North Georgia Trip

the top of one of many waterfalls

on top of Brasstown Bald mountain
Nana & Papa made T a great Gordon birthday cake for his 3rd birthday!
beside a beautiful waterfall our last day in GA

I'm way behind on my blogging- busy living life! I do want to catch up but my best time to do it at night I seem to want to sit and not do anything or have things I need to do it. Of course, there are things I should be doing tonight but I really want to catch up.

so I thought I'd start with the wonderful trip we went on a few weeks ago with my parents. We went to North Georgia. It was beautiful- I wish James had been able to go too but we really had a good time. We drove down Monday morning and got into a good routine-

-we started each day with a nighttime adventure- hiking under the stars (it really was only 6:30 but still way dark except sun & moon- which the boys thought was awesome!)

-Then a big breakfast- oatmeal, eggs, bacon, even french toast one day- thanks Papa.

-Then an outing- one day we went to the Alpine Town of Helen, then the highest mountain in GA (Brasstown Bald), another day to a Fish Hatchery and state park, and the last to super pretty waterfall. The boys really loved being able to see 4 states from the top of Brasstown Bald. Kayleigh just thought it was cool to ride in the shuttle to the top unbuckled.

The Fish Hatchery was great- a private tour complete with getting to feed the fish- trout of all different sizes. If we'd been there longer we would have gone fishing in the pond next door. We did get to go canoeing which the boys thought was awesome.

-KG & T took car naps on the way back every day and then even more fun back at the condo. We played tennis (the boys did great- got me back motivated about tennis!), went swimming, played ping-pong, shuffleboard, mini-golf, and frisbee golf. Good tired boys each night! What a great trip! Thanks Nana & Papa for the fun & memories!

T's Three!

the birthday boy- he loved wearing his Lewcrew birthday boy shirt
Grandma, Uncle B, & Pops Leon came down for a morning bday party- T had an Elmo Turtle party
Yummy Turtle Cupcake Cake

We had a great birthday party today for T- family, hotdogs, baked beans, turtle cupcake, and presents. and then went to K & C's first soccer game. It's hard to believe our baby boy is 3 (well in a few hours he will be.) He's sure he is a big boy. He speaks very clearly now & lots. He has his own sense of humor and is definitely his own person although he copies his big brothers.

Visiting Grandmollie

We had a great visit in July to our Grandmollie. It was so sweet to see the boys reading books with Grandmollie. KG and I stayed at Grandmollie's house and we had precious hours together at night of KG scooting across the floor full of grins. The boys stayed with Daddy at a hotel. We went running and made some trips to the park to get some little boy energy out. The boys I mean kids loved riding the carousel and eating snow cones- some of my favorite childhood memories. We also were really glad we were able to schedule our trip to go to church with Grandmollie- her church has such loving people who feel like an extended family. I just wish we could make NC & MS closer together!

Grad videos

Graduation

We're having a great summer. June was filled with afternoons in the pool with friend. We started July with the boys graduations- K's Kindergarten graduation, C's preschool, and T graduated from toddler school :)

boys getting their certificates. We had a wonderful graduation- The boys all said the Pledge of Allegiance. K read Ps 23 and the Pledge to the Bible. C sang "There were 12 Disciples" T sang "Awesome God." and KG looked cute scooting around. Then we had a great cookout with a red, white, and blue jello flag & the yummy lunch that Grandma brought.

Pictureless Wednesday

so is it really middle of June already? How time flies. Memorial Day Weekend was a blur of fun- cookouts, swimming with friends, a birthday celebration with Grandma, Uncle B, and Pops Leon. Then James headed up to DC for a few days and my parents, Becky & David spent the night here on the way to a 100 mile bike trip. Another great birthday celebration and visit! And we found out James was selected for ROTC PMS. We're moving to Baltimore, MD next summer!

We've spent tons of time in our backyard pool with friends. We've had lots of fun & eaten lots of watermelon. The boys play Marco Polo, run circles around the pool, practice swimming, play sharks, and splash lots!

Every few days we have a quiet (as quiet as it gets with 4 small kids) day alone at home to recover from all our hot weather fun. We got to eat breakfast with James one day this week before he headed back to DC. We got to learn more about free range chicken eggs. And then enjoyed a nice morning outdoors- We got to watch a spider catch, wrap, eat his bug breakfast. We found more blackberries around our yard and checked out our apple tree. K asked if it was okay to read his Bible because he wants to read it in the morning like Mommy & Daddy. I heard on the radio a comedian talking about how we take pics of the good times bc we want to remember the good memories. I want to do that with this blog too.

Then back to the loud splashing fun of more cookouts and swimming with friends. Mixed with the researching of Maryland. Sometimes the internet really is great. You can "meet" people from somewhere before you go!

More May Pics

We've had a fun May (other than James having to work too much but at least he's here!) The boys really enjoyed soccer. Here's a pic in their soccer uniforms.

We're super excited about our new tent- we've done some practice camping. We set up the tent in our living room. Then did daytime camping in the backyard and then one night of camping in the backyard. Plan was James and the boys- turns out it was James and the biggest boy. The rest stayed inside with me and KG.

Here's the gang dressed up again.
K's first Field Day- we had a blast. I stayed with the younger kids in the playground. I wish we had a picture of me & the other 3 moms pushing several double strollers with 3-4 small ones hanging on each stroller up the hill. We got back to the field just in time to see K finish the distance race- he came in 3rd! He did super! We were so proud he kept working hard!
Here's us sharing a yummy treat at the Dogwood Festival- another fun day. We also went to Got to be NC fair up in Raleigh which was great. The boys loved seeing all the animals. The all you can eat BBQ was great too.