Katie's fieldtrip and Trevor's back!

So, this week I went with Katie on her fieldtrip to see "Oceans" at the movies. I was so excited b/c this is "right up my alley" as far as interest goes. Funny thing is, it evidently isn't everyone's favorite thing. Katie and I were so excited after the movie b/c we could name all these animals, like cuttlefish (squid cousin) and the blue whale and the clown fish (Nemo) and so on. Meanwhile, afterwards the discussion amongst the moms was how they fell asleep and how boring it was...... WHAT?! It was like Disney's version of Planet Earth, and the Carroll nerds loved it!

The entire Northside Elementary went, and the theaters were reserved for us, very cool:




Katie and some of her friends playing at the park afterwards:



The other exciting event of the weekend was the return of Trevor the Turtle. Several months ago a turtle showed up in our yard and interested the girls for a few hours on a Saturday. They named him Trevor, and he disappeared later that afternoon. After the rain this past Saturday morning, Jovi went out to "do her business", and returned with a nose full of mud.... why, you ask? Well, I found the reason when I turned the corner of the house, and there was a mud-caked Trevor!:





Once again, they played with him (her?) for awhile, and then I suggested they put Trevor in the back yard by our lone tree. He disappeared a few minutes later, as Emma cried in the hallway.. " I miss Trevor!!!"

Look how cute!

Not much special this weekend... the usuals, baseball and dancing. Mark and "his boys" (as the girls say), are struggling right now, but still remain highly ranked in the power ratings b/c of his difficult schedule and having defeated some highly ranked teams. Girls are having extra practices for the dance recital (did I mention it is over two months away!) on Saturdays now, so we spend quite a bit of time at Jean Leigh. Emma is still wavering over whether she will take next year. I have a feeling once she starts some tumbling, it may be more her speed. Anyway, I just snapped this picture of the girls before church Sunday and thought they looked too sweet. We also got our dance pictures back today, so I'll be getting those to all of you! Take care, Missy!

Go Orange! Soccer party

Well, Emma's first team sporting experience is over, and I think she had a good time. She never did get very aggressive, but hopefully next season she will be interested in playing again and we can continue to work on it! As long as she had fun, then everything is cool!

We had our party at Coach Karl's house near the park, and the kids had a great time.\

Emma swinging very highly:



The big surprise for the party was the pinata Coach Karl got. The kids loved it:



Emma and "the boys" wait in line for their turn (that patience didn't last too long!). Carson is right in front of Emma; I think he was her "favorite"!



Emma whacks at the power ranger pinata:



Emma and Coach Karl, what an awesome first coach for "the Bean". We really loved him!

Nannie Jane Weekend!

Well, it was all about Nannie Jane this weekend! Jane had a class in New Orleans this week, so she came in town early and hung out at our house for a while. When she got in town we had crawfish at Nannie Kim's house. This was the first crawfish the Carroll's had eaten this year, and Mr. "Wizard" (a.k.a. Richard) did an awesome job as usual.

Me teaching Jane the parts of a crawfish (always the teacher!):



The girls holding very small live crawfish (it took about 10 minutes of coaxing to get them to do this):




Daddy peels some crawfish for Emma (".... too spicy"):

The family around the crawfish table - Mark, Katie, Richard, Ju-ju, Nannie Kim and Jane and Paw-paw:

Who loves Nannie Jane?

Easter break festivitites!

Well, the girls and I really enjoyed the week off for Easter and hate to go back to school, but duty calls! I wish I could say the same for Mark, but it was a tough baseball week this week. He did win a mean game of our "Magic Kingdom" board game Saturday night, though (tee-hee)!

We finally painted Emma's rooom this week. It has been postponed for quite some time b/c of the height of the walls as seen in this picture. The pink color came out perfect. I know it looks a little "hot pink" in the pictures, but it is the great shade of deep rose. It looks great with her new rug (a "Q" purchase, for those of you who know what that means!)






I was really very pleased with the outcome of our project.

Here the girls are Easter day with their baskets.



Here we are with Paw Paw and Juju that night for dinner:



And here they are with Nannie Kim and Mr. Richard:

We also saw "How to Train a Dragon" this week and I highly recommend it. It was one of the best kids movies I've seen in a long time. You have to see it in 3D to really enjoy it b/c of all the flying scenes - really sweet movie with a great theme!

Northside art show, dancing pictures, beating 'da Bears and Daddy's birthday

Katie's school had an art show this past Thursday, so Katie and I went to see all the exhibits. Here Katie is outside her school (gosh, I wish she would come out of her shell!):

Here is the proud artist with her work:

Her drawing of Nottoway plantation:

We had dance pictures this weekend and Katie posed outside the studio in her beautiful ballet costume. She loves it alot.

This is Emma with her friend Anna in their Ballet costumes. They are quite adorable. Anna's big sister Ali is in Katie's class, so we see a lot of them!

Here is Emma in her too, too adorable tap outfit. When she wears it with her hair down, she looks just like Madaline. Bonjour petite fille!






One of the most exciting events of the weekend was our 13 inning defeat of Catholic High, who is /was ranked #1 in the state. Did I mention that we also beat Barbe and Northshore this year who were also ranked #1 at one time. Guess the yellow-jackets are moving up in the world. I tried to get a picture of the scoreboard after the game, but missed it. Here is a picture of Mark's boys:

Daddy celebrates his "twenty-ninth" birthday AGAIN! We brought a cookie cake to his "baseball boys" at practice, while we had Mark's favorite for dessert - white cake with chocolate icing:

More soccer and welcome baby Sarah!

Sorry this is so redundant (the soccer thing), so I won't leave much detail, just a few pictures:

Emma dancing on the soccer field:

Emma in action:

Emma's soccer team with Coach Karl, one of the most patient people I have ever seen - are they too cute?

My good friend from work, Julie and her husband had their first baby Friday, so the Carroll girls went to visit "Miss" Julie and Mr. Andy and new baby Sarah - one of the prettiest new babies I have ever seen:

... but maybe the favorite part was dancing on the music chimes in the courtyard of the hospital: