Celebrations!

 We started the month of May by celebrating our 21st anniversary!  We hadn't gotten the chance to celebrate Dan's dad's birthday in late April yet, so we combined our parties on our anniversary.

Happy birthday to Roy - 86 years old! And happy anniversary to us - 21 years!

We love having everyone together for all the occasions!  

The following day, Dan's parents babysat Emma and Hallie so we could enjoy an anniversary date. We drove to Shenandoah National Park to do some hiking. We were expecting to see beautiful scenery while driving along the famous Skyline Drive, but this was our view:

The entire mountain was socked in by a cloud and we could hardly see the road in front of us. 

We planned to hike Dark Hollow Falls Trail, but a few concerns ran through our minds when we saw an ambulance parked at the head of the trail. 

We decided to go anyway, and we enjoyed hiking along the pretty trail.

There was a lovely waterfall at the end of the trail. The hike uphill back to the parking lot was pretty strenuous, but thankfully we didn't need to visit the ambulance afterwards.

We continued driving through the mountains to the cute town of Staunton and ate dinner at The Depot Grille before driving back to Williamsburg to pick up the girls.

While we were away, Dan's parents took Emma and Hallie to Yorktown Settlement and Museum, where they spent the day growing in knowledge and sophistication. 

Ummm...

Well, never mind.

Hallie (4th from left in the front row) did a great job in her classes' spring performance at school.

Hallie was one of only a few students to be selected to receive Music awards. She received the "David's Heart" award, for demonstrating a kind and loving heart throughout the year.

Dan received a surprise, also, when the student body dedicated the yearbook to him this year! They wrote an entire page about the amazing servant-leader and encourager he is to the entire school. 

I'm so proud of him and love that his coworkers and students appreciate how wonderful he is!

Dan with the group of high schoolers that he mentors. I think they played a big role in writing the yearbook page about him.

As a rising 6th grader, Emma got to participate in the middle school field day. She was on the "Teal Tornadoes" team.

She took a quick break from her field day games to see Dan receive his yearbook dedication.

Our nephew, Nathan, graduated from high school this year and plans to attend Regent University. We attended his graduation ceremony in Williamsburg, then spent the night with Dan's parents.

The next day, we visited Busch Gardens with my parents, Dan's sister Robin, and our nieces, Naomi and Miriam. 

The girls had a blast playing and riding rides together, and it was a nice cool day to be outside.

At the end of the evening, we all tried the Finnigan's Flyer ride together. Dan and I weren't sure if the girls would enjoy it or be scared. They LOVED it, and we rode it twice in a row!

Emma had her official science fair, and she had fun showing the other classes her project and passing out eraser animals.

5th graders have etiquette lessons at the end of the year, and one of their final field trips is an outing to a fancy restaurant to eat a formal meal while wearing their best clothes and demonstrating proper manners.

Emma invited Dan to come with her. Aren't they handsome & beautiful?

The girls and I attended a sweet birthday party for Luciana, who we've babysat a couple of times.

We also celebrated our nephew, Micah's, birthday in May.

Before we knew it, the school year was over. Time sure does fly!

Emma received a classroom character award and a class photo album from her teacher, Ms. Savides.

She was also taught by the other 5th grade teacher, Mr. Jennings. He was a first-year teacher who was often mistaken for one of the high schoolers.

Hallie received her classroom character award and some fun gifts from her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Learn.

Mrs. Learn getting a group hug from the entire class!

Since the last day of school was over before noon, I took the girls to a farm to celebrate! 

We went strawberry picking.

And then we visited the animals at Bergey's Farm. They let you hold their baby bunnies, which is amazing.

Soooo fluffy and sweet!!

Emma loves holding piglets in her lap. They come running to her when she sits down in their pen!

Emma's favorite farm animals might be the baby goats, though. 

She played a fun game where she set the littlest goats on a waist-high platform and they'd jump down and hop back to their starting point. They didn't seem to know how to get down from that height at first, but they figured it out. Emma taught them their first trick!

Hallie enjoys the goats, too, but she needs help picking them up. They're almost as big as she is!

Hallie's favorites are the tiny bunnies.

We re-visited the bunnies before we left, and Emma accidentally discovered that her baby loved to burrow into the sleeve of her jacket!

Hallie had a long sleeve sweater that hers loved just as much. 

They looked like newborns in swaddling blankets - it was the cutest thing ever!

We ended our afternoon with ice cream at Sundae Scoop, and then we made dinner for Dan's parents and my parents at our house that evening.

For dessert, we had chocolate covered strawberries with our freshly picked berries. So delicious!

On Mother's Day, I was showered with homemade gifts by the girls, and Dan bought the most beautiful flowers for me, my mom, and his mom.

I'm blessed to be mom to these sweet girls!