Easter Weekend (Part 1)...

Our Easter weekend each year is always filled with activities and celebration...

Manicures for the James girls.

Good Friday service

Easter Egg Hunt @ Parsippany campus - Sammy, Sophia and Brayden

Easter Baskets from PaPa & MeMe and Bags from Daddy & Mommy

Lego Movie PS3 Game

Frozen DVD - Do you wanna build a snowman?

Need a sidekick?...

Dear Spiderman,

If your every in need of a swinging sidekick, this kid has got the moves and the costume to go with them. Brayden is your kid, a.k.a your friendly neighborhood Spiderboy.

Swing by any time and maybe you can talk it over a fruit snack.
Sincerely,
Brayden's Mom

Grandma, Sarah and Sophia...

It has become a tradition that we celebrate Grandma, Sarah and Sophia's birthdays together as a family. Sarah and Sophia share the same birthday of April 10th and Donna/Grandma's birthday is on April 24th.

This year was a SuperHero theme and we all wore Super Hero shirts or costumes.

The SUPER Family.

Captain FaFa and Spiderboy

Batboy

Gifts and chocolate pudding cake were of course a part of the evening.

A card Brayden made for Sophia. The front has amusement park rides.

Glow Party Cabbage Patch Doll. Her PJ's glow in the dark.

Palace Pet Horse.

Ahhhh, money. What teenage girl doesn't want money?

More money with sweet birthday wishes.

Sunglass Hut gift card

A new toiletry bag.

FaFa with two of his birthday girls.

Sarah at 13

Sophia at 7

13...

Yes, it finally happened. We officially have a teenager in our house as of April 10th. So far so good, no crazy things have happened yet. 

It was a busy weekend, once again, so we planned a few things to celebrate over a 3 day period.

Thursday a.m. - Sarah came down to a decorated kitchen just for her and she got to open presents from PaPa & MeMe, Aunt Michelle, Uncle Mitch, Grace and Claire. She got money, an Amazon gift card and a book called "So Long, Insecurity Teen Edition" which she has really enjoyed.

Thursday p.m. - FaFa and Grandma came over and we attended the Social Studies and Art Show at school.

Sarah's artwork displayed.

Friday p.m. - Sarah and I went and got pedicures and then to Sephora for makeup shopping. Yes, she is finally able to wear makeup at 13. She is allowed to wear concealer, mascara, blush and lip gloss.

When we got to Sephora she had ideas of what she wanted to look for based on opinions of girls whose blogs she follows until...we met Michele. Wonderful Michele! She was a sale associate from the store who was so sweet, no pushy and took her time with us. I explained that this was her first time wearing makeup so we were going simple and she helped us find everything we needed and the perfect items for Sarah. Sometimes it is nice to have outside input. I could tell Sarah was loving it when she gave me a big smile when Michele went to find something and probably because she said "I LOVE IT!". Ha! Ha! We really did have a great time. I loved sharing the time with her.

Her makeup collection

I didn't take any pictures at Sephora, seemed a little out of place at the moment for our new teenage girl. However, I did sneak this one a couple of days before when we were at Target and she was looking at a few things she might be interested in.

Saturday p.m. - P.F. Changs for dinner at Sarah's request. We love their Crab Wontons and Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings.

A young Wolverine emerged because he was so hungry waiting for our food.

We had a lot of fun celebrating Sarah's 13th birthday. As a birthday gift we purchased her new makeup for her, as well as planned a shopping trip to the mall over Spring Break but that I will save for another post.

BFFs...

Love these girls. 

Love their friendship. 

Love their sillness. 

Love how they encourage one another. 

Love their desire to be followers of Christ.

Love the young ladies they are becoming. 

Love watching them make memories.

Time with PaPa & MeMe...

It was a quick 58 hours that my parents were in town for Sarah's play weekend, but we so enjoyed the short period of time they were here.

Brayden made sure to make most of the time with them.

Brayden showed off his reading skills to MeMe.

Wrestle time with PaPa.

Game time with MeMe.

A sweet picture with PaPa.

Wendy, Cast and Selfies...

From Sarah:
The play was an amazing experience and I would definitely do it again. I learned so much about acting and singing and it made me grow as a person. I got to meet so many people in 5th through 8th grade who I would have never talked to at school and now I am very close friends with a lot of them.

I surprised myself by actually trying out for the play and I would have never thought that I would get the role of "Wendy Moira Angela Darling"! It was a long 3 months and at some points I was very stressed with school, learning my lines, and other activities that I did regularly, but thankfully I got threw it.

Before the shows, to say I was nervous was an understatement, I felt like I was about to throw up! When the curtains were closed all of us were jumping around and doing really weird things to pump ourselves up. Once we heard the music start to play, that is when the butterflies rolled in. As soon as we got into the show though we were acting like professionals (flip of my hair).  : )

To say I miss the play is only half true. It was hard work and I am glad to have a break, but I also miss hanging out with all my friends at practice and having lots of laughs. Basically what I am trying to say is I had a blast doing Peter Pan and if they are doing a play next year, sign me up!

The Darling Family

Wendy and Mr. Smee

Tinker Bell and Wendy

Captain Hook and Wendy, out of costume

Peter Pan (better known as Kate with a K) and Wendy

Sarah was excited to get this picture together with Ms. Nolan who was the director of the production. Ms. Nolan is new to Haskell school this year and is a teachers assistant. She helps Brayden's class first thing in the morning and later in the afternoon. She is also an assistant for Sarah's Social Studies and Science class.  Sarah and Brayden are both fans of Ms. Nolan. She did a great job directing the students and is actually an actress herself, so she had lots of great input and ideas for them.