Easter

 Easter Egg Hunt at Meme and Papa's house with our cousins!

 

 Puppet show, egg hunt, and snack at New Friendship Baptist Church

 This is the first year that the twins cared about getting the eggs.  Once they found out there was candy inside they wanted to find as many as possible.  Silas, on the other hand, only cared about one egg and what it had inside.

The most memorable part about Easter was our church's Easter program.  We took the twins to see the drama and they stared in awe through the whole program.  They learned so much from watching that drama and they've talked about it for weeks.  They retold the Easter story to their preschool teacher and at the end Gabe realized there was nothing left to tell so he added "Then Jesus got bit by an alligator." 

Celebrating Ivalee Keen

Ivalee Keen wore many "hats" throughout her life.  I most remember her as my aunt but that alone wasn't enough for her; she was my friend.  I spent a lot of time with her growing up especially in the summers since she was a teacher she had the summers off and so my brother and I visited her frequently and from time to time would play with my cousin.  Ivalee loved to craft . . . jewelry, hair bows, ornaments, scrapbooks and many more than I can think of.  She also liked to bake and bake and bake.  She had this fantastic way of making the most out of every occasion and holiday.  Traveling was her passion and I know she would have made many more trips had her health been better.

I really feel like I became the closest to Ivalee when I began pursuing a career in teaching.  We were able to connect on such a different level and I learned a lot from her.  She even visited my class the first year I taught and gave a presentation on Mexico to my 5th graders.

Most of all, Ivalee loved her family.  Her daughter, Bonnie, grandkids, Leeandra and Noah, siblings, parents, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, and many more all felt her love.  She was genuine and passionate about making everything special.  I will miss Ivalee but I am sure we will meet again in heaven.

The Color Run 5K

While in high school, I ran cross country . . . I hated it!  What's the point?  Running, hurting . . . I had to do it back then because my basketball coach had a policy, play some type of physically active sport during your off season to stay in shape.  But this 5K was voluntary and I even paid to run in it!  I am so surprised at how much fun I had; I don't know that I'd pay to do it again but it's definitely something to experience.

After every kilometer, you ran through a cloud of colored powder to celebrate.  The finish line was a huge color party with the stuff flying everywhere.

I know we don't look very covered in color but we felt like we were.  That powder got into all the nooks and crannies.  It took forever to get it all out/off.

 

My "team" consisted of Lauren Burnette (her 1st 5K), Melody Chandler (her 1st 5K and 1 year transplant anniversary), Erin Garner, and Rebecca Long (I lost the last 2 the moment the race started and couldn't find them again, not even at the end).  Our team name was "White as Snow" because I felt like no matter how much powder I got covered in, I would still be a pasty white girl.