June 2017, part two

Grandpa's here!! 

Thursday, 6.8.17 - Grandpa took Abby back to Tampa for the weekend.  Drive safely!

Abby was with Grandpa, Ryan went to work with Daddy, which left Chloe and I to play all day!  Very weird feeling having my flock so spread out :)

Chloe and Mommy's awesome day!!

 Chloe's favorite restaurant

 Chloe and I headed north, soooo pretty.  We walked around downtown Blairsville for a bit and had a yummy lunch.  

Hole in the Wall restaurant, downtown Blairsville, amazing sweet potato fries!  I can't find the text thread with the exact quote ... something along the lines of ...  "send them a picture us eating here."    

Laura had sent me the info on this place probably a year ago.  

Chloe LOVED it!!

the owner's retired from Disney!  He had this amazing fairy garden for kiddos to wander through.

this one was by far her favorite.  She must have come back to it a dozen times.

after the fairy garden, we headed to a short waterfall hike I had found on my trails app.

Turns out it's in Vogel State Park which is an amazing place.  Looks like something out of a movie, I had no idea!  Soooo pretty

a perfect trail for Chloe, only about 1.5miles total, flat and gravel 

I still can't believe how beautiful and peaceful it was 

the waterfall did not disappoint

After work, these two took in a Braves game!

🌞Abby in Florida🌞 

with Henry at Homosassa Springs

happy Abby - hi Emily!!

Ryan, Zach, Aaron, AJ

Friday afternoon playdate with some of Ryan's best buds from Mrs. Dotson's class.

Caylen, Addie, Chloe, and Lylah

Saturday afternoon at the pool with a whole bunch of neighbor- friends, followed by Subway and the Etowah River park with our small family of four.

meeting Murphy - Kayla and Kinsley got puppies for their birthday!

I think this is a GREAT picture of Ryan :)

Abby's first plane ride!

Abby flew from Tampa to ATL with Grandma

Abby and Lyla on the playground after swim practice

Glad to have Abby home and be back in our routine :)

June 2017, part one

Hiking!  A fun day with my favorite little people - breakfast at Waffle House, a failed attempt at Sawnee Mtn [huge no dogs signs all over the parking lot], and quite the adventurous hike, thank goodness for cell phones and gps :)

getting lost in the woods is good for the soul!

 Thursday, 6.1.17 - first swim meet!!

go Woodmont Wahoos!

Hannah, Abs, Kayla

sharpies!  event/heat info is written on their arms or legs and names on their backs!

sweet girls - Abby, Lyla, Hannah

Henry, Caden, and Ryan

swim meets are an amazing example of organized chaos.  5+ hours, 87 events most with multiple heats, and they didn't miss a beat.

love these sweet girls!💜

Leyton's birthday party - her mom said all she wanted for her birthday was to swim with Ariel, so here we are.  good job super mom :)

Chloe dressed herself in an Ariel bathing suit on purpose, I was so impressed. 

[Ryan was with Grandpa at the ball fields.  I'm sure they're sorry they missed this!! ;)]

Cast free!!!

seven weeks [and one day], three different casts, three different broken bones.

And yet, she remained so strong through it all.  They say kids are resilient, and Chloe was certainly no exception.  I'm so proud of our sweet Chlo-Chlo!!

 the cast hasn't slowed her down at all. I'm so proud of her ❤

May 30, 2017 - after!

this "brace" is totally mental.  I wasn't prepared for the cast removal to be traumatic, I was so ready and excited.  But after seven weeks, it's a little scary and overwhelming.  And her poor skin was a mess.

ice cream with the Conleys [and Jackson] to celebrate!

Now bring on summer and the swimming pool!!

She has an arm!!!

from ice cream to the pool for a victory swim and some physical therapy :)

for the first few days, the water was her happy place!  It must have felt so good.

for the first four or five days, we went swimming twice a day!  

[she'd splash around on the steps and baby pool during swim team practice and we would go back in the afternoon]

Chloe, Mari, Caylen, Addie

this day was so much fun!  We love our awesome neighbors  - the Taylors, Houlihans, Esterlings, and Griggs were all there.  We swam for two super fun hours with all sorts of friends!!

Memorial Day weekend 2017

Memorial Day Saturday

waiting patiently for our party to start!

Mari, Kayla, Chloe

 cookout, fire, movie, all sorts of fun

Jake, Chloe, Josh

we had a blast, everything went really well - cornhole, kickball, baseball, all sorts of fun

and a movie on the lawn! 

great job on the movie, Dear!

Sunday afternoon - Poole's Mill park

the Chases, Browns, and Houlihans

Three families, each brought four kids!  

I realized at some point that not only was it our neighbor-friends, even more specifically it was our bus stop, hehe :)

Faith and Chloe

Ms. Emily [herself pregnant and unable to participate] was awesome enough to sit with these two and eventually took them to the playground

Abby, Kayla, Oakley

Memorial Day Monday bowling with the Esterlings!

[and pizza lunch]

I might be biased, but I think she's just the cutest bowler around :)

May 2017, part three

First [non swim team] swim of the season!

Lyla and Cooper came with us

Finally trusting the girls enough to share my childhood Holly Hobbie dolls :)

Cub Scouts, den one

Johnny, Huck, Thomas, Jackson

Ryan, Matthew, Nickolas

from Bear to Webelo!

Jackson banged up his knee real good.

Cooper spent the morning with us so his Mommy could focus on Jackson and doctor appts.

We had a great playdate at the playground with several neighbors before hanging out at the house.

These two got along sooo well, not one disagreement over the course of probably five hours together.

Tuesday, 5.23.17

Coleson, Paul, Carlynn, Owen

me, Brittany, Katie, Kyle

missed Sarah and Sam lots!

small group social to the Braves game

last day of preschool speech for these two :(

we had to park far away since it was also party day and there were no good spots.  They held hands all the way in!

Ryan's awards day!

Presenting the "graduation" folders

Ryan got the PE award for his class, most AR [reading] points, the math award, 1st place in 3rd grade for the sport writing genre at younger authors, honor roll all four quarters, peer mentor, student of the month for September, the character award for "hero" - being a role model for others.  

He racked up!  proud Mama!

Ryan, Ryan G, Mrs. Dotson, AJ, Aaron

from Ryan's awards to Abby's!

Abby and Mrs. Lanier

outside for Kona Ice

Jackson, Abs, Lyla

Ryan, Cooper, Abs, Chlo, Couper, Annsley

 I checked mine out after parties, and we took Cooper Allen as well [Jackson had an ortho appt].  

We met Couper and Annsley at Culver's for lunch and then the playground!

Last day of 3rd grade and 1st grade!

we attacked them with water guns and silly string as they came off the bus!

Cooper, Ryan, Lucas

best bus stop ever!