August 2012....

The boys graduated from Mitchell's Place and wow was that an emotional day for me!  We have made some great friendships and our boys have learned and grown so much since starting there 3 years ago!  Some of the moms put together an awesome graduation swim party the weekend following and these kiddos went out with a bang!!  I'm including a picture from the October they started at Mitchell's Place and then a picture of them on their last day...look how they've grown!!

   October 2009                                                               

August 2012

Our Graduates:)

Our main man Grant!  These guys are the 3 Amigos!!

Sweet Mrs. Melissa, Flamingos Teacher

Graduation Party!!  Water Slide!!

Look at this awesome cake.  Edgar's made each child individually....C and P bottom right, blonde hair, blue eyes!!  Yes, it tasted almost as good as it looked!!

Lunch with Grant poolside!

Posing complete with karate moves with Stella and Cali!

Before starting back to work/school, we had "Yes" day.....the day when Parker and Carson can ask to do anything, well almost anything, and I had to say "yes!"  We started the day at Dunkin Donuts, where they asked to get 2 donuts each!  Yea, right- like they would eat that much:)  We ended up taking the left overs to daddy at work!  Then headed to buy a toy...STAR WARS squinkies for Parker and an art set and some Mario Bros figures for Carson.

Jason's Deli for lunch, home to play, no nap and finished off with Ihop for dinner!  Lots of food....hmmmmmm, must be my kids;)  They drank lots of juice, chocolate milk, ate candy, chewed gum.....pretty much a day of happiness for all of us!

August 16th was Kindergarten Camp!!  The boys got to meet Mrs. Pappas, their awesome teacher, see the classroom, the gym and practice walking through the lunch line!  They were thrilled!!

And....here it is, our first day of Kindergarten at McAdory Elementary.  August 20th, 2012.  Mom and Dad both went to school to walk them in for their first day of Big School....of course, there were no tears, these two were ready to rock!!

Parker wants to be a fireman when he grows up!!

Carson wants to be an Artist when he grows up!!

All smiles for these boys!!

Still smiling at our desk....even a little annoyed at the picture taking;)

Yep, they are officially grown....

Reece is 1!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday sweet Reece!  You have blessed us beyond measure:)

                                             



We had a Rubber Ducky birthday party on Saturday the 7th.  Lots of friends and family came to celebrate with us!  We held the party at our house in the evening so that it wouldn't be so hot- ha!  So much for "not so hot" in July!!
We served salads (chicken salad, egg salad, pasta salad, fruit salad and little frozen "sweet" salads) along with an awesome cake and cupcakes provided by my amazing friend Monica!

For activities, there was a bubble station, crafts (decorating koozies) and bobbing for apples (Carson and Parker lobbied for this since the planning started).  Our friends took home little bags of goldfish and a duck cookie (baked from scratch by this girl right here....I'm still amazed, ha!!) as a thanks for coming!

Reece really likes all the cool stuff he got too!  Of course, his brothers were trying to take over-- good thing the birthday boy liked the boxes as much as the stuff!  He was especially in love with this little white ball that came as a part of one of the toys.  He's so happy:)

Reece had a great time watching all the kids and visiting with all the people.  He savored every bite he could of his cake...I think he couldn't believe we were letting him eat it!  After months and months of no solids, he was slow and steady, but really enjoyed it!  No tears like his big brothers on their big day!

We celebrated his "real" birthday on Sunday.  Mom and Dad got him his very own and first Dunkin Donut...chocolate glazed.  Yummo!  He loved every bite!  We spent some time with Gramp and Rachel before they left, had lunch at O'Charleys where Reece ate his own roll and finished the day with dinner at Cheesecake Factory with Grandma Sue, Bebe and Pop, LeLe, Guncle and Kerrigan!  He devoured his own piece of cheesecake and they sang to him too:)  He was a mess, but loved it!  It was a great day!
                                          
                                          

Happy, Happy Birthday little guy!

