Six Years Old!

Piper celebrated the big 6 on Wednesday!  Every year I usually decorate her door so she's surprised first thing!  However, this year she asked on her way to bed the night before, "Are you decorating my door!?!" She was hopeful that I would!  Glad I didn't disappoint!

She was in the happiest of moods when she woke up that day!  Daddy picked up donuts for us to enjoy! That began the sugar overload!  She loves drinking out of the "fancy" cups!

 She requested her hair to be curly!  I look at these photos and cannot believe she's so big!

Piper asked for McDonald's for lunch and chocolate, chocolate cupcakes for her class snack.  Briggs and I ate lunch with her at school, then we went back to the school in the afternoon to deliver the cupcakes to her class.  Piper loved all the attention.  She loved bringing the snacks and she loved the kids singing to her.  She has blossomed into a total extrovert! After school we had a playground play date with two other families upon Piper's request!  That was simple and fun!  And I brought more sugary treats to that as well!

 Then for dinner we let Piper pick where she wanted to eat and her pick was Chick-Fil-A and she asked that "all the family" could come!  So Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Amy, Maggie, and Jonah joined us for dinner! She opened some presents at CFA and Grandpa & Grandma brought their presents over to the house for her to open afterward.  She once again loved every minute of it!

We love Piper so much!  Both Michael and I were so excited on Wednesday to celebrate her birthday.  I am thankful to be her mom but for some reason on her birthday I was extra sentimental about it!  Piper seems so BIG to me!  Gone are the days of her imaginary friends, Boom-Boom, De-de, and Cheese!  Now she is into Barbie, learning to read, making bracelets, playing with anyone and everyone!  She is our little social butterfly, ready to play at a moments notice.  She is a goer and a doer!  She is funny and smart, sensitive and sweet, and pretty headstrong!  She has the most beautiful eyes and a contagious laugh!  She is quite dramatic and expressive.  A lot like her mama in many ways but she possesses many of the same great qualities as her daddy.  She is a complete Daddy's girl and he loves it!  I'm so thankful to have become a mommy six years ago to this sweet thing!

Spring Soccer 2014

 Piper just finished up her second season of soccer!  She loved it this time around!  And on the way to the car after her last game she begged to sign up again!  Piper might not be the most skilled player but she may be the most determined, especially if you consider her facial expressions while she's on the field!  Ha!  Her determined face was a topic of discussion throughout the season with the parents!  I wish I would have captured a better picture of it!  And, I wish each one of you could watch her run!  Haha!  So cute!

 Pink Panthers!

 Coach Henke and Piper at her trophy presentation.  She thinks the trophy's home must be on the mantel next to last year's trophy.  (Fake smile!)

April so far...

 Michael and the kids had fun playing in the sleeping bag one afternoon.  Michael was trying to figure out how to stay really warm in it when he goes camping!

 Briggs and I were able to watch baby Bennett one morning.  Briggs loves babies and shared his toys very well!  He loved Bennett's little bumbo seat!  He was stuck!

 Briggs had the stomach bug reeeeallly bad!  It was a solid eleven hours of misery! Thankfully, no one else got it!!  Whew!  Michael was going to go turkey hunting in Oklahoma and the kids and I were going to go spend time with friends in Edmond, Oklahoma but the timing of the bug prevented that from happening!  At this point in my mothering career, these kinds of things are typical and not nearly as disappointing as they were in my first year or two!

 Piper was invited to a kindergarten birthday party at the skating rink!  She was scared to death and may have shed a few tears but after 1.5 hours of watching the other kids, she got out there and loved it.  There is definitely room for improvement on her form!  Ha!

 Briggs was enamored by this Chinese finger trap!

 The Roush girls sent a special birthday delivery to Piper.  The frozen CD and nail polish!  Chandra was in town right after Briggs was sick so we met for lunch!  She and Evelyn were supposed to stay at our house but I did not want to risk them getting ill!

 Michael's 36th birthday was last week!  We didn't get to see him because he had a convention to attend but this was the Happy Birthday text message picture he received that day!  We love him!!

 Piper just learned out to blow a balloon up!

 Daddy is silly!

 And so is this little boy!!

Easter Festivities!

Since we attended church on Saturday for Easter, Sunday was very relaxing!  We had Grandpa & Grandma over for breakfast.  And the rest of the day was spent enjoying family time together.  I dyed eggs with the kids outside.  They both loved it!

 Later in the afternoon, we attended our annual neighborhood egg hunt hosted by the garden club.  It is a little chaotic.  They said "Ready, Set, Go!" and the hunt was over in less than a minute!  Michael stayed with Piper at her age division and I stayed with Briggs.  Piper was nervous and Briggs must have been too because he crossed the start lined and basically dropped his bucket and walked away!  I helped him acquire six eggs maybe!

 The Thursday before Easter, Briggs' school had a little egg hunt and party.  Briggs did not want to hold his basket at first but finally got into the hunting!

 Someone set their baby in their car seat off the the side and Briggs found the baby and started trying to entertain her!  You can kind of see his mischievous smile in this photo.

 And lastly, Grammy & Papa John came for a visit this past week and brought the kids some Easter goodies including bunny ears!!

Happy Easter!

I know one picture would have sufficed but their faces are so different in each picture that I couldn't choose just one!  When Briggs walked into the room where Piper was getting ready he gasped and said, "Piper you look like a princess!"  He was in awe of her appearance.  It was so cute!  Piper replied, "Uhhhh, welll I'm not a princess."  She didn't think it was sweet or cute!  We attended church on Saturday night for Easter this year!  On the way there the hymn "Because He Lives" came to mind.  The chorus is as follows:

"Because He lives I can face tomorrow.  Because He lives all fear is gone!  Because I know He holds the future!  And life is worth the living, just because He lives!"  

That is such a great reminder because sometimes I forget! He died on the cross for my sin and rose again!  I can face anything because Jesus lives!  Oh how I desire for my children to know this truth and understand it!

He is Risen Indeed!