Lilly & Mamie

happy 7th birthday Lilly!

2012-01-23T06:26:00.001-08:00

Introducing...Boo, the newest little sister

2011-07-18T06:09:00.000-07:00

Jon and I have been killing ourselves to fence in our backyard so we could get a puppy. My dad came up and helped us figure out the gates, and we finished it a couple of weeks ago. Then, there was the year-long debate about which breed to get. Scole was as close to human as a dog can get, and there is really nothing we love more than Labs, but non-shedding was at the top of my list. We finally settled on a Labradoodle (part Lab, part Standard poodle). We drove almost to Cookeville yesterday and picked her out. She was the biggest girl they had left and we loved her. We named her "Boo." Partly inspired by Monsters, Inc. and partly just because we loved it and thought it fit her. The girls are loving her and so far, she is a great puppy.

All worn out from playing hard on her first night at home.

it's a girl!

2011-06-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Jacqueline Elise Stevens
7 lbs 9 oz
born June 22

Branson & Kristin had a perfect little baby girl this week. The girls are so excited to have a little girl cousin. She is precious!

Getting to hold her for the first time.

Beach 2011 (& a few things before)

2011-06-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

We finally broke ground on our fence. We're hoping to finish it up this summer & get a puppy!!! We are missing having a dog around here.

We were completely taken over by cicadas here. They even came up THROUGH our aggregate driveway that has been here for 20+ years. Unbelievable.

Lilly finished Kindergarten. It flew by faster than I ever could have imagined. Mrs. Austin gave them "candy awards" and Lilly got the "Sweet Tart" award for being sweet :) She was so proud and had such a fantastic year. We're going to miss Mrs. Austin!

Lots of lazy afternoons watching cartoons or movies in mommy's bed after being worn out from swimming and playing outside in the heat.

Lost another tooth--#4!

Playing with cousins. I love the way Lilly says his name--sounds like "John Who-ston."

AND finally...THE BEACH!!!!!!!!

Mamie loved playing in the sand

Swimsuit models ;-)

Lilly & Frances played in the waves forever

Mamie loved jumping over the waves

The crew (minus Drew) before Emily and Lowrie came down
Poor Cal was totally outnumbered by the girls, but they all played together and had fun.

We got to meet up with the Gibbs' for dinner one night at Harbor Docks.
I know the server was delighted to hear we had NINE kids.

Checking out the boats & hermit crabs

Waiting for a table at Pompano's

Sweet little girls

Met the Byrds for dinner--VERY hot, but fun.
and 10 kids this night :)

at the Track--Mamie and Grant riding the planes because they were too little to do the bumper cars.

Daddy and Lilly on the bumper cars

with Jason & Cal

hilarious group shot--not sure why Grant was doing this, but it's pretty funny.

Daddy & his girls right before we got rained out on the wood track

Lilly, Olivia & Cal

The Easter Potato

2011-05-03T22:12:00.000-07:00

So, I was cooking dinner on the Saturday night before Easter Sunday. I was talking to Jon who was in the den with the girls and telling him to talk to them about the story of Jesus and the resurrection, and about why we celebrate Easter. As I am telling him this, I cut open a potato and found this inside. It blew me away.

ready for spring...

2011-03-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

Over spring break we went to visit my parents for a few days. The weather was gorgeous, and we spent lots of time playing outside, going to the park, and going out to eat. My mom took Lilly to get her first major haircut while we were there--she had about 5-6 inches cut off. It looks so much better! My dad and I took the girls to the science museum in Huntsville one afternoon. They loved it.

on the big swing with a magnet underneath

playing with the floating balls

bubbles!

the earthquake simulator--Lilly was very interested in this after seeing all the footage from Japan :(

and the most popular exhibit--the "toot machine"

We (meaning Jon) planted tulips this year for the first time. They are so pretty and we are enjoying watching them bloom. They are one of my favorite flowers.

Lilly finally got "Stripes!" She has been DYING to bring the class tiger home all year and finally got her chance this weekend. We of course had to immediately take him to our favorite place--Krispy Kreme!

...and camp out in the playroom

and make muffins

and play games

Posing by the tulips on a very chilly March morning!!!

Roll Tide

2011-02-16T06:48:00.000-08:00

Zach & Kim had an event to go to the other night and several college mascots were there. They took the girls in and let them have their picture made with Big Al. Unfortunately, I think Aubie was a little more entertaining and the girls came home talking about how funny he was. I won't post the pictures Zach took of my ALABAMA girls with that tiger. ;-)

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

2011-02-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

When I taught, my favorite children's book author was Kevin Henkes. I used to spend an entire six-weeks doing a unit using all of his books. When we named Lilly, I seriously spelled it the way I did because of "Lilly," the Kevin Henkes character. Lilly had book character day at school a couple of weeks ago, and she decided to be "Lilly" from Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. They are surprisingly similar characters ;-)

DISNEY!!!!!

2011-01-29T13:29:00.000-08:00

We decided to take our first trip to Disney in January to celebrate the girls' birthdays--Lilly turned 6 while we were there and Mamie will be 4 in February. I had not been since I was 5 years old, so I was almost as excited as they were. We drove, and barely beat the snow going through Atlanta. We were planning on leaving on a Monday, but the snow was predicted for Sunday evening, so we left Sunday around lunchtime as soon as Jon could get home from work. About an hour past Atlanta, we heard that the ice had hit Atlanta and the airport was already closed. It was the craziest timing--we thought Lilly was going to miss a whole week of school, and she ended up without a single absence! It was VERY COLD at Disney for the first two days, but it was great. There were no long lines for anything, and we could not have picked a better time to go. We walked right onto rides like Dumbo and Peter Pan, that usually have a long wait. We all loved it and couldn't get over how sweet all of the princesses and characters are. I think we're all ready to go again. It was even better than I had anticipated. We went to Tampa first to visit my sister and her family for a couple of days, and then drove to Orlando. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had a great time.

Almost as much fun as Disney World--IKEA!!!!! I was so excited and took pictures of everything. You can spend all day in that place. I LOVED it.

Had to take a picture of the adorable little eating area they have for kids in the restaurant inside Ikea. They even had games for them to play, movies to watch while they ate, bibs, bottle warmers, kid dishes and silverware...it's like a dream store :) OH, and did I mention the FREE 45 minutes of childcare? I'll be going to Atlanta soon...

The sweetest 14 year old nephew on earth. He had his friends playing duck-duck-goose and hide & seek with the girls. They adore him.

Holding his sheet music while he practiced his trumpet :)

EPCOT--Day 1

Outside the Nemo ride

Our first Character happened to be Mickey Mouse

And Mamie's favorite was next...PLUTO! She calls him "ploodle."

I look like I have a spaceship coming out of my head, but at least we got one family shot :)

You'll notice that all throughout the trip, Lilly has her birthday button on that they gave her when we checked into the hotel. EVERYONE told her happy birthday and called her by name, from the attendants on every ride, to the people cleaning the bathrooms. She loved it. Every time she took her jacket off or put it on, she would move her button. She was serious about it.

Lilly is sulking in the stroller with her arms crossed after riding "test track." It was a great ride--I screamed like a little girl the entire time on the track and in the picture of us at the end, I had both of my feet up on the dashboard like we were going to die. Lilly HATED it, but Mamie loved it. She was tall enough to ride everything at the parks except space mountain.

Mulan

Viking Carmans

With Sleeping Beauty at Akershus for dinner in Norway. It was awesome.

All the little girls paraded around the restaurant with the Princesses.

Jasmine

Snow White--she saw it was Lilly's birthday and had Dopey make a cupcake for her ;-)
Lilly is still talking about what a good baker Dopey is.

Ariel. She was so pretty and sweet.

With her cupcake from Dopey

Leaving after a long day...

MAGIC KINGDOM--Day 2

One of the highlights of the trip--the characters from Tangled! Rapunzel & Flynn Rider. Lilly can't stop looking at his pictures. I couldn't get over how much he looked like Flynn from the movie.

Flynn is holding Lilly's hand in this picture (swoon).

Daddy and Mamie on the Pooh ride.

Daddy on the teacups--If I had gone on that ride, we would have had to leave the park for the day. Makes me sick thinking about it...

Sitting on Minnie's couch

the people mover...which stopped twice while we were on it and was more like the "people stopper."

The girls' first roller coaster--Lilly wanted a picture of it. Goofy's Barnstormer. That's about the scariest ride I ever want to go on. I do not mind holding purses and sitting on benches :) I screamed a little too much on this one.

Princess Tiana and Naveen

Leaving the Park to go to Dinner

1900 Park Fare--We LOVED this character meal. The stepmother and stepsisters were hilarious.

Anastasia...

The "royal" couple dancing :)

Prince Charming was so sweet to the girls.

Drizella

Mamie told her she shouldn't have torn up Cinderella's dress. She said it just "Fell apart when she touched it because it was made by mice." She asked the girls if any of their clothes were made by rodents.

Sweet Cinderella

MAGIC KINGDOM--Day 3

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I decided we "needed" some pictures of them ON the ride so I could get out of having to ride this one. Yes, my 3 year-old is on it.

I need a zoom lens so bad...

Lilly came out saying "that was AWESOME!"

Mamie, not so much.

On Tom Sawyer's Island

At Chef Mickey's on our last night. Mamie showing off "Ploodle."

If you are thinking of planning a trip to Disney any time soon, I highly recommend Liana Blackburn. She planned our whole trip for us and we could not have been happier!

December

2011-01-29T12:23:00.000-08:00

I am sooo behind! December flew by with all the fun things to do, class parties, snow, and time with family.

Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread houses at Richland. Jon actually got to come this year! We missed Hollis and Kim.

They were out of town :(

Daddy and Lilly took theirs very seriously. They got a couple of compliments on the way out and Jon bragged about it for quite a while ;-)

I let Mamie put so many giant gumdrops on the roof, that it ended up falling off.
I am normally a control freak about crafty things, and had to try very hard to just let her do it all by herself.

Thanks Sassy!!!

Snow!!!!!

Bundled up for the snow--before they got tired of playing in snow!

Trying to sled at the farm with Ellie.

Mamie's First School Christmas Party & Program

Sassy came to see Mamie sing her Christmas songs. She was so excited to go up on stage.

When your daddy works at a grocery store...

He just might come home with a GIANT inflatable sleigh!

The girls had so much fun playing in it--you can't tell from the picture, but there were blinking lights along the top. It took up the entire playroom--it is huge.

Santa & his Reindeer

It was so cold this day that we almost couldn't stand to wait in line.

Christmas

Lilly, Hollis, and Mamie

Sassy showing Mamie her BIG gift that was hidden in a closet--

a HUGE horse. It could pull the HUGE sleigh!

She loves it. Mamie is one horse-crazy little girl. All she kept saying she wanted for Christmas was "a real horse." This was as close as we're going to get for a while.

cousins. TROUBLE.

our only family picture of the season--i know it's dark.

Our tree on Christmas Eve...

and our house on Christmas Eve! I had to get a picture--who knows when we'll have another white Christmas? It was so neat waking up to snow on Christmas day.

CJ and Pop were here for a few days and got to be at our house on Christmas morning to see what Santa left.

After Santa--ready to open gifts from everyone else!

Excited to open stockings. We always make them wait until after breakfast.

Mamie trying to get hers down by herself.

One of the favorite gifts of the year--pillow pets! Thanks CJ :)

This is how daddy unloads the dishwasher...

Merry Christmas!

October

2010-12-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year, we had a horse-crazy little girl who wanted to be a horse, and a big sister who decided to be a cowgirl. I thought we were going to wind up with Daphne from Scooby-Doo, and a horse (which was a little bit weird), but I was trying not to be a Halloween costume control-freak and let them decide. Anyway, Lilly decided on her own she wanted to be a cowgirl, so I was very excited to make her a cowgirl costume.

The 5th & 6th grade boys at our church were all cowboys and we thought it would be a cute picture. Lilly has decided to be "nervous" in pictures now--especially with big boys, so this is the face I usually get now. Hopefully it will pass SOON.

Showing off the best candy--suckers!!!

Julie and I had a Groupon & decided to take our girls to the Hermitage one day. I was not thinking they would have that much fun, but Lilly absolutely loved it and has been asking when we are going back. She loved the headphones and the guided tour they had for kids to listen to. She was really sad when we were done and there were no more numbers to punch into her little player.

Mamie showing off her headphones

Frances & Lilly

Highlight of Mamie's day--seeing the big horses.

And four very tired girls after walking all over the grounds.

Savannah

2010-10-23T15:37:00.001-07:00

For my mom's 70th birthday, my sister and I planned a trip for all three of us to Savannah. We tried to plan it BEFORE the birth of John Houston, so that keeping my girls wouldn't be a problem while I was gone, and also because I wanted to be here to see his arrival. With plane tickets purchased and reservations made for months, I got the call from Kim the day before we left that she was being induced the next morning. It was so frustrating, but luckily I have some wonderful friends (and family :) who stepped up and took my girls for me and allowed us to have a wonderful time. We ate a LOT of great food, took in all the beautiful historic sights, and just enjoyed being together.

My sweet sister and mother

One of the beautiful squares

One of the only pictures with all 3 of us--the poor valet took 3. In the first one, I am making this stupid face, telling him to hold the button down, in the second, my mom's eyes were closed, and in the third, my sister is making a funny face. So, I am taking one for the team and posting the ugly shot of myself.

The line outside Paula Deen's restaurant starts lining up at 7:30 in the morning. No thanks.

And, need I say more?

The Mercer house--from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

John Houston

2010-10-23T15:05:00.001-07:00

The girls have a new baby cousin! John Houston arrived early on September 23rd, just after I boarded a plane and flew to Savannah to celebrate my mom's birthday. I was so sad to miss his arrival, but I know we'll have plenty of time to see the little guy :) He's a cutie and the girls are crazy about him.

Hollis is a proud big brother!

Camping

2010-10-23T09:04:00.001-07:00

Our class at church went camping this September at the most beautiful campground I have ever been to. It was planned on a weekend when Jon had to work, but I still wanted to take the girls. My friend Julie's husband had to be out of town that weekend also, so we took our girls and shared a campground. It was so much fun--I can't wait to go next year. I didn't get many pictures--I was a little shorthanded keeping up with 2 kids beside a lake without a daddy ;-)

Mamie had to bring her horses, of course

Swimming in the lake

The only thing I hate about camping...the laundry aftermath.

kindergarten!!

2010-10-23T08:46:00.001-07:00

My big girl started kindergarten this year. It was very hard for me to believe that she was old enough to go, but she was dying to start school. She has loved every second of it.

Lilly and Mrs. Austin

Walking in on the first day with her new tote bag :)

the end-of-summer blues

2010-08-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

With Lilly starting kindergarten last week, I feel like we tried to cram in as much as we could during the end of July and beginning of August. We have been swimming, having playdates, going to the library, watching movies, sleeping in, baking together, cuddling and being lazy on the couch in our pajamas all day long because it was a million degrees outside...
Here are a few pictures of some of the things we've done and places we've gone the past few weeks.

My brown little swimmers ready to hit the pool. They have both started wanting to carry their own pool bag.

Hatcher Dairy

This tour is fabulous and I highly recommend going. It is $6 per person, but well worth it. It was so hot the day we went, I thought I was going to DIE, but we still made it to the end. They get to feed the cows, pet all kinds of animals (goats, a pony, a donkey, sheep), and I learned a lot about dairy cows and dairy farming. We already drank Hatcher milk before the tour, but after going and seeing it all firsthand, it makes you not want to ever buy anything but local dairy products again. And they give you chocolate milk and homemade butter and crackers at the end of the tour. DELICIOUS.

Mamie ready to feed the cows. I never knew that they don't have upper teeth in the front and can't bite you. Don't know how I missed that fact when I took animal science.

Mamie, the only one who won't actually drink milk, would have milked that cow all day if I had let her.

My apologies for posting this picture, but it was the most memorable part of the tour for both of my girls. This was all my girls wanted to tell Jon about when he asked about the dairy farm. At first Lilly got all upset and almost started crying for the poor cow when she saw "them," thinking that something horrible must be wrong with this poor mama cow's udders. When I told her it was a boy cow and that was just his "private parts," it suddenly became the most hilarious thing either one of them had ever seen.

Kindergarten Prayer Lunch
Ashley, Tressa, Emily, and I planned to get all four of our about-to-be-kindergarteners together for a special prayer lunch the week before school started. We didn't know when we planned it that Ashley's doctor would be deciding to induce her early and that she would be in the hospital! We were sad that she and Cal missed it, but it was a happy occasion to miss out on something :) Ellie, Livi, and Lilly (try saying that three times fast ;-) had a fun time together and I am thankful for friends who can keep it together and pray for our girls going to kindergarten because I was a mess.

We got sentimental thinking about how we took pictures like this of them propped up in a chair together when they were just weeks old.

We are so proud of all our kindergarteners and know they will do great and have a wonderful year!

Williamson County Fair
Living in Lebanon (home of the great Wilson County Fair) for the past few years, we had never been to the Williamson County Fair. We decided to take the girls this year and loved it. It is so nice and small--it was really easy to take little ones. The only thing that was a major disappointment to Mamie was no pony rides. She asked when she could ride the ponies the entire time we were there. No ponies. Maybe next year... They still had a lot of fun and the little farmer exhibit was adorable. I wish I had gotten pictures.

First Canoe Trip

We have been wanting to take the girls canoeing for a long time, Jon and I used to go almost every weekend before we were married and love it. I finally got them some life jackets and he decided to take them last Sunday. I stayed home and he called me when they got close to the take-out to come pick them up. They loved it. I wish we had some of the pictures from Jon's phone to post. They were so cute swimming in the Harpeth and sitting in the boat. I hope it's the first of many family canoe trips.

Coming round the bend in the river--from the bridge on Moran Rd.

The only thing missing is a fat, black, happy dog.

Baby Drew Stiles Holland

Born on August 5th, weighing 6 lbs 11 oz (i think :) to Ashley and Jason. Lilly has baby brother envy and she and Mamie tell me every hour or so that we need a baby boy and that they wish they were Cal and Lexi so they could have a baby brother. Sorry kids!

He is the tiniest cutest little thing I have ever seen!

chattanooga girls' trip...WITH kids!

2010-08-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

Last year, my college roommates and I spent a weekend in Chattanooga at Casey's house without the kids. This summer, we thought it would be fun to get all of our little ones together for a weekend and do something fun like the aquarium. It was so much fun seeing all of them together and watching them play like they have always been little friends. It was chaos, but fun. We even had a sitter one night so we could go out and eat ALONE! Thanks Casey for opening your house to six little ones! You are a brave hostess :)

Henley, Stella, Lilly, Will, Mamie (John was in the stroller and Quinn was at home with Courtney's mom for the weekend)

It was honestly a coincidence--all of the girls had yellow bows on the first day!

