Fun In The Summer Sun

To celebrate the summer, Memaw and Pepaw hosted a party for the kids. Needless to say the kids had a blast and will be looking foward to next years party (hint hint).

Pepaw sat at the sink for an hour filling up an endless supply of water balloons for the official water balloon fight and filling water guns to the hilt for as much soaking fun as possible.I thought this little wagon shot was to cute to pass up!!

Then the fight began....somehow the kids wearing the bathing suits didnt get as wet as Memaw who was wearing clothes....I think there must have been a conspiracy....Luckily Memaw and Pepaw were good sports and enjoyed being kids again and getting wet as well as soaking their grandkids!!!!



Then came time for the slip and slide, I have pictures of everyone going down the thing, however this picture stuck out of the photo slides. Cousin M&M is going to find a way to be the Little Diva no matter what we are doing. You go girl!!!!

Then there was this shot that made me smile, anyone who knows Cousin N knows how reserved he can be...but on this day there was a daredevil emerging from within. He took a dive off the end of this thing quite a few times.

What do you do for a baby when everyone else is playing in the water? You give him a bucket of toys and put a little water in the bottom and they will play for hours...

And Little "O" ....what a cutie (if I do say so myself)!!! He would be content for ever if he had a never ending spray bottle. He loves to spray everything....plants, toys, cousins, Pepaw....

After all the fun the girls huddled close and enjoyed popsicles to renew their strength to go do it all again....what is it with kids, they never seem to need motivation to go out and have a good time. We could all learn a little something from these never ending balls of energy.

Pepaw was content to take a break and enjoy the snuggles of the newest member of the family....He has this amazing way of making every baby putty in his hands. And he loves every minute of it!

Sisterly love, what else would bring these two this close together....Oh yeah, they were freezing and there was only one towel left after Little "O" soaked the other one with his water bottle. Arent they cute!?!

Wow, love must be in the air....Any kid, no matter how old they are, gets a warm fuzzy feeling when they see their parents snuzzle each other and offer sweet kisses to each other. I am so glad I grew up with these tender moments etched in my memory. Love is forever!!!!

13 Years and Counting...

Happy Anniversary Big Papa!!! 13 years....7 children....and I still cherish everyday we have together (some more than others). Who would have guessed that two silly teenagers meeting at the beach graduation week would be standing in our shoes today? Life is no box of chocolates in our house (more like a can of mixed nuts), but I dont know who would want the cavity that comes with all that chocolate anyway. You keep me hummin' a new song daily and we both know how much you love to hear hummin'!!!! Thanks for loving me everyday and reminding me that sometimes relationships need two people to pop the clutch. I love you Scooter Boo!!!!!

A Little More of O's B-Day.....

Please excuse the delay in the upcoming blogs but my computer crashed and all my pictures were goners (or so I thought), but my amazing Daddy came to the rescue and pulled them out of the computer and made my computer an even more amazing machine. Your a genius Daddy!!!

Little "O" loved his big boy ball cake about as much as we had decorating it!!! I love finding new gender themes. Needless to say there was no guessing as to what this years theme was going to be!

We invited a few of the neighborhood kids to enjoy cake and ice cream!! Little "O" is convinced that Happy Cake Day would be a better name for birthdays.

Little "O" enjoyed opening all his presents but his favorite of them all was his bug collector. He has caught more grasshoppers and lightning bugs than I can count!!!

Then came the big finalle.....A new Radio Flyer Tricycle....What more could a 2 year old ask for. HAPPY CAKE DAY LITTLE "O"!!!!!!

Yes Sir, He's Still My Baby....

Well, my friends my baby is officially not a baby anymore. Little "O" is now 2 and I want to cry and rejoice at the same time. I cannot even tell you how fast these 2 years have gone. It seems like just yesterday Big Papa and I were sitting in an ultrasound room in near shock at the announcement that we were having a little boy. Now look at us, 2 years later and we have more balls (not that kind) in our house than seems normal for one kid. Guess what the theme of his cake is going to be....balls!!! I love this little boy so much!!! He is sweet and kind and just a joy to be around. You cannot be around my Little "O" and not fall deeply in love with him, but you better step back cause he is his mommys boy as long as Big Papa isnt there. Yes sir thats my baby!!!!

Thank you Lord for the sweet spirit you have given Little "O"!!! May he increase it and use it to glorify You in his days to come.

Little "O" at 1 year....

Little "O" at 1 day....My little bundle of boy!!!

Our Trip to the Beach ....

Thank you "J" and "Y" for being such gracious hosts to our family on our last minute seize upon your house!!! We had a GREAT time!!! You showed us that a 3-day weekend can hold just as many adventures as a week long vacation. Aside from the mere vision of the fact that there were 13 kids in one house, it really seemed to be a very minor issue. Our kids were thoroughly thrilled with the time they were able to spend with their cousins, and Little "O" loved having a captive audience for all of his silly antics. Thanks guys for a wonderful weekend!!!!

Following are a few of the many pictures that I captured of the kids enjoying their time together. I realized it is hard to catch the boys on camera, so if your picture is not on this entry, then you will have to work harder to be a ham for my camera next time we get together.

Goggle Shots....

Arent goggles the funniest swimming accessories? Big Papa bought all the kids goggles for our beach trip and of course they could not wait to put them on. As soon as they saw the water, it was on. The goggles were the first things out of the bag. These are some of the funny shots I caught of my goggle babies!

We Went To the Zoo!!!

We saw elephants...(this one is for you Auntie "J")....

....and zebras....

...and Scooters favorite...giraffes....


..."H" made friends with a lizard....he he he!!!

....the kids piloted an elephant tracking expedition....

...Little "O" and Big Papa made friends with the monkeys...

....everybody (except "H") wore braids....
....everyone searched the grounds for fossils and strange creatures unknown to scientists of today...

....The little ones practiced planting and harvesting a garden....

....even Baby "L" harvested his toes....

....then he decided everything looked good enough to eat....especially the dirt....we had a great zoological adventure. Thanks Big Papa for taking us on safari!!!

Memaw and Pepaw

This is my Daddy....aka Pepaw....isnt he handsome? And wise....did you know my daddy is full of wisdom? And led.... did you know he is led...by The Lord!!! Daddy is always shining a light for everyone to see. You cannot come in contact with my daddy and have any doubt Who leads him. I love you Daddy!!!

This is Mommy! Will I ever call her Mom or Momma? No...she will always be Mommy. Mommies always try to fix your bumps that you encounter along the way. She always has and she always will. That locket that she wears around her neck that has no picture remains empty because it could never hold all the people that fill her heart. She always says she needs a tiny mirror in there so that everyone who opens it will know that they are in there. If only that little locket knew how many babies have yearned to hold it and in return if only all those babies only knew that they were already secured inside of it. I love you Mommy!!!

Baby "J"

This post is for you Aunt "C". I will keep you updated on the changing faces of Baby "J". You have seriously got to come and visit so you can breathe in his sweet babyness. He is an absolute cutey!!!!!

Its Officially Summer When the Watermelon is Cut....

For Memorial Day I bought our first watermelon of the year. You would have thought that it was Christmas the way the kids were so excited about eating it. We took a last minute trip to Memaw and Pepaw's to celebrate the holiday and took our precious watermelon with us. After all the food and cake and cookies and fun with the cousins, the girls still wanted to cut the watermelon that they had been waiting for all day. So at 9:00 that night Memaw made the official first cut and Summer is now on!!!!