Happy 90th Dottie!

Clay's grandmother, Dottie, is turning a young 90 this year. All of the kids and grandkids (and great grandkids) are celebrating by each visiting her throughout the year and doing something fun. Dottie is an avid baseball fan. When I was pregnant with Jack she flew to Atlanta to visit us and we went to a Braves game. In July. It was so hot but Dottie was worried about me being okay! So last week we drove over to Winston-Salem to take Dottie to a Dash game. They have a beautiful new ballpark downtown and it was a gorgeous, cool evening. Everyone had a great time! We love Dottie so much and are grateful that our kids are making memories with her too!

Virginia Ann stayed in the Bjorn the whole night. She took in the action for a little while and then we looked over and she was asleep!

Jack's favorite part about the game was the carousel and bounce houses in centerfield!

Madeline spent much of the game playing on the railing. I have a feeling I spent my childhood doing the same!

The next morning we made a stop by Old Salem to go to the bakery. Clay has a weakness for sugar cake and Moravian cookies.

Jack enjoyed his cinnamon bun!

This is the perfect picture to describe my children- Jack is being silly, Virginia Ann is taking it all in and Madeline has her mouth open!

I love the way VA is looking at Jack here.

It was a great getaway! We are so lucky to have Dottie as a part of our lives! Here's hoping we are all like her at 90!

Happy Birthday Chandlyr!

Last weekend we went to Fayetteville for our niece Chandlyr's birthday and baptism. It was a great family day We love that we are close enough to be able to celebrate milestones like this!

I think Virginia Ann is thinking "How did I get in this crazy family?"

My friend Carrie makes these cute bows for flip flops and I got some for my nieces- Chandlyr, Bayli and Maeve.

I found these buckets at the Dollar Store and cut the vinyl with my cricut!

Bayli and Madeline relaxing in the baby pool.

Bayli and Jack awaiting cake!

The birthday girl- 8 years old- and her Justin Bieber cake!

Entertaining as always!

Seven Months

I am so serious in saying that time is flying. I felt like with Jack the baby stage was FOREVER long. I was so ready to get out of it. I was exhausted and didn't feel like I could do most things right- and Jack was a really good baby! It could not be more different with Virginia Ann. I can't get enough of this baby stage. She is so "yummy" in the words of my friend Barb. I could hold her all day long but she has reached the point of wanting to be on her own! She is sitting great and scoots or rolls wherever she wants to go! She has started feeding herself puffs, mum mums, bananas and beans. She has started taking baths with the big kids and loves it! All of a sudden she is a little person! I am not really for this stage to be over. I want to snuggle a little longer. I want fat rolls on her legs and arms and sweet cheeks to kiss. Please, time, just stop! I have been told that #3 is magic and in our case, it is certainly true!

Virginia Ann has her mouth open all the time! She loves sticking her tongue out too. Madeline, of course, needed to be in a few pics.

Hey blue eyes!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy a kid could ask for! Clay gives me and the kids his all every day. He has more energy than all of us combined and is always up for an adventure. He invests himself in everything we do as a family and I could not be more blessed to have him as a partner on this adventure! We love you babe!

And a Happy Father's Day to my dad and Clay's dad! We couldn't ask for better grandpas for our kids! You are great examples to us all!

Teacher Surprise!

Really behind on my blogging but need to include this in my "journal." We loved Jack's teacher Ms Tricia so much and wanted to something really special for her. I made t-shirts for the 5 boys in the class, we put them on in the parking lot and they ran into school together to surprise Ms Tricia. To say she loved them was an understatement! She was so excited and felt very special and the boys were so proud!

Jack, Cooper and Connor

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Jack has great hair. I will not be so humble and tell you he inherited it from me. But it is super thick, like mine, and very heavy. And HOT! I love Jack's hair long but I realized that it was probably not the best summertime cut and since summer hit us hard this week (highs of 97), it was time to let the hair go for a while.

Before

After
So sad but I know we can grow it again in the Fall and I know he will be much more comfortable! Short hair or long, I still think he is the cutest boy around!