally getting to test out some polish and answer some test questions on the products.

Hanna looks so sweet here. She was actually a bit of a toot that day.

Time for Haley's nails! She didn't care what color they painted.

What a fun time! If you are ages 6 and under I mean.

We came home and made pizzas! The girls love to paint marinara sauce on their pizzas and apparently on their nightgowns as well.

Sweet little hands at work.

Last toppings of ham, peppers, and cheese!

We ate our pizzas watching KungFu Panda and finished it up with a big bubble bath!

What a fun day!

Spring Break!

This is an oak wine barrel appetizer platter that Christy brought me. It is so unique.....I plan on using it for piles of grapes and cheeses, crusty breads, sushi would look great.....the possibilities are endless. I love it!

The Rosen's drove in Saturday evening early enough to hang out and visit and leave the kids along with a couple more neighbor kids while we went to JJ's Wine Bar.

LOVE this place. You get a wine card and the only thing you have to do is chose which wine and if you want a Taste, 1/2 Glass, or Full Glass........dip your wine glass under the spout and voila! We decided that 2 tastes was better than a full.

On Sunday we got up and packed up a yummy picnic of sliced ham, sliced rotisserie chicken, crusty french bread w/oil & vinegar, tomatoes, grapes, strawberries, brie, kalamata olives and went to the Arrington Vineyards for a lovely picnic.

Weather was gorgeous! The wine was amazing! We had so much fun relaxing on the hillside for several hours.

Zach introduced the girls to sunflowers seeds......the kind that's still in the shell. It kept them entertained for some time.

We brought along a frisbee and a football which everyone seemed to enjoy.....excluding myself. I sat and watched and sipped on my wine with Mrs. Christy!

We didn't want to leave!

On Monday we went to the famous Loveless Cafe for lunch. I've seen them on FoodNetwork bragging about their famous biscuits and such. Mmmmmmm, everything was so yummy!

We drove on into Nashville and did a backstage tour of the Ryman, where the used to film the Grand Ole Opry. They still perform shows here from Adam Lambert to Taylor Swift to Smashing Pumpkins. I hadn't been here since I was probably a teenager.

We had a great tour guide that was very knowledgable on everything Ryman. We went into Minnie Pearl's dressing room and the guide asked the question, "I guess all of you know who Minnie Pearl is?" Haley looked up from her iTouch for a second and said, "Ummmmmm, no."

On Tuesday we took them to The Factory in downtown Franklin and had lunch at Saffire and browsed around for awhile. The guys had tickets to a Nashville Predators game so the girls stayed home and snacked and watched movies.

We had such a wonderful time!!!! The weather was perfect the whole time and we loved getting to spend time with the Rosen's! Thank you for coming to see us! We miss you all!