Two days of pool, food, friends & family. I hope yours was just as wonderful! ...
friends
Dino-riffic
We went to a pretty terrific birthday celebration for our sweet friend Preston early last month and I haven't shared the photographs with you yet! Preston just turned one and is a little boy who stays with Sophie during the week. His big sister Madeline is a friend of Ella's and his mom, Michelle, did a fantastic job on the party. It was so funny listening to the little conversations going on around the tables. We still think these are "little" kids, but sometimes their conversations are so grown up! Ella's face cracks me up so much in the photograph -- she was smirking at me -- and is pretty typical of her these days. I cannot believe I didn't get a close up of the table! Michelle did such a great job and the spread was divided into two categories of food -- herbivores and ...
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Right next door is a pretty little house. It's old and charming like mine. They are really close to one another, share a wrap around drive and some pretty great trees. For the last eighteen months, it has sat empty. We were blessed for several years to live next door to my aunt Heather and her three wonderful children. They were such an important part of our lives and we were so sad when they moved on to bigger and better things. Ella has been pretty depressed about the empty house for awhile and dreamed of having neighbors, especially if children could be involved. We've known for several months that it was very possible some very good friends might move next door. Parker & Ella are the same age, Conner & Ella are in the same class at school and Carson & Sophie are two peas ...
Rivalry
I'm guessing you know there was this little game on Saturday. One that people in Alabama talk about for 365 days, only to start talking about again. Well, the fact of the matter is... we won. I didn't get to go this year, but SD did and not only did he sneak on the field after the game, but he met David Pollack and Trent Richardson and snapped a picture of his beloved Erin Andrews. All's fair in love and football, right? A few weekends ago we celebrated the birthday of our little friend Madeline. She had a pretty awesome tailgate rivalry party where all of her friends wore their Alabama/Auburn gear and partied it up at the playground. It was so fabulous, in fact, that I am totally bookmarking this idea for an Ella party in the future! ...
Bama v UT
Saturday was a LOT of fun. I was particularly fond of my gameday outfit, which is always a plus! I drove to Tuscaloosa by myself and it was a nice, QUIET drive. We tailgated at my cousin's on-campus apartment, just moments from Bryant-Denny. I had fried cheese from the end-zone concession stand and a very large Coke. There was a fighter jet flyover just after the national anthem that was awesome. The pilots were in stadium later in the night and unbuttoned their jumpsuits to reveal Bama tees. After a frustrating first half, the boys redeemed themselves and SD starting shaking his keys at the UT fans. It was time for them to head home! We sang a rousing' round of Rammer Jammer after the game. {Please forgive my squealing at the end. the iPhone is notorious for ...
July Update
Why don't we discuss some other pictures of my littles from the FIRST WEEK OF JULY! Y'all, I am taking pictures, I'm just not managing to get them uploaded and blogged in a timely fashion. Surely the cuteness of these two girls in their 'kinis will more than make up for it. Ashley invited us over to their new house to celebrate Westin's first birthday. My girls are a little crazy when it comes to birthday parties and had a blast. Sophie went from ant hill, to water slide, to hosepipe, all followed with a walk from plate to plate to sample everyone's goodies. For whatever reason, my children do not discriminate when it comes to food. They will eat off of anyone's plate, with or without permission! Ella had a lot of fun, too, but she was a little timid about the water. She only wanted to ...
Not So Faraway Friends
Crystal and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. Her mom and my mom were friends in high school and we grew up together. Even though we never went to the same school and often lived far away, family get togethers were always so much fun. I remember that her house was the first place I watched MTV and saw a Madonna video. I remember sliding down her carpet-covered stairs (ours were hardwood). I remember watching her dad make stained glass windows in the garage. We got in trouble once for painting in the bathroom. No one would ever have known if I hadn't gotten in on my nose. Ella, Sophie, Ava & Collin These days, Crystal lives in Auburn with her sweet family and I still live in the same little town. We keep in touch with blogs and Facebook, but finally decided it was ...
Pool Day
I don't know if you've noticed, but we've already fallen into our summer routine. It's a little different from last year, but we take FULL advantage of the weekends. We call Saturdays a "pool day". I almost laughed when SD asked me Friday night what our plan for the weekend was. Did he have to ask? We got up bright and early to get a few things done around the house and started packing our bags. Spending 8 hours at the pool with two little girls requires a lot of gear. We packed a picnic lunch, extra towels and plenty of reading material for when Sophie was napping. This girl LOVES the water. She pretty much throws herself into the water and cries when you make her get out. She quickly figured out how to balance in her swim ring and she is swimming all over the pool, deep end ...