Halloween 2014

Halloween has come and gone for another year. This year, like a bajillion other little girls, Makinley wanted to be Elsa from Frozen. A sweet, sweet lady here made her a dress. Although it might not have been the Disney over the top version, I loved it. It was simple and didn't itch her, and it's one she will play dress up in over and over again...and so will her sister. We are at a weird phase with Tripp. He's kind of outgrown a lot of the costumes he could have done at one time, and he's done the football player thing in the past. So, he didn't want to do that again. I tried thinking of anything I could, and nothing was making him happy. Finally, he said he just wanted to be 'all black'...so that's what we did! And Addie Grey was the cutest cupcake around! I picked up her costume awhile back at a consignment sale for $3, so we went with it. We usually go to my friend Leah's house for her annual Halloween party. but this year we decided to go to my parents' house so that the cousins could trick or treat together, and I'm so glad we did. Their neighborhood goes over the top with decorations and candy, and the kids had so much fun. I also realized what an 'easy' stage we are at with our bigger two. They just went from house to house on their own, they weren't scared of anything, and I didn't fee like I had to be constantly monitoring their every step. And then there's the baby. She rode in her wagon some, but I also toted her quite a bit as well. Overall, we had a great night!

 My dad couldn't handle walking the whole neighborhood, but he enjoyed hanging out at the neighbor's house and passing out candy.

 This was Makinley's favorite house. They did a play off the show "Once Upon a Time" and they were all dressed as characters from the show. It was awesome.

 I love my family!!

A Fun Filled Day

We had an extremely busy Saturday! The day started with the kids and I participating in my school's annual 5K fundraiser. Joey was supposed to run in it with me, but a few days before the race, he did something to his back and wasn't able to. So he stayed home with Addie Grey and I took the two big ones. Tripp and Makinley both compted in the 1 mile fun run, and I did the 5K. Tripp finished in 8:04 and Makinley finished in 10:35. I finished the 5K in 30:03. Definitely not my best time, and I was frustrated because my app wasn't working on my phone, so I had no idea what my pace was the whole time. But, it's okay! I showed up and I finished!

 After the race, we went home and got Joey and Addie Grey and headed to the cultural center for their Farm Day. We haven't been to this in several years, and I'm glad we went. It wasn't anything over the top, but the kids enjoyed it. Addie Grey is all about getting paint on her hand and she loved seeing the animals.

 After we left Farm Day, we stopped by the baptist church and let the kids pick out pumpkins to carve. Addie Grey was way more concerned with being able to play on the playground, so I didn't get a picture of her with her pumpkin.

It was a busy, but fun morning!

Beach 2014

We usually go to the beach with my parents each summer. We had a place booked for this past summer as well, but God decided that was a good week to give my daddy a new kidney, so the beach trip got cancelled. Kidneys are much more important! :-) However, we couldn't let the whole year go by without putting our feet in the sand and seeing the ocean. So, for the first time, we traveled by ourselves to the beach as a family of five. We went to Panama City and stayed at a place called Tidewater. We were there at the same time as our neighbors, and that worked out well because it gave the kids someone to play with other than each other.

 We even ran into one of Tripp's very best friends. His grandparents own a unit at the resort, so they were able to play together for one full day as well.

 I totally didn't post a picture that included my stomach. It's time for some more ab work outs around here.

 This baby did SO awesome the whole week. She played and she played and she played. She never once fussed on the beach, and we never had to cut our days/nights shorts because of her. She just went with the flow. The only thing that messed her up was gaining an hour time wise. Her little body didn't know what was going on. I saw the sun rise a couple of times because of her.

 She especially loved when the kids dug her this huge hole to sit in!

 The one and only family picture we got for the week!

We swam, we ate, we played, we made memories that will last a lifetime together as a family. It was a perfect vacation!

Tripp's XC race

True to his word a few weeks ago, Tripp decided to give cross country a try. He's been practicing with the middle school team for a few weeks, and this past week, he ran in his first (and only for this season) meet. He was definitely the youngest out there. Considering he's a 3rd grader and the meet was for middle schoolers. But, he did AWESOME. Out of 55 boys, he finished 30th. He completed 1.55 miles in 12:41. So, an average 8 min/mile.

Next year, he will be able to practice and run the whole season. We are excited to see how much better he gets as a runner!

Miss. Personality

Oh, the personality this littlest one of ours has in just her little finger is more than our other two had at this age combined. She is hilarious. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds and I have stories that I should be blogging on a daily basis. She is obsessed with marching bands right now. She loves to watch them on Youtube, and she can almost totally find them on her own.

She LOVES to dance and listen to music. Loves it.  But she has her favorite songs. And she lets you know real quick if you didn't pick the right one out. She can sing the words to Jesus loves me, and she is learning Amazing Grace. She fights bedtime and nap time something awful and it's driving me crazy. She is starting to try and potty train and she has days where she does really, really good. We don't push it, but we let her lead the way since she's still so young. She is full of joy and laughter and it spreads to all of us around her.

Oh, and as evidenced by the picture above. She LOVES orange and red peppers. It's her favorite snack!

My Running Partners

Just recently at dinner, Tripp told us that he wanted to start running cross country. We tried to tell him that running isn't something you just decide one day to do, but that it takes training and dedication. He wanted to run that night after dinner, so we let him. We timed him, and he ran a mile in right at 9 minutes. Joey and I looked at each other and thought we might be on to something. Since then, he has been practicing with the middle school cross country team. There have been several evenings when the kids have run with us, and Makinley ran with me one day after school. 

I love having them as running partners. I'm hoping it's a lifetime love for them!

Go Dawgs!

It's been years since I've been to a UGA game. Years. Joey doesn't get to go to as many games as used to go to, but he's been to more that I have over the last few years. For his birthday this year, he decided he wanted us to go to a game together. So, that's what we did! My mom and dad came to keep the kids, and Joey and I spent the whole day together in Athens with our friends Marc and Laurie. We had a great time! The game started out a little scary as far as the possibility of a win, but the Dawgs ended up pulling through!

Right before we left the house to head to Athens.

We haven't stood on this bridge for a picture in a really, really long time.

The Dawgs were giving us a scare.

But, thankfully, they turned it around!

Maybe we can turn this into at least a once a season event! I love going back to where it all started!