St. George 2011

We are blessed and thankful to have a trip to St. George Island every year. We look forward to it from the day we leave the beach until the time we arrive again. This year was one of our best! The boys are older and played well together (most of the time.) :) They liked being down at the beach for longer periods of time, and all of us adults got to relax and enjoy the beach for ourselves more than we have in the last couple of years. I think we were all needing the break.

Our first day on the beach!

Chillin


I thought I had hooked a big, nice fish. I was very wrong. So sad to catch a little sea turtle, but neat to see one up close. (I just noticed Bryan has a flashlight on his hat and it's turned on. Guess he was helping me look at the turtle.) :)

Pops & B hanging out on the awesome screened-in porch. By the way, the weather could not have been more perfect! Mid to low 80's with no humidity and a cool breeze. We hardly broke a sweat.

Lyndi & I took the boys to the park one morning for a change of scenery. We ended our play date with pizza & ice cream from B.J.'s. YUMMY!

Our one and only boat ride. See that nice man pulling our boat with his? Yeah, poor Ferrell's boat died on us. That man was kind enough to tow us back to the dock with his BRAND NEW, first time on the water, boat.


We were all tired and hungry after our evening stranded on the boat, but we had planned to celebrate G's 3rd birthday that night. He is the funniest little guy I've ever met. So glad we got to spend the week with him.


Breakfast with the Boys

Back out to play. They really like to run up and down the beach. Grant tried his best to keep up with Bryan. :) We think he was faster by the end of the week. Really!! (notice the dolphin?!)

Bryan and Pops wave jumping. Bryan was scared to get in the water at first. One day he had a horrible attitude so I grabbed him up out of the chair and ran to the water with him. He was hooked after that. :)



Our last full day at the beach we went to the end of the island to fish and look for seashells. We had seashells on the beach by the house we were in, but the end of the island has really nice ones. We got a couple of buckets full of shells and one bucket full of hermit crabs. They entertained us while the others fished.

Later that night we went to The Hut to have supper. Here are the boys waiting on us to get ready. Their movie of choice for the week was Peter Pan. They also LOVE Disney Channel's Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Pops gave them some "gold doubloons" and they were truly a treasure in their eyes.

And finally, in no particular order, group pictures!

Catch up

I got SO behind on all my blogging I thought I would just make a few collages and/or slideshows of things that have been going on since Thanksgiving. :) Here is December...

August In Review

There have only been 16 days this month, but they have been jammed packed full of fun! On top of that, I applied for a job at James Avery on Friday. Monday they called to set up for an interview on Tuesday and hired me Wednesday. I offically started yesterday (Saturday) and was thrown to the wolves. haha! Not really, but the store just opened on Friday and when I got there at noon yesterday the store was packed out. I kind of like learning that way though. Today was slower so I got to learn more about the computer system. I hope this job will work out for a while to make some extra money for us on the side, but not mess with me being a momma! That comes first.

The first weekend of August we went down to Albany to celebrate Bryan's birthday with our family there. We had a Lightening McQueen birthday party. We had a great time swimming, eating, and opening up new treasures. (Can you believe how big Grant is!?!?)



The week following we had a play date with our cousins that live here. We went to the McWane Science Center. We had never been before. I think B really had a great time. He loves his cousins too :)

Last week we drove down to my parents house. ML had a few days off so she and A hopped in the car (for 7 hours!!) and drove to see us. We celebrated Bryan's, Dad's, and my birthdays together. I love sharing my birthday with them. :) One of Bryan's favorite places is Monkey Joe's so we had to take them there. They had a great time together. Every time A & B get to be together they play better and better. One night they were dancing to a music DVD when A stopped and said, "I love you Bryan!" That's the BEST!!! Bryan tried and tried to tell Allison what to do, but she just ignored him. It was hilarious.


Another post is coming in the morning. It's the big 3 year old birthday!! :)

Another fun weekend

Other than the fact that we almost died on the way to Albany on Friday, we had a wonderful weekend. Seriously, we were inches from death or at least being very, seriously hurt. We had only been on the road a little over an hour when we met a car going the opposite direction in our lane (left one)!! Highway 280 is a divided highway with 4 lanes across. We noticed a car that had been traveling far in front of us get over in the right lane, but just thought they were changing lanes. As we started to top a small hill, there was a Tahoe barreling down the road at us like they were supposed to be there. I was going 70 and they were at least going that speed. God's hands directed our car off the road just enough for them to miss us. Matt and I both said we couldn't believe they didn't hit our mirror or at least the right front side of the car. I was going 70 down the median and never once lost control. That is all by the grace of God. Friday night I didn't get much rest replaying everything in my head. Of course Satan likes to get me thinking about all the "what ifs." There are SO many! If there had been a car in front of us, we wouldn't have had time to get out of the way. Same if there would have been a car directly behind us.

We stopped at a McDonald's in Dadeville just about a mile or two down the road to check out our tires and calm down a little. A man pulled up behind us that had seen the whole thing happen. He had been in the right lane. He asked if we were ok. I told him yes, but that I was shaking. He said, "you were all in that ditch!" I told him we were praising Jesus for our safety. He then told me he was praying the lady didn't come into his lane. I never saw a lady...just a big shiny grill. I WISH I would have thought to turn around and try to get a tag number or something. I'm praying they didn't hurt anyone else and quickly learned they were on the wrong side of the highway.

Whew!! We went to Albany to celebrate Allison's 3rd Birthday and Father's Day with Bruce. Saturday morning we met the England's early so we could take the kids to the Riverquarium. We all enjoyed that. We then ordered pizza and had YUMMY birthday cake. Allison got a little shy when we were singing to her, but she blew all 3 candles out by herself. She opened presents with Bryan's help, of course. :) It was then time for Bryan's nap so while he slept, I swam with Mary Lynn, Nate, Allison, and our friend Kim. It was good to spend time with all of them. (click pictures to enlarge)

After naptime the Soles came in to town. They got a new boat so we went and tried it out. It was Bryan's first boat ride. I think he really enjoyed it. I always love riding on a boat. Now we have one in the family! :) We probably would have all loved it even more if it wouldn't have been soooooo hot! We went back to the Baker's house for supper and had a chance to visit with Punkin and Uncle Huck. Always so good to see them! :)

Saturday evening we went to Phenix City to go to church with mom and dad for Father's Day. We enjoyed lunch at El Vaquero. Mary Lynn and Nate were coming in around supper time to spend the night so we got to have dinner with them before we came back home. Thankfully, our trip home was uneventful! We were so glad to spend time with so much of our family this weekend.
(Papaw popped popcorn for Bryan. I think it's his favorite food. We eat some almost everyday. Anyway, he gets so excited hearing the "pop pop pop" as he says.)

Busy month of May

The first weekend of May we celebrated Grant's first birthday. We went down to Valdosta for the big day. Grant really got in to his presents and cake. Bryan even took a pinch for himself before Grant could get a hold of it. :)

Cassie graduated on Grant's actual birthday. The Nobles had a pool party at their house and we celebrated her graduation and G's birthday, again. :) Bryan loved the pool, but wanted someone to hold him the whole time. Grant wasn't so sure about the water.

On Memorial Day weekend we celebrated Adele's 5th birthday. What a blessing and miracle she is!

Friday, Bryan and I met Julie, Margo, and Adele at the zoo. The weather was so nice and the kids really enjoyed seeing the animals. They got to feed the giraffes up close and personal. What a treat!

The hot weather has returned to the South, so Sunday Matt blew up the little pool for Bryan to splash around in. Of course he loved it!



On to June.... :) It looks like this month will be just as busy with Father's Day, birthdays, Backyard Bible Club, and weekly bible study.

Going to Grandma's...

or Sug and Pops' House!

Last Tuesday, Bryan and I met Pops in Columbus so he could take B home with him until Friday. The first stop was the farm. From what I hear he ran his little legs off for hours and hours. It was hard to get him to stop and come inside. He loves to drive the easy-go too. That evening Sug put him to bed, not realizing the pack n play was a little too close to the door. Not long after he was down she heard, "Hey Sug! Whatcha doin Sug?" haha! He had turned the knob and opened the door. So she had to scoot him away.


Wednesday morning during breakfast he wanted to wear a "tickle hat." He and Pops ate breakfast with their tickle hats on.

Then they were off to fish. Sug and Pops bought him his very own fishing rod for Christmas, so he got to try it out. The first fish he and Sug caught took him by surprise. Sug said he couldn't crawl up into her lap anymore if he tried. :) He didn't want to touch them, but kept saying "catch another one." In all, he caught 3 brim.

Wednesday after his nap they headed in to Albany. Mema had invited them, and the rest of her family, over for supper. He got to see Avery, Banks, and Witt over there. Avery is almost 4; Banks is 7 months old and Witt is 4 months. Bryan called Banks "little buddy." :) When Avery got home that night she told her mommy that "Baby Bryan is not a baby anymore! AND, sometimes he speaks Spanish!" haha! We guess he was telling her something she didn't understand.

Thursday he was so tired he took an early nap. They then went downtown the the Riverquarium and turtle park to play.

Friday after lunch they headed this way and stayed with us all weekend.

We were excited to see Bryan. He seemed bigger and was saying new things. (He's now calling Rusty "Rusty Boy!")

Matt and I thank Sug and Pops so much for keeping him. We were able to go out to eat a couple of nights, go to the store by ourselves, and I was able to do some shopping. :)

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Saturday, Bryan painted a cross as his art project. :) I found it while browsing Hobby Lobby Friday night and thought it would be something fun and meaningful for him to do. He really likes to color and paint so of course he enjoyed doing that.

I spent a lot of Saturday afternoon making cupcakes copied from Bakerella. I LOVE her. She comes up with the most creative cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, etc. I saw these and thought they would be pretty simple to make. And they were. And oh so tasty! :)



Sunday afternoon mom and dad came up. Bryan hunted eggs in the backyard. It was his first egg hunt. (see video below) We cracked up at the way he slam dunked the eggs into the basket. He is so funny. I think he picked up all the eggs in the yard in record time.


After the egg hunt we ate lasagna and then dad and I went to the evening service at Brook Hills. It was a great time of worship. They had to leave this afternoon, but not after a quick trip to the California Pizza Kitchen. YUM!

Did you have a good Easter weekend?

P.S. There are more pictures here.