Trying to get caught up…

Life has been busy around here.  Immediately after completing our school year, we headed up to G’ville to attend both Angela and Allison’s graduations.  It was a busy trip!  But we had a lot of fun.  My Mamaw & Papaw were able to come down from Arkansas, so it was great to visit with them as well.

Here are the pics from that weekend:

The day after we got home from G’ville, we left for vacation with Chris’ parents.  This year we decided to stay in-town, so we had a resort just minutes from Disney.  The weather was hot, but beautiful!  (Thankfully we didn’t have all the rain that has been pouring down this last week.)  We enjoyed the time away.  Of course it didn’t last long enough…it never does! 

We got to spend a day at Disney and a day at Sea World.  We kind of had a “tourist” vacation, but it was great.  We DO live in the vacation capitol of the world!   

Our day at Disney was a lot of fun!  We went to Magic Kingdom in the morning and did fun stuff for Ella.  She especially loved the carousel and meeting the princesses!  Then Andy & Emily met up with us and picked her up.  That way we had the rest of the afternoon/evening with the boys!  We went to Hollywood Studios. 

Our afternoon was especially exciting as Chris was chosen to compete in the American Idol Experience!  He sang in the first round against two other people and won!  Then he went to the “finale” round – competing against the six other winners from the day.  He won that, too!  It was so fun!  He won a “golden ticket” – basically a Fast Pass to get him to the front of the line at any American Idol audition!  Unfortunately, he is too old to use it!  He is just above the cut-off age.  Oh well…it was so fun watching the crowd LOVE him!    He was amazing!

Here are the photos – this slide show is long!

During the rest of the week, we spent a lot of time in the pool!  It was so nice and relaxing.  My kids are part fish, I think!  The boys have always loved the water and Ella is no different!  She has NO FEAR of the water!  She holds her breath, blows bubbles and even went down the BIG slide all by herself!  She just smiled and laughed. 

As I said before, we spent a day at Sea World.  Andy and Emily joined us, so that was a nice treat.  We had a great time!  Chris, Caleb and I got to try out the new Manta roller coaster!  It was still in the “soft-opening”.  What a great ride!  Can’t wait to do that one again!

Here are the photos from the pool and at Sea World (another long one!):

Okay…I finally got those on here!  That feels good.  Hopefully I can keep up a little better now!    We’ll see…

Busy, busy…

Things have been busy around here. 

- We have been doing school – it is going pretty well – yay! 

- Last week we were stuck in the house while it rained and rained and rained!  (Thank you, Tropical Storm Fay!)

- This week we are getting ready for Celebration South Florida.  We will head out a little early, since Chris is driving a truck with equipment.  Today is my big packing day – I feel like we are moving any time we go anywhere these days!  Ha!  But seriously, we are really looking forward to this conference and praying that the Lord will move on our hearts and the hearts of all who are there.  I am excited about the worship – there is always something special about the worship times at Celebration!  The boys are really excited about going as well!  They love the kids’ classes!

Here are a few other highlights from the week:

Ella with her friend Sadie!

Ella had her first baby food (aside from rice cereal).  She LOVES it! 

Messy…but yummy!

An experiment for science – a cup of plain water and a cup of salt water.  Will an egg sink or float in each?  Try it for yourself!  The boys got really excited about this!

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY, DAVID!  We had David over for his birthday dinner.  I made home-made fried chicken & gravy (like Grandma does), mashed potatoes and green beans!  Yummy!

I guess that is about it from around here.  I will post again after Celebration!

*fun with my sisters*

My sisters have been in town since Sunday (they brought my boys back!)  We have been having a great time! 

Monday night, we all went to American Pie Pizza Co. for dinner – our favorite pizza place!    The girls always want to go there when they are in town!  David met up with us as well.

After dinner, we went to take some pics for their band – Tall Tree.  I love this one –

On Tuesday, we met up with Mandy & Madisyn Reel at IKEA!  Alli had never been there before, so we had a great time!  We were so tired afterwards!

my kids’ CRAZY auntie

I just had to post these photos of my sister Angela.  We call her the family Hippie, or the “Artsy One!”  She definitely has her own unique sense of style!    She is SO MUCH FUN!  She always makes my day!  She got her hands on my camera the last time we were up there and this is what I found! 

I LOVE YOU, ANG!  Thanks for being your creative, incredibly fun self!  You make life exciting for all those around you!  You are also an incredible Auntie, who my kids LOVE very much!

Enjoy the many faces of Angela!

.tall tree.

My Siblings have formed a band called TALL TREE.  They played their first real gig at a coffee shop in Winter Garden a couple of weeks ago.  There was a great turnout of friends – the place was packed.  They did two sets plus an encore!  My personal fav was Alli’s “Love Me Tender!”  Thought you would enjoy seeing some photos of the evening!

Quick pic

Just had to share this photo with you.  It was taken really quickly at a wedding in mid-January, but I just love it!  I have great siblings!  I am so grateful for my relationships with each of them!  love you, David, Ang & Alli!