Last few weeks

We have been busy the last few weeks! At beginning of August we headed up to Knoxville for Nate's cousins wedding. I am not going to lie.... the whole weekend was A LOT to say the least but the boys did great at the actual wedding and we had a good time. It was good to see everyone and spend some time with Grandmother. At this point in our lives hotels are not the best for us :)

 

playing at the creek by Grandmothers





The past couple of weeks we have just been beginning and ending a school year! Both of the boys had a great year. Whit was in Miss Aubreys class. Aubrey left in May and Ms Diana came in. Both teachers were wonderful! Charlie was in Mrs. Cindy's class. Cindy is our favorite :) Whit was in her class his first time at daycare so she is a special one to us. She and Charlie have a special special relationship and I(Charlie more than me) was devastated to leave her class last week. The boys had a couple of days off to play before we started back on Monday.
Whit is in the 3 yr old class with Ms. Judy. This year everything advances and they focus on a lot more curriculum than play. He is really enjoying his class! Charlie is in Toddler II with Mrs. Laura. Again, Whit had Laura and we love her! Charlie is still warming up to the idea of not walking to Mrs. Cindy's room everyday but we will get there!!!

 

Last day 2's and Infant II- Obviously Whit was not happy about a picture

Charlie's class

Whit's class

First day 3's and Toddler II

 

 

 

 



Last weekend we had a good weekend. I was off Friday to play with the boys which is always a nice change of pace! Saturday all the sisters and mom headed to shop for wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses!! We found it! We had a good time all together. Alex's mom had 4 boys so I know she thought we were all crazy after shopping with all of us and our opinions :)

JD, Nate, Dad and Jimbo all got to play golf while we shopped. Thankfully Deedee played with the boys for us! Then we had an engagement party for my cousin Sumner and Drew, who are getting married in Seaside in Nov.  So we all had a great night celebrating them. We cannot wait to go to the wedding in November!

 

Started with 7 granddaughters and we keep adding boys :)



Fun Weekend!

It is Monday again but we had such a good weekend! It started off with a surprise Friday morning when mom told me that Alex was going to propose to Katherine on Saturday night. I was totally shocked and had no idea it was going to be this soon. So since that was happening MM and JD came in town! Saturday we hung out with MM while JD, Dad, Nate and Whit played golf. It was a good day just chatting about the engagement that was coming. Kat had NO IDEA and it was so exciting. MM, Abbie and I went over to Kat's apartment about 5:30 to get the front porch ready for the proposal. Alex had asked Tom(his friend) and Abbie to get it all together but we wanted to help too. So we got flowers, candles, and champagne all out on the porch. They had gone to a nice dinner "just for fun" or so Kat thought. We met the boys and mom and dad for dinner then we all headed over to Alex's friends house where he had planned a surprise engagement party. After he proposed he got her over to Walkers house for another surprise for the night. He had texted all their friends to let them know he was proposing and to come celebrate. There were about 50 people at their house when Katherine walked in after just getting engaged. She was completely surprised by the engagement and also seeing MM and her friends from Oxford. I do not have any pictures bc mine were all blury. It was a fun night! Let the planning begin!
The boys had spent the night with Deedee and Jimbo bc of the engagement party but we got up and met them to head to the lake! Ann and Dennis had invited us to come out to the lake for a few hours so we took advantage of the hot day on the water. Whit and Charlie had so much fun! Whit and Tucker enjoyed playing together and got along great. There was a trainer ski float and Whit kept saying he wanted to do it. So Tucker did it behind the boat first to show Whit how and Nate and I looked at each other and were saying there was no way he would do. Well he did!! We were shocked and soooooo surprised. He loved it so much! I cannot even tell you how proud I was. He is so big and I was so so so proud. We had a fun day!



