60 Years!

This past weekend (I am so behind with life right now!) my grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary! The kids and I were so excited to get to go and celebrate with them in Indiana! Mike ended up having a work event and was bummed he couldn't make it but the kids and I had fun for him :)

My grandparents had a renewal ceremony at the very same church they were married at 60 years ago! 

The ceremony was beautiful

Wedding photo! Love this!!! 

Savannah holding hands with Mamaw and Pappy. She more than anyone really misses living in Eustis and spent a lot of time snuggling with them! 

All the little touches were so nice! 

They had an original invitation, wedding gifts displayed, their wedding album, and lots of pictures! 

Cake time! 

Love these two! 

The next generation of cousins playing together at the reception

Who gave her that enormous piece of cake????

This lady!!! Savannah adores Aunt Susan and even told her teacher before we left that she may not be back the following week because she was going to stay with Aunt Susan for a week! :) 

The day was so nice and it was wonderful catching up with family and getting to spend some time with Mamaw and Pappy! We really miss them being so close. They are such an amazing example of commitment and we "marriage newbies" cannot even imagine the kind of love, patience, selflessness, understanding, and grace it takes to be together happily for 60 years!! Thank you!!!

Nice Daddy

The title of my post is not meant to imply that Mike is not normally nice but I think with the kids and I going back to school last week he has been missing us around here and it's made him unusually nice! :)

Check out what he did for the kids on Sunday!

Mike made them a tree swing! It's no tire swing from the Eustis house but they love it and it gives them another outdoor activity to enjoy :) 

Then the next day he did this!

Flowers for me! 

And flowers for the girls....

Then a couple days later....

He came with me to pick Owen up from preschool and treated us to Orange Leaf Fro-yo

And then to top it off after Owen went to work with me all day long on Thursday all he wanted to do was ride his bike when he got home and Daddy came out and watched him for a few minutes!

So at least for this week, we've had an extra nice Daddy!

First Day of My New Life!

With Owen starting preschool this week, my life now looks totally different! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he goes to preschool right after the girls go to school! Tuesday and Thursday he will be at the preschool that I run at our church so he will actually be in school 5 days a week! So my plan is on M,W,F to head to the gym right after drop off and get a quick work out in! Yay!!


Owen's first day of School!

He gets out at noon so then we will head home for lunch and wait for Savannah to get off the bus! No more afternoon car line for me! Yay!!!!

We are really lucky that the bus stops right outside of yard! Owen and I sit on the front porch and wait for her!

Pretty soon Kate gets off the bus and it's almost time for dinner :)

My good girl always remembers to check the mail!

This year everyone is doing activities so our evenings are packed!!! Kate is in chorus at school and goes to church every Wednesday night for Youth Group. Savannah is in gymnastics on Thursdays and Owen is doing soccer on Tuesdays and Saturdays! I am officially a Soccer Mom! And a tired Mom :)

Owen's first soccer practice! 

There are 5 girls on the team and only 2 boys!! Too funny! 

He did really good for this first practice!!  And how cute is he? Really? 

I am beginning to feel like nothing more than a transportation vessel for my kids! I guess I had better get used to it!

Owen's Logic....

So here is what has been happening a lot in the middle of the night.....I am talking like 3:30 am!

FYI - this is my pillow, my blanket, my spot! 

 I very nicely explained to Owen that he could not continue to sneak into my bed during the night because there was simply not room for him. I told him there is only two spaces, one for me and one for Daddy. So later that day Owen dragged me into the room to "show me something".

Owen so kindly informed me that there were actually three spots in the bed. "See, Mama?" And then he told me that mine was the small red one on the end of the bed! Gee, thanks O!

Dinosaur World!

So our second day of camping started out much like our first. We woke up early and it was raining and humid! After getting in the shower and blow drying my hair, I walked out of the bath house to rain! Not sure why I bothered to wash my hair at all! I got back to the camp site and Mike had it pretty much packed up! I was never so glad to be leaving :)

So much work involved! 

Owen was ready to go too! 

 We stopped off at the Ranger Station on our way out and look who we found! Yogi!!!

Once we got all checked out, we headed over to Dinosaur World!

First up was a fossil dig!

It was actually pretty cute. They had shark teeth and clams for the kids to find and then the person working the dig explained to them what each one was.

After the dig, we went for the Dino Walk! This is where things got a little crazy! It must have been the sleep deprivation!

Goof Balls! 

Once we completed the Dino Walk, it was time for our Gem Mining Experience! This was what Savannah was most looking forward to. They got a large bag of dirt and they had to pan for their gem stones.

I think Owen might be tired! 

 We had a nice time at Dinosaur World but we won't be going back anytime soon. It's kind of like Gatorland! Super fun once, but once you've done it once, you're good! On the road just outside the campgrounds there were these Bumper Boats and Owen begged and begged to ride them so we stopped on the way out of town. All I will say is that it was very interesting!

Kate did great! She was a pro :) 

She however spent 90 percent of the time spinning in circles in the middle of the pool. 

Bump! 

We as a family decided that camping is not our favorite activity! We are going to give it a little break probably until next spring/early summer. Then we will try again :)