Do you spell it Ketchup...

...or Catsup? I've always been more of a ketchup girl myself, but either way this post is all about Catch-Up. When I was looking back through my photo files, I realized there are several weeks yet unaccounted for on my blog...including the girls' spring break, my Mom's birthday, Easter & more...so this post will be all about catching-up & hopefully getting back up to the speed of life...if that is possible!

First bit of catch-up...Spring! It came with beauty & splendor, with color & flowers, with birds singing & squirrels prancing. The whole world awakening from winter rest & here in the Carolinas all this started in late March! We have enjoyed our new yard now during each season, and they are all lovely, but I must say that my favorite is spring! Look at how gorgeous our dogwood trees looked this year...  

 When the blossoms started falling, it looked like snow!

And then we pretty much woke up one morning & everything had turned green! Trees that had been bare the day before were leafed out in verdant splendor. The woods outside my kitchen window were so bright with the spring sunshine...now they are lush & dark & no longer can I see any neighboring houses behind our house. 

It was on one of those early Spring Sundays when the daffodils were still blooming that I snapped these sweet pics of the girls playing outside. The warmer weather has definitely brought the kids outside, the fresh air is a balm inspiring hours of creativity & pretend play. It has been so lovely to leave the doors open to let the fresh air waft in bringing with it the sounds of joyful playtime...and occasional screaming because one pushed another or someone won't share or someone scraped a toe...just keepin' it real. 

 Darcy striking a pose!

 Sisters & best friends!

 What trouble can I get into now?

Always in search of the next adventure!

Oh & this is what their "house" looked like...do your kids build houses like this?

And Jack "played" outside, too...Angry Birds!  

 That same afternoon, Lucy enjoyed a little playtime outside in the bouncy seat.

Followed by a little snooze 

Then I had the great idea to set up a little vignette to snap some sweet pictures of Lucy (4 weeks old in these photos.)

...so I brought out the girls' baby doll cradle & other props, but Lucy wasn't too keen on the idea at first. 

 She eventually took a quick cat-nap,  

but if I tried to move her much she would wake up. 

 So I tried some awake photos...

...but she ended up giving me a lot of the pouty lip... 

...and the stink eye... 

...and this confused look like, "Why must you take pictures of me outside in a doll cradle?" 

A tiny fist raised in protest!

 Oh, but I could eat up these little precious little piggies!

As always, we have been working on little projects around the house...one Saturday Jeff was working under the sink to fix our kitchen faucet...

 ...and of course he had a very eager little helper!

 Drew is in love with anything resembling a tool & is always carrying around an assortment of hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches, drills, nails, levels & more...most of them real!

 He got to hand Daddy the tools & we were surprised that he actually would share them with Jeff!

The cutest helper ever!

Here is Drew on another day riding on his dump truck, with two drills in the front & holding a (rusty) screwdriver!

And here are a few more miscellaneous photos...

Jack playing peek-a-boo with Lucy

Jeff enjoying 

One very sweet snuggly baby girl!

Sammy knows good snuggling when he sees it!

Sophie dressed up in her poodle skirt costume & spent an afternoon building & furnishing a house for one of her little dolls...I don't know how those two things go together, but really it's just another day in our household!

Drew got to check out a real fire truck at a family night at Jack's school

Drew pondering a career in fire fighting...

Then he found a bin to play with & his fire fighting career was forgotten!

Darcy got her face painted

and enjoyed the bouncy slide!

Lucy was just hangin' out (7 weeks old in this picture!)

Okay, so we are getting there...I'm going to wrap this post up now, but I've already got 4 other posts in drafts, so stay tuned...I'm going to get caught-up or else! I promise not to continue to have such huge gaps between posting!

Here are two more quick pics of our sweet girl who is growing SO fast! 

 Both of these are about 1 month...and Lucy turns 2 months old today! 

Night-night, sweet dreams!