Picture!

So, thankfully I have at least one local reader (besides family!) and she happened to be with me the other day. I mentioned I did not get a picture of Johanna and I when she was in town and voila - her sister (my local reader!) sent me a picture she took while we were at the pool! YAY!! This definitely made my day :)And an oldie (graduation day)

**If I do not blog after this post its because one of the girls (Jo, Heather, or Erin) have killed me and buried me somewhere. Send a search party***

Happy Birthday Dear Hubs!

Today we celebrated John's birthday! We went to eat at Longhorn and then came home to sing "happy birthday" and to eat a delicious red velvet/cream cheese icing cake.

4th of July Weekend

Happy 4th of July weekend to everyone! This weekend was jammed packed! You will be able to tell by the millions of pictures to follow on this post :) I cannot even remember what I did Friday. I know that I was supposed to meet up with my friend Johanna because she was in town from CA visiting her family. We ended up getting together on Saturday and I forgot to get a picture :(. My tummy was not well and caused me to forget my mind a little. On Saturday we hung out for a little and then hung out by the pool! I always love my visits with Johanna - we only get to see each other about once a year, but we never skip a beat.

Sunday was my dad's side of the family, family reunion. It was a pool party - fun and relaxing! My dad is an only child - so mainly my immediate family and second/third cousins of mine were there.

Heidi and mom in the pool

Tina and Olivia

Great Aunt Lois and the 1st cousins

Adding the spouses

The Kirkland Family

Heidi Jewell and Daddy

Monday was a day at the river! We went boating and tubing - and the kids ran through sprinklers!

My little "redneck baby" :)

Sprinkler time!!

Dinner was at my sister's house - followed by pictures of the cousins :) They all actually posed together - maybe a first??

Ice cream at Lovin' Spoons!

Followed by fireworks that were being set off in our neighborhood when we got home!

Tuesday evening we had family pictures at Tybee Island. This was Heidi's first, and definitely not last, trip to the beach. She loved it! Well, she loved everything except falling on my bracelet and getting a little black eye :(

4th of July - in Pictures!

I will write a post with more pictures, but here is all I have time for right now :)

Birthday Celebration!

This week we headed to North Atlanta for our niece Olivia's 5th birthday! The party was held at Bounce U and was a great place for the kids to run around and slide/bounce. Heidi even had a chance to use the slides and the bouncing ring! Now that Heidi is walking around everywhere she seems to feel like such a big girl and so excited that she can go anywhere she wants!

Here is where I learned that I chew gum like a cow would chew cud. Awful. I think I will never chew gum in public again. Anyways, if you can get past the horrible gum chewing you will see that Heidi had a fun time on her first slide!

Playing in the boxing ring

Big brother :)

Olivia blowing out her candles and letting everyone know she was turning the B-I-G 5!

Heidi's first time on a swing! She loved it! We might have to think about getting one!

Trying to get this many kids to take a picture together - what a task! Georgia is going through a "I don't want my picture taken" phase and then the other kids argue about who will get to hold the babies or who will sit where and then no one ends up smiling at the same time. I will have to find some similar pictures of me and my cousins going through the same exact poses!

On the way home we stopped to buy some fresh peaches, tomatoes, and cantaloupe.

It was a short trip, but a ton of fun! Other things that happened -

- John, Heidi, and I stayed at my cousin's house and the kids were so excited to have Heidi come over and spend the night. Julie said they were talking about it for days! Phrases used, "please turn on the lights for our guests"; "this is our guest room, we like to make it nice and comfortable for our guests".

- Went to pick out fabric for the girls' dresses for family pictures coming up.

- Heidi crawled up an entire flight of stairs.

- The phrase "yeah, its over there, by that place" was used when in the process of buying peaches. Another "Danny-ism"

- Poor Missy (my brother's dog) is getting to be so old. She went out on the back deck and peed. It wouldn't be funny, except for that the kids were underneath the deck at the time - ha!

Ride the Sheep!

Sunday Heidi and had to go into town to meet some ladies that teach/help at the dance studio for dinner to discuss some future plans. Heidi and I went a couple of hours early to get some shopping done. One of our stops was Home Goods and when we were leaving Heidi saw this little duck thing and she just had to have it. She kept point and saying, "duck, duck, duck" and then lunging with emphasis towards the duck. I let her hold it before we left, but we did not purchase the duck. It was semi-heartbreaking to me because she absolutely loves stuffed animals and she loves them even more if she can say what the animal is. I do not want to be one of those parents who has to purchase an item every single time they go to the store because of a screaming child and it is expected. First - my budget just does not allow for that. Secondly I also feel that if you buy something for someone continuously it takes away meaning when gifts are meant to be special, you do no appreciate what you have. I also do not want Heidi to be focused on "I want, I want, I want", but I want for her to have a giving spirit, attitude, and heart.

It really does make it hard when she is so adorable with stuffed animals. She's just so adorable in general...

After we left Home Goods we had a few other places to go and then we ended up having some time to kill, so we headed back to Home Goods to the little kids section where Heidi had just the greatest time playing! She loved the little Rocking Sheep - although it might not be reflected as much in the video. Heidi was a little overwhelmed with all the toys surrounding her. Dinner was at Panera Bread and now that Miss Priss can walk we are in trouble. She kept running around the table and to the door and laughing the whole time. This went on for about a half hour and by the end of the night my little one was exhausted with grocery store feet :)

Finished Project

Ok - so I actually finished a weekend project I set out to do - yay!! I guess I should have called it "weekend project" instead of #1 {assuming there would be more projects over the weekend}, but I will hopefully have one project each weekend to have completed. My goal is to have everything set and in a place {which means I need to each a)find a place or b)throw it away} by the end of the summer. By the way - please do not think we have purchase Heidi a closet full of clothes. We are very blessed to have a great deal of hand-me-downs. I also have clothes hanging up that will last through 3T :) They will just me rotated for the next few years; its easier to have them hanging up instead of stored away in boxes.