Vacation without Daddy

My sweet husband arranged a Destin, FL trip for my mother-in-law Barbara, the kids, & me. He worked a ton of overtime hours that week. He feels incredibly guilty about not spending time with the kids. Sending us away for vacation helped him focus on work & not worry how we were doing at home without him. With that said, we had a great time. The weather was in the mid 80's. I took a long walk every morning then would take the kids to a playground while Barbara exercised. While Nolan napped, I took the girls to the beach to play. The water was chilly but after playing in the hot sun it felt nice. The girls did not mind the cold water temps. After playing at the beach, we'd get cleaned up & grab some dinner, then off to Baytowne or somewhere to play. I had fun shopping at the outlets. I get the bulk of the kids clothes at the outlet shops there.

Madelyn's 5th Birthday

Madelyn had an awesome birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year. I would totally recommend having a party there. This is coming from someone who has hosted every birthday party at our house. Having a party somewhere else took the load off me & allowed me to enjoy the party. They did a great job making Madelyn feel incredibly special for her birthday!

Madelyn's dinosaur cake

Madelyn in the ticket chamber. She had to try to collect as many flying tickets as possible.

Friends!

Us...I love Nolan's expression!

I love this picture of Madelyn. We had a photo shoot in our backyard.

Family in Town!

My little brother Brian, my sister-in-law Lea Ann, & nephews Travis & Gavin drove down from Louisville a few weekends ago for a visit. The girls loved playing with Travis. My mom flew in from Louisiana Saturday night & stayed until the following Sunday. It was great catching up with my family!


Travis, Madelyn, & Ansley made their own dinosaur costumes. As you can see, creativity is strongly encouraged around here:)

Kids hanging with Grandma

Nolan passed out at the fair.

Madelyn helped make a wooden bowl & watched an ironsmith make an iron leaf for her at the fair.

We went to Reynolda Village on my birthday. Madelyn took this picture.
Some of the other fun stuff we did with my mom was going out for sushi, shopped, strolled around Old Salem, played at the Children's Museum, toured the Reynolda House, & introduced my mom to the IKEA store.

Ansley's 3rd Birthday

Jon gave Ansley her princess watch before he left for work. Birthdays are a big deal at our house. The goal is to make the birthday kid feel as special as possible:)


I took the girls to Build A Bear. Ansley picked out a pink bear with a Sleeping Beauty dress. Madelyn chose a owl with a Batman Halloween costume. After Build A Bear, we met Jon for lunch at Mayberry's.



The girls posed for a quick photo shoot before the birthday party. Nolan was still napping.


Nolan was caught "red handed" eating ketchup straight from the packet!


Ansley was so excited to open her gifts. She would take a break from playing & eating at her party to stand next to her presents. She was so grateful for everything.


The party crew at Chick Fill A


How often is it that you can take a family photo with an over-sized costumed cow?

Labor Day Weekend in Charlotte

top 10 reasons we had a fantastic weekend:

10. Our stay at the Omni downtown was "suite"!
9. watching people getting jiggy wit' it at a roof top bar from the panoramic view of our room
8. watching the kids learn about science, nature, & the way things work at Discovery Place
7. visiting ImaginOn, a really cool children's library, & anxiously anticipating a future visit to their children's theater

6. watching Madelyn play the drums at Trade & Tryon St (the center point of Charlotte) was priceless, especially since she has been asking for a drum set of her own.

5. Swimming in the roof-top pool at our hotel. How cool is that?!
4. Eating breakfast at Landmark, a restaurant featured on the Food Network Show: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The bread is made in house, so you can only imagine how yummy their french toast tasted!
3. Eating a sweet potato, black-eyed pea, & collard green burrito at Dish, another Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives place. It was one of the entrees featured on the show & it tasted surprisingly spectacular!

2. Playing musical beds in the middle of the night in our hotel room. The game was played with 2 full beds & 1 porta-crib.
1. Drum roll please....Shopping at IKEA for the first time! Words cannot express.

Sweet Sleepers

I don't recall what we did the day these pictures were taken. Ansley crashed in the computer chair after bath. Madelyn crashed in our bed with the book she's learning how to read from. Nolan crashed before finishing his milk, when usually he never misses a drop. I'm tired just looking at 'em!

Happy 1st Birthday Nolan

Nolan turned 1 years old on August 10! We celebrated by visiting Cash Lovell Horse Stables with the RSA playgroup. Buddy had a birthday party when Jon got home from work. We had pizza, ice cream cone cupcakes, & of course presents. Happy Birthday baby Nolan!