Ann Evelyn's 2nd Birthday

Our sweet baby girl is 2!! We love this little one so much! What fun to have a little girl in the house! :)

We started the morning with blueberry muffins. Andrew had to help out with the candles. :)

Then, it was time to get ready for her princess party!

She had the most fun with the balloons!

Andrew showing off the "drawbridge" that he and Daddy made to come into the house.

We needed some knights to defend the castle! Forrest was glad to suit up!

Forrest, Andrew and their friend, Julia all dressed up and ready to play!

When we began talking about Ann Evelyn's birthday a couple of months ago, she asked for a "princess" party. She is a tough cookie with her brothers, but she's also very girly... she loves dressing up and playing with her dolls. She loved seeing the princesses at Disney world and has talked about them ever since. I love seeing the differences in how God makes little girls and little boys. At 2, Andrew was into trains, Forrest was into tools, and Ann Evelyn... princesses! :)

Riding the horse outside with Izzy!

She was so tickled when everyone sang to her (she even sang along!) and she blew out the candles all by herself this time!

Meredith, Ann Evelyn and Micah eating cupcakes. Such sweet little friends! Her little friend Tate and cousin Owen also helped us celebrate!

When she opened the present from May-May and Bubby with the tiaras and dress-up shoes... she was sooo excited!! She didn't take them off for the entire party! And she tries to wear those purple heels everywhere we go. :) She loves her new princess tricycle from Ganny and Papaw.

We love you, Ann Evelyn! What a fun day we had celebrating the day that God gave us you!

Growing up!!

My little ones are growing up!

Our baby girl turned 2 on August 6th! What fun we had celebrating our little girl's big day! I'll post more later about the sweet princess party we had for her! :)

And then yesterday Andrew and Forrest went to meet their teacher for preschool!

My sweet, big boy! He will be in preschool 5 days a week this year! I am sad to see him growing up but also very excited for him. He loves his sweet preschool, and he loves to be busy and in a routine. Wilson and I think it will be a great year for him!

Andrew and his teacher, Mrs. Murphy - it seems like a really sweet class!

Forrest is excited to be going to preschool with Andrew this year! :) He is going 2 days a week and has Andrew's sweet teacher Mrs. Bates from last year!!! Andrew was a great big brother... walked Forrest in and showed him around. :) Forrest has 2 friends from church in his class, too, so he is super excited about that!

After looking around the classrooms, we went outside for juice and cookies and a little playtime. Guess who is ready to go to preschool with her big brothers???

Yep! Ann Evelyn was wanting to go this morning! There was much excitement in my boys' faces this morning. They were walking around the kitchen singing songs that they made-up about going to preschool! I can't wait to pick them up in a few minutes to hear how their day was!

4th of July 2011

We loved our trip to the beach for the 4th!

Working puzzles

Sweet brother and sister

The ice cream truck is a fun treat during our summer beach trips... yummy popsicle!

a trip to the bay to catch a crab dinner!

loving the water

Sissy took a ride in the kayak, too!

Daddy caught mullet... these weren't "keepers" just a little entertainment :) the children love watching them flip-flop back into the ocean and swim back out to sea

Forrest loved the water, too

she was content in the water just like this for about 10 minutes. she's a beach girl!

ready to celebrate the 4th!

watching fireworks under the cabin and i do believe that is a s'more in wilson's hand :)

loving sparklers!

mmm... i wish wilson could catch and cook me some of these right now!

love this of the boys in the kayak!

Mommy and her Baby Girl :)

Handsome boy

Cutie pies

another wonderful beach trip!!

Thankful

We are so thankful for our Forrest - especially tonight. While playing on the play set this afternoon, he had a big, scary fall. After falling from the slide, he blacked out for a moment and then jerked up and down. He was limp in Wilson's arms for several seconds. Needless to say, Wilson and I were so scared. We immediately put everyone in the car and headed to the ER.

Once in the car, he seemed to be fine... talking, answering questions, crying... Still, after all the many falls our children have had, we've never seen a reaction like his, and we decided it was best to get him checked out. After being examined and having a CT scan, everything came back clear.

Praise the LORD!! He is so good and gracious to us! He heard our prayers and protected our son and "thankful" just doesn't even seem to be the right word to capture the emotions of gratitude we are feeling. Thank you LORD!

Me and my sweet boy as we waited for our CT Scan. Precious boy.

Daddy

On this Father's Day, and every day, I am so thankful for the 2 wonderful men that God placed in my life... my husband and my father. Our family is blessed beyond measure to have these Godly men leading and loving us.

Daddy and Bubby, you are loved!!

May Beach Trip

Oh how we love the beach!! It's just a blessing to slow down from the busyness of life, have Wilson all to ourselves, and watch the kids enjoy each other as we all enjoy the beauty of God's creation. Wilson and I are so thankful for these weeks at the beach, and I must say it is so hard to come home! :)

This is a new favorite of Ann Evelyn...

All of the kids really enjoyed the water this trip. In fact, on our way home the boys told me that swimming in the water and playing in the waves was their favorite part of the trip.

Ready to go! We spent a lot of time on the beach. This is the first summer since having kids that we haven't had a morning napper while at the beach. It was great to be free to all go to the beach each morning, come back for lunch and afternoon nap, and then head back outside.

"Give me five... up high..."

They loved playing this with Wilson because he always ends it with a tickle! :)

Happy!!

Filling buckets up and dumping them out... so entertaining!

A little rest time with a movie. I love how they all sit right beside each other. :) It makes my heart happy!

We also did some "camping out". Ann Evelyn is so proud of her new tent!

Silly brothers! Forrest is losing his baby weight and is almost as tall as Andrew. I am being asked more and more if they are twins! But I have also been asked by a couple of people in the past fast weeks if Forrest and Ann Evelyn are twins. I think it's so funny!

Water balloons were a BIG part of our trip. If the boys were downstairs under the "college" (cottage) they had balloons out!

The boys love riding their bikes at the beach. We took rides several times a day. Forrest loves it. Although watching Andrew and trying on his own for a long time, he finally got the hang of it around his 3rd birthday. While we were at the beach, he mastered the important lesson of using brakes!

Wilson took the boys crabbing this year. I love the memories I have of going fishing and crabbing with my dad, and I am so excited that the boys have fun doing this with Wilson. Maybe next year Ann Evelyn and I will join them.

We cooked the crabs for lunch a couple of days... YUM! Andrew wanted to learn how to shell it himself. He worked so hard (Shelling crab is tedious!) and then enjoyed eating it! FUN!

Two more pictures.. Love these happy beach boys!!