Weekend Antics

Well, another wonderful weekend went by all too fast!  Why do weekends have to be only 2 days?  Friday afternoon both of the kids had playdates with school friends so they kicked off the weekend with some fun. We then went over to my parent's house for grilled pizza.  My dad makes the BEST grilled pizza ever!  The mosquitos put a quick end to the planned marshmallow roast but it was still fun.   

 Saturday was wonderful because we had the whole day in front of us with no big plans.  We got some things done around the house in the morning and then it was off to have some fun.  The boys went and played disc golf while Kate, Addy and I went swimming with Kelly, Andrew and Perry.  They had so much fun!  Perry loved playing with the big girls.

 Saturday night we did an impromptu game night with Kelly and Andrew.  We love taco game nights!  Settlers was the game of the night and I managed to pull out a win which is always makes it even better!

Sunday was a low key day around the house after church.  Love lazy days!

Adjusting

So 4 weeks of school down... we are surviving.  Kids are doing great and adjusting well. Both are loving school and making lots of new friends.  Me is a different story.  It is hard adjusting to both kids being in school full time.  I am working more so that is taking up lots of my time but I still have more time than I am used to.  I am spending lots of time doing projects around the house - my fridge and pantry have never been so clean.  I am missing my girl in the afternoons though.  I loved the 2 hours we used to have after preschool before we had to pick up Ben.  My afternoons are lonely without my girl!  But she is doing awesome in school so I can't be too sad.  I guess I just need to find a new hobby.  

She is doing much better with her homework and classwork.  Proud of how quickly she is learning and working hard.  

 The weather has been beautiful the past few weeks and we have enjoyed lots of outside time with friends.

 I caught Kate and Addy playing beauty parlor the other day.  It looked like Bibbity Bobbity Boutique!

 This sweet girl is awesome!  I love her and am so proud of her.

Wordless Wednesday

Legos, Vulcan and Burgers

So Sunday on Matt's birthday we decided to take a last minute trip down to Birmingham.  Love spur of the moment family time!  We had heard about a Lego show at the Galleria Mall that was showcasing Lego creations of famous American icons.  It was amazing!!  These were huge Lego creations.  We were all blown away.  The little details were amazing.  There was the Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, Lincoln Memorial and White House.  

 The Washington Monument was huge!  And there was the Old North Church, Jefferson Memorial and Supreme Court Building.  So cool!

 The details were amazing.  Could see the Lego Lincoln in the monument!

 Close up of the White House.  So realistic.

The Capital Building was HUGE and so neat!  It made us so excited for our next adventure in 39 days!!  We can't wait.  

 After the Lego displays we didn't really have any plans so we headed up to see the Vulcan.  The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed looking over the city of Birmingham.

 We finished up our afternoon by going to Flip Burger for dinner.  Yummy burgers, fries, tots and onion rings!

 And of course some amazing milkshakes - Captain Crunch, Nutella and Krispe Kreme!  Yummy and the perfect way to celebrate Matt's birthday.

It was the perfect impromptu family trip.  Love getting to spend time with my sweet family!

Weekend Roundup

We are starting to feel more settled into the school routine which is good.  Along with that comes the wonderful feeling when the weekend rolls around.  So fun to try to pack as much into the weekend as possible!  This weekend was no exception.  We had a lot of fun. 

All last week was nasty and rainy.  It was yucky.  Finally on Friday afternoon we got a break in the rain so we took a family walk down to the lake.  Kate enjoyed climbing the trees.  

 Friday night was a fun girl's night out for me!  We had a PJs and Popcorn night at church so it was great to get to go out and hang out with friends.  I came very close to winning the Best PJs from Your Mother In Law contest!

 Saturday was full of playdates and fun!  Ben went over to play with a friend from school and then to play disc golf with Matt and some of the residents from the hospital.  He finished up the day with his first soccer practice of the year.  Needless to say he was worn out!  Kate and I went to have a playdate with a new friend of hers from school.  I am really trying to reach out and meet new people in Kate's class.  What a great opportunity we have to steep out and try to reach out to others!

We finished up Saturday with a little birthday party for Matt with my parents.  He grilled out some burgers and we ate on the porch while it rained some more.

