A Must Read!

I have recently been trying to expand my repertoire of inspriational fiction works. I suppose my love of prose makes me a picky fiction connoisseur. Until today, I'd never finished a contemporary work of Christian fiction that I love and respect as much as After the Leaves Fall by Nicole Baart. It's her debut novel, and it is exquisite! The plot is phenomenal, the characters completely believable, and the transitions solid. Hiddern throughout her novel are a trove of discoveries that the reader experiences right along with the protagonist. But what makes her novel intiguing is her beautiful writing style. Baart has published some original works of poetry as well, and I can see that ability in her ability to tell a story.

I can't wait to read Baart's next book, Summer Snow! It was just released on May 1st, and the reviews rave that it's as good, if not better, than her debut.

Visit Nicole Baart's Web site at http://www.nicolebaart.com/ to read the first chapters of both of her books. You'll be hooked, too!

Happy reading!

Pinkalicious!

We spent Sunday afternoon browsing through the book shelves at Barnes and Noble. We spend quite a bit of time in the children's section there (and throughout the whole store, really). Caroline got a magnificent book called Pinkalicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann. It's a Caldecott award winner, and we love every page! It tells the story of a little girl who eats too many pink cupcakes, ignoring her parents' warnings. She wakes up the next morning and is completely pink from head to toe. She goes to the doctor to find out she has pinkititis! She experiences many fun times and many difficulties being pink and struggles to get back to her original color.

So, of course, Caroline was curious. After reading Pinkalicious over and over again, she decided she wanted to bake some pink cupcakes and put the book's claims to the test. So yesterday after dinner, Caroline and I made a batch of pink cupcakes (strawberry cake with pink icing). Well, it turned out that Caroline, Dave and I stayed the same color -- but Claire turned pink (see pictures and video below)!

Gone Fishin'

On Saturday, we went fishing at the York River. Caroline and Dave got to break in their new fishing poles! We left the rubber princess crown protector on the end of Caroline's line for a while so that she could practice casting without the fear of getting hurt. Then daddy loaded her hook with a large pink bait (just her style) and the two of them fished side-by-side. Claire and I lounged on a big blanket a little further behind the shoreline and watched. Unfortunatley, we didn't catch anything, but next time, those fish had better watch out!

Rachel's Visit

Our Memorial Day weekend started off with a visit from someone very special to us! Our friend, Rachel Ormsby, visited with us while on her biking trip down the East Coast. We were so excited to see her! She hadn't seen Caroline since she was Claire's age, and so of course, she'd never seen Claire. It was a lot of fun watching her interact with the kids. I have told Caroline many fun and endearing stories about Ms. Rachel, but her favorite is the story of how Rachel brought me a McDonald's cheeseburger meal to the hospital after she was born. Caroline thinks anyone who would do that for a friend is definitely cool in her book. :)

We met up with Rachel in downtown Colonial Williamsburg. We walked around town while catching up. Rachel jokingly admitted that she was "trying her best to buy the girls' affection," as she spoiled them with giant chocolate chip cookies and bought Caroline a special pink cross at one of the gift stores. As we were leaving, Caroline said, "Mommy, every time I look at my cross, I will think of two people: God and Ms. Rachel."

Rachel has two precious children herself. Nathan, her five-year-old, is as charming and irresistable as they come. And Kate, her two-year-old, is spunky and sweet with delicious little curls. As I wrote about in an earlier post, Rachel's son Nathan has had stage four Neuroblastoma (a type of childhood cancer) for almost two years now. He is quite the little fighter. His disease is currently considered dormant, which means it hasn't progressed. Right now, the Ormsby family is waiting to hear from the doctors about which course of treatment they should consider next. Please remember to keep Nathan and his sweet family in your prayers!

Thank you, Rachel, for taking the time to see us on your trip! We hope you have a safe trip home! Please give our love to your family!

Preschool Days

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thursday was Caroline's last day of preschool (sniff, sniff). The montage shows highlights from all her preschool days.

Blessings

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Catching Up

Again, I have recently been a slacker when it comes to expanding my blog! So, again, I must attempt to update with a grand slew of new Frazier family happenings. Can you handle it? :)

April and May have been quite eventful. Caroline spent a week at Grandma and Grandpa Frazier's house in Loretto, Tennessee. She spent a lot of time helping Grandpa garden, helping Grandma cook, visiting family and spending time with Blackie, Grandma and Grandpa's sweet dog. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a great trip! Here are some photo highlights:

I should add that the reason Grandpa (a.k.a Grandpaparazzi) is not in any of the pictures is because he is most often the one behind the camera. The only pictures of him in the batch from Caroline's trip are of Caroline styling his hair. Let's just say I may have saved him some embarassment by not posting any of them. :)

Then in May, Caroline's precious preschool teachers gave her a "pretend" birthday party! Because we arrived in Williamsburg a few weeks after Caroline's 4th birthday, she didn't get to celebrate with her new friends. So Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Keyhayes decided to create a special day in May just for her. I love that they truly see the importance of celebrating each child. As part of her celebration, Caroline got to be line leader, weather girl, pledge leader, song leader, and calendar girl all in one day! Plus, she got to have a party with her friends, complete with birthday goodies. I was so busy getting ready for the party, I forgot to take my camera (kicking myself). But I did take plenty of pictures of the cupcakes I stayed up until 1 a.m. making. And I didn't even think they turned out all that spectacular. But when my little girl woke up the next morning and opened the fridge to get her milk, she saw them and said, "Oh Mommy, those are the most beautiful cupcakes I've ever seen!" And so my late night hours were all worth it.

After Caroline's party, I took the girls over to Colonial Downtown to take some pictures of them in their new outfits in some of Williamsburg's beautiful springtime gardens.

I had the most wonderful Mother's Day I could have asked for! My sweet, thoughtful parents met us in Lexington, Virginia for quite a memorable weekend. We visited the Natural Bridge and downtown Lexington. The girls were as thrilled as I was to see Nana and Pop. We enjoyed hiking through the woods, finding tadpoles in the streams, strolling the serene streets of historic Lexington, eating ice cream at a downtown shop, having a slumber party in our hotel, and daydreaming about which grand, victorian home we'd buy if we won the lottery.

Recently, we've been taking the girls to Yorktown a lot to spend time at the beach there. It's wonderfully clean and safe, and because it's right at the mouth where the York River meets the Chesapeake Bay, we get the benefits of a sandy, salt-water beach without crashing waves -- just what Caroline needed to get her over her fear of the water (well, anything other than bath water, that is). Everytime we go, of course, Caroline makes a new friend. And Claire loves letting the tide sweep over her feet so much, she eagerly tries to make her way back toward the water as soon as we try to dry her off.

I have much more to update, but I'm waiting until I have more photos to share. Stay tuned!