Happy Birthday to Me!

I turned 28 on July 13th. We were at the beach for my birthday. We didn't have internet at our beach house. So, I couldn't check all my Facebook messages. Sad, I know. But, it was fun to read them when I got the chance. We celebrated by going out to dinner and then we had pie and ice cream for dessert. I don't really love cake all that much. So, I chose apple pie instead.



Andrew did the lovely decorating :)

You can't get a much better birthday than spending it at the beach, surrounded by family!

Our First Night at Myrtle Beach

Well, we made it safely back from vacation with over 1500 pictures. So, I think I will just have to do several posts because I love too many of them to narrow it down to one post.

Madeline was happy to get out of the car after a 6 hour trip. We still had some daylight to burn, so we headed down to the beach. Madeline was not crazy about the sand. It makes her very dirty, or " all dutty", as she says. She was very hesitant to get out of anyone's arms.

But, with a little encouragement, she warmed up to the beach.

The tide was very low. So, she had some big pools of water to play in where the waves couldn't get her. So, she got to work filling her bucket with sand, water and sticks.

Happy Birthday Naomi!!!

Today is Naomi's Birthday!




Thanks for being the best mommy, wife, and friend in the world! I love you so much!

Who Needs Toys...

...when you've got a box?
The other day I finished drying my hair, came out of the bathroom to check on Madeline and this is what I found. She had drug the box out of her room to the living room, picked the OJ can from the trash and climbed on in.

She even drug Elmo into all this mischief! He seems a little unsure of what Madeline is dragging him into.

On another note, hopefully we are at the beach right now as you are reading this. I will post pictures when we get home.

Happy Independence Day!

We started our holiday with a cookout with some friends. The Sinks and Whited's came over for the afternoon. Madeline and Kathryn got to hang out.


Chase enjoyed the swing.


Cristen and Johnny Sink


Unfortunately I don't have a picture of Krisha. But, here is Brian with Madeline. Madeline has always like Brian for some reason. I think he kind of looks like my brother. So, maybe that is why :)


Later in the afternoon, we headed to a Tea Party in Roanoke.




$11 Trillion and climbing...Now that's a lot of change!

When it started getting dark, we headed to the fireworks at River's Edge. We enjoyed a Dixie band and the Beattles while we waited for the fireworks.

This was Madeline's first time seeing fireworks and she loved the "boom booms"! She layed in my lap most of the time and kept saying, "whoa", "boom boom", "whoa."

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Class of 1999!

Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, I went to my 10 year, high school reunion. I went to a small Christian school and graduated with 38 people. Here are all the people that made it to the reunion.

We met at a local church with a picnic shelter and a great playground for all of the kids to play on. Madeline had a blast. She made lots of new buddies.

While the kids played, we sat around, ate and caught up on life. Although, we knew a lot of what was going on with each other because of facebook and blogs. It's still much better to get together in person.

We got to meet little Abigail for the first time. Her mom, Erin's and my parents are good family friends.

Becky decided to leave her little girl Ellen with her grandparents. So, they came over to our house later so we could meet her.

The playground was very big. But, Madeline had a good time climbing, sliding, driving and wandering around on her own or with the big kids.

Some friends, Erin, me, Sarah and Becky.

More friends, Becky, Corri, Amanda, Becky, me and Sarah with some of our kids. (There were a ton more kids there! We were a very productive class, or should I say, reproductive :)

Madeline's friends taught her how to say, "cheese" for pictures.

I think they were trying to get her to say other funny things.

We had a great time at the reunion. It is fun to see everyone's families and catch up on their lives.

Like I said earlier, Becky came over to my parent's house later in the afternoon so we could meet Ellen. I have only seen pictures of her on their blog. So, it was fun to see Becky's little mini-me in person.