3rd of July

Thanksgiving 2010

Lucy Rae's very first Thanksgiving and I didn't get a SINGLE picture of her! I'm so disappointed! Especially since we are SO VERY thankful for her. I guess we didn't get any pictures because we were too busy snuggling and loving her. :)

These guys made and amazing turkey! (and a big mess)

After lunch I got to ride Myles' minibike (after some begging.. he wasn't very confident in my abilities.. and still won't tell me how to get out of first gear.)

The boys had a great time playing with Cooper

We also made these cute little apple turkeys my friend Aimee posted about here. (and while you are over there, check out her gingerbread houses! So cute.)

Beans did her usual... rotating back and forth between Kali and Lyndsay all afternoon... they spoil her rotten and she loves it (and them).

4th of July... the UN-fun part

We got home from fireworks late and by the time we got everyone in bed it was after midnight. We were exhausted. Then around 4am I woke up to the sound of water running. I woke Jeff up and he bolted out of bed and discovered our basement was flooded. A water pipe and broken (turns out not broken, just separated???) and water was pouring from the ceiling. So after turning the water to the house off we spent the rest of the night ripping up carpet and trying to save our furniture. Not fun! But, thanks to the help of a great brother in law, we had all the carpet out, the pipe fixed and fans everywhere, and were poolside by 11am! Not bad!

Doesn't our less-than-two-year-old, with out any stains, EXPENSIVE carpet look good out on the lawn?? No??

4th of July... the fun part!

We watch fireworks every year with friends on the THIRD of July in Kennesaw... such a fun tradition! There are entirely too many pictures in this post.. I just couldn't narrow it down any further!!

Have I mentioned how much I love holidays and making coordinating festive outfits???

Whoa cutie.

I think this is our first ever picture of us as a family of SIX!

Jeff took the three big kids down to a very crowded parking lot down the road to play on the jumpies... I took this photo of them walking back because I was so impressed he still had all three! Jeff = super dad. He deserved a standing ovation for this.

Doesn't this one just scream DANGER!??? One four year old holding a lit sparkler next to two toddlers. No worries.. no one got hurt. It was a miracle.

Lyla liked the sparkler, but she LOVED all the attention from my great friends Kelly and Kristen the best. Such good friends I have.

I thought I took a million pictures of this pose, but turns out I only actually took ONE. And Luke isn't even it! And Lucy is screaming. And Lyla had already taken off her bloomers. Oh well.
From left to right:
Maddy, Brock, Dylan, Lucy, Brodey and Lyla

Lovin the fireworks... no one cried.

Brodey can not watch fireworks with out sitting on Mama Gann's lap... it just wouldn't follow tradition! She is so sweet for letting them both climb all over her.
(Brock is holding a dollar that Papa Gann gave him. He wouldn't put it in his pocket because he didn't want to bend it. He just held it like that all night!)

FUN night in Kennesaw!!

4th of July!

Friday night, July 3rd, we went to the Kennesaw fireworks with several friends. The boys had a great time and they all.... even Lyla... loved the fireworks! As an extra special treat the boys got to have their first ever slumber party afterwards... their buddy Logan and his family came and spent the night with us. The boys all slept in sleeping bags on the floor and had such a blast. It was so cute to listen to them the next morning chatting about their favorite fireworks from the night before.

Lyla tried her first ever ice cream popsicle waiting for the fireworks to start. She loved it.. of course.
And I just like this picture.... :) haha

Logan and Brodey in their star shirts

Mama Gann brought sparklers... the boys didn't want to hold them but had fun watching everyone else with them.

When the fireworks started Brock was in awe. His face was SOOOO CUTE.. I wish I would have gotten a better picture. After I took this one he moved across the street with daddy to get a better view and Brodey sat in Mr. Clint's lap.

After staying up so late we got up early, had breakfast with our slumber party friends and then decided to skip nap and head to Gramma's to swim. From there we went to our friends Andy and Kristen's for a cookout. I took the following pictures to document how ridiculously tired they all were.

Don't they look excited??

Really we should have known better than to take three insanely tired children to a cookout after so much excitement already... but we went anyway! I have no pictures from that part of the night because with all the chaos pictures were the last thing on my mind. In short, Brodey jumped in the pool.. pulled the pool vacuum up to the surface and then SOAKED Lyla and I with the vacuum hose. (In true Lyla form, she was not fazed at all.. even though we were BOTH completely soaking wet.) When we finally gave up and called it a night we left VERY un-gracefully with three screaming children and armloads of bags/blankets/shoes/clothes and dropping things left and right. Not our finest moment. (but makes me smile to think about! ha!)

We got home and bathed the kids... put 2 out of three to bed and then Jeff and Brodey went back out to watch fireworks on the lake. I don't know anything about this part of the night (I was blissfully asleep within minutes of them leaving!)... but these are a few of the pictures Jeff came home with...

Happy 4th of July!!

Valentines Day and 5 month old Lyla

Better late and never!

Lyla turned 5 months old on the 5th of February and is doing all kinds of new things. She's trying to sit up on her own, she can do it for a few seconds at a time now. No rolling over yet, but she doesn't really spend a lot of time playing on the floor (for two reasons... Brock is scary and mommy likes holding her). :) She sits in a bumbo seat on the table with us when we eat dinner and we noticed her looking a little jealous and pretending to chew while we ate. I felt bad so we started her back up on cereal, she has now had rice and oatmeal and really likes it. Instead of eating several times a day she now has breakfast, lunch and dinner with the rest of us and then just eats one more time before bed. Still sleeping like a champ at night and taking 2 long and 1 short nap during the day.

She really has a very sweet spirit. She's not very active and will hold one toy for a very long time and pass it back and forth between her hands. She watches and studies people... several times a day I'll catch her watching one of us and smiling to herself. If you look at her and smile she'll cover her face and giggle.

Brock has given her several nicknames: "sista beans", "baby why-ya beans", "sista baby", and "prin-chess" are my favorites.

We love her so much and she is never in need of attention around here!

This is Brock's hand print he made us for Valentines day. It says:
Let me hold your heart in my hand

This is where your heart needs to be

My love for you will always be true

Your heart will be safe here with me.

I gave Brodey and Brock more Geo Tracks for Valentines Day (the best toy ever.. even Jeff and I love to play trains with them!)
And Jeff gave Lyla this little baby doll. She loves it. :)

My three little Valentines!

Brocky and Lyla