Stingrays

Outside the butterfly exhibit

About to see the penguins

They all loved the shark cage

This picture just cracked me up--The look on Mamie's face in there knocking on the glass is hilarious to me.

Mamie LOVED watching the charks come by. I could have stood there all day.

Lilly and sweet little Stella. You could tell Lilly really enjoyed being the "big kid" for the weekend. She tried to act like a little mommy.

TROUBLE, PARTY OF 5, your table is ready.

3 hot mamas

(literally, it was very hot :)

Casey had a craft project for the kids on Saturday morning. They all got to make visors to wear to the pool.

Mamie showing off not only her sporty new visor, but also her crazy case of bed head

Stella and Will hard at work peeling stickers

What can I say? It's fabulous!

Courtney got all the kids these adorable matching shirts.

We love Chattanooga and all our new friends!

Thanks for a great weekend, girls!

going private

2010-07-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

After months and months of nagging from Jon, I am finally giving in. If you want me to add you to the list, them please leave me a comment and your email address if I don't have it.
Thanks!

she swims!!!

2010-07-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I said in the post above that I thought Mamie would be wearing her floaties forever, but she won't :) On the last two days of lessons, it finally clicked and she is swimming by herself. She still needs lots of practice, but loves it, is not afraid anymore and wants to practice all the time.

Mamie taking off from the steps to swim to her teacher.

taking a big breath

and going again!

Lilly was already swimming, but here she is practicing breathing to the side while she swims.

The two wild ones. Hollis did great too--he had NO fear at all.

July is flying by...

2010-07-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

One month from today, Lilly will start kindergarten. I am getting a little bit sad about it and feel like the rest of the summer is going to be over in the blink of an eye. We have been staying busy--we went to Huntsville for a few days to visit CJ and Pop last week, and we've had lots of fun with friends, swimming, and going places.

I took this picture from the kitchen window after the rain the other day. There were actually five bunnies, but I couldn't get them all in one shot. They hung out for over an hour, just cleaning their little faces, eating grass and clover, and playing with each other. We watch them run at each other and jump up into the air--I haven't figured out if they are fighting or playing, but it is pretty hilarious to watch. I had pet rabbits growing up, so I love them. Every time we pull in the driveway, you can see white tails and bunnies hopping off. There is never a day that goes by that we don't see at least one. Mamie has named one of them "Hopper." Of course there is no way to distinguish between them, so they are always "Hopper" if there is one bunny in the yard.

Creative Discovery Museum

We went to the Discovery Museum in Murfreesboro last Friday with some friends. It was really fun for their ages and I would recommend it if you haven't been. We packed lunches and ate there at their covered picnic area.

Mamie played on this for a LONG time--spinning arund and around...

If you ask any of the kids in our group what their favorite thing at the museum was, they would probably say the conveyor belt. Not sure why, (there were several "more exciting" things there) but they loved it. Even the big kids could not get enough of it. I bet they filled up 20 baskets of plastic vegetables while we were there.

Daddy's little grocery worker sorting produce ;-)

And the surprise of the day was running into Jon's cousin, Allison, who lives in Murfreesboro! This is her little boy, Sean, who we hadn't seen in a LONG time! They were celebrating his 2nd birthday. He's a little cutie.

Shoveling coal

Funny how manual labor seems so fun when it's at a museum, but at home it's not.

Meeting Snow White

Mamie, Lilly, Frances, Libby, and Lexi all decked out in their princess attire

Listening to Snow White read a book. I caught Mamie scratching her nose--it looks like a pick, but it's a scratch!

Making snow.

Swimming Lessons

Mamie, Lilly, and Emery ready to swim

Hollis practicing his kicking

Mamie practicing blowing bubbles

Not sure what Lilly is doing here. But can you tell she is having fun? She is already swimming pretty well on her own and loves it, she just needs a little help with becoming a stronger swimmer.

I'll have to give an after-lessons report next week and let you know if Mamie learns to swim on her own. If she had her way, she would wear floaties forever.

happy 4th

2010-07-07T22:08:00.001-07:00

a very rare thing--Mamie smiling for a picture

Lilly wanted a picture with her doll, Lily Anna, since they matched :)

Wild man Hollis in the bouncy house

Watson baby #2 is on his way...

the carman clan--minus me, the picture-taker :(

my girls love those earplugs--lilly wanted hers in before it even got dark.

before and after

2010-06-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

I was going through old pictures on the computer today and started looking through the pictures of our house renovation from start to finish. It's been a very fun process and I have learned a great deal. I wish I had the money to just do it as a hobby--ha!

I really never thought I would see our driveway again at this point. Jon spent a lot of time shoveling mud and gravel off of it to finally uncover it again. I also split the rear end of my favorite jeans wide open stepping up onto that porch with no steps on it. I really wished I knew Spanish that day. Everyone there got a good laugh (myself included).

our bedroom before... (it had a door)

and after (with a window in its place)

standing in the kitchen looking toward the dining room before...

and after (with the wall removed)

view of eating area off of kitchen before...

and after as an office/workspace

tiny kitchen before...

tiny kitchen after...

den before and after...

sisters

2010-06-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

You may remember me talking about my friend, Chesley, who took these pictures of the girls back in December. Well, she is now "official!" She has started a photography business. You can see her photography blog here. I am so proud of her and know she will be successful--she is great with kids and has a real talent for photography. My girls were NOT cooperative at all on the afternoon these were taken, so I was amazed she got anything. Here's a little sneak peek--I haven't gotten to see all of them yet. Thanks so much Chesley! I love them!

beach

2010-05-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

We just got home from spending a week at the beach with my parents, my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. It's the first time we have all been on a family vacation together that I can remember. We had a great time and ate a lot of delicious seafood. Mamie was really sick for most of the trip (even though you can't tell from these pictures), and only got to go out to the beach in the mornings because of the medication she was taking. She was pretty pitiful, but was happy as long as she had sand to play in. My pediatrician thinks she has Lyme disease, which totally freaked me out. She had a tick on Mother's day, and at the beach she had fever that would not go away, a horrible rash that kept getting progressively worse, swollen lymph nodes, achey legs and arms, runny nose, no appetite, etc. Her doctor even gave me his cell # and called me to check on her a couple of times, which made me feel like it was even more serious. After a couple of days on the medication, her symptoms started to improve a lot. She still has a rash, but it is so much better. She will have to be on strong antibiotics for a couple more weeks. We just took her out in the mornings with a hat and a ton of sunscreen and tried to keep her under an umbrella.

Hanging out with aunt sissy while we waited to eat.

CJ and Pop at dinner the first night

At dinner the first night--the night I thought Lilly had been abducted and freaked out. I tore open stalls in the women's and men's rooms looking for her. I was a total psycho. Screaming in the restaurant, almost knocking down an elderly couple on the stairs... Jon was running around outside looking for her, my mom and Dylan were looking, the manager and servers were looking everywhere and the manager was about to make an announcement and lock down the restaurant when we found her--at the table in my sister's lap. Too crazy to even believe. I stayed scared for about three days after that and didn't take my eyes off of her. It is the worst feeling I have ever felt in my life.

Dylan, Lilly, and Mamie

Happy in the sand

We went to the Track one night after Mamie started feeling better. We all rode Go-carts and the girls rode rides. Lilly was such a sweet big sister--there were a few kiddie rides that they stood in line for, and when they got to the front of the line, the person working told Mamie that she wasn't big enough to ride them. Lilly wouldn't go on anything that Mamie couldn't ride on--she rode all the "baby" rides with Mamie because she didn't want Mamie to be left out.

Oh, and at dinner before going to the Track, Jon gave me a fried oyster from his plate and I bit into it and about broke my tooth. I thought it was a piece of shell, but when I spit it out, it was a pearl! Pretty crazy.

Uncle Tim's delicious seafood stew at Stinky's

The best family shot I got with my camera. Of course, Mamie isn't looking, and the lighting is a little weird, but at least we're all in it!

The girls LOVE their cousin Dylan. They would follow him anywhere.

My sweet sister

Deb, Dylan, and Tim

Me and my sister and mom

The boys

This is what happens when you tell 2 little girls NOT to get sandy or wet while we take family pictures on the beach. They both ended up going home in just their underwear.

Lilly took this picture of us one night at dinner. Jon is busy telling her not to drop the camera in case you are wondering. Pretty funny angle--we look like giants and my arm looks bigger than Jon's. Oh well :)

I made these crab dresses for the girls. That's how Mamie felt :(

Not the best picture, but it is the first time I have ever gotten Mamie to put her head through one of those things.

At Seaside after dinner at Bud and Alley's on our last night. Mamie carried that gold purse with her everywhere.

Oh, and the last crazy story for our very eventful beach vacation--I watched a guy do a back flip in the waves and land on his head in the sand. His brother dragged him out of the water, I sent Jon to help him and I called 911. He couldn't move half of his body and was in agonizing pain and could hardly breathe. All the fire/rescue people finally arrived and took him to the hospital and we found out the next day that he broke 4 vertebrae in his neck and had to be flown on a helicopter to Pensecola for surgery. We were all so relieved that he wasn't paralyzed. His parents were there and his mom was crying--it was so scary. Also, did you know that when you call 911 on the beach, they keep asking for an ADDRESS!? I was telling them what neighborhood we were in on the beach, and what road we were off of, and a restaurant right next door and they kept asking me for an address. Really? Just remeber that if you are ever attacked by a shark or hurt on the beach, you need to know the county you are in and the address. Seriously. What in the world?

graduation

2010-05-28T11:51:00.001-07:00

Lilly had her preschool graduation last Thursday night before we left for the beach. I can't believe my little girl will be in kindergarten next year. She is so excited about it--she asks every day when it is time for school to start. Mamie and I aren't going to know what to do next year when Lilly is gone to school every day :(

Lilly and her teacher, Ms. Gloria

sad day

2010-05-14T19:15:00.001-07:00

There have been a lot of tears in the Carman house today. Scole lived 13 happy years and 3 days. He will be missed so much. I couldn't have asked for a better dog for my two little girls to grow up with. He was sweet, gentle, loving, and smart. He was up for every feeding, diaper change, or crying spell when they were babies. He slept by their cribs and then their beds at night. He endured being dressed up, dragged around, and climbed on. Every morning the first thing Lilly would do was find Scole and sit and talk to him and love on him.

