Four Generations

On August 1st, we were in Cleveland, GA for a family gathering with the Gurley side of the family (my maternal grandfather's). Since we were all there and looking decent, we decided to take a four generations photo with my Granny, my Mom, Ellie, and myself. We had taken some of these right after Ellie was born, but I'm so glad we took another!

July 2010

July was another jam-packed month, but the main focus of our whole month was our trip to the beach. We were so excited to receive an invitation to my cousin Kelli's wedding at the beach and since we'd never taken the kids to the beach before, they were doubly excited. All three of the kids loved it! Sam tested our limits a bit by venturing our farther and farther into the ocean, but at least his swimming skills improved! Jack stayed a little closer to the beach and really enjoyed building castles with his Uncle Mike. We took a little pool for Ellie and she played in it for HOURS without complaint. The beach was beautiful, the wedding was beautiful - all in all, the best trip we've had in a long time.

June 2010

June had us moving and shaking all over the place! We went on a great trip with one of Aaron's brothers and his family to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg and had a fantastic time at Dollywood. Sam was finally old enough to have his first solo go-cart ride. Our month was filled with a few other firsts too - Ellie's first lollipop, and yes, even her first pigtails. Thankfully, her hair is much longer now and mommy can put it up much faster. Our life is now filled with hair bows galore and I love every minute of it! I also got to see a DOUBLE RAINBOW! It wasn't my first, and I hope it won't be my last, but still, it was amazing!

In Memory

As a separate post, I wanted to pay tribute to the family of Shane Malone and the entire Storm team. Sam was privileged to be on the same baseball team with Shane and was honored to call him friend. Shane was died tragically in an accident in April 2010 and while it was a very difficult time for the entire team, it truly made us a family. This picture was taken with the banner that will reside at the Shane Aaron Malone field at Central School and with the EMCRA. Shane and his family will forever be in our memories and prayers.

May 2010

May was a very busy month in our house. The boys both had wonderful seasons of baseball come to a close - Sam in coach/kid pitch and Jack in instructional t-ball. The end of school came way to fast and both our boys made us so proud on awards day. Sam finished first grade on the A/B honor roll and Jack completed Pre-K with flying colors. Once again we were blessed with the most wonderful teachers and we're forever grateful for their time and patience with our boys. Ellie started off the month with chicken pox, but ended it completely healthy and discovered the joy of swinging for the first time. Sam played in his first piano recital (and my first spring recital as a teacher, too!) and did exceptionally well. Finally, we ended the month at the Cotton Row Run where I completed my first 10K and the boys did the 1 mile fun run. Whew!

Ellie's 1st birthday party

We had a grand time at Ellie's first birthday party. She got way too many presents and had way too much fun with her birthday cupcake, but it was fantastic to share such a special occasion with so many of our friends and family. I had my first foray in fondant usage and I think I was pretty smart to pick a nice, simple polka dot theme. Not too bad if I do say so myself! Ellie got what continue to be some of her favorite toys, and some of my favorite clothes for her - including the cutest pair of kicks you've ever seen! She devoured her cupcake so well that she ended up in the bathtub before we could even go home. All in all, a wonderful way to celebrate a wonderful first year of life for my little ladybug!

No More Worries!

So, in an effort to ease my conscience about just exactly how behind I am with my blog, I've decided to make some big collages and group as much together as possible. I'm new with collages, so bear with me if these first few are pretty basic and boring. I'll work on it! So, I'm starting with last Easter (yes, I am that far behind). We had a lovely Sunday and enjoyed a yummy dinner at my Mom's house. We usually get a family picture, but for some reason I can't find any right away. So, here's some of at least the kids - they looked marvelous! That's lovely Aunt Karrie with Ellie on the bottom right. We had a great time doing an Easter Egg Hunt at New Market Baptist to spend some extra time with the family too.

Love

I love the craziness that is my life right now. I love that from 6am until 11pm I'm running around with hardly any time to eat or sleep or do anything except wipe runny noses or change dirty diapers. I love watching my boys play soccer and football and losing my voice cheering for them. I love being responsible for teaching each of my children almost everything they will learn about how to be good, ethical, hard-working people. I love walking by my refrigerator and seeing the chore charts covered up with stickers. I love that my house is always cluttered with toys and cleats, backpacks and baseball hats, baby dolls and dirty laundry. I love watching my little girl finally start really walking and then laugh at herself because she's having so much fun in something so simple. I love the way our house doesn't really feel like home until Aaron walks in at the end of the day. I love that I have so many pictures from the last few months that I never have time to download them and update this blog! I love that Heavenly Father has given me this amazing family and the energy to keep up with them. Love, love, love.