 There was of course a cookie cake!  Because no birthday is complete without a cookie cake.

Sunday deserves it's own post so I will get to it tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Matt!!!

Our awesome dad and hubby turns 36 today!!  We are so lucky to have him in our lives.  He is the most selfless guy that I know.  He works so hard for our family and does so many things to make our lives easier.  We love him so much and are so thankful for him!!!  Happy Birthday!

Wordless Wednesday - Forgotten Beach Photo

Quick Catch Up & A Kate Funny

I am a bad blogger these days.  I don't have a good excuse other than maybe I just need a break.  Plus I have been terrible at taking pictures these days.  I need to get better!  So as a quick catch up...

Our weekend was pretty low key.  We spent time with friends and family.  My Saturday was taken up with travelling with my parents and brother to my uncle's funeral. It was a tough day but God was glorified which was awesome!  Randall really did fight the good fight and finish the race well.  I really enjoyed getting to spend time with the original East 4.  We don't often get to hang out just us so a road trip was fun.  

 The first couple of weeks of school have been low key as far as activities which has been wonderful!  We got into the swing of school before the craziness hit.  Kate's new jazz/acro class started last night.  She LOVED it!!!  Today was her first theater class which was also a big hit.  She is really getting into the dance and theater.  Ben's soccer was also supposed to kick off this week but so far all practices have been rained out.  He also has piano starting back in a few weeks.  Life is about to get really busy!

 And finally a Kate funny...  Kate has been struggling with wanting to write and do her homework.  Lots of crying each night.  Tonight's homework was to draw a picture of a business in our community.  We threw out lots of options for her.  She thought for a while and finally decided on KFC because it was only 3 letters and they are all capital.  Ha!!!  That girl is smart!!!

Some Days I Hate Cancer

Ok so maybe it is more than just some days but the last few days have really been days that I hate it!  My Uncle Randall (my dad's younger brother) passed away on Wednesday evening.  He has battled cancer hard and brave for over 5 years.  He was a hilarious guy!  I remember loving playing with him and being around him when I was young.  This picture is from 1985 when he and my grandparents came up to visit our family in Huntsville.  

 I hate that all 3 of these men have had to battle cancer hard and way too young.  My grandfather was the most amazing man and he raised 2 very special boys!

 Yesterday my dad started a new phase of his fight with cancer.  He is on a phase 1 clinical trial for some new immunotherapy drugs.  These are drugs that get his immune system to fight the cancer.  We are praying for amazing results.

Thanks for allowing me to have this pity party.  Yes, cancer sucks but I also know that God is in perfect control of all of these situations.  The fact that our family has had so much heartache is not a surprise to God and He is still good through it all.  Thankful for His love for us and the assurance that even death is not the end!

The Auburn Wall

Well it has been over a year in the making but we finally finished up the Auburn wall in our study/music room.  It was as much longer process than we thought but it turned out way better than we ever expected.  We knew we wanted a gallery wall with some special Auburn memories on it but other than that we didn't know how it would turn out.  Over the last year we collected different items to put up on the wall.  Here is the final product!

 The far right side of the wall has a neat print of the Auburn creed that Matt gave me for Christmas.  My friend Hollie made the cute little canvas with the state of Auburn on it.  We wanted a special impact piece and ordered the War Eagle from a seller on Etsy.  I think it is my favorite part of the wall.  There is also an 8x10 of us at the final rolling of Toomers.

 The middle includes a fun clock (no Auburn connection but just wanted it up there), a Scarlett and Gold Aubie print, a fun frame from LeeAnn that has a family picture at a game, some pictures from Auburn that my Aunt Lisa took, a metal state of Alabama and an old picture of Toomers.

 The left side is really fun!  It has cute pictures of the kids in Auburn clothes that I love.  There is also a metal Toomer's tree that my grandmother gave us.  I found the really cute AU periodic table symbol online and recreated it.  And finally the really fun part is the toilet paper that we nailed up to the wall!  My parents came over to help up hang everything on the wall.  We had one small space left and my dad suggest that we put some toilet paper up.  It looks perfect and I love it!

So there you go!  It took a while but it is awesome.  Love that it is the first thing that people see when they walk into our house.

