Blueberries!

 We got to go blueberry picking a couple weeks ago! Since we've had a mild summer a lot of them weren't quite ready so they weren't as easy to pick as last year, but we still ended up with about 20 pounds. We invited friends to go with us so that was a lot of fun for the girls!

I figured Peaches would just sleep in the stroller. Not so much. She stayed awake pretty much the entire time and fell asleep right before we left, although it worked out fine because I would have had to feed her there.

 

There were 5 families there to pick which meant lots of friends to play with!

 Peanut has so many great expressions. She was about to put a blueberry in her mouth and it popped out of her hand right before I snapped this shot.

 

Then she started laughing about it. So cute.

  

Buggy took pity on her and fed her one.

  

Little bird.

 

Peaches fell asleep in the stroller and didn't even crack an eyelid when I got her out and transferred her to the car. Tired baby!

 

It was a fun day. Thank you Noni for coming along to help!

Happy 12th!

 We had our 12 year anniversary this month!

After church and lunch Noni and Papa took the big girls and we headed into town to do some shopping.

I very rarely have time to actually shop. Most of our things come from online so it was really fun to have time to browse and try things on. I used some of my birthday money to get a couple new shirts, a sweater, and some socks.

Waiting in line to check out is so much more fun with a super cute baby!

"Daddy?"

"Daddy!"

 Peaches adores her Daddy. He always gets huge smiles whenever he comes into view.

We shopped for a couple of hours ended up at the mall so we went to a Mexican restaurant there.

Had to take a picture of our yummy fajitas! 

Peaches talked/sang loudly for the first 10 minutes, but ended up sleeping for almost the whole meal. 

 

 And then we were out of time so we had to head back towards home. Normally we get ice cream on our dates, but since I can't have dairy right now and we were both full we stopped and got a Krispy Kreme and took it home. After we got the baby in bed we sat on the couch and watched Netflix with our donuts. It was the perfect, most relaxing way to spend the day.

I am so blessed to have this amazing man in my life. He works so incredibly hard to provide for us and to improve our community's health care, and we are so proud of him. He truly is an amazing and well respected leader in our church and community. 

This past year has been especially challenging as he gets his masters. He has almost no down time. He works till 6 or so every night, comes home to eat dinner and spend time with the girls before they go to bed and then it is straight to the computer for hours working on homework. When he does have a free night we usually go out to work on the farmhouse. It has been a busy and stressful time for us, but even so he still makes time for our family. He also makes me laugh every single day. 

It has been a wonderful 12 years, and I'm looking forward to many many more happy years to come!

 

Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday started out with big smiles and happy girls!

  I told the girls I wanted two things for my birthday: to sleep in, and a clean house. Not many moms with 4 kids would get to sleep in on their birthday, but my little angels cooperated this time and everyone slept till after 9! Peaches slept till almost 10! Yay! And then T had the girls tidy up the house while I fed the baby and he made breakfast. Yum!
 

Love these sweet girlies!

We finally got out the door around noon and took Peaches to Noni and Papa's so the rest of us could go see The Secret Life of Pets. 

The girls were thrilled to discover that they were doing free face painting since it was opening weekend!

Unfortunately the movie wasn't as family friendly as I hoped it would be. Why can't they just make a cute funny movie anymore? There has to be danger and suspense which results in terror and tears for our sensitive souls. The first 10 minutes and last 5 minutes were great! :P I think we're just going to have to be done with movie theaters until they get a little older.

After the movie it was back to the house to feed the baby again. She was a happy girl after a good nap!

 

She is getting so grabby these days! She's eyeing Papa's glasses here. "Hmm, how can I get my hands on those..."

Noni made me an Earthquake cake. Yum.

 

I had some help to blow out the candles. Boo was really gearing up! Haha :)

Sweet girls!

They had been secretly working on a project with Noni for months! It was a rug! They braided strips of fabric and Noni sewed it all together. Love it!

 

I got so many nice gifts!

Love this! I can just picture it in the windowsill at the farmhouse holding freshly picked wildflowers!

