July - Part 3

The next stop was St. Simons Island. We love SSI!! Gary and I got married there and we took our kids there when they were each only a few months old. There are many reasons that this place is so dear to us. One of the reasons is that we usually are able to reunite with family while we're there. This summer, we were able to spend time with the Sturdivant extended family and also with Andy, Kelly, Jacob and Payton (Gary's older brother and family).

We enjoyed the sunrises:

The pool time:

Time with Aunt Ygondine:

The beach:

Building sand castles:

Tennis:

Playing with cousin Jane:

(The girls' matching outfits were planned - the moms' were not!)

Time with Andy, Kelly, Jacob and Payton:

Fishing:

Golfing (putt-putt and regular):

Racquetball:

Hanging out with Mimi and Papa:

Time at the water park:

What a great time in St. Simons!

July - Part 2

On the 12th, our sweet boy hit the 9 month mark. Here he is, getting to be so big!
A few days later, we packed up the car and headed out for a very long (and much appreciated!) vacation. Our first stop was Hilton Head to spend a few days with the Galbreaths.

Do you see that smile on Mary Laine's face?!?

She was so excited to be with Carter and Kelsey!

Out on the boat for a ride

The guys got to do a little fishing

Storytime with Uncle Phillip

Baby Collin is expected to arrive any day now, so the next time we see the Galbreaths, they'll be a family of 5! We are so thankful to have such great friends and so many good memories with them. We love you, Galbreath family!!

July - Part 1

Wow - this parenting thing is hard! Any of you with two little ones knows that there isn't much free time, and the little bit that I get is used doing something a little more fun and relaxing than blogging. But I don't scrapbook, I'm not great at keeping up with baby books, so this is the keepsake for my kids. I will get caught up. And since we have a certain one year old's birthday coming up next week, I have motivation to do some major blogging. Yes, it's been a YEAR since I was miserable and on bedrest... And I know that I usually actually got in the shower and put on makeup before I let anyone take a picture of me. I'm just going to take a minute to be completely honest. I wanted everyone to think that I handled bedrest like this:

When, in reality, it was really more like this (oh my, I cannot believe that I'm going to post this picture!! If it's disappeared by the time that you're reading this post, that means that I've come to my senses and deleted it!):

Have I mentioned how happy I am to have that experience a year behind me? Anyway... back to July! *WARNING: We did alot of stuff in July. This may take awhile.*

As I've mentioned before, we have decided to have Mary Laine's birthday parties on her half-birthday in the summer since her birthday is so close to Christmas. Her favorite thing to watch on TV right now is Super Why, so she asked for a Super Why party.

She needed a little help from Daddy - her feet barely reached the pedals

Playing with one of her favorite new toys - her kitchen.

She loves to come into the kitchen and cook with me now.

Deacon got in on the celebration.

Does this picture make anyone else think of this?:

Happy happy half-birthday Mary Laine! We love you!!