Easter & the Woods Return...

Easter weekend was a great time for the kids, especially Kathryn. Her best friend, Maya, moved back on April 2 to the US from England. The Woods' are back for the summer before they move to Luanda, Angola in August. In this picture from the day the landed, you can see how tired poor Maya was.



On Saturday, April 3, the "Sweet Birch Gang" had an Easter egg hunt in one of the neighbors back yards. The older kids planned everything, and the younger ones got to hunt for the eggs, eat and play games.


Rebecca hiding the golden egg.


Maya finding an egg.


Kathryn and Maya enjoying cupcakes.


London & Maddux


Ashley & London


Checking out the eggs.



The kids had a great time, and Maya, Kathryn, Rebecca & Kai were so happy to be together again.



This picture was taken Easter morning at church. Maya & Kathryn had matching dresses courtesy of Lisa. Rebecca also got to sing in a childrens choir with the praise team. It was a great celebration weekend --celebrating our risen Lord and celebrating the return of friends. God is good!

Happy Birthday to Me!

April 25th was my 41st birthday. On Sunday night we decided to go to Grimaldi's Pizzeria for dinner. It was good New York style, thin crust, coal oven baked pizza.





And of course we had to follow it with some yummy cheesecake.



After dinner we headed over to Waterway Square to play in the fountains.




You're only as old as you feel. So in order to stay feeling young, you gotta have fun!

Tapping Toes

Here is video I took last week at Kathryn's dance class. This is their tap number, "All I Want for Cjhristmas is My Two Front Teeth. Too cute!

Buckalew Spring Choir Concert

April 8 was the Buckalew Spring Choir Concert. Rebecca has really enjoyed singing in choir this year, and learned a lot of new songs I have never heard. The choir did a great job that night. Here are some videos from the performance. Rebecca is the last person on the right on the front row.

"If You Dance"

They did this song back in the fall. This time they added more parts.


"Joshua Fit the Battle"



"Dona Nobis Pacem"

This song is sung in Latin. Pretty impressive for 3rd & 4th graders. It was also very special to Mr. Kelly, who sings it to his children as as lullaby.


"You'll Never Guess What I Saw"



"One Bottle Pop"

This was a fun song.


"The Copy Scat Rag"

Another fun song. Who did better? The boys or the girls? You know where my loyalties lie!


"Sing America, Sing!"



"Star Spangled Banner"

And the grand finale!

Pretty in Pink

Kathryn is still loving dance. Yesterday she got her costume for her ballet/jazz dance. (The rest of the class got theirs last week.) She got to try it on and wear it until the end of class.

Almost There

Kathryn has been taking dancing this year, and really enjoys it. Her class has been working hard to get ready for their recital in May. Here is a video of her ballet/jazz number, "Almost There," taken during a recent class.

Learning to Ride a Bike...

There has been recent activity in our little cul-de-sac of kids learning to ride their bicycles without training wheels. At least four kids in the last two weeks have learned to ride, including a three year old! Kathryn decided she was ready to learn, too.

Today we took Kathryn up to the church parking lot to practice. She was all decked out in protective gear and ready to go!



After a pep talk from the family, and a mantra of "I can do it", she started practicing with help from daddy.







After several tries, and some tears, our stubborn & independant Kathryn gave up, claiming she was tired and scared. She said "It was harder than I thought."



No amount of encouragement could get her back on the bike. :-/ Stay tuned. This saga is not over yet...