Homework Fun

Teachers are so nice the first week of school - they don't give homework.  It makes for such a nice start to school.  But week 2 they kick it up and the homework starts!  Ahhhh!!!  We enjoyed the slow week last week but now the fun starts.  Actually it hasn't been too bad.  We had heard horror stories about 3rd grade homework but so far (week 2) it is very manageable and this guy has had a great attitude.  

 Her first couple of nights of kindergarten has been challenging (she does not like writing) but she will get in the groove soon I am sure!  She sure does look cute working!

A Needed Lazy Weekend

The first week of school wore us all out.  It is hard to get back into routine.  So needless to say our weekend was spent relaxing.  Friday started with the kiddos wearing their "Be Brave" shirts to celebrate having a brave week!  

Friday night we were all wiped out and fell asleep chilling at home.  It was perfect!  Love lazy nights with family.  

 Saturday was also low key.  Kate had a playdate and Ben and Matt went and played some disc golf.  It was Ben's first time to play and he loved it.  I see lots more time being spent at the disc golf course.  I got some things done around the house.  It was great to get caught up on some things that have been put off over the summer.

 Sunday was promotion day at church.  Kate moved up to the children's hall so we no longer have a preschooler!  She was so excited to get to go to River Rock with Ben.  Sunday night we went out to dinner at Outback to celebrate my mom's birthday.  These kiddos kept us all laughing as we celebrated!

Now it's back to the routine after recharging!  It was a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's 60th birthday!  Yes if you are counting, that is our 3rd 60th birthday in less than 3 months.  1955 was a great year to be born.  We are so thankful for our amazing mom and Granna.  She does so much for us.  I don't know what we would do without her.  I hope that I grow up to be just like her!  Hope you have a wonderful day Mom! 

Last Outing of Summer

I am late in posting this but wanted to add a few pictures of our last outing of the summer.  We had just one more item left on our Summer List of Fun on Monday - Botanical Garden playdate.  We had put it off all summer since it was so hot.  But we had to do it since it was on "the list."  So we asked the McClures to join us for a fun afternoon on the last day of summer.  It was hot but thankfully it was not killer humid.  It was bearable and everyone had a great time!  We spent 4 hours there and it was a great way to finish out our summer of fun!

Happy Birthday Mema!!

Today our sweet Mema celebrates her 60th birthday!  We hope she has an amazing day!  So thankful for her and how much she loves us all.  We are glad we got to celebrate over the weekend since it is a busy week.  

First Day of School

Well, ready or not it came today!  We were up bright and early to get ready for the first day of school.  Thankfully Matt took the day off to help out and it was needed to get everyone dressed and fed before we needed to leave.  Thankfully we had some time for some traditional first day of school pictures!  

 This cute 3rd grader is so awesome!  He is totally going to rock 3rd grade!!

 And when did she get so big.  It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms and now she is heading off to "big school."  She is so precious and I know she is going to do amazing in Kindergarten.

 I love these 2 more than I could ever describe!  So proud of them and so thankful to be their mom!

 We had to take our traditional chair pictures.  We have done this since they were little babies on their first days.  Love seeing them grow.  Ben's feet touch the ground this year!

 They are just a little sad that all the summer fun is over!

 Then it was time to head off to school.  Loved seeing Kate walking in with her Daddy!

 And there was time for a quick selfie with this guy!

 A huge God sized blessing is that my mom is back working at their school for a few weeks.  That means she is gets to be there for Kate's first week of school.  I love it when God does special things like that.  She was the first person we saw walking in the door this morning.  Kate ran right to her for a hug.

 Kate went right to her class and sat down in the line.  She was all smiles and so excited.  There was no getting sad for mom and dad when she was so happy!

 Ben quickly left us but we went and checked and he was all smiles with his buddies!

And Matt and I then left them there.  Strange feeling to have them both in the same school and so grown up.  We are now parents of elementary aged kids!  We enjoyed a quiet day getting some work and other things done.  But we couldn't wait to pick them up to hear about their days.  They were full of fun stories in the van on the way home.  Everyone seemed to have a great day!  So thankful for such a wonderful first day experience.  Now just 179 more to go!