The Masters 2012

Will got a chance to go to the Masters again this year.  His good (long-time) friend Courtney called him up a week before with a last minute invite.  Will instantly said "yes!" 

This was Courtney's first trip to the hallowed grounds of golf's finest.  For the most part, I'll leave off any commentary on the photos because I don't know who everybody is!  They went on a Wednesday, which is the same day we went last year, so they got to see a practice round in the morning and watch the Par 3 tournament in the afternoon.

Rickie Fowler.

Future champion ... Bubba Watson (in white).

Tiger in green.

Will and Courtney in front of Amen Corner.

Ben Crenshaw.

Cool golf photo.

Phil Mickelson (in the navy shirt).

Bubba Watson and Aaron Baddeley.

Freddie Couples.

Mark O'Meara.

Celebrating Birthdays

Claire and David both had birthdays in April.  4 days apart.

So instead of having two parties, we took them to Atlanta for the weekend.  But, we still had to have cake and a few friends over to celebrate.

Claire picked this ginormous Hello Kitty cookie cake.  It was really good and I'll admit to eating more than my fair share of it!

Claire had her two special friends from church over on a Wednesday afternoon for a little birthday playdate.  We played, ate cake and pizza (in that order) and then loaded everyone up and took them to church to meet their mommies. 

Claire has been friends with Avery and Kathryn since they were 2 years old!  And now they are all 6.  Sniff, sniff ...

Don't you love how David is supervising the gift opening?

The weather was perfect for playing in the backyard.  I think these girls are getting a little too big for this bounce house.  It deflated several times while they were playing on it because it kept coming unhooked from the air supply because they were bouncing so big and so much!

Then we played with the birthday gifts.  I highly recommend the Melissa & Doug fashion design and activity kit for 6-year-old girls.

A pizza picnic on my coffee table.

Here is Claire on her actual birthday.  (She picked out her own outfit.)

Chocolate chip pancakes for the birthday girl's breakfast and birthday pizza for lunch.  (She really likes the candles and "happy birthday" singing so we did it at every meal it seems like.)

Our next door neighbor, Kate, came over for some birthday celebrating too.  She brought gifts for both Claire and David.

We also got to meet up with RiRi and DiDi for dinner that night.  (We were really meeting to drop Luke off with them while we went to Atlanta.)

On David's birthday, he requested biscuits and chocolate gravy for his special breakfast.

David's cake of choice ... Cars cupcakes!

Time to blow out the candles.

Me and my boy!

The rest of the family.

Daddy & David.

Love these sweet kiddos and cannot believe another year has come and gone.

FOUR

This silly little boy just turned 4.  Sometimes David is timid and shy.  Sometimes he is goofy and crazy.  Sometimes he will talk your head off!  He is definitely my quirkiest child ... from throwing an instant fit to the repeated trips to the bathroom (anxiety much?), but I do believe he is the funniest and my deepest thinker.

Some of David's current favorites and highlights from the year:

TV Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, LeapFrog videos 

Movie: Cars 2, Mater's Tall Tales, Pixar's Short Films (aka "short movies")

Song: soundtrack from Big Apple Adventure (Lifeway's 2011 VBS)

Food: chocolate chip granola bars, squeezy yogurt, macaroni & cheese, applesauce

Candy: Kit Kat, Nestle Crunch

Toy: Transformer Cars 2 cars (a birthday gift), Wii (favorite games include Cars 2 and Lego Batman)

Activity: soccer, scooter/bike riding, we are starting My Gym soon 

Friends: Ian, Kate, Will & Maclaine (church buddies)

Stats: Height-3 feet, 4 inches, Weight-35 pounds

Sizes: Clothing (size 4) and shoes (size 9 to 9-1/2)

My proudest moments this year: learning all the letter sounds and learning to count to 30 ... I love how much you love school, singing in the kids' choir Christmas program at church (you sang with such gusto and I didn't even think you would get on stage), watching you do the motions and sing the VBS songs at the end of the week program

Struggles: speech articulation, not liking Miss Ann's class at MDO because you have to nap, anxiety/nerves, tantrums (3 was much more terrible than 2), getting dressed in the morning, still wearing pull-ups at night