Friday, August 9, 2013

fun summer life in june

Gehrig had a sweet fan club for his last baseball game!




We really enjoyed his coach (and assistants too)...


Popsicles and playtime :)



"We're making a roly-poly daycare."


Cooking out with our Rucker buds...


Fun Lord family visit one morning...




B checked the lost-and-found at swim team one afternoon for our towel and found a few more things that we didn't even know we were missing :/


Greer's thoughts :)


Garner loves making silly faces and big smiles right now...so fun :)



Surprise visit from Jen Malcolm!  We miss her.


Cute buddies


On our way home one evening, Greer said, "God looks just like that, except brighter."  Sigh :)


Swim meet tailgating...so thankful for sweet families to spend that time with!



I was determined to get a head-start on lesson planning in June, knowing that July would be full of travel and busyness.  Garner joined me for some preschool fun :)




Going to see Gentry play...their friendship is so sweet :)


While the bigs went to VBS, Garner went with Mommy & Daddy one morning to the big plant sale.  Fun to have a date with her...



And why I wanted to get a head-start on lesson planning (and on school this coming year)...we finally finished up the last couple of school things from last year mid-June.  Not my ideal!


Dressed up by her sister...a new common occurrence :)


Finishing up tennis lessons...they loved and Greer seems to be a natural!



Heading to the pool afterwards for our last afternoon with the Ruckers for over a month!  They traveled and then we traveled and then we traveled again and so did they.  Gehr was counting the days :(





Sweet girls, movie-watching and cuddling


We loved meeting up with the Baileys for dinner one night.  We wish that we saw them more!  Thankful for the summer schedule that allows for a quick dinner...and hoping to do it more often than once in the summers...





Poor Greer crashed on the short way home...not a common sight.  She ended up having swimmer's ear and an inner ear infection :(


Another sleeping pic.  Gehr, with his swim meet numbers on his arm...he looks so grown all of a sudden.


Garner CRACKS me up these days.  Completely and seriously reading to Sarah, the head ;)


Silly pics after her bath...


And this is how we find her in her bed every morning and after every nap...right where we left her. She still has us lay her down on her back like a newborn and then stays there until we come pick her up.  If I just put her in the crib standing, she says, "But I wanna yay down!"  It's the funniest thing :)


Sweetness.  I don't how they learn this stuff (especially with such a non-girly mama), but I peeked in to this one afternoon and heard Greer saying, "You have to beautiful if you're a princess, okay?"


Coming out a little while later, ready to perform for us :)


Playdate with Luke.  School/sports busyness keeps them from getting together as much as we would like, but it's always so fun and sweet when they do.  I've never heard Gehrig laugh like he does with him...ever since they were 2 :)


Last swim meet


It thundered from lunch until the next morning, so we were delayed a lot and just took pics and played while we waited :)



Dollar movie date :)


It was Garner's first theater experience and she LOVED it.  I wish I had her recorded while she watched...she had the cutest commentary throughout :)



I love this age.  Turned around to back out of the driveway that day and saw this.  All on her own :)


And Greer's resttime activity one afternoon...set up an animal band, complete with paper microphones and drums, CD player and a stuffed audience.  I joined them watching and couldn't help but stop and thank God for another sweet gift.


I love these days :)

Thursday, August 8, 2013

celebrating our matriarch

My sweet Mema turned 90 this summer and we all (and by that, I mean ALL) got together to celebrate at Aunt Sally's.  It was so special to have most of her kids, grandkids and greats in one place for her.  It had been years since we had seen some of them!  I think the count was somewhere around 115 :)

Super cute cake with Mema and Dedaddy and their 9 kiddos.



My mom's "branch" of the family tree...she accounted for 16!


Garner and Slade look so much alike :)


Sweet cousin Libba and her husband Stephen ended up eating with all our kiddos.  They are adorable and so great with littles.



L.O.V.E. her.


With Mom/Bebe too :)


These are most (with maybe a handful missing) of Mema's grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  That is a legacy!


Aunt Sally had a perfect homesite to host the party.  Beautiful and open space inside and lots of yard space, pool and pond with rope swings :)

Hanging with Marg


Jessica and Libba let the girl cousins jump in over and over :)


And I got some sweet Lily snuggles!


The kid rope swing...Greer loved!


And the big kid rope swing.  B had a blast :)


Took him awhile, but Gehrig finally tried it...and of course, he didn't want to stop after doing it once.


Such a sweet and special and fun day for all.  So thankful for all the work put into it and for the great memory Mema and the rest of us have of being together.  She has been an amazing role model for all of us.  Sweet and godly and strong and fun.  We are so blessed!

We were barely out of the driveway good before this one crashed ;)


Her nap was short-lived though...we headed to grab mexican with our "Sellers" crew...





Loved having some time with them to visit without the crowd.  And Lily got to share her exciting news about being a big sister soon too!


That night, we were blessed to visit with and stay over with our friends, the Grubbs.  We have been anxiously awaiting meeting their two sweeties, Caleb and Chaney.  The kids were all so cute together and we loved our time with them all!



Thankful for her faith and friendship...


After church the next day, we stopped back by Aunt Sally's and really enjoyed some more visiting with Mema, Aunt Sally and Aunt Anne and their fams.  Mema is so cute :)




Love all the antiques and character in their home...


And back on the road...this was a lot of our travel this summer!  So thankful the Lord kept us safe...


One more post coming to wrap up June :)

Monday, August 5, 2013

papa's

Papa was awesome to let us hang out and visit and use his house as "home-base" for a few days.  It is seriously beautiful there!





Fun kayaking



Guess the MarioKart playing has been beneficial...he was a pro his first time driving!


Love the snuggle and silly pics!



Dinner on the water...



Thanks for letting us stay and go and come back and stay again, Dad!  We had a great time and are so thankful for everything :)