Happy Times and Sad Goodbyes

After our DC trip Ava and I spent a few days in Texas. With finals looming so menacingly close, Josh needed a few days of peace to work ahead. Ava and I enjoyed some restful days at Baba and Pops new house. She helped them start their garden.

All those years spent watching Rabbit garden on Winnie the Pooh are really paying off for the Bave.

Not afraid of a little hard work

Placing them just so with Baba

Uncle Brandon and Nolan came to oversee the planting process.

We can't wait to enjoy some veggies from their garden later this summer.

While they worked outside Nathan, his good friend Luke, and I made Huevos Rancheros for dinner. Well, sort of...

I think we all knew who really made dinner. Although the boys did whip up an amazing batch of Chuy's Jalapeno Ranch between making tortilla masks and harassing this old lady.

Later the guys retreated to the Bunkbed Playroom (Ava's name for it) to do their homework in adorable matching black socks. This shot is just for you Hannah!

We returned to Oklahoma eager to catch up with friends. First on the agenda was sweet friend E, who loves to invite us for playdates when she's in town at her grandparents' house.

Not long into the playdate we heard a magical sound from outside.

(Mary and Benny, I'm in love with your back porch. The lighting is just phenomenal.)
The girls enjoyed their ice cream treats.

Somehow a wasp found his way into the screened-in porch, so the girls ran inside to safety while Mary slayed him.

Friends always share.

E is such an artist. Ava loves to paint and color whenever they're together.

Gamefaced serious painting time

Thanks for an amazing playdate friends!

Stacy and I kicked off our first Sunday of the month teaching with a sad goodbye to G. Her Dad has taken a position at a nearby church, so we won't be seeing them at ours anymore. I'm not sure if our girls really 'get it', so we tried to make the morning a happy celebration of friendship. We made sure to reinforce that G's family isn't moving and we'll still see them often.

Our normally large class of girly girls was made up of only three this Sunday.

This picture cracked me up. Which one of these girls looks like she hasn't had her coffee yet?

Glued to Stacy's words

Crafting together

These churches were just darling. We stapled foil-covered index cards on the opposite side, and when the doors opened they could see their little faces reflected in the foil.

We made a special shirt for G with all of our handprints (thumbprints for the teachers) and names.

We'll miss your sweet faces at church B family!

Darling M in an Ava and G sandwich.

Josh and I had nursery duty this Sunday so we took the kiddos outside to play. Josh stood guard at the top of the play structure so the smaller kids could play safely. Here is O, G's baby brother, braving the tippy top of the steps.

With a class full of girls and a climbing tower there was lots of Rapunzel play going on. Even little M was running around talking about 'a-puzzle'. In this shot Ava was trying to use her hair to let G climb down.

Our own Flynn Ryder

Album cover for their playground hits CD?

M just loves hugs.

Today I took Ava to a gazebo on campus for some Easter dress pictures.

I realized after we got home that my camera was on a strange setting, causing some of the pictures to be super blurry. We may have to return for round two of Easter pictures.

I'm not sure how these tulips withstood the insane wind we've had these past few days. Aggie engineered perhaps?

Doesn't she look like she belongs in an English garden with a spot of tea?

I want a Mommy-sized dress like this.

The poor student who was trying to study inside this gazebo finally moved along during our wardrobe change. Poor guy. Not sure he was ready for our kind of racket.

Love those curls

My favorite of the group, Ava and Bun Lockett with the tulips.