bjbq 2016

Memorial Day weekend has brought the fun of Banjobbq the last few years.  We so love its combination of outdoor fun, music, time with the Ruckers and other friends and yummy food :)

Pig races with our cute 6...

And a cute table full

Love them and so thankful for their friendship :)

And this one enjoying the sights and sounds :)

Such sweetness with girl buddies

And caught this as we headed home the first night...love

Day 2 brought more visiting and playtime

And the sunsets here always seem to be the best...

Time for Old Crow Medicine Show.  They are always so good, but maybe better this year than ever :)

Love.  Good times and sweet memories always...so thankful :)

campers

After our tent camping trip a few years ago, we've been interested in doing more of it somehow.  This May, we had a great opportunity to buy a pop-up camper from another family at our church. Although, it wasn't exactly in the plans or budget, we knew that it was too good to pass up and are already so excited about the family memories ahead :)

We took it out to the lake for one night to try it all out...love these views already...

The Links joined us for dinner.  This is such a happy place for me :)

More visiting and playing...and beauty

Smores and sweet time

And the view B and I woke to the next morning...happy sigh :)

They met a friend!  Couldn't believe how close he came to them...they were in heaven

Looking forward to so many sweet times together and with other families...thanks God :))

eleven

I've loved being this boy's mom so much.  He is equal parts type-A and laid-back which makes for both a dependable and enjoyable personality :).  The first-born side of him means that he is a rule-follower, likes to know the plan for the day/week, organizes and cleans well and doesn't do much outside of the box. But his sweet daddy's side of him makes him go-with-the flow and kind-spirited...so easy to get along with.  He deeply loves his family and his friends and already seems to understand the gift and importance of relationships over anything else...and has an incredible group of buddies that we are so thankful for.

Favorite things at 11?  Sports, of course :).  He loves football, baseball and golf especially, but would probably jump into playing anything that was available.  He still likes drawing and reading and seems especially into music this year, particularly Christian artists such as Lecrae, NF, Jonathan Thulin, KB and Capital Kings.

School-wise, he is so smart.  We finished up elementary school this year and have loved him being home this whole time.  He has consistently scored amazingly well on testing and been a great student and is ready for a new adventure as he enters public school for the first time at his daddy's middle school.  I think I'm ready too, but won't be surprised if I shed a few tears that first day!  The girls and I will definitely miss him so much, but we're excited for him too.

He completed his last year of Bible thrills this March and it was one of my favorite programs ever. I'm so thankful for the Word knowledge he has and the understanding of so many practical ways to live out truth.  He can be a worrier at times, but is learning (along with his mom) to give that over to the Lord and trust Him.  This age is bringing such great conversation and hanging out time...it makes me excited for our relationship stages coming.

I always take forever on the birthday posts because I feel like I'm leaving some big things out.  So beyond thankful for him, can't get enough of his cute freckles and long flippy hair, and love our nightttime talks best of all...can't believe you're 11 :)).  (Birthday eve pic...

Our sweet buddies brought birthday donuts, cards and a gift :))

And Daddy found Gehr a new (used) set of clubs...perfect :)

He got to use them quickly on the course with his two best guys :)

Happy birthday, Gehr!  We love you so much :)

swim team in may

The combination of some daily exercise, good neighbor time and friendly competition sounds great, right?  Greer was all-in for our neighborhood swim team signups this year but the other two weren't so sure. We ultimately decided to have them all give it a shot and braced for the challenge :)

Day 1 was a little tough for Garner Bug...

...but by the end of that first week, she was set to go (for practices at least ;))

Gehr struggled the first couple of weeks with the cold water, cool practice mornings and a higher/tougher age bracket.  Thankfully, for his sake at least ;), the first meet was held on one of the hottest days in history

We didn't think about the fact that an away meet would mean a pool that Garner wasn't familiar or comfortable with...and she never loves big crowds or lots of attention.  Poor thing cried right up until we walked her over to her coach when it was time for her first race.

Coach Brooke talked her into just doing her leg of the relay...we would worry about her individual races later.  She is a magic-worker :)

Sweetest sibling cheerleaders

And lots of other friends came to cheer her on at the end too.  All the sweetness totally made me tear up, and Garner made it the whole way without Coach jumping in with her!  She only stopped for a few short rests on the rope and their relay team placed first I think! :)

It didn't appear that she was going to fall for our pep-talks a second time...

So sweet Coach Brooke jumped in to cheer her on from the water.  It meant that her time didn't count, but she swam, so we were thrilled!  And Brooke didn't even have to give her a hand...just knowing she was there was enough for Garn :)

The bigs did awesome and had a great time swimming and spending time with friends...and being a part of such fun competition totally changed Gehr's feelings on it for the rest of the season :)

Love them :))

And him :)

It really is a fun place to be once the heat of the day passes and the kids have the hang of it all. Already thankful at this first meet for such a sweet community of neighbors to have the time with this summer...more to come in June :)