Our little Fish

Grace LOVES going to the pool. She is such a natural I am surprised by how much more comfortable she gets each time we go. Last night we went with her Daddy, Nana & Grandpa and had a blast. Grandpa brought along his camera so we snapped a few shots and got a little video of her in action. Now under normal circumstances I would never even consider putting a video of me in a swim suit online, but this is just too cute not to share. I hope you enjoy watching our little fish!

Mothers Day Photo Shoot

The weather was so pretty on Mother's Day that we had to take a few pictures of our beautiful girl in her pretty dress on the frog quilt my Grandma made her. She wasn't into it, but we got a few good shots. Here are a few of the highlights...

I'm bored...I just love this one.

Floral Beauty

David and I worked really hard getting our flower beds beautiful last year. Since we did all the work during the summer, most things we planted died as soon as we got them in the ground. I kept all the receipts, but have been thrilled that everything has come up and the flowers are gorgeous. I love driving down our street and pulling up to our house to see all the pretty flowers in the beds. Here are a few shots of the various types of flowers we have out in full bloom this summer. I'm seriously considering selling some of my nature photography. Nearly all the art in our home is art we have created and we have alot of our nature shots blown up and displayed throughout the house. There are lots of logistics to figure out, but I may give it a chance, we'll see. ;) For now, I hope you enjoy the pictures of the lovely floral beauty from our yard.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The last few weeks have been crazy! Lots of travel and good times with close friends, which is wonderful, but certainly makes for a busy time.

On June 3, David's folks came back through ATL after meeting Grady, our newest nephew in Colorado. It was a brief visit, but good to see them.

Saturday, June 6, the Baby's Room was having a big sale and we got our Britax car seat for a steal - woohoo! This is actually a gift from my Dad & Stepmom (thanks so much!!), but I was able to get a much better deal here than they would have been able to in WV. Saturday is also the day that I finally caught up on all my scrapbooking. 2 weeks of marathon scrapping to catch up the nearly 1 1/2 years worth of scrapbooking that I was behind. It is such a sense of accomplishment to be 100% current on the scrapbooking...now I just need to start on the baby's book!

On June 7, I headed to Clarksville, TN for several days with Lacey and the kiddos. I didn't take any pics with my camera, but took some with Lacey's. I'll need to get her to send me the pictures. Highlights of the trip (besides obviously getting to spend time with 4 of my favorite people) were:

• Watching Jake go down their inflatable water slide, he's so funny
• Trekking out to Patty's Settlement for a beautiful morning with the kids and a nice lunch at Patty's restaurant
• Lacey & I getting some girly time alone that included breakfast at Waffle house - don't judge...it was yummy!!
• Ainsley painting the wall with pink icing - long story. Lacey will post it and pictures on her blog soon

It was so nice to get out there to visit with her one last time before Ryan comes home and hopefully make that time go by quickly for her. The last few weeks are always the hardest (I say from my limited experience from when David deployed...which was all before our wedding!) so I'm glad I was able to get up there to hang out.

I got home from that trip on Thursday June 11, just before dinner, and had just enough time to do laundry and repack before leaving the next afternoon for Greenville, SC to visit with our dear friends the Carpenters. It was such a nice, relaxing visit. Somehow I once again didn't take any pictures, but that's ok. ;) Saturday morning we hit the outdoor market in downtown which was great fun and we got some yummy fruit. Then we had "the best pizza in Greenville" at Barleys Tap Room, and it was quite good as well. They boys took the kiddos home after lunch and Court & I ran around for some girly time which was great. We repaid them that night by hanging at home while the boys went out for ice cream and to work on Cory's portfolio. Sunday before we headed home we went to Red Robin for lunch and it was so tasty. Man I wish there was one closer to us! It was such a great weekend, but I was pooped after all that travelling. We were both asleep by about 9:00 Sunday night and slept clear through til morning.

This week I've just been playing catch up. I finally sat down and made a master list of everything that needs to happen before the baby comes. Thankfully, I'm not overwhelmed by this list. David's folks are going to come up for several days in Aug and will be our designated painters so that takes a huge chunk off our shoulders. For everything else I am just going to pluck away at the list. I still have 22ish weeks to go, so I feel like I still have plenty of time to get everything done if I am diligent and try to do something every day. We'll see how it goes.

Yup, we're 30...

Where does the time go? I can't believe that David and I turned 30 last month. To celebrate our birthdays, we asked Chris, Carol & the kids to come down for the weekend in between our birthdays. Friday night Carol & I just hung out and watched TV with Anne while Chris & David enjoyed cigars on the deck with our friend & Pastor Jim. I love low key nights with family. =)

Saturday morning, Carol, Mae & I headed out to a summer baby consignment sale where I hunted for a few goodies for Lacey and Carol looked for an Exersaucer for Anne. We hit the jackpot there and afterwards, they rode along as I run a few errands for work. I love this picture Carol took of Mae as we drove along. It was the first real windows-down day of the season!

We had decided just to have a simple small BBQ for lunch on Saturday and invited our friends Paul & Bethany join us. It was low key afternoon (well as low key as things can be with 4 kids 5 & under!) but we had a wonderful time and enjoyed lots of yummy food.

Here's Paul with Anne - he became an instant hit and the newest jungle gym.

Wilson, Anne & I...I love my kiddos!!

David & Paul...not sure how to explain this one...

