Daddy Celebrates a Birthday!

Daddy celebrated his birthday on Friday. Everyone had a good time. We gave him a fancy reclining chair to take camping or sit in the backyard and watch the swingset in action.
We invited our good friends the Johnson's and the Hall's over for a BBQ celebration. Mommy made carrot cake, one of Daddy's favorites.
Happy Birthday Daddy, and heres to another great year!
We love you!

A Camping We will Go, A Camping We will Go!

In less than one month, our family has been on two camping trips. At the end of March, we trekked south to the HEB Foundation Camp that is outside of Kerrville. Our church goes there annually for our family retreat. We LOVE it! This was the fourth year we have been on the trip. Conleigh was just barely one the first time we went. It is cabin camping, and luckily we got a family cabin one more year. The setting is on the Frio river and it so peaceful.

If you wanted to find Alex, it was easy. Go to the sandbox (aka sand volleyball pit).
Campbell & Conleigh had a great time decorating cookies with tons o' icing.


All of you Texans will recognize HEB as the big grocery chain here, but for my friends in far off states, H.E. Butts was a grocer who grew up in South Texas. Apparently, he was invited to a camp on the Frio river when he was a little boy. He remembered that special trip and said that if he ever had enough money, he would buy property on the Frio and make a camp that people could come to for free. Well, he followed through on that wonderful dream and many, many people enjoy the HEB Foundation camp each year.
There was singing, canoeing, games, kids running everywhere, eating and relaxation. I think there were about 250 people there.

















Our family at McKinney Falls State Park

Then last weekend we went tent camping as a family of five. Interesting! It was pretty cold the first night and the air mattress we had brought for Peter & me was shared by Alex, Campbell and me. Those two munchkins were practically sleeping under me to try to stay warm. We were at McKinney Falls State Park which is a whole 20 minutes from our house. You wouldn't know it though. It was great to be in nature and hike to some beautiful waterfalls. We were with two other families from our Sunday School class. Peter made a gourmet meal of steak w/shrimp and some spicy soup for dinner Saturday night.

Updates on Weights

It has been busy around the Hardin house, and I'm not really ready to write now either, but before I don't remember anymore and the numbers change, I thought I'd document the weights on our three lovebugs. Thankfully, we haven't visited the Dr. much at all this winter, so when I took Conleigh for her 5 year check up, we got the info.
Our petite "I'm going to Kindegarten" little lady weighed 37 pounds at her 5 year check up in early April. She was also 43 inches tall.


In short order, Campbell needed to visit Dr. Albert for a cut on her foot that kept getting worse due to excema. She tipped the scales at 29 pounds with two months to go until she celebrates birthday #2.



Alex was along for the doctor visit, so I asked if we could weigh him and the big guy, although about 5 inches shorter than his big sister, was 40.5 pounds. GO ALEX!



There's the news. I'll skip the weight remarks for Peter & me. I can say though that our consistent exercise in 2008 is making a difference.

Christ Is Risen Indeed!

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Happy Easter! With three small children, it would be easy to let Easter be about bunnies and candy in eggs hidden in the backyard. It was a wonderful moment on the way to lunch after Easter church service to hear our 5 year old talking about Jesus and how he died on the cross to save us. She learned a lot in Sunday School this morning. She talked about his crown of thorns and the women who went to the cave to find him and he was not there. I hope that I can teach all of my children, through a mother's eyes, the love of Jesus now and throughout their lives.

Spring Break

Granny & Alex hanging out in the backyard.


Spring Break is over. It was actually our first experience with spring break. Since the kids used to be in full-time child care, there was never a "vacation" in their care. Now that we go to Spicewood Country Preschool there are quite a few holidays.
THANK YOU Granny for coming to watch Conleigh & Alex last Monday while Mommy worked in Killeen. You are a life saver (all the time)!
Tuesday was playdates galore. Conleigh had her friend Lauryn over to play, and Alex went to Nick's for playtime. Campbell is such a trooper and just goes with the flow as long as she can get a nap in somewhere.
Wednesday was Cap-Gym camp. It was Alex's first adventure with camp and I think he loved it. We knew our friend Ava would be there, and were delighted to see that Carly & Douglas were also there.
Thursday we ventured to the mall to eat lunch and play at the play house they have. A little stressful for mommy, but we all made it home. :) And Friday, Daddy took the day off, we relaxed and then went to Houston to celebrate Grandma Spence and Conleigh's birthdays (they share March 6th). It was a nice weekend. We got to see my sister Susan and her son Ryan. Jeff & Spencer were busy with other stuff.


This picture is at church. Campbell was so unhappy to take a picture, and then she climbed way back on the picnic table and smiled her cutest smile!




And just to cover all the grandparents, plus it is a great picture. Grandma & Grandpa Hardin drove in from Houston just for Conleigh's party.

See how Conleigh has grown since she was 2

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY CONLEIGH!

You arrived just after noon on March 6, 2003. You weighed about as much as a bag of sugar (that's the way daddy describes it)...a mere 5 pounds 3 ounces. What an amazing 5 years it has been Conleigh Grace. We love you more than you'll ever know. Love, Mommy & Daddy