And a beautiful dress from Aunt Karen! I call her my personal shopper. She always picks the greatest stuff!

After dinner and cake we played some 4 up 4 down. Peanut wanted to take pictures. She literally took about 100. Mostly of the ground, the bathroom and the kitchen. Here are a couple that weren't too blurry to see. Although she did cut off Bug and Noni's heads. Haha :)

Showing us Noni's hand!

What a wonderful birthday! 

Thank you to everyone who made it extra special with phone calls, texts, and Facebook messages!

Happy Birthday Mama!

 Mama's birthday was a day of fun! The girls and I headed out as soon as we were up and ready which ended up being around 10...we're going to have a hard time getting back to a school schedule! 

We spent almost the whole day playing games! Dominoes was our main choice so we could be outside. You can see it wasn't warm. We are finally starting to get some warmer weather...in the 80's when we are normally hitting 100, but it's actually been pretty pleasant. I would be thrilled to live in a place where it is 80 degrees year round! This particular day it was closer to 70.

Silly Peanut! She seems so grown up to me lately but every now and then I remember that she's still pretty little and just wants to be cuddled. :)

 

The girls got tired of playing Dominoes and wanted to build houses with them. Funny Bug.

Pretty girls posing for a picture.

I asked Mama what she wanted for her birthday lunch and she picked lemon chicken from the Chinese food place we like so I went and got it. When I came back I found the girls having a ball.

This was the highlight of their day. I think it gave me a few more gray hairs...especially the two times they turned suddenly and were riding on two wheels for a few seconds. :P But they LOVED it!

They sure got their exercise. I don't know how many times they went up and down this hill but it was A LOT! 

Pretty proud of themselves!

 Sometimes there's nothing better than some good old fashioned fun, made more exciting by a little element of danger. Haha :)

T came over after he got off work and Papa grilled hamburgers for us. Then it was time for presents and lemon pie.

She got some sweet gifts.

But her biggest gift came a few days later. For Mother's Day and her birthday the family all pitched in to a golf cart fund. Her current one was over 50 years old and couldn't hold a charge for more than a few hours. It was definitely past it's prime. T found this one on Craig's List and Noni and Papa went to pick it up. It's gas instead of battery powered and has quite a bit of get-up-and-go. She is thrilled with her new "buggy"! :)

We are so blessed to have such an amazing woman in our lives. She is such a great example for all of us. She leads a ladies' bible study once a week and picks up other ladies who can't drive for both that and church on Sunday mornings. She makes hundreds of cards every year for my Aunt's churches' prison ministry, and she is a prayer warrior for many. I hope I can be such a wonderful servant for God when I am 85! Happy birthday Mama! We love you!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Farm 4th - Part 2

Monday was another day full of fun! Grandma bought tons of water balloons for the kids and they had a great time with them!

 

Boo also caught a frog...I think on Sunday. She named hers Leapy.

Daddy and Uncle B showed E how to go old school with their original Nintendo.

There is always creating going on at the farm. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This time the kids tried to make a water balloon catapult. It never quite worked but they had fun trying.

Pearler beads were the hit of the day. Auntie Nae had bought a bunch for Waylon and the kids went nuts with them! They pearled and pearled and then pearled some more. Even the 15 year old got into it! :)

 

Cutie Boo!

That evening we had the big annual BBQ with tons of yummy food.

 

I wanted to get a picture of Peaches in this 4th of July outfit that was originally Buggy's. She wasn't sure what to think of the grass. 

 

But I got a smile when I picked her up.

The girls enjoyed a feast of all-American favorites!

Hot dogs and watermelon!

 

And licking watermelon juice off your arm as it drips down. Haha :)

Cousin love!

And my traditional dessert of Hello Dolly's. I've made them every year since Uncle B and Auntie M started this 4th of July BBQ tradition. The funny thing is I don't even like them, but everyone else just raves about them. Haha :)

 

We had to leave early to get home to feed Peaches before bed. I made the girls release their frogs before we left.

 

 

They all passed out on the way home. 

 

It was a full 3 day weekend of family, friends, fireworks, and FUN!