He loved swimming so much, sometimes he would jump in the fountain in front of Jon's parents' house and swim a few laps. When the girls were little we could make him run wild by blowing Jon's duck calls. He loved chasing birds, going canoeing, the beach and playing in the snow. He was the best dog. I swear he understood every word we said. Other people agreed with me--Scole definitely knew English :)

I'm going to miss his toenails clicking around on the wood floors, the sound of him drinking his water, his smell, and never coming home to an empty house. I'm sorry I complained about you drooling on the floor when you drank and all the shedding, Scole--you were worth it. We love you so much and will miss you terribly.

bunnies, eggs, and Easter

2010-04-07T08:47:00.001-07:00

Bunnies...

The annual visit to see the bunnies at Phillip's

Cal and Lilly

Eggs...

Lilly's class egg hunt and party at school

Ellie and Lilly

We had a little egg-dyeing party at our house for a few friends. It was fun and I plan on making it bigger and better next year :)

Easter...

Mamie was the first one up

and then she woke up Lilly to share in the Easter basket fun

The big hit was the rocket balloons. They have had so much fun with them.

Before church. I could either have shadows on their faces, or have them both squinting their eyes shut in the sun.

CJ and Pop were here for Easter this year. But no daddy. He had to work :(

We went to my cousins' farm after church for lunch and and egg hunt for all the kids.

Mamie and Lexi. I love how their dresses looked like they coordinated.

Almost all of the kids were there--minus the ones in Arkansas and Oklahoma :(

Ready for the egg hunt to begin!

Happy Easter!

softball 101

2010-04-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

This spring, Lilly started softball. This is our first family athletic experience, and we had no idea what to expect from Lilly. We kept trying to talk her into soccer, and all she wanted to play was "baseball." When I found out that Emily and Jeremy were coaching a team, we signed her up. It's been so cute seeing her and Jon practicing in the backyard. She has been so excited about practices and had her first game last week. I'm really glad they didn't keep score. We were playing a serious team that looked like they had been playing for a few years compared to our girls. Luckily, I think the parents were the only ones who noticed and all the girls had fun. I think Lilly is more excited about her cleats, visor, and uniform than the game (She was pretty disappointed when she found out that their colors were black and gold. I think she was expecting pink uniforms.).

Ready for her first game ever :)

Brooke and Lilly with their missing teeth.

Lilly and Frances waiting to bat

Lilly up to bat for the first time. Her little legs look so tiny anyway, but that huge helmet on her head makes her look even smaller!

teeth

2010-03-12T20:16:00.001-08:00

We've had a lot of talk about teeth here in our house lately. Lilly decided a couple of months ago that she either wants to be a dentist or hygienist when she grows up and loves to talk about it to everyone. She has a mask, glove, and some of the rubber attachments from her last trip to the dentist and loves to play dentist with Mamie. She has also had a tooth (her first loose tooth) flopping around in her mouth for over a week that we have been DYING to pull out, but she has been guarding like it was her life. Last week was Mamie's first trip to have her teeth cleaned. Mamie was very excited. I had to work, so Jon took them both and I ran over for a few minutes to make sure she was doing OK and take a few pictures. She was a very happy little patient.

Reading a book and waiting...

Mamie (and Ellie, her little build-a-bear puppy) sitting in the chair like such a big girl

She looks so little in that chair.

AND FINALLY...

She lost her tooth! Jon pulled it while I was running an errand tonight, so I missed all the excitement. She is so proud and excited about the tooth fairy's visit.

My big girl lost her first tooth!

bowling party!!!

2010-03-12T19:54:00.000-08:00

We had a combined birthday party for the girls again this year since their birthdays are just a month apart. They both wanted to have a Scooby Doo party and they wanted it at the bowling alley, so it was pretty easy--except for the fact that we planned it on the weekend of the huge snow storm. We had to postpone it a couple weeks, but it finally worked out. It actually snowed again on the morning that it was rescheduled, and I got a call from the man at the bowling alley asking me if I had looked outside yet and laughing about the irony of it. I think we would have had it if we had to ski there--I wasn't going to freeze the cake a second time :) Anyway, we all had fun and the snow didn't keep anyone away. I wish I had gotten a group shot--I didn't get a single picture of all the kids together.

The delicious and adorable cake my talented friend Elisabeth made.

(Great photography, I know. They had the craziest little spotlights all over the ceiling and I couldn't get it to not make a shadow when I was taking the picture.)

The birthday girls--5 and 3

cousin Hollis

Mamie and Ty waiting for the balls to come out

Waiting as patiently as a 5 year old can...

STRIKE!

Mamie blew her candles out the second the song started.
Did I mention how good (and GIGANTIC) that cake was? And that my pants from last spring don't button?

(thank you excessive amount of girl scout cookies, birthday cake, and krispy kremes...maybe scooby doo could solve that "mystery".)

mamie sister is 3 (sniff sniff)

2010-02-20T12:20:00.000-08:00

Mamie sister (my little baby) turned three last Friday. She was almost my valentine baby. We woke her up early before Jon went to work on her birthday so she could open her gifts. The girls and I were heading to Huntsville for the weekend after school, so that was the only time that her daddy could see her open everything. I love her crazy bedhead.
I can't believe she is already three. She has the funniest little personality and everywhere we go someone says something about her croaky little voice. She is so different from her big sister, but still likes to copy everything Lilly does. She is so cuddly and always comes and finds me to tell me she loves me and wants a hug or a kiss. She is not at all interested in learning anything (letters, her name, etc) from me--I am hoping preschool will help that some next fall. At this age, Lilly would have liked to sit and play school all day long. Mamie LOVES coloring, hard puzzles, all of her babies and their strollers, blankets, bottles, etc, puppy dogs, and Scooby Doo. She tries to wear her red cow sweater every day of her life and loves sleeping in her footie "tajamas." She will not dress up in any dress-up clothes even though Lilly has about 5 wardrobe changes minimum per day. She is a very picky eater and her teachers probably think I am a weirdo based on what I send in her lunchbox. She hates peanut butter, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, milk, beef, deli meat, all sandwiches, most vegetables, etc. She loves strange things like pickles, hard-boiled and scrambled eggs, ham (has to be baked--not deli meat), guacamole, salsa, fish, baby spinach with lots of dressing on it, popcorn, chips, almost all fruits--especially kiwi, and unfortunately pop-tarts are her breakfast of choice. I try to sneak in scrambled eggs and fruit, but she has a serious craving for cinnamon pop-tarts first thing in the morning. I love you sweet little Mamie sister.

a ring like Lilly's and some silly bands!

Mamie LOVES Handy Manny. She and Lilly have been "fixing" lots of things around the house with Mamie's new tools :)

And, Mamie also found out she was allergic to penicillin for her birthday. Isn't this pitiful? She got a horrible ear infection the week before and then we discovered that she had developed an allergy to penicillin. She was covered in this rash from head to toe and couldn't even sleep at night. The picture really doesn't do it justice. I guess I should be glad it wasn't a worse reaction.

SNOW!

2010-02-01T07:06:00.001-08:00

I didn't believe the weathermen when they said it. I doubted we would see a flake. I was very wrong. I should have known it would snow since we had a birthday party planned for the girls. Of course it had to be canceled. Lilly and Mamie didn't seem to care at all--they were so excited about the snow, I could have told them Christmas was canceled (anyone else watch Modern Family?). Anyway, we have had a blast playing in it. I love snow. I keep telling the girls they better remember it because they might not ever see this much snow again in Nashville.

These pictures were from the first day (Friday) while it was still snowing.

Mamie kept picking up chunks of snow and saying, "Popsicle!" and trying to eat it. Or she would just try to crawl around like the dog eating it off the ground. Really. I even caught her eating it off of her boots in the car and after we had come inside more than once.

Scole was excited about the snow--he jumped around in it like a puppy.

Of course, even in the snow, she still wanted to swing.

Our back steps.

Bundled up in the car on our way to sled with Hollis.

Thank goodness the snow came on a weekend Jon was off of work. I would have been so sad if he had to work and miss sledding and playing in the snow with the girls.

Sunday Jeff and Kellye had us all over for lunch and sledding. They have the best hill--and the best way to get back up the hill :)

Crytal (Zach's sister) came and took all these great action shots of the sledding.

Zach and Hollis

Jon and Lilly spinning sideways down the hill in this picture. Jon always seems to hold one hand up like he is riding a bull. Our little green sled was hard to control.

Kellye took Lilly down a million times :)

Kristin and Lilly hitting one of the jumps Jon made at the bottom of the hill

Zach and Lilly went all the way into the bushes.

racing :)

no one could beat that crazy metal coke sign Jeff is on.

Me, Kristin, Branson, and Zach crammed on the big orange sled.

Can you tell we were going fast? Riding with Jon was the scariest ride of the day.

