We'll miss you friends!

I have some major catching up to do, and I figured the best thing to do is to start with the most recent things and then 'catch up' as I can.

Our friends the Lee, Denise, and Jackson officially moved yesterday to NC. Lee got a major promotion at a great company in NC. He's going to be vice president or something crazy like that. So sad for us, but we are so excited for them. What an opportunity and blessing!

We've been spending tons of time with them the last few weeks getting in every bit of Jack that we could. Landree and Jackson play SO well together. They actually play the best together of all of her little friends. They are only 9 days apart, and we are going to miss them terribly. Along with Lee and Denise too. They lived about 1/4 of a mile or less from us so aside from having a great friend near by it was super convenient to stop by for an egg, pepper, or whatever exotic spice I needed (like cumin :). I called her last night after they stopped by to tell us by on their way out of town and told her to stop the moving truck I needed some oregano. What will we do without them?

All joking aside...Lee and Denise moved here the same time we did, we started attending the church around the same time, they've been in the same family group as us, served in our youth ministry, we were due a day apart and had Jack and Landree only 9 days apart, and have lived so close to each other for so long it's hard to imagine what it will be like without them right down the street. We plan to visit a lot! Here are a few pictures from a little going away party we planned for them.

We had the party in our youth room at church and the kids had so much fun playing the piano and singing :)

Poor John Parker was sick, but isn't he cute?

We love ya'll friends and miss you already. See you soon! :)

Fun with friends

A few weekends ago all the dads headed to their annual 'man camp' where they go and eat boy foods like lots of steaks, and Beaufort stew, and onion sausage. They don't shower, and ride four wheelers, and shoot snakes.

The girls usually do something too. The girls weeks has changed over the last few years since we all have kids now, but we still manage to get together and have a lot of fun! JB does not like to stay home alone so Landree and I have stayed at least one night with her the last two years. This year we hired a babysitter for Friday night after the kids went to bed and we headed to dinner and the movie. We watched State of Play with Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams. It was really good-and we talked without being interrupted all night!

Saturday morning we headed to our town's Kids Day. It's at our local park and there are all sorts of 'booths' set up. There were churches and restaurants the hospital and bounce playthings. It was super hot so after a snow cone and popsicle we decided to head home. I did manage to get a few pictures.

Enjoying a snow cone:



Cooper and Landree loving the tractor. Jennifer actually had to climb into the cab to get Landree out. Can you imagine me climbing up there? Thanks JB! The funny thing is my dad had a John Deere with a cab and Landree only gets close enough to have a picture made. She doesn't like loud noises. I don't know what she thinks-I guess she knew there weren't going anywhere.

And really this wasn't a tractor. Maybe it was a digger? I'm sure I'll learn all the technical names soon enough. JB can name all the tractors because of all the great 'boy tractor books' they have.

Landree's happy snow cone face:

We had lunch at Jennifer's and the babies took a nap before our friends headed over for more fun. We picked up pizza and had fruit and yummy desserts while the kids played the afternoon away!

The B's have so much to do outside. They have a huge yard and about a million balls. Here's Camryn her turn at bat:

Camryn and Landree climbed in and out of the wagon all afternoon. We all took turns pulling them around. Jack joined in the fun too:

Landree, Jack and Caleb hanging out in the swing:

Of course I don't have one picture of Logan or Cooper (Logan had to leave a little early and Cooper is never still enough to get a shot)-I did get this cute pic of Jack. It's a little out of focus, but I love his little face. Now why is it so hard to take a picture of Landree?

Where a kid can be a kid...

You know the place...Chuck E. Cheese. This was the first time we've taken Landree and overall it was a hit. We met the Brewer's and all played games. They especially loved the singing show that Chuck E. and his friends preformed. Check out the dance moves!

Somehow I don't think this is how you are supposed to play skeet ball.

After we played a few games we went to dinner at Wild Wings, yum! What a great night!

Lake Day

The Brewer's rented a lake house this week for their vacation. They invited Landree and I (Jeff was at beach camp) to come hang out on Tuesday and Wednesday. When we got there on Tuesday after naps we packed up a cooler and headed to a little beach across the lake. Cooper is such a water bug! That boy can swim! Landree on the other hand...not so much. She wanted me to hold her the whole time!

Michael made a fire on the beach and grilled hot dogs. We all had a hot dog; Landree ate chips :) When we got home the babies had a bath and went to bed, and we did it all again on Wednesday. Wednesday I didn't bring my camera and I missed the cutest shot! Landree found the perfect place that she liked sitting on the back of the boat. She was so cute with her little hat and life jacket on. We had such a fun time!

Pool Scrapbook Pages

The Pixel Fairy Princess (who's site I love!!!) always has the most beautiful scrapbook pages; I get lots of inspiration/ideas from her. She is having a challange using a 'word art' that she created. This was the perfect challange for me, because word art (or something cute to title the page with) is what I think is the hardest thing to come up with. Here are the pages I designed with her word art.

For these pages I used the Simply Yin template number 25. The elements and papers are all from the Shabby Princess Bounce Kit. The word art was created by The Pixel Fairy Princess. Font used is Susie's Hand.

Both pages together:

Page 1:

Page 2:

More Popsicles!!!

