The girls got stylish new haircuts.  Check out the amazing transformation in these pictures taken the first day. 

The garden is in full Spring bloom, and is starting to attract birds, bees and butterflies.  In early April, we saw this really unusual critter feeding on the verbena - it looked like a cross between a butterfly, a bee, and a hummingbird.  Turns out it was a Nessus Sphinx or Hummingbird Moth. 

Longtime friends Sara and Teresa came over for a visit on a nice day at the end of Spring Break.  Here are some  pictures of them playing in the yard.

Spring Break trip to Florida - We took a road trip to Orlando for Spring Break.  We spent our first day at Aquatica, a terrific new water park at Sea World.  Then we hit Universal Studios Florida, spending our first day at Universal, our second day at Islands of Adventure, and revisiting our favorites at both parks on our third day.  On the way home, we stopped at the World's Largest Playplace McDonald's for lunch.

Sleepover - Jackie's schoolmates Renee and Kristen came over at the start of Spring Break.  See them playing  together. 

John is 18!  See pictures of John and Dad on his birthday (April 2), and also stroll through pictures from each year of John's life so far.

On a warm Spring Day, the girls rode their bikes to school for the first time.  Twister!  Jackie (and Liz, briefly) has a lot of fun playing with the disco version of Twister.  See her rock out.

Soccer Game - Liz and Jackie's team played their second soccer game on March 30.  Pictures here.

Great Day of Service - Over 1000 members of Mt. Bethel participated in the annual Great Day of Service on March  29, completing service projects for individuals and organizations all over Atlanta.  My assignment was to photograph the teams working around Mt. Bethel, which included lots of kids, a scout troop, and a few adults.

Visit with Brothers - See all the kids playing in the visitation house and on the playground at Mt. Bethel on March 29.

Easter Sunday - The girls got their first-ever visit from the Easter Bunny 

Easter Saturday - We were busy on Saturday, March 22!  First, the girls and Frank came with me as I shot Mt. Bethel's Easter Egg Hunt and Jerusalem Walk Festival.  Then Their team, the Penguins, played the Cherry Bombs in soccer.  Finally, we had an Easter visit with all 6 brothers, including a really fun Easter Egg Hunt at Kathy and Jan's house.

Easter Eggs!  The girls colored Easter eggs last night (March 20).  It was the first time they had ever done this, so they were very excited.   The enthusiasm was high and the end-result colorful if not especially artistic.

Palm Sunday at Mt. Bethel - Pictures of  the Sunday School children processing into church with their palm fronds.  Pictures of Jackie and Liz are here.  See my pix of lots more kids from church here on the Mt. Bethel website.

Kangazoom birthday party - Jackie and Liz were guests at Shane's fun birthday party at inflatables playplace  Kangazoom on March 15.  The brothers were supposed to be there, but scattered tornadoes got in the way.

Sope Creek Fun Run - Jackie ran in the 1 mile race at her school on the morning of March 15.  Liz helped organize things (she forgot her sneakers).  See lots of pictures of the girls, their friends, and other fourth and fifth-graders at the race.  Earlier that morning, the longer 5K race ran by our house.  Here are pictures I took of that race passing the end of our street.

Sean and Monica's Prom Pictures - Liz and I went to the "picture party" for the son of our friends Ruth and Marc.  Sean and his friends gathered at a friend's house before heading off for the prom in a longggggg Hummer  Limo.  Liz came along and had fun on the host's trampoline!  Click here for all the prom pictures on SmugMug.

Jackie's Revolutionary Heroes presentation - The fourth-graders  do a mini-version of the Famous Americans reception in their classroom.  Jackie's class held theirs on March 13, and everyone was a hero of the Revolutionary War.  Jackie was terrific as Abigail Adams.

Sleepover at our house!  Julio, Miguel and Berto came over to spend the night on March 8.  The five siblings had so  much fun together.  The next day, we had lunch with the girls' family friend Rodolfo.

Soccer season begins - Liz and Jackie had their first practice on Coach Kent's team at Mt. Bethel on March 1.  The girls also did some practicing in our backyard.

Spring is springing, and our gardens are coming back to life.  See some early Spring blooms, taken in late  February and early March.

Liz' Famous Americans Reception - Liz pa rticipated in a very special annual event at Sope Creek Elementary School.  Each student studies a famous American, past or present, and on February 29 they paraded through the school dressed up as the subject of their study.  Later, each student had a table in the cafeteria, where visitors could see artifacts about their character, and hear them tell their character's story.  Liz was abolitionist and feminist speaker Sojourner Truth.

Singing at Church - Liz and Jackie's iPraise group sang at the main service on February 24.  They also took part in  an instrumental music concert on February 27.

DNow at Mt. Bethel - Once again, I took pictures at the church's Youth retreat weekend February 22-24.  We weren't able to host any kids this year, as our home is full!  Pictures from Friday night, Saturday recreation, and Saturday night with the kids dressed as heroes.  The girls even helped make sandwiches for homeless people.

Pretty little Niemah -  We babysat for one of the other foster children in our Community on February 18-19.   Here are some pictures of this pretty 3-month-old.  Usual password.

Younger brothers come to visit -  The  three younger brothers (Jonathan, Alex and Jesus) came over for the day on Februay 16.  Alex had turned 5 the day before, so we celebrated his birthday.

Back to Brown Elementary -  The girls went back to their old school on February 15 to see their .  They returned later that night for a dance at the school.  

Valentine's Day and more - Here are a few pictures of everyone with Valentine's Day gifts, as well as a few other shots taken around the house in February.

Franny's 100th birthday celebration - Family and friends gathered in Virginia Beach to celebrate this wonderful  milestone.  I was unable to attend due to this flu, but here are a couple memories that were shared. 

Cornerstone Dessert Party -  Frank and the girls went to a party for our foster care Community of Care on February 8.  I was laid up with the flu, but Jackie took some pictures with my camera.  Password protected, username is first initial of the hostess, password is her last initial.  If you know who hosted the party, you can get into the pictures.

Donna's birthday -  We had all the kids and Debbie together for dinner at our once-favorite Chinese buffet.  The  restaurant had seen better days, but the company was excellent.  There are pix from Debbie's cellphone taken at the restaurant, and a few more taken at home.

 Visit with the older set of brothers -  Liz and Jackie played with Julio and the twins Alberto and Miguel at the new visitation center at our church, Mt. Bethel.  As luck would have it, it snowed again, so they got to play in the snow.

Finally, SNOW!  It starting snowing Wednesday evening during choir practice, and the girls came home to a yard full of snow.  Two of my  pictures were published by the local newspaper the night of the snow (click here and surf to pictures 24 and 25), and one was chosen from the hundreds they received to be in the "best snow pictures" - see picture 16.  That picture was even the main picture on the website for several hours on Thursday.  Here are the girls on the night of the first snow, and here they are when it snowed again the following Saturday.  They tried to build a snowman, but couldn't get the snow to hold together.  Still, they had a lot of fun trying.

Lots more pictures of Liz and Jackie.  Pictures taken at midnight New Year's Eve, pictures from the girls' visit with their brothers on January 3, pictures from a visit with friends Sarah and Theresa, the girls at Mt. Bethel's iPraise music practice, and a few other random shots from around the house in January.  Usual password.  Email me if you need it.