Ava's K5 field day at Briarwood

Ava had a great time at the Briarwood K5 field day. She loved the water balloon toss and the egg race. They also did the baton run and tug of war. The rain shortened their events but she still had a ball. What fun to be in Kindergarten!!

Girls Weekend

I enjoyed some great R&R during our girls trip to Rosemary Beach last weekend. It was my college friends from Freshman year at Samford- yea Vail Hall!! We had great fun catching up and catching the rays. I got a little too much sun but I was so glad to relax that I didn't care...

Chris and the kids had fun back in Birmingham visiting the Zoo, eating too much ice cream and ignoring bedtime! They had a great weekend sans Mom- I am so grateful that I have a husband that said, "Go and have fun!"

Carol and me Amy and me

Here are the friends I spent the weekend with:

From Left to Right:

Heather- She is actually 2 years behind us at Samford and was Carol's little sister in their sorority. We got to know Heather when we traveled to Rosemary Beach for Carol's wedding in October. We had so much fun that she came for our reunion trip! Heather is expecting a baby girl, Caroline, in September.

Carol- She organized the event and hosted at her house in Rosemary. Carol lived next door to Carrie & me in Vail during our Freshman year. Carol's husband owns Bud & Alley's, the Pizza Bar and the Taco Bar in Seaside. We had some great food on the trip! Carol's baby is due in late October.

ME!

Carrie- She was my roomie during Freshman year and lives in Smith Station. She is expecting baby Jake in July and already has a cutie pie Katie at home. Carrie was a trooper being 30 weeks pregnant at the beach!

Amy AKA "McFadden"- She was also our next door neighbor in Vail (opposite side of Carol) and lives in Ft. Payne. She has two boys, Connor and Grayson. We enjoyed being the "non-pregnant" friends on the trip!

Easter Photos

Griffin enjoyed the 1-2's Easter Egg Hunt at our church, Meadow Brook Baptist!

Ava and her pals anxiously await the K-1st egg hunt at church!

Easter Morning at Grammy & Poppa's house in Roanoke and then we are off to First Baptist Church for services...

After our lunch we loaded up the car and headed to the "creek", Chris' family cabin in Wadley. We always love our egg hunt there!

Grayson's baptism

John Grayson Jones (our nephew- son of Claire & Darrell) participated in the ordinance of Believer's Baptism on Sunday, March 15. I believe that Grayson, age 8, has been feeling the Holy Spirit tug at his heartstrings for several months now. The two of us have talked about it several times over the past year and I feel like Grayson is fully committed in his walk with Christ. I am so proud of the young man he is becoming and am ready for great things to come from his little life.

Grayson and I have always had a special relationship because I was in graduate school when he was born. I made a point of spending most school holidays and any time I could squeeze in coming to see him and helping Claire and Darrell catch up on sleep.

The Jones family is Methodist so they have the whole sprinkle versus dunk issue. Because of that, Claire & Darrell still wanted him to be dunked and decided to have it done in Roanoke at Grammy & Poppa's Baptist church. Plans were moving right along so he could have it there during the first weekend of Spring Break, however, word came down the pipe that Bro. Jeff had to be at a revival that weekend and would be unable to baptize Grayson. After some thought and prayer, Poppa stepped forward and said that he wanted to baptize his first grandchild. According to the tenets of the Baptist faith, a deacon is also allowed to perform this ordinance of the faith.

It was a very special morning as Poppa and Grayson prepared for the baptismal service. I have rarely seen my Dad so moved by an event. Grayson holds a very big piece of my Daddy's heart so it was moving to us all. The introduction that he made from the baptismal pool was very heartfelt and sincere. Becoming a man or woman of God is the greatest decision any person can make; holding God's heart in your own is indescribable....

Spring Break '09

We were so ready for our Spring Break this year! It has been a wild, busy year for the Albrights and I was looking forward to some down time. The kids were just looking forward to being "outside" (FYI, if you know Griffin, you know that this is one of his favorite words!)
We spent the first weekend at the Lake with good friends, Amy (McFadden) & David Kinsley, and their boys, Connor and Grayson. The kids had fun and enjoyed spending time together although Chris and David had to forgo their canoe trip because of the rain.

On Tuesday, Chris headed back to work and the kids and I went to Orange Beach to meet up with Grammy, Claire and her three kids and Melanie and Abe. It was cold and windy on the beach but the kids enjoyed the indoor pool and The Track and Adventure Island. The best part (for me) was shopping at the best swimsuit store (H2O by H.L. Hood) with my sister and sister-in-law for a new suit for our Antigua trip in July. It was so much fun playing dress-up and having them give me very honest opinions! That is what sisters are for!!

Griffin was too cute "writing" his name during our time at the beach. Someone (!!) is learning alot from his big sister!

Floating with Daddy

Chris and Ava enjoyed a "float" during the nice weather. It was her first trip on the canoe and she LOVED it!

Ava's big #6

The official celebration of Ava's 6th began early Friday morning as we prepared for school. Ava put on her cutest outfit and posed for photos with Griffin. During snack time at school, Mom brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts for everyone to share. After school we joined Claire, Grammy & Hendon at the Summit for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. Grammy then treated Ava & Hendon to "treats" at Pottery Barn Kids.

The birthday party began at 6:00 when 20 of our closest friends joined us for making appliqued purses with iron-ons, eating pizza, watching Hannah Montana episodes, destroying the play room, beading necklaces, consuming cupcakes, applying tattoos and disassembling a pinata hereby taking whatever sanity Mom had with them out of the door at 8:00 p.m. WHEW- what a night! Ava had FUN though and isn't that what really matters???

The calm Saturday celebration (her actual bday: March 7) was a low-key affair with Clay, Melanie, Abe & Poppa coming in from Roanoke to meet us for lunch at Jim & Nick's followed by a trip to the Galleria to Build-A-Bear. Ava built a precious girl rabbit that she named Hannah (imagine that??) and dressed in a pink halter top dress with Hello Kitty panties carrying a sequined purse with a cell phone and white sunglasses singing Hannah Montana "Best of Both Worlds". Poppa was not amused with all the frills but he can never say no to Ava! She had a terrific birthday and it was another day for the record books in the Albright household- our baby is really growing up!