Playing Outside

I have boys. That means we play outside a lot. I encourage them to and they also, by nature, love it. Over the years, we have collected lots of outside toys. We have bikes, trikes, mini golf clubs, bats, balls, a wagon, lots of trucks, b-ball hoop...you name it, we probably have it or had it. Recently when the twins turned 2, they got their very own trikes. So now we have 3 of the very same trikes.Currently we have a fenced in back yard but it is not conducive for bikes or trikes so we've been playing more and more out front on the driveway etc. This means one of us has to be present every second the twins are out there. They are still too little to know about cars and running out in the road. If they are in the back, you can sneak inside to stir dinner or use the restroom, not in the front!












Blake even takes a turn on the trikes even though he has his own wheels.

This is what I mean by us having to be on watch all the time, even though Will is looking at his computer screen, he is aware of the on-goings right in front of him. We also let the girls (dogs) come in the front too and they are so good, they do not run away.































So, this is us, outside time is very important with boys and it is crucial to our family. Even when its blazing hot, they go out in spurts and come in for a drink. Then even when its cool, we just put on our jackets.

Graham and Tucker turn 2

Well, our "babies" are no longer "babies." They will always be my babies but we have decided now to start calling them, the twins instead of babies. Somehow turning 2 makes you big and babies doesn't fit, when honestly babies hasn't fit for awhile. We decided to celebrate their birthday with some friends at a local park. It wasn't too hot and all of the kids really enjoyed it. G&T loved their cakes and ate 2 pieces each.


I'm not sure if they had more fun running around like crazies or eating their cake.

They LOVE to swing. I imagine they'd stay right there the whole entire time if someone, (their Papaw in this case) would keep on pushing them.









This photo is all of the children playing together. It's amazing again how well all of those children do together. The older ones are so sweet to the younger ones. There are still a few missing from this photo too.



















My mom was in charge of entertaining little Jenna for a few minutes while Amber got her food. Also, what a cute photo of Merica and Dosen. What a cutie pie!







We ordered lots of pizza from Domino's and 2 cakes with some cupcakes. We did Capri suns and cokes. I told everyone presents were not necessary but there were lots of gift there, for some reason. They got such cute stuff. They got matching Diego trikes from my family, which they love. They also got some other super cute stuff: a basketball hoop, t-ball set, tent and tunnel, baseball gloves, clothes, money, croquet sets. Let's just say they are set with outside toys which are being played with everyday. They LOVE them.

It was such a fun party. If you missed it, I'm sorry. I'm trying to post all the good stuff so you can pretend like you were there.

So, its official. I do not have babies anymore, I have toddlers who are growing up so fast. Our life would not be complete without Graham an Tucker, although they were a huge surprise for us in life, we couldn't imagine our family without them in it. We love you guys!!

1st Grade

Well my oldest child, Blake, had his first day of 1st grade on Tuesday. He's getting so big, it's ridiculous.
I can remember when he was born and everything with him seems like it was yesterday. As he was riding his bike this weekend and kind of standing up while riding, I thought to myself, he is growing up! I can't do anything about it, I can't make it stop, I just have to hold on for the ride and enjoy each moment as they come. He really is "made" for school too, he thrives on it. He enjoys the structure, the moving from activity to activity, meeting friends but also learning new things. He learned to read last year in Mrs. O'Boyle's class and that really made me realize he was growing up.

I got to drive him to school the 1st day and I must say I was pretty sad, almost turned on the tears. Everyone was in the car with me (except Will who had to be at work early), so I was unable to actually park and walk him in, since dragging all 3 brothers in tow was not an option. So, he said it was okay and he didn't mind to go in alone. However, I MINDED! I was so sad, I called Will immediately who is always my voice of reason and gave me 3 reasons why he thought it was perfectly okay for Blake to walk into 1st grade alone. I was comforted by the encouraging words. I realized however, since Brett was born, Blake has been the older brother and with that comes more responsibility and sometimes the shaft on some otherwise comforting actions, such as mom walking into 1st grade. I'm better now, it is therapeutic for me to write about it. He survived, I survived and he now gets dropped off every morning and is just dandy with it. Okay, I'm done having a pity party for myself.

A great house, too bad it's a whole state away

So, this is the house we actually own. There's a big problem, it's in Villa Rica, Georgia. We love this house, this house is perfect for our family. So, 13 months later, its still there, we are here and it STILL has a for sale sign in the yard. We lived in this house for approximately 14 months and more importantly this is the house we brought Graham and Tucker home to.

This house has also become a thorn in my side or a huge stress, whichever you like better. You see, we need to sell this house and be done with it. Thankfully, we do have a family renting it right now but still, we don't need to still own this property, we need to move on and find a place to land our family in Tennessee. We need a place to call home, that's ours, but we need it to be where we reside, work, go to school, play soccer, have friends etc. - you get the point?