Mamie and mommy. She only sledded a few times on Sunday before wanting to go in and play with Kellye's little puppy in the house. Oh, AND color all over herself with a highlighter.

This pretty much sums it up. She is a MESS.

I can't leave her alone for a second these days without finding something crazy like lotion or marker all over something.

Ready to sled. After watching the news about all the head injuries from sledding on Saturday, I broke out the bike helmets for the girls on Sunday.

Branson and Jon had the craziest ride of the day. Jon is holding his arm and hand that he crushed on the ice. I asked Branson if he wanted to go down with me after that and he said, "Once you go Jon, you never go back."

our little houseguest

2010-02-01T06:57:00.001-08:00

Saturday night, Hollis got to come stay with us overnight for the first time. The girls were SO excited and they all had so much fun.

you have to keep an eye on these two...

Come back again soon Hollis!

velma

2010-01-29T09:48:00.000-08:00

My girls are both OBSESSED with Scooby Doo. The old ones that I watched growing up. The ones where there was never a real ghost or monster--it was ALWAYS someone in a costume. They love it and are supposed to be having a Scooby party tomorrow, but because of the snow, who knows? Anyway, Mamie usually wears sunglasses around the house to play the part of Velma, but with the magic of Bendaroos, she now has her very own Velma glasses. Lilly is always Daphne, and Mamie is always Velma. She says "Velma is cooler." Who could argue?

easy bakin'

2010-01-24T17:41:00.000-08:00

We got out the easy bake oven again tonight and I have decided that from now on, I will ignore the directions completely. The cookie on the left was baked according to the time on the mix. The one on the right was baked a little over half as long. When we finally got the time right, they were actually really good. Of course you get to add the white frosting and the pink sugar crystals that come with it. That was definitely the best part. We got to have a tasty dessert tonight made by the girls--and there's no worry of overeating :) One cookie per family member.

Scole got the burned one. He didn't mind :)

I have heard that there are ways to use regular cake mixes and portion them out to easy-bake size. Does anyone know the recipes or amounts for this? It would be a LOT cheaper.

my big girl is FIVE

2010-01-19T20:04:00.001-08:00

I still can't believe it, but Lilly turned 5 last week. That seems so old. To top that off, she went to have her teeth cleaned and they told me she has a loose tooth. Already? I have never been sad or emotional about a birthday for the girls until this one. She just seems like she is getting so BIG. She says such grown up things, is such a good helper, can't wait for kindergarten in the fall, is starting to read, and can do so many things by herself.
She and Mamie are having a combined bowling birthday party at the end of the month, but we had Jon's family over for dinner to celebrate, AND had cupcakes at school, AND went to Puffy Muffin with Sassy for lunch, AND got Krispy Kreme doughnuts for her birthday breakfast... I think we had more than a full share of celebrating last week :)

I made the girls these birthday shirts--Mamie's has three little candles on it :)

Jon had to work late on the night of Lilly's birthday, so we opened presents that morning. It was pretty early when Lilly decided it was time to open her presents. You can see Mamie's arm on the couch. She was cuddling with her bunny and blanket and watching cartoons. It was too early for her to even care what Lilly got for her birthday. She takes after me a little bit :)

Lilly's scooter from us and CJ and Pop. Don't you love the choice of PJ's here?

The kids' table. Lilly was showing us that she is 5 and apparently everyone else is too.

Aunt Kellye and Uncle Jeff

Sassy and Papa Al

Silly Lilly and Aunt Kristin. Lilly acted pretty goofy all night.

Mamie "sharing" her ponies with Hollis.

Hollis needs a scooter! And a fairy hat and a wand, too :)

Happy Birthday my sweet little Lillybug!

snow!

2010-01-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

Finally! I just wish it had been about 10 more inches. I was so excited about the snow, I went out and bought a sled on Wednesday, sure we were going to wake up to at least a couple of inches the next morning. I was so disappointed when I looked out Thursday morning and saw absolutely nothing. Not one flake. Anyway, we finally got enough to at least play in. We took the sled over to Sassy's house to play on her hills. We were able to "sled" even on the first day when there was only a dusting on the ground.

I love little kids bundled up in snow clothes. Mamie threw a fit about having to wear all of that, but once we got outside, she loved it. My sister handed down my nephew's old ski bibs (on Mamie) and boots (on Lilly) from when he was little and the girls were each able to wear some of it. Thanks Dylan!

Hollis loved the "no" and would have stayed out in it all day long.

Aunt Kim and the 2010 winter olympic toboggan crew

Lilly dumping snow on Hollis's head. He'll get her back...

Christmas 2009

2010-01-05T19:53:00.000-08:00

We drove late Christmas Eve to Huntsville (in the worst weather ever). Luckily, the girls slept the whole way and we were able to carry them in and put them in bed so Santa could come. It had been 2 years since my brother-in-law had seen Mamie, so she had changed quite a bit. Unfortunately, she had an ear infection just in time for Christmas and felt terrible Christmas morning. When we brought her downstairs to see her presents, she just fell over and laid on the rug. It took about an hour and a dose of Motrin before she even wanted to look at her toys or open any presents. It was pretty pitiful. Aside from that, we had the best time and the girls played with Dylan and their Aunt Sissy from the time they woke up until they went to bed. The poor kid could hardly go to the bathroom by himself. Now I know what it's like to have a live-in nanny :) I'm trying to figure out a way to get him to come stay for the summer...
Here are pictures from our Christmas. I promise this will be the last Christmas post!

Aunt Sissy checking out Lilly's loot from Santa

Santa brought the doll Lilly wanted--she's named Lily Anna

Do you think we had enough presents?

Dylan's new air-soft gun from CJ and Pop

and his new trumpet from "Santa" (he did a FABULOUS job playing along :)

Now Uncle Tim can finally cut all that hair he has :)

Here was the only thing Mamie asked for (pre-scooter discovery) for months. CJ got it for her.

A blue crawling baby. She was so excited.

My mom got Lilly an easy bake oven. She was so excited. I never had one when I was little, so I had no idea what to expect. She started out wanting the princess oven that "cooks" with ice, and when I read reviews, I told my mom she had to take that thing back to the store. It sounded so disgusting--everyone described the stuff that comes out as "congealed jelly-like inedible goo." The easy bake stuff actually tastes pretty good.

Opening stockings. Lilly gets so excited about everything.

Last year, I had the picture of Jon with the beads the girls had put on him. This year, I think I've topped it. Here he is modeling his new PJ's and Lilly's new pom-poms. I love you honey!

Lilly and Uncle Tim

A very handsome turkey carver :) I don't know why I always get a picture of my dad carving the turkey. It was delicious.

My mom had the table set so pretty with special plates and jingle bell napkin rings for the girls.

Dylan helped Lilly set up the entire oven, read the directions, washed the pans, made the mix with her for the sugar cookies, and helped her cook them. Such a sweet cousin.

Dylan and Sissy with the girls before bed. My sister put them to bed the last night we were there and read 6 LONG books to them. They usually just get one from me. They were in heaven.

christmas eve (aka "scooter day")

2010-01-05T19:15:00.000-08:00

Jon's family always celebrates on Christmas Eve night. This year, Santa had all of his presents ready for the Carman girls, and I was all finished with my shopping, when we went to play at Livi and Grant's house about 2 weeks before Christmas and they had a scooter from learning express. It just happened that the very next day we were going to see Santa at the mall. For months Lilly's Christmas list read, "American Girl doll, Barbies, Tag books, etc." and Mamie's was, "crawling baby and baby stuff." What do you think they both told Santa they wanted? A SCOOTER like Livi and Grant's. They were OBSESSED. Anyway, Sassy saved the day by getting one for Mamie for Christmas. Lilly is hoping for one for her birthday--we'll see. I don't know if I can handle 2 scooters doing laps in our little house. They literally take tuns riding it around the house constantly. They love it. It really is neat and so easy to maneuver around on. So anyway, back to Christmas...

Mamie and the infamous scooter

Lilly and Sassy

Aunt Kristin and Uncle Branson gave Mamie a HUGE coloring book and set of markers. She LOVES to color. She was getting more than a little bit stressed about having to share her coloring book with Hollis.

Opening presents with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kellye

Mamie showing her new robe to Hollis and checking out his new wheels.

Aunt Kellye helping Lilly with her new Barbie make-up set

still on the scooter... we had to make her stop to open her other gifts

Look what Papa Al got! :)

Jon's mom got all the guys some new Christmas PJ's. Notice who the real Grinches are...the Carman men wouldn't model theirs for us ;-)

Christmas with the cousins

2010-01-05T14:47:00.001-08:00

This year, we celebrated Christmas with all my cousins at the farm on Christmas Eve. This was the first time that all of my aunt and uncle's great-grandchildren were here at the same time. Also, my sister was in town from Tampa along with my parents, so everyone was there. There were 18 kids--15 great-grandchildren and 3 great-nieces/nephews. When I was growing up, we put on a play every year for the grown-ups and sold tickets. This was the first year that they were old enough to attempt it. Sweet Emma (8) spent days making signs, tickets, a script, name tags, etc. and assigned everyone a part. She had a hard job trying to get a bunch of toddlers to cooperate :) It was so much fun to watch them all.

The three kid tables.

Emma's sign for the play :) The money really did go to the "needy" in case you are wondering.

Are you tired of seeing these pants in every picture yet? :)

They were my first sewing (clothes) project ever, so I was pretty proud of myself. Just don't look at them too closely :)

This was hilarious. Baby Tate stole the show as Baby Jesus in the play. Haley laid him in the doll cradle and he literally didn't move a muscle. He just stayed still with his little legs poking up out of the end.