Beach Trip 2014

This post is going to have a ton of pictures but I just want to have them so I am putting them in  :)
We had a great week at the beach with my family this year. We went back to Orange Beach. It works well to have 2 condos right on the beach so we do not have to haul stuff back and forth all the time. We put up the tents when we got there and they were up for the week! The weather was great. It only rained one afternoon. It was hot but not as hot as it could have been for July. The water was pretty every day so we were able to get in often. No sharks either! Everyone was able to make it down at some point in the week except JD. He was missed (a lot) by my boys!
Mom cooks almost every night at the beach. It is just easy and enjoyable bc we eat after the boys are down for the night. One night we ate at Fishers downstairs and it was great!
It was Charlie's first real trip to the beach. Last year he was just so little that he did not understand. This year he was all in! He LOVED the sand so much. He rolled around in it, ate it and played in it! He is my beach boy. Whit is not a major fan of sand. He is so sweet and he would just sit in a chair under the tent most of the time. He didn't complain. He just wanted to go to the pool and swim the whole time. Thankfully daddy is the best and swam with him a lot! It was a good week, exhausting, but good! These vacations are not vacations.... just a relocation of life at this point! Thanks Cookie and Doc for a great week!!!

Nate and Doc took the boys to the museum one day and they loved it!

Crabbing one night with Whit

Charlie slept with Cookie forever!

We missed you JD!

I heart him so much!

Love!

Early Early mornings were not so bad

Thankful for all these women

These 3 are lucky to have each other!



In Honor of Fathers Day

This just happened to be on my mind and it happens to be Father's Day this weekend...
Last week we rented Lone Survivor. We never go to the movies so we have to wait and watch it when it is out on DVD so I know we are late on seeing this but this movie is great. It is hard to watch but still a wonderful movie. It is very fun to watch a movie like this with Nate who will give his own commentary. He knows the ins and outs of the special forces world and tells me what is real and what is not. After we finished the movie I was just struck with the thought of how different our life could have been. Nate graduated from the special forces in June of 2007. We were married in August. Thankfully he never was deployed and obviously he did not resign a contract. I have very mixed feelings about all of this and I probably will for the rest of my life.  Some days I wish so bad that Nate had been able to go on a deployment bc that is what he worked so hard for for years. Then obviously other times I am beyond grateful at the way things worked out bc he may not be with me today. Even though he was never sent to fight, the things he learned with his time in the army are definitely things that made him who he is today as a husband and a father.These men are a special group of people. They mentally stand out from the rest. He is strong. I have never met anyone with such a strong mental ability. He is a protector and would do anything to protect his family. He is smart and a hard worker. He wants to be the best. There was no way Nate was going to just be in the army.... He had to be the best in the army. He is still like this today with his work. I am always very proud to tell people that Nate was a green beret. It was one of the best moments we have shared together to watch him complete this task. I am so thankful that my boys have him as a father and I know even if they are never in the service the lessons Nate learned will be passed down to them. He loves them hard and I am so thankful for him.
Lone Survivor is a good movie but more importantly it reminded me of the wonderful man I am able to call my husband. He is special and what he learned in the special forces helped make him who he is today.

SF Graduation June 2007



Memorial Day 2014

Our Memorial Day weekend was great! It was relaxing and lazy. We love when Deedee and Jimbo are with us at the farm. Whit and Charlie love them so much. Even though our allergies and sleep are all off at the farm it is too much fun to not go. I really think Whit thinks it is the greatest place in the world. We played mostly outside in the south Alabama heat but the blow up pool and hose made it so much fun! We rode the mule, fished and wandered. The cows and the hose were favorites of Charlie's. The fresh veggies always are so yummy in the summer. The pace of life is so slow and we like it that way.



yummy breakfast



Drinking water like molly





So thankful for naked fun :)



Love this



My country boy



COWS!



Mommy

Becoming a mommy is one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced. It is also one of the hardest trials I have ever been through. When I think how far we have to go with our littles it can seem overwhelming. I am constantly in prayer for myself, Nate and my boys. There are no words that are sweeter than to hear your little one say "I love you Mommy". I have to remember that between the times where my words are harsh and "no" more times than I wish. I am so far from being a perfect mom and I try really hard but my patience is always thinner than it needs to be, my sighs are always louder and my tone is always meaner. How do people go through life without the promise of Christ? I know I am a sinner and I know I am going to fail but thankfully the Lord's cup of grace is overflowing and that is where I put my hope and trust.
I am thankful for my mother and my mother in law who are still role models of how to be a good mom. There are so many people who are not lucky enough to have a mother much less a great one and I am blessed with two!
We had a fun mothers day! After church we ate a quick bite with my family and then we headed to the Barons game! It was so much fun and we will definitely be heading up there again. Whit thought it was the greatest thing ever and Charlie enjoyed wandering! I love being a boy mom and mothers day at the ball park is just what I wanted :)

Muffins with Mom