Labor Day weekend 2017

We're back!!  Same cabin we came to twice in 2014.  Absolutely beautiful place!
Wildacre cabin near Chatsworth

Friday afternoon arrival

croquet fun

love the garden, lots of yummy stuff

bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplant 

Saturday morning, off to the creek they go

love that they can be kids and play!

what a wonderful big brother!!!

they had an alligator last time and the kids were so excited they still have one.  

They remembered and loved this guy

photo credit to Ryan!

Abby is our collector/ hoarder :)

surprise, Abby is in a tree

Abby's fort

sweetest sisters

love my boys

Saturday also included an afternoon snack of s'mores around the outdoor firepit. 
And in the evening, we cleaned up and settled in for football watching.

Sunday!

a super fun 4ish mile hike

the kids are getting pretty good at taking pictures of us too :)

us girls

and no, she's not eating Pringles, they're all gone, she's using the container for her collections!

Chloe and I had fun finding these letters on our hike

back to the creek!

two little adventurers

*This was when the kiddos and I walked up the creek exploring.  And I slipped and fell and bruised my knee and scratched up my wrist.  And when Abby wrote about this trip in school a month or so later, the two things she included in her story were the alligator float and Mommy falling!  

**Side note, that totally reminds me of when we took a trip to Destin when the kids were really little, and Ryan wrote about going to WhataBurger when he got back to school.  All the fun and crazy things we do, and it's usually the simple things they remember, probably a good life lesson in there somewhere!

ET phone home

:: one more stroll before we left on Monday ::

 The old federal wagon road runs through the 40acre property

I love us!!

August of 2017

a quick trip to Tampa for Emily's 1st birthday!

Happy Birthday, sweet Emily!

Abby was all about her little cousins this trip :)

birthday gift tattoo pens, the kids have had lots of fun with these

Belly Flops for Babies!

trying to win cousin Emily a spot in the High Risk Hope calendar[which she did!]

Cutie girl in her new owl shirt, thanks Grandma 

[and two weeks into school, we finally got new shoes!  thanks Grandpa :)]

Sawyer, Ryan, Lucas, Cooper

a typical after-school afternoon, I had nine kiddos here, love my kids and all their awesome friends.

[check out Ryan's shoes - high top Under Armour - he's growing up, eekk!!]

sweet, sleeping bums.  this is what I have to work with at 6:20 in the morning ;)

sweet baby Eden Bond

8.21.2017 - the Eclipse!! 🌞🌙

we're ready! thanks Dr Choi :)

homeschooling with NASA's live feed, we loved watching this all day long!

cereal box pin-hole viewers

I was very proud of myself, I gave up control and pretty much just supervised as they made their pin-hole viewers almost entirely themselves ;)   and they decorated their boxes - Abby's says "I love the solar eclipse"

such a fun day, we were pretty much giddy by the time the eclipse started

thank you Abby for always being willing and excited to take selfies with Mommy :)

another pin-hole viewer.  This was a last minute accidental discovery.  Abby saw the sun on the ceiling - coming in through the window and off the shiny sink.  So we created a pinhole viewer taped to the kitchen window to watch it on the cookie sheet.  .... and then another accidental discovery - my kitchen window prism was leaving crescent rainbows!!  This was probably my favorite part, sooo cool and unexpected!

Note : In case you were wondering, 98% is not even close to totality.  It was a great day, but I really thought 98% would be close enough.  If I could do it over, I'd drive an hour north in a heartbeat to experience totality.  Compared to the live feeds, it was quite anti-climatic :)

you have no idea how hard it is to be Maya

Madeleine is back!!  We've enjoyed reconnecting and playdating with them. 

We took this same pose right before they moved two years ago :)

Thanks to Abby for documenting the fun playdate that Chloe, Couper, and Alice had!

Ryan and Cooper by Abby

This ended up being our last swim of the season, I miss the summer days already!

a fun evening swim complete with Pizza Hut for dinner

Ryan and Daddy went to the cub scout adventure quest

Photo shoot! - August 13, 2017

Photo shoot with neighbor-friend Kyle Taylor in Woodmont.

Ryan - 9.5 years old

Abby - 7 years old

Chloe - 5 years old

*and Maya too!*

best picture of Abby ever

of course there was a bribe involved!

Chloe's 5th birthday!

Saturday, August 5th

Celebrating in Tampa!  Chloe is five!

thanks to Cousins Steve and Howard for bringing a yummy birthday lunch

Monday, August 7th!

cupcakes at school!

[I think Mari was just as excited as Chloe, if not more, to see me :)]

After school, we went on a birthday swim, and Josh and Sean joined us.

Unfortunately between the smell of yet another gas leak and the daily pop-up storm, we weren't able to stay long.  But they sure had fun while we were there!  And until our friends got there, we were the only ones, not even a lifeguard, which always thrills the kids.

birthday girl's request - dinner at Waffle House :)

Tuesday, August 8th - Party day!!

😻complete with a kitty cat brownie cake birthday gift from Ms. Alyson!😻

we love the Conleys!

pizza dinner followed by brownie cake and ice cream

the party crew!  

Leyton, Mari, Couper, Alice, Kayla, Chloe, Zoey, Addie, Kinsley, Abby, Landen, Josh, Claire

bAcK tO sChOoL 2017

Kindergarten meet and greet!! 

my baby!!!  She is SOOO excited.  She loved meet and greet, she's got the best K teacher at the school, Mari's in her class, and she gets to ride the bus FiNaLLy :)

Mrs Mikes and Mrs Smith's K class

Mari and Chloe are in the same class!

Mrs Mikes is soo sweet :)

Ryan and Abby's meet and greets

[and Ryan helped recruit at the Cub Scout table :)]

Tuesday, 8.1.17 - First day of school! 

Why do my babies have to grow up so fast?!!

Handsome little man

I'm excited for his year - he's got a bunch of best buds in his class again [Aaron, AJ, Lucas, Gracie, etc], he gets to go to AIM/gifted every day!, and he will rotate to the 5th grade hall for science and math!!

Our sweet Abby Lou loved Mrs Baker at meet and greet, and she's got Lyla in her class again!

our awesome bus stop friends

Gracie, Ryan, Hannah, Zoey[!!], Kinsley, Bella, Kayla, Chloe[!!], and Abs

Ryan is the only boy in the group, poor guy!

Chloe led the way to the bus stop!  She hopped up on that bus liked she owned it, no second thoughts or nerves at all! 

have I mentioned I love her teacher?!  look at this!  

all three kiddos had a great day, they were super chatty all afternoon, loved hearing about their days

A fun picture from Mrs Pitts, Ryan's science teacher

See Ryan [in a red Falcons shirt, of course] and AJ at the head of the table?