Dylan's part of the play. Definitely the oldest one there (13), he was a good sport to play along. Can you tell from this picture how much my girls ADORE him? We wish you lived closer, Dylan!!!

I guess you would call this the finale of the show :)

Time to open gifts!

And the most amazing feat--getting all 18 kids in ONE picture! Sure, they aren't all looking, and one may be crying on the arm of the couch :), but they are all in the picture!

Our family (minus Jon, who was WORKING! of course)

Dylan, Tim, CJ & Pop, Lilly and Mamie, Deborah (my sister), and me

Christmas with Sassy's Family

2010-01-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

The girls with Sassy and Papa Al

Can you tell Hollis was about to make a run for it?

Mamie, Lilly, Hollis, and Sean (Jon's cousin, Allison's little boy)

Jon's grandparents (Lilly and Mamie's great-grandparents)

fun pre-Christmas activities

2010-01-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

In typical fashion, once Thanksgiving was over, the rest of November and December seemed to be gone in a flash. I forgot my camera a few too many times (school party, etc.) but I'm sure I still have enough pictures to post to be a little obnoxious :) Jon works every other Saturday, and it unfortunately fell on every single Saturday we had something this year (in case anyone is wondering where he is in all these pictures).

Our first Christmas in our new house with our LIVE tree Jon insists on every year. I complain about having to water it and the mess it makes, but I do love the smell when you walk in the door.

My blurry picture of the girls at Breakfast with Santa. I don't think I have ever waited so long to have a picture taken. We were there for almost 3 hours! The one the photographer took was great, and there was fun stuff to do, so the girls didn't really notice the wait as much as their mommy did.

Mamie's buddy Campbell

After Breakfast with Santa, we went to see Santa and his live reindeer. I think this is Dancer, but don't hold me to that :) We ran into friends there and had lunch--it turned out to be a fun little outing!

Last year, Sassy started the tradition of taking the kids to make a gingerbread house at Richland. The girls loved it and Hollis tried to eat his weight in candy. I forgot my camera and had to get these from Kim. Aunt Kristin came by to help.

Notice anything different about Lilly's gingerbread house and the one that Hollis and Mamie are working on? Lilly was very serious about hers. Mamie and Hollis were very serious about what went in their mouth--not on their house.

hard at work

We brought Lilly's home and Hollis took the other one. I let the girls eat whatever they wanted on it on the 23rd before we went out of town.

The only picture I got from Lilly's program at Crieve Hall :( She was so excited and proud. I was trying to video, so I didn't get any pictures.

Hollis hanging out with the girls watching cartoons--and pretty much drowning in pink.

photo shoot

2009-12-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

My friend Chesley recently offered to "practice" her photography on my girls. It was the best Christmas present ever! She took the stress off of me having to take a picture for our Christmas card. I think we picked the only cold day that week, but fortunately my girls will play outside no matter how cold it gets, so we went ahead and tried for outdoor pictures. I loved them--she took a ton, and I probably posted way too many, but I couldn't make up my mind, and wanted my mom and dad to see them. I think she did an incredible job and was able to get pictures of Mamie a) smiling and b) facing the camera, which are both close to impossible.

Lilly loves to strike a pose.

Future competitive tricycle rider. It is serious business. She would sleep with it in her bed if I let her.

Thank you Chesley!

leeeeeeaves!

2009-11-22T19:24:00.001-08:00

This year our girls are all about wanting to play in leaves. We just have mainly dogwoods in our yard, so we haven't had any of our own leaves to play in. We found some great ones at the zoo, and our sweet neighbors across the street knocked on the door the other day and asked if the girls wanted to jump in their big pile of leaves with their grandson.

Hollis and Kim went with us to the zoo. I think they all had more fun playing in the leaves than they did looking at the animals.

christmas dilemma

2009-11-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

The girls and Scole posing for a Christmas picture last year

Ok, I have a serious question for the three people that might still be out there in blogland...

I have always tried to stress the importance of being thankful and sharing what we have and make it a point to involve the girls in buying gifts for the children we choose from the angel tree (or church, or whatever). Lilly has been asking so many questions that I can't answer this year.

Like these...

"Mommy, why do you say that these might be the only presents they get for Christmas? Were they bad this year so Santa won't bring them anything?"

"If people don't have money for presents, it doesn't matter mom! Santa will still bring them lots of toys for Christmas!! Isn't that so cool?"

"How can there be boys and girls in the world that don't have any toys to play with or clothes or shoes? Why doesn't Santa just bring them those things for Christmas?"

How do you explain that to a four year old without destroying their faith in Santa? Tell them that Santa doesn't deliver to Honduras so we have to pack a magi box? Seriously--I would love your opinions on this one. I do not know what to tell her. I have just been telling her that Santa still comes to see them, but sometimes people "help the parents" buy some presents to give to their children because they don't have any money. I have told her Santa needs people who have enough to share with others who don't--like the Bible says. She still has unwaivering faith that Santa will bring coats and new warm clothes to ALL those who need them, toys to everyone, and fulfill everyone's wishes (if they are good :).

Anyone have a better suggestion? I'd love a good one :)

a long (but fun) halloween week...

2009-11-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

We had a crazy week! Halloween parties, birthday parties, trunk or treat, trick or treating, and Lilly's first play.

Here's the HUGE pumpkin Jon brought home from the store.

Trunk or Treat

Peter Pan strolling around checking out the loot

sweet little Layla with Lilly

The highlight of Trunk or Treat for Lilly was when Brown arrived. I think she asked me 10 times if he would be there.

The girls favorite place to play lately is our closet. I find strange things hidden in my shoes, and my underwear wrapped around all sorts of things. This is how I found them the other day.

The girls and I had a marathon baking day last week. We made daddy a birthday cake, and sugar cookies for school parties. We had some leftover orange icing from the pumpkins, so we made daddy's cake ugly for him :)

Lilly's class all dressed up and ready to trick or treat

Ms. Gloria

Ellie and Lilly

Halloween Night

Lilly was Tinkerbell, Mamie was Peter Pan, and Scole was the crocodile from Peter Pan (tick tock...)

Trick or treating at Aunt Kristin and Uncle Branson's house was fun! The girls got an insane amount of candy. Thanks guys, we'll be sending the bill for the fillings :)

Then we knocked on Sassy's door. She had great treats too :)

Sunday morning after Halloween--I still had my camera in the car and thought I'd try to get a picture.

Then, as if we hadn't had enough to do, we were offered 4 tickets to Little House on the Prarie. I was SO excited (I think I spent about 4 years of my childhood pretending to be Laura Ingalls Wilder). Lilly had never been to anything at TPAC before, but there was no pressure since we got the tickets free. I figured if she couldn't sit still or be quiet, or if she just didn't like it, we could always leave. We took Ellie and Tressa with us, and the girls LOVED it. They were mesmerized by the singing and dancing and had an incredible time. It was so good--and it had Melissa Gilbert (Laura from the TV show) as Ma! Thank you Jackie for the tickets!

Sporting the most Little House on the Prarie outfit we had...there were so many little girls in full costume dressed just like Laura. So cute!

we couldn't leave the little siblings out

2009-11-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

All the "big" kids had gotten to go to Walden Farm on field trips, but the little brothers and sisters got left out, so we planned a day to take them all. I barely have any pictures of the little ones--they were running around having a ball the whole time. I think Mamie did the hay maze about 8 times. I couldn't get her to stand still for a picture.

The "big" kids :)

Lilly, Cal, Livi, Ellie

Mamie in the hay maze. not sure what's going on with that hair.

Lilly posing as the scarecrow. There is nothing I could have bribed Mamie with to put her face in one of those holes for a picture.

Looking at the piglets

hungry (greedy) goats

Lilly and Livi

Lowrie picked a couple of nice pumpkins...

random october...

2009-10-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

First off, Mamie has never been a fan of costumes. She does not play dress up or put on any of the princess dresses or play clothes that we have. She is strictly a jewelry and high heels girl. Last Halloween it was a nightmare trying to get her to put on (and keep on) her lion costume. This year, Lilly and Mamie decided they wanted to be Peter Pan and Tinkerbell (Peter Pan is their favorite movie right now). Lilly was very sweet and let Mamie decide which one she wanted to be first. Mamie chose Peter Pan. I kept asking Mamie if she was SURE she would wear the Peter Pan costume if I made it and she kept saying, "I will" (which sounds like "I wheel" and is one of her most common phrases). So, one day last week while the girls were home sick (with H1N1 we think), I made the Peter Pan costume. She was no more cooperative than last year. I had to wrestle it onto her and only succeeded because I eventually bribed her with candy. Here are a few pictures I took at my mom and dad's house. I managed to get her to try it on to show CJ and Pop what it looked like. She doesn't have the shoes on and the feather wasn't sewn in yet and looks crazy in a few pictures, but oh well. They might be all we get :)

acting scary with her sword

some technical difficulties with the feather...

Saturday morning the girls and I went to Amy Grant's yard sale at Lipscomb. Mamie picked out a VHS of how different baby animals grow. She was so excited she wanted her daddy to watch it with her the minute we got home. The only VCR still surviving in our house is built into our bedroom TV, so that's where they all were for about an hour after we got home. It was not the most exciting movie...

