The annual trip to the Berry Patch

When it's close to tax day, our family always starts checking for the strawberry patch signs to appear. AND the patch is usually ready around tax time. There was a few days delay this year. There were no fresh berries at Easter, but the patch opened the next week. We finally made the trip this past Monday. I didn't think I had enough time to have pick them, but the kids love, love, love to pick and it really only takes moments to fill a bucket. There's always so many berries to pick and with four of us filling the bucket it takes about 10 mins.

I was so glad that we went and picked the berries this Monday, as the weather has been raining and windy since then.  It's finally spring...because the Berrys are in the Berry Patch.

Easter Weekend 2014

Easter Weekend started with Good Friday Service with our church, Passion City Church, at an amphitheater. People from everywhere attended even in the pouring rain. We were thankful for a seat under the cover, but many sat on the lawn under umbrellas. It was cold, wet, and muddy, but so worth it. Although it was cold wet and gloomy...it was rather fitting that it should be, as we contemplate what He did for us on the cross.

It was a cool,  I mean very cold and wet Good Friday. It was Friday, but we knew Sunday was coming.

Saturday, we decided to change up tradition a little and have our Family Easter gathering, meal, egg hunt and Honey's birthday. We usually have it after Sunday church, but since we would already be almost 2 hours north, there was just no reason for Zach not to go ahead and head on to Nashville after lunch. So we switched it up a bit.

Jolie looooves birthdays and really gets into the singing of Happy Birthday. You can see her dramatic broadway production of happy birthday to Honey.

She turns 89 later this week.
We celebrated with an egg shaped Publix cake and cupcakes that Gam and Pop brought.

Gam and Pop were here for the festivities but somehow I managed not to have a photo of them. I snagged their Easter day photo they snapped on their way to Sunday School this morning.

After celebrating Honey's birthday, it was time for the egg hunt.

Having a 4 year old mixed in with teens and a 20 something year old...the  oldies just don't want to hunt eggs anymore...so I decided to start an egg hunt like my friend Melissa does with her grown kids.

MONEY is the treat in the eggs.

When money is the  treat

these kiddos are ready to run and find the eggs.

The pretty Easter baskets are put away....this kind of egg hunt calls for something that want spill, something durable....like a kroger bag.

Running to find eggs!

This year I numbered the eggs, and they 'cashed' in their eggs. I had a list with an amount listed by each number. They received the amount listed by the numbers on the eggs they found. Here they are with their cash. I actually miscalculated, and ended up needing 10 dollars more to pay off my egg debt. I am sure the kiddos loved the fact that momma is not good with numbers when it works in their favor.

This morning we headed out extra early. Church was again at the amphitheater. 

Jolie is usualy in Bloom and not in big church. She was happy to hear the music and work the activity book that they provided for the little ones. BUT after awhile she fell asleep. I kept hearing something, and Shek told me it was Jolie snoring. She soon woke up  at the end of the service when the band started playing

God's great dance floor. She liked it.

After church we found a place open for lunch. I snapped some photos of the kiddos in their Easter outfits, and we hugged Zach bye...and we all headed home.

Easter 2014

My girls

Zach

Shek 

If we look into each other's eyes...you can't see how squinty my eyes are in the sun.

Jolie is hamming it up on Easter.

Karlie

Happy Easter. 

It's not about the family gatherings, or the eggs, or the chocolate, it's about His saving Grace!

Hallelujah!

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

JESUS.

 IS. 

ALIVE!

Prom

Prom Season, it's the time of year again. AND you know what that means? To homeschooling mommas it means school is almost OUT! hall-er-loo-ya!

Prom season can bring it's own little stress though, because it begins with the search for the dress. When your daughter is size negative 0 that brings a little extra anxiety to the situation, but in the end it's all worth it.

The search for the perfect prom dress probably started in the fall for Karlie, but for me, much later, like almost too late. I occasionally looked at them when we passed by the prom dress displays in the stores. THEN when prom got to be two weeks away, I knew we had to get busy. So we went to the consignment store uptown. Lots to chose from but none that really worked....there was one that could have worked but we thought we'd keep looking. Next was a trip to Nashville to see Zach's recital. At this point, we are one week from the prom... and no dress.

Emily, Z's girlfriend, told us where a prom shop was near their college. We went, it was closed when we drove by. We are on eastern time zone, Nashville on central so we went to another store and came back later.

When we got back, the little prom dress shop was open. WITH Scads of dresses....and the most helpful dress shop owner ever. She had, in fact been in the prom dress business for 24 years and was ready to retire in May so she had marked down her dresses. Karlie found two dresses she liked and finally decided on the pink one. It was size small but would still need alternations. I made a trip to the our local alternations place the following Monday, and she made it a perfect fit.

here's  the dress...

high heels and a clutch

It was a rainy prom day so we used LOTS of hair spray on these curls. Gam was called in to help with this hair-do.

 Dad fastens the pearls. It's a great chance to wear those pearls we bought her inChina.

 Jolie was all about the dressing up action of the day.

 My favorite photo of Karlie in her prom dress and it was an instagram shot.

A collage of the days events...

She and her friend and classmate rode to the prom together.

Prom has come and gone for this year....that means summer is not too far behind.

A Senior Recital

It's that time of year....recital season. Zach had his senior recital (aka a country/soul concert) this past Friday night at Belmont University. I did not snap a lot of photos because I just wanted to see it with my eyes rather than through a tiny view finder thingy. But I took a few photos during the show...and if you follow me on instagram, you are probably aware that I blew up instagram with a few pre show photos.