Us with our friends Paul & Bethany

Afterwards, David & Chris headed to the IMAX to see the Dark Knight (yes for those of you counting, that's the 4th time for David!!) and Carol & I took the kids to the fair. My staff was working the fair, so I was able to get us in for free, but rides had to be paid for. It was definitely an interesting experience. I am glad I have all these nieces and nephews to love on and really grow as an Aunt - hopefully learning how deal with them will make me a better mom when I get there. I really struggle with the whining and the fair definitely brought forth some whining. I can't seem to remember that kids don't know how to appreciate things in the moment and more importantly that selfishness is at the root of all of us (and it's just more blatantly obvious with kids who speak their mind!) We did have a good time though and the kids got to enjoy a few rides before we ran out of money and headed home for dinner. After everyone was in bed, Carol & I lounged around with Anne & watched a movie - it was a really great night.

Mae on the Carousel - I wasn't sure if she liked it or not during the ride, but she did want to go again.

The boys on the rocket ride, Mae wasn't tall enough for this one...

Bennett, Wilson & Mae on the Boats. I love their expressions! Well worth the WAY too much money it costs to go to the fair.

Sunday we went to church and the message was fabulous. We are so grateful for Jim, our preacher. We have been so fortunate to be in churches where the pastors are real and they aren't afraid to admit it in their sermons. Afterwards, we ate lunch at our favorite little "family owned restaurant", the Italian Oven, before heading home to get the van packed up and the Clark's headed off. We so enjoy spending time with our family, it's the only reason we moved to Atlanta. We're grateful that they are so close by and that we can see them as much as we do.

For our actual birthdays, we just went out to dinner. Small simple celebrations, just the 2 of us. David decided that he wanted to get me a gift this year and he surprised me with the stand and pedal set for my keyboard.

I've been taking piano lessons since August and it was so sweet of him to think of that for me. I love the new stand, the keyboard actually fits on it and it's so much easier to play. Plus, I'm just about to start learning how to use the pedals, so it's nice to have some! =) We don't usually do gifts for each other - really no gifts for Christmas, Valentines, Anniversary, or Birthdays - we never have, but occasionally we do decide to do something special, and that was special. He's such a sweet husband, I'm a lucky lady.

Family Reunion, 2008

We headed up to West Virginia on September 11 for our annual family reunion. It's usually the 1st Saturday in August, but with Maggie due any moment, we postponed it this year. It was nice to get to go when it was a little cooler. We headed straight for my dad & stepmom's place in Elkins where we introduced Martin to their kitty, Casper. They did really, really well with each other - which we were really excited about. We wanted to see how they did with each other in hopes that they would get along so we could bring Martin with us when we head up for Christmas. Since we'll be gone for almost 2 weeks during Christmas & New Years, as always, and this will be Martin's first alone, we wanted to see if we could bring him along to WV for the first week so he'd get some attention and only fly solo while were with David's family in LA (that's Lower Alabama). It was such beautiful weather, we got to sleep with the windows open and listen to the crick, which Martin (who spent the night in the open window sill) loved. It was such great weather, a beautiful weekend to be in West Virginia.

So Friday morning, we all headed up to Fairmont to meet my brother Mark & his wife Kayla at Att's, the super yummy hot dog place for lunch. After David had his fill of dogs, we all headed over to my Aunt's place to meet up with my cousin Jennifer and her new baby Maggie. What a cutie! Jenn had an appointment, so we even got to babysit for a little while.

My step-mom Linda and Maggie

Before Dad & Linda headed home, we went up to my Great Aunt Ruby's house to visit with my Great Grandmother Haddix- she's a real hoot. She's been saying that she's going to die since as long as I can remember...she's never been a real positive person. She is getting older though, she's 92 now and she can barely hear so a visit with her is always interesting. Here's a picture of us together before we headed off.

Here's David & I, my brother Mark & his wife Kayla with our Great Grandmother

That night, Jenn, Kayla & I headed out to the grocery store for our moms and to get pizzas. It was Uncle Wally's birthday and since David & I are so close as well, we had a big combined birthday party. The funniest part is the cake. Neither Aunt Reta nor I had time to make one, so we bought one. This girl who looked about 16 wrote on the cake and oh my... Jenn said that it was only fitting for 2 cake designers to get a cake that looks like this...

Saturday we got up and started cooking before heading up to the cabin to meet the rest of the family. This was a fun reunion because there were 2 little ones in quite some time. Maggie and Ashlyn - my 3rd cousin's daughter. Ashlyn is 9 months so she was a bit more active than Maggie, but they were both sweet and it was nice to see the next generation starting. I know it excited my grandparents and Great Aunt & Uncle. I took lots of pictures, but somehow missed Volleyball & fishing. You'll see Bocce though. Here you go:

JP, silly as usual. Wouldn't be a family function without a silly picture of him.

We set up this teddy bear in the rocking chair to get some pictures of Maggie. She kept fussing every time we got out there, so we snapped some of Ashlyn and this one was by far my favorite.

Ashlyn taking her 2nd nap of the day...kids really can sleep anywhere!!

My great Aunt Annie & Uncle Bud

My brother Mark and sister-in-law Kayla

My grandparents with Maggie - this was so cute. They have been asking for a great-grandbaby forever. They are just head over heals for little Maggie.

Here's my favorite picture of Susan playing Bocce. I love the willow branches in the background. I remember when that tree was planted...it's so pretty now.

My mom with Maggie

We finally got a few pictures of Maggie. This one was cute, I love her little fingers.

Proud Mama!

My 3rd cousin Daniel & his family - wife Emily & daughter Ashlyn.

My 3rd cousin Devon & his girlfriend Andrea

My 2nd cousin Rodney, his wife Kim and their son Russell

Susan's ever expanding family!

This one was just for my mom. She wanted a picture of the 4 of us. Somehow we always take a picture to the end of the day when we are a little "less than fresh". I told her we'd take a better one when we're all home at Christmas.

It was such a great trip, we can't wait until Christmas. I told Maggie not to change to much, but I'm sure she'll be a completely different little girl by the time we see her again.