Here's our Dora pumpkin. I had great plans for this little white pumpkin...maybe a monogram, a cute design, or just a cute little "boo!" but Jon found the website with all the Nickelodeon character templates, so I had to give in. I realize Dora is much more fun for a 2 and 4 year old than a tastefully monogrammed pumpkin. It's really cute lit up--I need to take a picture of it glowing. We still have a HUGE orange pumpkin left to carve...

and does anyone have any suggestions for this mess? I hate these things. IS there any way to clean grass off of these furry crocs? I have put them in the washing machine and it does nothing. I'm afraid the only solution is to sit for hours picking off every piece of grass.
Surely someone out there knows the secret...

fall

2009-10-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

This has been the strangest fall weather I can remember, but we've managed to catch a few pretty days and take advantage of the sunshine and cool weather. Last weekend, Cheekwood was free, so I took the girls to look at the scarecrows. They had a lot of fun, but you may want to read up on Mark Twain before you go. There were so many Tom Sawyer and Mark Twain themed scarecrows. I got pretty exhausted trying to explain who the white-haired scarecrows with the mustaches and books were... and why the scarecrows were whitewashing the fence. There were few that they understood without an explanation, and we all had a good time just walking around in the beautiful gardens.

The Nashville Zoo "Meerkat scarecrow"--my favorite. I didn't realize Lilly was holding her shirt up when I took the picture...

"Crow White and the seven pumpkins" was Lilly's favorite

I wanted a picture of the girls standing by the fountain but Mamie wouldn't get in the picture.

Here she is making a face and trying to arch out of the picture. She does NOT want me taking her picture these days.

Riding bikes in the cul-de-sac across from our house

Scole came out to get a little bit of exercise too.

Sweet sisters.

Lilly pulling Mamie up the big hill--She told me, "Mommy, I learned about helping at church this morning." Thank you, Sunday School teachers. Can I please get you to do a lesson on not fighting with your mommy over clothes every morning? If you see my child in anything other than a dress or skirt, please know that it was a major struggle to get it on her. She will not wear pants, shorts, jeans, or leggings without a fight.

Mamie was the "mommy" when the girls were playing house (which is about all they ever do), so Lilly had to help fix Mamie's hair, earrings, necklace, and high heels. Not sure why they never pick earrings that match...

feeding the ducks at Centennial with Julia and Morgan

and here's Mamie while we're getting the group shot.

walden farm field trip

2009-10-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

We had Lilly's annual field trip to Walden Farm on a very muddy day. All I could think about all day were the rain boots sitting at home in Lilly's closet, and that I was not smart enough to think to bring them. It was MUDDY. The kids still loved it and it was actually really nice to be cool--last year we were so hot. Lilly said a special prayer that morning asking God to keep it from raining, and he did, so she was in awe of her answered prayer all day. I know we'll have to go back and take Mamie--she keeps asking when her class is going to get to go to the pumpkin farm :( We love Walden Farm!

Ms. Gloria's class

I know this picture is blurry, but I still loved it. Lilly has always been terrified of the little hay maze they have for kids. Last year I had to crawl through and get her out because she was crying about halfway through and wouldn't move. She's usually pretty brave about things. Anyway, she's obviously over her fear and loved it this year.

Looking at the cute little calves. Our guide this year failed to explain to the kids that "this is where hamburgers come from, kids." THANK GOODNESS!

on the hayride, sitting by her buddy Jack

playing in the corn with Ellie

i never win anything

2009-10-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

Carrie posted about this awesome bike giveaway and I really would LOVE to win. Too bad I never win anything. It's worth trying for, I guess :)

beach trip

2009-10-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the long overdue post from our beach trip the first week of September. The Hollands and Wells came for our 6th ? annual beach trip. With Courtney and Michael's newest addition, we had a grand total of 12 in the house. What did we do with ourselves when it was just 6 lazy, late-sleeping adults? I can't even imagine...sounds pretty boring :)
We could not have asked for more perfect weather, and the water was prettier than I have ever seen it. It was crystal clear and shallow for a long way out. This was the first year I could truly relax. No naptimes to worry about, and the girls just played on their own and had so much fun on the beach. Lucky for me, because I got sucked into the Twilight books and could not put them down until I was finished with all four of them. Anyway, here are a few too many pictures from the week.

Lilly and Will

Mamie would literally roll around in the sand. She loved it.

One issue we had to address with Mamie: NUDITY. She tried (and succeeded a few times) to strip on the beach countless times. I finally gave up once and she walked back to the house naked.

Lilly learned to swim on her own this year and had no fear. Next year we'll work on diving :)

Mamie is still quite attached to her floaties...

Lexi and Mamie in the plane at the track--they were so cute

Mamie's first ride in a go-cart. I couldn't believe she was tall enough. She was scared to death at first, but loved it and went again with Jon.

Oh, funny drunk man that stole/borrowed Will's alligator float, you brought us such joy. Watching you walk around in the ocean with your beer and a tiny inflatable alligator stretched across your belly was the highlight of my day...

Especially when you pulled your beer-drinking wife around on her float too. I bet you have no idea you are on someones blog from Tennessee.

I loved this picture. Lexi's favorite thing about the beach: snacks. She was really working hard to find those goldfish crackers I had in my bag :)

Mamie showing off one of her shells

Sweet Cal holding the water on while Lilly washed off. They were so cute together and are starting to seem so grown-up.

All six: Quinn, Mamie, Lilly, Cal, Lexi, and Will.

Why won't my girls look at the camera? We look crazy--Jon and I looking at the camera and both girls looking somewhere else.

Lilly's "teeth smile" she likes to do for pictures now

Cal and Lilly (aka Pocahontas)

The best one we got :( Lilly and Mamie were not very cooperative.

And here's what happens when Lilly sits at the other end of a table for 12 and I have no idea what she's doing during dinner. Sorry, Pompano Joe's, I think I may owe you some ketchup.

Sadly, the only picture we got of the girls was on the last night. Hopefully they'll be another trip next year. Thanks so much to Jon's parents for letting us use the house.

now accepting visa, mastercard, and mutilated binkies

2009-08-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

I am ashamed to admit it, but Mamie still had a binky until today. I had snipped it down to a little stump in MAY, and still she sucked it. She loved it. Jon told me I broke her little heart when I cut it with the scissors. When I say "I cut it," I actually mean the "binky fairy made the top fall off." Anyway, there's something about letting your second one stay a baby a little bit longer because you know how fast it is all going to go by. But this week I told myself that it had to go. Wearing panties and sucking a pacifier don't really go together. This afternoon we went to Toys R Us to shop for some new toys. Did you know that they accept binkies as a form of payment? (Thank you Kelly Austin for cluing me in on this little secret ;-)

We browsed the entire store and sweet little Mamie finally picked out a new baby doll with a sling and a purple plastic baby doll bathtub--2 binkies=2 new toys. At the checkout she paid the man with her 2 precious binky nubs.

Tonight when I put her to bed we read a book, said a prayer, and she went right to sleep with her new baby named Lexi and didn't make a peep! I should have done it months ago.

THE haircut

2009-08-06T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today Mamie had her first haircut. Given by her four-year-old sister. With safety scissors.
We were getting ready for gymnastics and I was on the phone when I saw Mamie walk by. I first noticed all the hair stuck all over the back of her leotard. Then my eyes went up to her head. I picked her up and started feeling it to see how bad it was, and clumps of her sweet curly hair started falling off into my hands. I started almost crying, yelling at her, "Why did you cut your hair? Why?" Then she told me, "Wiwwy did it." Then, my emotion turned to rage.
The pictures really don't do it justice. I know it's only hair, but it makes me so sad. She had precious chin-length curly hair that had taken so long to grow anyway. Lilly cut the right side of her hair basically off. Right above her ear is ridiculously short--not even an inch in places. I took these pictures after I took her to Sweet & Sassy to get it salvaged. I didn't want Lilly to have the satisfaction of me taking pictures of what she did to Mamie, so I don't have any "before" pictures. She has a comb over now to get some hair on the right side, and they had to cut the back really short and make it really layered to camouflage the damage.

You can see the curls peeking around from the left side of her head in the back. Sniff. No more pigtails for us for a while.

On a sweet sisterly note, the night before the haircut, Jon went in to check on the girls before he went to bed and came back in the den saying, "you didn't tell me they were sleeping together tonight!" That's because I didn't know they were! Lilly snuck into Mamie's bed at some point and they were all snuggled up together. It was so cute. Lilly usually won't sleep with ANYONE. She doesn't even let me sleep with her if we are traveling or at my mom and dad's house. They slept like that all night long.
What are you dreaming about, Lilly? Owning your own salon?

july

2009-07-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

July has been a crazy month. We went to two fireworks displays for the 4th, two birthday parties, gymnastics, Brentwood Baptist VBS (which was great, by the way), had Bunco here at our house, have gotten two fillings in Lilly's teeth, been to the zoo twice, celebrated Sassy's birthday, gone to see my mom and dad in Huntsville, spent lots of days playing with friends, and whatever time we have had leftover has been spent at the pool where Lilly has now officially learned to swim on her own. Whew.
Here's a little bit of what we've been up to.

Sorry for the ridiculous amount of pictures...

Summer Celebration at Lipscomb

After sitting through an hour of singing followed by a "sermon," my kids were WILD. We were very ready for the fireworks to start. Here is Lilly dancing with some of her friends from Lebanon, Grant and Sophie.

Lilly, Mamie, Claire, Molly, Grant, and Sophie (and little Avery in the background)

The 4th of July

We spent the day with Jon's family swimming at his parents' pool, playing cornhole and eating hamburgers & hot dogs for lunch. Then we all went out to eat mexican for dinner and to see the fireworks at Richland. Unfortunately they didn't get it started until it was pouring down rain, so it wasn't the most fun we've ever had there, but Jon and I braved it until the bitter end. We were crammed onto a porch with a ton of people--the fireworks were still amazing.