Today Cooper fell and busted his lip...so of course he needed a popsicle to help with the swelling. Do you see a trend here? Cooper wanted to be sure Landree had one too. He gave the first one to her-what a little gentleman. Jennifer made them take their shirts off so it wasn't so messy. She laid this towel in Landree's lap to keep her pants clean. Yum! We love popsicles!

Anniversary weekend

Tomorrow is our 6 year anniversary. I can't believe we have been married that long! The time has flown. God has blessed me so much with a wonderful husband, helper, and friend. He makes me laugh all the time (mostly at him), and we always have such a great time together. Jeff is the most wonderful dad!

Friday night we went across town and stayed the night in a hotel thanks to our friends the Woodham's. They booked it for us! Who does that? (The Woodham's do!) Thank ya'll so much! We had a wonderful time! Landree stayed at Pastor Bill and Jennifer's house. After we dropped her off we went to dinner at Bonefish-YUM! Then we went to the movie. We watched 88 Minutes it was exciting, a little scary, and really good. Jeff loves movies and we used to go a lot, but since Landree was born it's been much less often with more time in between. We went back to the hotel and watched a movie, went to bed way too late, and slept in until 8:45!!! It's been at least 19 months since that has happened.

After we got ready this morning we went to lunch, and then ran a few errands and went to get new cell phones. Mine was DEAD-courtesy of Landree. Needless to say this new phone has insurance coverage. We had such a great time just hanging out and running around together. After we picked Landree up from the Howard's (who she had a fabulous time with!-thanks!) we went to get ice cream at Coldstone (hey, it's our anniversary, right?) and then we stopped by the Brewer's for a quick minute to see Jennifer's mom who is in town. A minute turned into the afternoon and we stayed for dinner.

Landree loves playing and getting dirty with the boy who does it best: Cooper. She fell and busted her lip so Jennifer suggested a popsicle to help with the swelling. Landree loved it! She's never had a popsicle before. I got so many cute pictures of them eating their popsicles-Cooper had to have one too.

Week in Review...

Wow, long time no blog. I haven't posted in forever. Here are a few highlights from our week:

On Friday Landree and I went to the zoo with our friends Tricia and Caleb. They had a great time walking around and seeing all the animals. It was a beautiful day! Spring is definitely in full bloom! There was pollen floating on top of the bears pool that like pollution! YUCK!

Modeling their shades!

On Saturday Landree and I went to My Gym. They've reopened! Unfortunately, we aren't going to be going back until the fall. The class times have changed a little bit and don't fit into our schedule...for now at least. I will be excited to get Landree re-enrolled this fall. We plan to keep busy this summer with swimming lessons, pool play dates, trips to the zoo, and park. We'll have plenty to do.

We also got a new basketball goal on Saturday. Landree loves basketball! (Thanks to our ball obsessed friends Cooper and Jackson.) We played outside a little today (in the pollen).

Sad news...Landree started taking Zyrtec today. She has eczema and it's really flared up with...the pollen. (I should change the name of the post to POLLEN!) I didn't really want her to have to take medicine, but her spots were just getting worse and she was scratching uncontrollably. The doctor gave us a 'foam' steroid to help with the itching and an antihistamine to help with her allergies. So sad...she was doomed from the start. Jeff has the worst allergies of anyone I've every met and I have them too. Hopefully, we'll be able to take her off the medicine soon.

This morning Logan came over while his mom went to the doctor. Traci brought him a pancake for breakfast. Logan was so sweet to share...since Landree was helping her self anyway. I love this picture. They also ate blueberry muffins, yogurt, blueberries, and grapes!

Not everyone likes the Backyardigans I guess..."Mom, what's the matter with Logan? The Backyardigans are on." Logan was actually just sleepy and wanted me to hold him. The kids did great. Cooper comes over on Tuesday's so he joined us shortly after Logan arrived. They had a great time playing with each other.

And probably my favorite picture from the week is below. I think Landree will like playing dress up when she gets older. She already loves shoes and trying them on...these are her house shoes...and of course her sunglasses! She needed them to play!

Easter Traditions

I have so many wonderful memories of growing up...My entire family would gather for holidays. My dad's parents (Memom and Granddaddy) and my Mom's momma (Nanny) would always get together for holidays. My Dad has a big family-5 bothers and sisters total plus their kids, a friend or two in there, and the house would be slam packed full!

My Memom wasn't the best cook, she always 'stretched' recipes, even though she didn't really have to anymore (I guess raising 5 kids stretching was a way of life), but the food isn't what I remember from our Easter, Christmas, and birthday lunches. I remember the people and the love I felt. Even though we don't live close to home it's very important to me that we have traditions with our 'family' here for Landree. We have been so blessed to have wonderful friends, who I consider to be our family, in South Carolina.

Today after church and Landree's nap we went to the Brewer's for Easter dinner. Jennifer made a ham and broccoli, and Jeff and I made hash brown casserole, squash casserole, and banana pudding. YUM! We ate dinner, had ANOTHER egg hunt, and played outside before coming home. Here are a few of the pictures from this afternoon.

Jeff was showing Landree how fun it would be to roll down the hill in the Brewer's yard. Here he's showing her how to do it:

Jeff that looks fun!

Here's Landree figuring out there is a reason for hunting eggs-the treat inside! I hadn't really show her because I didn't want her to think she would get to eat lots of candy...Jennifer thought of putting grapes and goldfish inside...so smart!

What a great day!