recaps

Gretchen is home this week! :)  I love it when she comes home and we are able to enjoy some serious quality time.  {And take some more self portraits, because, let's face it, 26,493 just aren't enough!}   

They stayed at our house one night and first up on the agenda was swimming at Grammy's house!  Jami and the kids came, too, but I didn't take any pictures.  I stole most of these from Gretchen! ;)

After all the little hellions kids were in bed fast asleep, this is what I enjoyed most.  Some sit down, have some tea, and chit chat time!!  It was super nice. 

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Gretchen had a few fun things planned with her mom.  When her mom suggested that some friends could come along, I jumped on the bandwagon!!  Ha!  We spent one afternoon at the movies.  I seriously felt like Alicia and wanted to nap!!

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I am a blog fail mode this week and haven't taken my camera hardly anywhere!!  I stole this picture from Jami. :)  We had a blogger's night at Alicia's house and it was so much fun!!  Alicia, you are a sweetie for opening up your home.  Had a super fun night with these gals. :)))

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Okay, another event I invaded...CHUCK E. CHEESE.  My kids adore that place and I have fun watching them tear through their tokens in 2.6 minutes flat! Maggie got addicted to this bus.  A couple of times when other kids would beat her to it, I thought she was gonna throw down and take them off.

Pretty ladies!

Love this crew!! :)

Good times!

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Today was a meeting of epic proportions.  It was a meeting that has been waiting for a long time to happen.  We were able to meet up with another blogger, Beth!  Yay!  I've known Beth for a long time, since college, and the blog world brought us back together again. :)  I'm so glad!  We had a great time just gabbing it up!   

God has blessed me with a wonderful group of women in my life.  I'm so thankful.  Truly thankful. 

saying goodbye and a movie date

Monday -- Day One of Potty Training.  Maggie pretty much "got it" from the start.  She had three accidents that evening while she was busy playing { one of which was in the BATHROOM, RIGHT NEXT TO HER POTTY! Geesh! ;) }. 

Tuesday -- Day Two... No accidents!  She hasn't had one since her last one Monday night.  I mean, for a Momma, this is exciting stuff!  Pooing and peeing on the potty in ONE day.  I am pumped!!

And, seriously, how cute are those little bums without diapers on?!  Too cute!



So, due to potty training, I hadn't been out of the house or had make up on since Sunday evening.  This girl was going batty!  Last night, I got dressed, put make up on and headed to dinner with some friends.  It was bittersweet.  Sweet because I got to laugh...a lot!  The kind of laughing where your cheeks hurt the next day. :)  Bitter because our friend, Jill {second from the right} is moving to Louisiana.  BOO!  She will be missed terribly.  But, I know that God has big plans for her!  Oh, and guess what?!  I tried sushi. :)  It was good!  Of course, it was deep fried... ;)  

 Today, Jami and I had an impromptu date and took the older boys to the movies.  It was a lot of fun!  

 I think they liked having some one-on-one attention. :)

 I really do love and treasure my time with this silly kid!  He is growing up WAY too fast. :(

guns, pig tails, and potty training

Eric has been taking Levi out to practice shooting his BB gun.  He is so cute...like a little sponge soaking up everything he needs to do to make a perfect shot!  

 I'm thinking he will be on the tv show Top Shot really soon! ;)

 This time, Eric filled a milk jug with water and Levi shot it from top to bottom and watched the water spill out all over.  FUN!

 In other news, we had VBS at church last week.  So much fun!  I taught one of the Kindergarten classes and I have to admit I was kind of dreading it.  But, it turned out to be a blast! 

 The last night was our Family Fun night.  Maggie wanted pig tails.  Oh my stars...she is so cute!

Levi got a photo op with our friend Captain Hockers, aka Josh McCarty.  Josh was HILARIOUS all week at VBS!  He has a way with being goofy with the kids. :)

 Just because they are so cute...

 Yesterday, this little girl...

...started potty training!!!  Yay!  She went on the potty eight times from nap time to bed time!  No accidents. :)  Today, we are back in panties.  We'll see how it goes! 

(Please excuse the Cheeto face and all the handprints on the fridge. Oy!) ;)

finishing up vacay

We've been home a few days now, and I still feel like my body is out of whack!  I wanted to finish up my vacation posts with a few straggler pictures. :) 

Living in close quarters with your whole family for a week can make a person start to go batty -- but I think we do an awesome job at pushing through and loving on each other!  I really do love the time for each of us to grow a little closer. :)

Even though she is a momma's girl, occasionally, Maggie would give in and love on her "unka" Travis. 

 And, even though Travis' sole purpose on vacation is to drive me CRAZY (pull my finger, does this sock smell bad, etc...) he does manage to throw in some nice things like homemade milkshakes!  Yes!!

 Man alive, I love this picture!

 Each of these little blessings makes my heart smile!

 I cannot imagine my life without them. :)

 Our last night in Hilton Head, we all went to a great steakhouse and Dad treated us to dinner {as if he hadn't done enough already...}! 

 We were all a little sad to think the week was over.  But, what a great week it had been!

 Lots of laughs, lots of fun...and great pictures were taken! {such a flattering picture of Travis!}

 One more week in the books! 

 I love these people so much!

 Especially these two right here! :)

 So, signing off from the vacation posts...

 ...until next year. :)

It's all about making memories

I have several hundred pictures to sort through {imagine that!} so I am sure I will be posting a few more times about vacation!  But, I wanted to share a few from today. 

I will miss this place a lot!  I will miss watching my kids check out the beach from our bedroom the very second they wake up.

 I will miss these moments.  The ones that take your breath away and make you just a little bit teary eyed.

 I will miss this special time with my husband. :)  {Even though he can drive me batty, I love him!}

 I will especially miss watching my kids explore the beach.

 I will miss watching all these munchkins playing together for hours upon end.

 My kids will not miss posing 837 times a day with me! ;)

 I will miss watching this boy going full force all.day.long.

 And, I will miss this little baby toddling around in the sand.

It has been a wonderful week and I am so very thankful for all the memories we have made!  I cannot express how much I love my family.

out to sea to find Stinky Pete

Yesterday, we headed out on a little Pirate adventure! AAAARRRGGGG...

 We decided to take the kids on a pirate cruise and they were so excited. :)

 First up...get pirate names!  Crazy Legs Levi

 We also had Cannonball Casey, Bad Bone Bailey, Evil Eye Emmy, & Grenade Griffin

First mates Scully and Squirt :)

 Some pics along the way

 The kids had to keep an eye out for clues to find Stinky Pete who had stolen the key for the secret treasure!

 The first clue led them to some secret pirate juice!

And then, we saw Stinky Pete!  

 He wouldn't give up the key, so the kids had to shoot him with water cannons!!  FUN!

 He finally threw the key onto the boat and the kids danced around the deck for their secret treasure box.

 Everyone got to dig in for some loot!  :)  Levi was very serious about his coins and shark animals...he didn't want to drop any of them. ;) 

What fun!  Even though it was about 384 degrees out, we had a great time!  I love doing things like this with the kids...great memories. :)