Happy Mother's Day!

I am so thankful to be a mom! I am so blessed to have these 3 precious children as my own! I love my family so much! My sweet husband and kids made my Mother's Day extra special! They fixed me a yummy breakfast and gave me some sweet and thoughtful presents! I am so thankful that I have the privilege of being a mom...even though I sometimes get tired of doing laundry, making meals, cleaning, playing, reading, breaking up fights, etc... I also get to have snuggle times, sweet conversations, alleviate deep kid-concerns, and savor moments when someone learns something new. Being a mom is hard, but also extremely rewarding and loving and full of moments of joy!! Happy Mother's Day to my own sweet mom, whom I still strive to emulate every day. Love you mom!

Strawberry pickin'

yummy! notice gramma's old glasses...made the treat even more special!

Washington farms is a local farm nearby that grows strawberries each year (and pumpkins in the fall). They are, by far, the juiciest, tastiest, sweetest strawberries I have ever eaten! Last week, we went to the patch and picked a couple of buckets of berries. It was so much fun! When we got home, we made homemade strawberry milkshakes...and they were delicious!! Alex, Rachel and I are the only ones who finished our whole shake. They were too rich for everyone else. :)

Clayfully Created

Looking older than 9!! Our beautiful daughter!

Pretty and sweet cousins

hard at work decorating her flower

working on her owl

working on her bulldog

For Rachel's birthday "party" we took she and Julia to a really cool clay place called, Clayfully Created. They both chose a piggy bank to paint and a flower to decorate with their initials.Rach chose a bulldog piggy bank and Juj chose an owl piggy bank. We cannot wait to see how they turned out!! It takes about a week for them to be glazed and fired.

Game Ball!

Both boys got the game ball within about a week of each other. They were so excited and proud and both played so hard to earn it! We have really had a great year on the Rays and Yankees!!

How is this baby already 9?

1 year old!!

Rachel's 1st birthday and first piece of cake!

yummy! M&M pancakes and hashbrowns!



Rachel's new sunhat!



Our beautiful, sweet daughter is 9 years old! The years have certainly flown by and this precious child has been such a blessing in our lives. Rachel's special day began with presents, pancakes and hashbrowns. Then, we took Rach and Juj to a really fun art place called, Clayfully Created, in Athens. The girls got to pick out 2 pieces of clay pottery and paint it whatever color they wanted. They had a blast picking colors and details! The pieces will be glazed and fired and ready in about a week. It was so fun watching them create! Then, we met Nick and the boys and went to eat at Cracker Barrel. It was so fun getting to celebrate our lovely daughter and the special day 9 years ago when she changed our lives forever!

Happy Birthday Rachel Jane! We love you!!

Best Friends

So, one of the coolest things about Gege and Papa living in our yard is that they brought their sweet dog, Buddy, with them. He is a huge, yellow lab with the sweetest retriever personality and (thankfully) he seems to enjoy playing with kids. Trent has claimed him as his Best Friend. He loves playing with him, tirelessly throwing his toy (even when Buddy no longer retrieves it), and laying on or near him. Buddy has definitely gotten more exercise than he's ever wanted thanks to Trent's high energy level.

Buddy and Dixie have gotten along extremely well! They are both respectful of each other's space and sit in separate locations. Dixie claims the back porch and Buddy prefers the garage. He has his own huge bed in the garage, but he prefers to put his large body on top of Dixie's tiny bed (which is actually a cat bed!!) and he looks hilarious!

Anyway, we are thankful that Buddy and Dixie have adjusted well to their new arrangements and have definitely enjoyed having a silly dog around--Dixie doesn't have time for games and nonsense like "fetch". And, one of the coolest things about having Buddy here is that Bradley (our non-dog-lover) has gotten more used to him. He still doesn't want to pet or be around Buddy, but he feels comfortable enough walking around with him in the same vicinity. That is a win-win all the way around!