A Last Minute Decision...

My grandmother has been sick lately and in and out of the hospital, so with the long Memorial Day weekend we made a last minute decision Friday afternoon.   We loaded up the van and hit the road at about 4:30.  It was such a wonderful visit, not only with grandma but with all of our family. 

Here's Miss Jenna.

 Bryant and Jonah riding the four wheeler.

 Jenna playing with Reggie.

 Nathan and Uncle Jeremy playing tag.

Again, Jenna and Reggie... "puppy".

On the way back home to Virginia we stopped at a rest area in Maryland and there was a Youghiogheny Overlook.  At the end of June our whole family is going camping and white water rafting down this river in Pennsylvania.

Until we meet again...

 

Spring Recital 2011

Gracie has been looking forward to her recital for a long time now.  Well, who am I to kid... I think that I was just as excited about it too (if not more)!  The costume, the hair, the makeup, the dancing... it's my dream true... and hers!  To have my daughter be as excited about dance as I am is AWESOME!  I can't imagine having a tom boy, than you Lord!

Now without further ado... Gracie's recital.  Enjoy.

What we're UP to...

This mother's day creation was UP on my mantle, and that is why I forgot to post a picture of it earlier. I love Nathan's descriptions of me... all except the favorite food thing. That's HIS favorite food!

And this is what Eli is UP to... literally.

He's our little prisoner.

Round it up...

Well, I just realized that it has been a couple of weeks since I've updated. So, here's a quick round-up.

-Mothers Day: was wonderful. Bryant and the kids bought me 3 potted Geranium's. The kids all picked out the colors; white, red, and purple. It was beautiful weather and my afternoon involved making Gracie a new headband and dinner at Famous Daves... I LOVE me some BBQ!

-Then, this past week our good friends, Adam and Dana were moving and our week was spent with them. We have been so blessed to have their wonderful family in our lives and we were so grateful to be able to show not only our love to them but, to show them Christ's love too. Thankfully they've only moved about 45 minutes south of us, which means still lots of play dates and gatherings in our future.

-Tee ball is in full swing! And we have 3 games this week... I think we'll be a bit busy.

-Gracie's dance recital is coming up this weekend. I can't wait to share with you our precious ballerina and tap dancer! And just wait til you see her outfit! It may not be every mothers dream to have her little girl be a dancer, but it sure is mine!! And thankfully, hers too.

Picnic in the Park

Today it was in the 80's and sunny, so we met Dana and her gang in the park for a picnic. Eli tried out his first turkey and cheese sandwich, and he did really well with it. So, just to note, I didn't really make him a sandwich, and no I didn't put it in the blender either! He ate some tore up bread, shredded cheese, and chopped up turkey lunch meat... yeah for a new lunch option! Anyways, here are a couple of super cute pictures of bubba.

A visit from Adam and Susan...

The Jablonski's are in town this week, and we were so happy to get to spend Sunday evening with them. It was fun seeing how big each of their kids have gotten. And we were so happy to meet Miss Chloe for the first time! Thanks Adam and Susan for taking the time out of your busy trip to see some old friends! We love you!

left to right: Caleb, Micah, Chloe, Lucas, Nathan, Eli, Gracie

Easter Sunday

As a kid we would always wake up early on Easter Sunday and go to church bundled in coats or blankets to attend the Sunrise service. While my intentions this year were there to once again relive this tradition from my childhood, my sleepy family and myself included, just could not crawl out of bed that early. We did attend the 11 o'clock service though, where my children were highly anticipating the song, "Jesus Messiah" by Chris Tomlin that the worship team performed. In fact, I think that song was one of their highlights of the trip... after all, they're still singing it!

Here are some family pictures taken after church...

And then the eating began. With every holiday spent in Ripley, we go on an eating marathon. The meals start at my mom and dad's and end at Bryant's parents. Trust me, we usually gain more weight in that one day then we did all the rest of the week. And what is so unique about Easter... the chocolate... we came home with way too much!

Here are me and Eli taking a break in the eating race at Bryant's parents house.

I got some really great shots of my niece and nephews while we were there. Here's Jasmine, followed by Trevor and then you'll see my buddy Brendan. They are some pretty good kids.