So, if you are reading this, say a little prayer for us that someone will come along, this house is perfect for and will make us an offer.

Happy 80th birthday Grampa

Friday was my grandfather's 80th birthday. We celebrated all together in Wallace style, complete with food, the pool, and lots of children ranging in ages. The party was at my aunt's house who has this gorgeous backyard haven with a gigantic pool and lots of pretty blooming flowers. She sets up this slide thing too that ALL of the kids enjoy. I've never been down it but it looks fun.

My Aunt Barbara was there too to celebrate with us. She told me she hadn't seen me since I was 7 years old and I told her I bet I had changed a lot: 25 years later, plus 1 amazing husband and 4 beautiful boys. It was good to see her and she has a set of twin grandchildren who are 3 (a boy and a girl).


















How funny is this picture of my aunt and the twins in the outside pool toy box. G&T were standing over it and pointing at toys and finally my aunt said, you guys just want to get in there and play. What a great idea! This way, for a few minutes we didn't have to keep our eyes peeled making sure they weren't walking off the side of the pool. Taking them to the pool these days is a lot of work and no rest for the weary. Will and I have to keep a very close watch on the twins at this age, its kind of scary.




I had to post this one of my aunt Donna and uncle Roy. She really gave me a hard time for a photo I posted of her earlier so I thought I'd put another one in here to redeem myself. Is that good Donna?





This is a small glimpse of the slide she has hooked up to the pool. It's crazy how much fun the kids all have together in that pool. I believe they could stay out there for hours as long as we had juice boxes and sunscreen near. What a delightful day!







Even though they live in a neighborhood without any pastures or woods in sight, 4-wheeling is an activity my kids love.








So, here's to you Gramps! We love you and were so glad to have been there for your 80th birthday party.

Sunday School Social at the lake...or not

We had a great sunday school social planned for this weekend. We have some folks in our class that have access to a wonderful house on the lake complete with all of the boats, grills, picnic areas, swimming areas, lounge chairs etc. It is gorgeous there. So we got out there and as soon as we did, the kids went out on "Big Mable." (I think that was the name) Anyhow, its this big raft thing and a million kids can go at the same time. Most loved it, some didn't love it so much. When they got back to the dock, my Brett was off the raft and into the boat. Evidently he got scared and had to get in the boat and ride. Funny.


But, it was crazy, almost right after they got back from this one boat outing, it started to thunder and then rain. We thought, it'll blow over and we'll be able to get back out there again soon. We waited, and we waited, and we waited some more. Not so much, it didn't work out. We originally had planned to eat around 6 but at some point, you have to decide, we are all out here under a shelter, a zillion kids, what do we do now? So, we ate early. The weather was a real drag but we really had a good time, just chatting and getting to know one another better. I am going to just post a bunch of photos from that day. The details are self explanatory. We ate and talked and talked and ate and talked some more.







































































































As you can tell, we really did have a fun time and we did get a little bit of lake time but not much at all. I hope everyone will come again next year and we can try again.

Our (old) small group extended

We had our (old) small group over the other night and we also extended the invite to scoop up some other friends that just moved into town. I believe in small groups and I think they are a good thing. They produce relationships that are family oriented and grounded and it just works; small groups "do life" together. I am a fan. I also think that small groups are intended to grow and bring other people that might need to find their spot or niche. Our group consisted of the Browns, Moyens, Sanders and John Maupin and his girlfriend Jayne. John is the new head golf coach at Lee where Will is the assistant. We had a blast, hanging out on the back deck and grilling some good london broil and chicken. The evening did get a late start because a few of the guys played in a golf tournament Friday afternoon and were waiting around to see if any of them won, they didn't, it turns out.

Our kids always have a blast together and after Friday night was over, I came to some conclusions about our (old) small group. We are very loud, we laugh a lot, we poke fun at eachother ALWAYS, and our kids get along wonderfully.
For the most part, we sat on the deck and then at the dining room table (again with the lovely sunflowers in the background). This rental house. That's going to be another post another day.

The mix of people is interesting, in one way or another, each of us are connected to the same place, Lee U. We've got golf coaches, basketball coaches and faculty...and staff (that's me). And if they don't fit those categories they are married to someone who does, so we have that in common. So, I bet you already can guess what most conversations are about. Sports? Of course, its a toss up between basketball and golf and it can be football since we are fastly approaching football season. I think that's why we get so loud, everyone is an expert in one of these areas or another (or so they think).


I'm not sure what in the world they were talking about but it seems they were trying to make Matt believe something and he doesn't seem too thrilled. Ha!








Oh, this is funny. At one point, I couldn't find Missy, she was missing. Oh, she wasn't missing, she was in the living room with the kids playing Guitar Hero. It was funny, so we got this photo of her in action. She says its a blast. I wouldn't know the first thing about that game or activity, I would need some serious lessons which I'm sure my 6 year old is perfectly capable of giving.