July 2012

July 1st-
EmmaKate is here with us this week.  We went to church, ate lunch at Rick and Beth's then did some swimming afterward.  It's soooo hot.  105 today I think.  Our downstairs air conditioner is broken- Doug saved the day and got us a guy out here to fix it today!  Thanks Doug.  Finished up the day with the Jones family.  Dinner at McAlister's and eating icees at the Jones'.  The kids had a great time playing with Emma's toys and they all tried Mr. David's obstacle course!  Parker is such a daredevil! Emma has a bug vacuum and Parker was ALL about it.  Daddy helped find a big "beetle", we think and they sucked it up in the vacuum.  Everyone screamed and ran away- but Parker liked checking it out!   Reece liked "riding" on the scooter and in the power wheels jeep....he smiled so big everytime he got on it.  He thinks he's soooo BIG;)

July 2nd-
Enjoyed a visit from Mick and AJ.  Played with them for most of the morning.  Always enjoy our visits with them.  Lunch with the Hensley's- left over pizza from our trip to CEC last week and peanut butter and honey for the big boys--it's their go-to lunch!  Talked to Uncle Troy on Skpye....Emma and Carson make Lego men with 12-15 heads on them and showed them on the camera.

July 4th-
Tyler and Madi joined the party!  We headed to Tuscaloosa early in the morning to watch Daddy's first implosion, Rose Towers.  We took Wyatt and Reece stayed with the Hensley's.  The boys thought it was "AWESOME!!"  We celebrated the 4th with Bebe and Pop with good food and some swimming, then headed home for a nap and finished off with the church picnic, kids parade and fireworks!  When we got home from church, we shot fireworks in the street with Tyler and the Hensley's....our own little light show of sorts.  Tyler helped the boys shoot roman candles....they thought they were big time!  Reece was not at all phased by the fireworks- he loved the light and the noise I guess:)

  

                                                

July 7th-8th
Reece's birthday weekend!  I'll give him his very own 1st birthday post:)

July 13th-15th
Trip to Knoxville to visit with Granny and Gramp!  While we were there, we found out that Rachel was going to take a job in Arizona.  Good luck Rachel:)  We just relaxed, Granny and Gramp took the boys to the park and we went swimming.  Short and sweet, but always well worth the family time:)

July 15th-19th
VBS week at church.  This year's theme was "Sky."  The boys were skiddish about going the first night, but as usual, were begging to go the rest of the week and absolutely furious when it was over!  I helped out with the food each night and had to be there early, so Mrs. April was sweet to bring C and P along with her crew each night.  We're still singing the songs, "You, you, you, you can trust God.  You can take him by the hand, you can give him your heart."  The boys actually sang and did some motions during the closing ceremony- yea for progress!!

July 21-22
Took a trip to Atlanta with the Jones Family!  We started at Stone Mountain in Georgia- and it was a blast.  It rained some when we first got there, but it ended up being hot and sunny the most of the day!  The kids LOVED the mini ropes course, rock wall, geyser tower, the skyline ride to the top of the mountain, riding (and driving) the duck and all the other fun stuff we got into.  After a long, hot day, we enjoyed the laser show and then headed back to the hotel.  We were supposed to have a crib reserved for little Reece, but when we got there, they were out!  What?!?!?  What do you mean you're out?!?!?!  Needless to say it was a long night with me sleeping with Reece on the floor most of the night:(  Sunday morning we all headed out to the Georgia Aquarium.  It was awesome!  Super crowded and covered up with people, but very, very cool.  The boys had a great time and really enjoyed looking at all the fish, sharks, etc and we got to see the dolphin show too.  Reece snoozed out during that (it was the only time he slept) so I guess we'll have to take him back to see it! Good times, with good friends- and maybe we'll make it an annual trip-- with t-shirts;)

July 30-31st
Breedloves came for a visit!  Kids played and adults watched the Olympics (what is judo anyway?!?!). When Emily first got here, she went straight up stairs and got in bed with Carson and they started comparing booboos.  "Where did you get that one?"  We put together a color changer CARS racetrack and played with LOTS of water.  Reece just wanted to sit in the middle of the track and try to eat all the ice!  Continued with the Breedlove/Douglas tradition with S'mores!  This time around we did some in the microwave, some in the toaster oven!  Flat marshmallows, gigantic marshmallows, reece's cups and hershey bars....lots of variety this time around!!  Always love spending time with this sweet family....miss having them closer.