Avery turned ONE!!!

Our sweet niece, Avery, was born July 5th of last year. Her entry into the world was a bit dramatic... so it was only fair to celebrate her in a BIG way as she turned one this year! :-)

Everland play is an awesome jump house/play area close to the mall of Ga.  They did a great set up and Liz, as always, planned out every detail to a T. It was so cute and fun!!! Minnie Mouse!

Mommy and the birthday girl!

My kids had never been to everland so they had a BLAST! They both loved everything the place had to offer, but nothing could beat when MINNIE came out to play just to help celebrate Avery turning one!

My girl was IN LOVE! And honestly, so was Mack! He was thrilled to get to meet Mickey and Minnie, which was funny to me b/c they dont watch disney anything (other than a few limited movies). I was honestly surprised! (btw, Rhyan let me put her hair in braids that day... i was thrilled! She NEVER lets me fix her hair. I can brush it but thats it... so picky!)

This cracks me up of Jasons face! LOL!

Jeff and Jasons cousins were able to make it with their twins! I wish that we would have taken the time to get a pic of Avery with her first cousins (Rhyan and Mack) too! Bummer :-(

Mack got on this rocking boat and the boy would not move. For about 15 minutes he stood there (and wouldnt let anyone join him... not a pretty sight)

Wheres Daddy?!

I didnt have any pics from Avery getting into her cake because I video'd for Liz the whole time. But she did great. The cake had black icing, though, which we all learned is not great ;-) MESS!

We love our little niece so much and are having a blast watching her grow! Happy Birthday baby girl!

4th of July Weekend!

We had big plans for the 4th of July...spend some relaxing time in Sky Valley...enjoy their pancake breakfast... watch the sky valley parade... go see some cool fireworks... possibly get together with my best friend from hygiene school, Cara...

And then we got to Sky Valley and it pretty much rained POURED raining 90% of the time! :-( On the upside, it definitely wasnt too hot! Quite to the contrary, it was pretty chilly!

We got a few loaves of bread and spent some time feeding ducks one afternoon. There were lots of ducks! And they seemed to be pretty hungry which was pretty fun!

Our only problem was that the kids kept eating the bread ;-)

So our plans were for a full weekend. But what ended up happening? It rained. And rained. And we watched for ark to come pick us up and trusted Gods promises that he wouldnt flood the earth again. ;-) The parade was cancelled. The fireworks were cancelled. Basically, we just spent time with Gran and Grandad, which was fun, too. But we definitely felt badly that we had gotten the kids pumped up for all our fun activities that DIDNT happen. Oh well ;-)

We DID get a surprise though when we got home... ASHLEY CAME HOME!!! My cousin, Ashley, moved to Ohio last Jan (almost 2 years ago now) and man, we miss her! So we were thrilled!!!

Rhyan had just gotten up from her nap when Ashley got here... and it cracked me up because when she came out she was in her panties. Only.  ;-)

I was excited (even though she wasnt dressed appropriately at all) to get a pic! Then, I asked Mack to take a pic with Ashley and THIS is what we got... man, he's a booger!

Later that evening, we went to the Nash's house for a 4th of July party!  They had bought some fireworks and planned to set them off so it was a great way for the kids to see fireworks since it was a bust in the mountains! The party was also a guise for the REAL reason we came together... to celebrate Connie! (Melissas mom). She is such a sweet lady and it was wonderful to get to be a part of her day!

I had bought some sparklers for the kids to have fun with outside. The most tragic thing happened as a result of our crappy parenting, though. I gave each kid one with instructions on holding their fingers down low and being careful... I was continuing to light them and pass them out and Jeff was sitting in the back of the truck taking pics when we heard a scream.
Mack had poked Taylor with his sparkler. It burned THROUGH her dress and burned a hole in her side.
Oh. my. word.
There arent words for how terrible we felt. I mean, he's 2. What the heck was I thinking? (well, i thought Jeff was watching him, thats what i was thinking. and he thought i was watching him). Major parenting blunder.
Taylor has a scar but handled it well. I dont think i'll ever stop apologizing, though :-(

I took Mack on home (we live down the street from one another) and Jeff stayed with Rhyan so they could wait till it got dark to set off the fireworks. I could easily see them from my backporch and they were beautiful! We had a great time (other than our tragic/shameful ending) and are grateful for our friends!

Outside FUN!

We had SO much fun outside this summer... when it wasnt raining. And heck, even sometimes when it DID rain! I mean, if its warm and not lightening, why not enjoy some free outdoor water fun?! Jeff was awesome this summer, too, and took the kids to fort yargo a few times and to parks! And in preparation for Rhyan playing soccer in the fall (post to come!), we practiced kicking the ball around a good bit at home. It was a blast!

One evening, Jeffs parents invited Rhyan to come spend the night with them and so Jeff and I took the opportunity to take little Mack on a date! We met up after I got off work and went to Discover mills. We let Mack ride the train (side complaint: how INSANE is it that you have to PAY for an adult to ride?!!?!? Such a RIP OFF! At Mall of Ga i'd let the kids ride w/o me b/c i can see them the entire time, but at Discover Mills they do a lap around the entire mall so thats not feasible. Call me cheap but really, what adult wants to spend $3 to ride a kiddie train? ugh). We also let him walk around the Disney store where he was kind of in heaven :-) Hello Cars, Lion King, Ariel, Belle... the list goes on for this boy!

We ate dinner in the food court area and then decided to let him share some icecream with us at the Cold Stone Creamery. He was quite the fan!

Later that same week, we were visiting with Mommi when some spontaneous outdoor fun happened. Jonathan was watering some flowers and the kids thought it was funny to try to get close to the water... well, Jonathan thought it would be funny to go ahead and spray them! One spray and they were stripping off their clothes, running around laughing and laughing! Redneck babies!

And when Jonathan got tired... Mama picked up the job!

And then... well... Mack's diaper got full from the water spray and well... fell off! LOL! I was cracking up!

And the next thing I know, Rhyan stripped off her panties and they were both running around "naked as a jay bird"! I about DIED! It was SO funny! And dont worry, see all those trees next to the road... Mommies property is pretty private. AND, i made them come in about 2 minutes after they lost their britches ;-)

Unexpected fun is the BEST kind of fun, and we ALWAYS have that kind of fun at Mommies! The woman has bought multiple toys for the kids but they always find the strangest things to do when they go over there. It reminds me a lot of growing up. I was never short on toys, either, but was always outside playing as a geologist or something ;-) Its SO fun getting to see my kids enjoy the same land I did! BLESSED!