One of Jon's crazy dives. The guys kept trying to outdo each other.

the best picture we could get of the cousins--Mamie was hiding behind the railing on the stairs

the best family picture we could get--pretty funny. even zach said, "well, maybe next year" after he took it. i don't think our family is going to win any "most photogenic" contests. if you saw our last church directory picture you would literally roll on the floor. the lifetouch salesman couldn't even suggest one for the directory and sure didn't try to sell us any.

Aunt Kristin and Hollis

Bunco

My friend, Meleah, who started our group, is moving to Arkansas. This was her last Bunco, so my friend Elisabeth made this amazing cake. She would want me to point out that someone smashed the corners of it during trasport :) Anyway, we will miss you, Meleah!

group shot

Warner Park Nature Center

Aunt Kim told us about the Nature center at Warner Park having a neat outside mud & sand area. I put old play clothes on the girls and we went to get dirty. I thought they would love it and run for the mud, but instead I had to force Lilly to get herself dirty. Once I did, she loved it and ended up getting pretty muddy.

This is right after I made her get her feet in it. I love the look on her face--like she's not sure if she can do it or not.

Playing in the Creek

We went to my cousins' farm, ate a yummy lunch, and all the kids played in the creek.

trying to catch crayfish

SUCCESS! Lilly caught it by herself.

Ellie and Emma picking vegetables with my uncle (AKA Pop Aston)

Girl's Night Out

Lebanon friends at the Melting Pot one night. It was SO good. You know you are officially a bunch of moms when you close down the fondue restaurant on a Friday night.

Huntsville

Lilly and Mamie feeding the ducks and fish with Pop at Big Springs.

This was NOT posed. I just looked and they were sitting there looking at the water like this.

Thanks, CJ and Pop for the fun visit!

Sassy's Birthday

We had Sassy's birthday party at Uncle Branson and Aunt Kristin's house.

Kristin and Branson brought Lilly and Mamie Minnie Mouse ears from Disney world. Maybe that will hold them over for a few more years!

Hollis having fun with a stick

Fun day at the horse farm

Sassy took Lilly, Mamie, and me to the Daniel's horse farm to have lunch and play. Savannah, Jackie's 3 year old granddaughter, was there and Maggie brought baby Sydney over for lunch. The girls played with 2 turtles that were found that morning and had so much fun looking at all the animals on the farm. We saw chickens, a rooster, cats, fish, geese, ducks, and a ton of beautiful horses. We were worn out!

Lilly and Mr. Turtle #1

Sassy and Hollis looking at the horses

Savannah and Lilly on the tractor

Me and the girls with a gorgeous horse. I L-O-V-E horses and everything about them.

At the duck pond about to release Mr. and Mr. Turtle into the wild

Mr. Turtle was not as excited as we were about his new found freedom.

Finally he realized he was almost home and took off :)

Sweet little Hollis taking it all in. He made animal sounds all day long.

what happens when...

2009-07-07T22:07:00.001-07:00

daddy takes you to the pool and gets you dressed?

show us where you live friday

2009-06-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

I have been "touring" rooms every Friday for a long time now on Kelly's blog, but have never taken the time to participate. I love seeing inside other people's houses. This week is master bedrooms. Last week I meant to post--it was kid's rooms. Our master bedroom is pretty TINY--not much to see, so I cheated and posted kids' rooms and our master bedroom this Friday.

Lilly's room
I obsessed so badly over these antique twin beds when I found them at the flea market that the man who sold them actually talked the lady who bought them into selling them to me. If the girls ever share a room, I'm planning on painting an "L" and an "M" in the oval that's on each footboard. I painted them pink and distressed them.

I don't know why this piece looks quite so orange in the picture. I got it in college from a designer I babysat for--the door was broken pretty badly and my dad fixed it. It's probably my favorite piece of furniture in our whole house.

Mamie's room

I know I need something over the bed. One of these days I will get around to painting something to go there. My dad and I made the headboard when Jon and I got married and I recovered it for Mamie's big girl room.

The sideboard was her changing table. I have to hang onto it for baby # 3 one of these days... I bought it at a junk store when I was pregnant with Lilly and fixed it up and painted it.

Same story with the chest of drawers. I bought it for $47 and my dad spent forever rebuilding the inside of it--the drawer guides were all broken. (If you ask him, it probably wasn't a great deal :)

Master bedroom

Pretty tiny, but I do love it. I got my bed for $17 in Atlanta at the Rooms to Go outlet when we were engaged. My dad had to fix it too (sound familiar?) and then I painted and distressed it. I would love to replace it with an iron bed one day.

I painted and glazed the armiore. It was a lucky freebie from one of Jon's sisters.

view from the bedroom into our bathroom

aunt sissy & dylan

2009-06-22T15:59:00.001-07:00

My sister and my nephew, Dylan, are flying back to Tampa after a week-long visit. As usual, it flew by much too quickly. Dylan is wonderful with his two little cousins and they absolutely adore him. He spent hours every day stuffed inside a pop-up house in the playroom playing "house." He knows all of Mamie's babies' names--Ponkin' (don't know where on earth that came from), Ella Grace, Hollis, and Melody. He got up with them in the mornings and let me sleep in. It was like having a live-in babysitter for a week. I miss him already (but not just for child-entertainment purposes)! I miss them so much and wish they lived closer so we could all see them more often. Dylan with the girls (isn't he cute?)

Eating outside (not too smart) at the RosePepper one night for dinner. It was SO hot.

Part of the reason my sister came in town when she did--our cousin, Debbie, got married last month and had a big reception at the farm last weekend. This is a picture of her with her sweet husband, Jim. They are a precious couple and we are all so happy for them.

Did I mention it was hot? Lexi was sharing her spray bottle with my girls to cool off.

My mom and dad also came up for Debbie's reception and took us to lunch on Father's Day.

My mom and dad with all their grandchildren (and grand-dog in the background)

"push me higher aunt sissy!"

Thanks for coming to visit us!!! Come back soon--we love you and miss you!

happy father's day

2009-06-21T20:20:00.001-07:00

We couldn't have asked for a better daddy. You work so hard to provide for our family and are a great husband and father. You keep the girls on your day off, you take them fun places like the zoo, you teach them how to fish, you take them swimming, you take care of them in every way. They love you so much and look up to you more than you will ever know. I can't wait to see all the fun things you will teach them to do and do with them as they get older. Happy Father's Day Jon!

memorial day (a little late)

2009-06-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

We spent Memorial Day at the farm with all the cousins. My mom and dad came up and we couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. I have had these pictures so long, but I thought some of them were too cute not to post.

Emma, Mamie, Carly Beth, and Lilly

Lilly and Cal eating homemade ice cream and cake

fishin'

on a hayride

Jason was going to take a couple of kids on the mule and this is what it turned into.

"When are they ever going to let us take a nap?"

camping

2009-05-30T20:46:00.001-07:00

We decided to take the girls on their first camping trip over Memorial Day weekend. We have had our 1970-something hand-me-down pop-up camper since last fall and hadn't gotten to try her out yet. We decided that it was best to stay relatively close to home for our trial run, so we set it up at my cousins' farm. It was pretty close to paradise--we camped right by a beautiful creek, had a fire pit, a tire swing, rode the mule, fished in the pond... You couldn't really ask for anything more. Lilly kept saying it was the best day of her whole life. The girls both loved it--even poor little Mamie who happened to be under the one leak we didn't know we had in the camper. At about 3:00 it started really storming and I had gotten up and zipped up all the windows and checked on everything. At about 4:00, Mamie woke up crying and when I picked her up it felt like I was picking her up out of the bathtub. Her pillow weighed about 10 pounds. She was literally soaked to the skin. I had to strip her down and wrap her up in our sheet and snuggle with her to warm her up. When you ask her about camping, she will tell you it was fun, she ate marshmallows, AND that she got wet. I know we'll be going back again soon!

Don't you love how Lilly poses when I try to take a picture?

Our sweet old Scole got to come along. He had so much fun he could barely get up off the floor for about three days after we got home. Jon and I have to hoist him up into the truck with a towel ever since he got hit :(

The girls ready for a mule ride.

Scole trying to scare off ALL of the fish. He sure does love to swim.

Watching daddy get the fishing poles ready.

Fishing with the Dora rod. We actually caught several with it.

Lilly and daddy showing off a good sized bass they caught.

The first victim of the Dora rod. It was a pretty fat little bluegill.

Grillin' corn, burgers, and onions. Why does food always taste so good when you are camping?

Home sweet home. With the potty in the front yard, of course.

Mamie eating one of many marshmallows by the blazing fire (AKA the reason Jon has no leg hair, eyelashes or eyebrows).

Sweet sisters sleeping together. I thought they would never fall asleep, but they did.

And here's the "after" picture of Mamie. Can you tell her hair is completely wet? Poor little thing.

graduation (but not really)

2009-05-30T20:34:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday was Lilly's "graduation" ceremony. Most of the kids in her class will be going to kindergarten next year, but she was the youngest in her class, so she'll be "graduating" again next year! She loved school so much this past year. She had an amazing teacher and the sweetest little class I have ever seen. I have loved getting to know all their families. She has learned so much and is so excited about handwriting, reading, rhyming, beginning sounds, opposites, etc. I am so glad I have another year with her before she's off to school five days a week. I am not ready for that yet!

Lilly and the fabulous "Miss" Sandra

Sassy and Mamie ready for the program to begin.

Lilly receiving her certificate and t-shirt and sharing what she wants to be when she grows up--"a mommy!"

Her class singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children."