Johnson Beach Trip

Every year we embark on a week long beach trip with my family. It is always a fun week! With 14 in our immediate family it is hard to get everyone together and happy but we do our best. We missed JD again this year but hopefully he will be able to join us soon. Katherine and Alex came for part of the week and then the rest of us enjoyed the whole week together. We were in Seagrove this year. I love being on 30 A but getting to the beach every day with our load was quite an ordeal!
The boys loved the ocean. They wanted to be in the water the whole time. Thankfully I could just put Charlie's puddle jumper on and let him wander. Whit's swimming has gotten so much better so i felt ok with them playing by themselves. Thankfully the water was pretty most of the time. Whit was sick halfway through the week but he enjoyed sitting on the beach watching everyone. It was a fun week with family and we enjoyed our beach time this year!
On Friday of the week we headed to the farm to join Nate's extended family from TN. We had a weekend of fun with them at the farm. We had some tired boys by Sunday afternoon!

PICTURE OVERLOAD

Spring turned into Summer

So I can catch up really quickly....
 The end of April came and went rather quickly! I think the biggest milestone was Charlie being moved to a big boy bed. Charlie has never really been the best sleeper so I figured it wouldn't hurt to put him in a new bed. He has done great... except he fell out the first 2 nights but never again!
I still have not "decorated" his room but that is ok. I found a great deal on his bed and I love it. He looks so tiny in it!

The first weekend of May I got to go to the lake with my girl friends. It was just great! So nice to be with girls you can be who you are and not be judged. I slept so good and enjoyed just being on the dock with my girls! The one picture I got from Nate at home was the one below of the boys COVERED in marker. They have NEVER done this so I am not sure what got into them. Nate said he was outside at the time :)
When I got home Sunday morning we decided to go to the Barons game. The boys loved it and Nate and I actually just got to sit for a while and enjoy each other

For Mother's Day we did not do a whole lot. Whit had a precious program at school. He did so well and I was very proud of him. He loves to sing and sang all the songs for Nate later that night since it was "just for mommies"
On Mother's Day we had my parents and Nate's parents over for a cookout. It was perfect!

Sweet boy after his program. I loved the corsage he made

The past two weeks we have had swimming lessons. It is A LOT. After the first day Charlie was so whiney and i just thought he was tired but the next morning he woke up with a low fever and i knew he had strep. He did :) so we missed Tuesday of swim then he made it back on Wednesday. The second week both boys did so well. I was very proud of them. They loved it and they actually listened and there were no tears. HUGE! By last Friday they were both swimming to the edge and Whit went all the way across the pool. We have got to get them in the pool this weekend!
Nate and I were lucky enough to head to the beach by ourselves for Memorial Day. It was very relaxing. I got up and ran every day and walked to Charlie's Donut truck by myself a couple times ;)
I read a whole book and just enjoyed the beach. Thank you to the Cardwells for letting us join yall!
I am excited about taking the boys in a few weeks though! They are going to love it this year.

Charlie and Billy racing

They did it!

Friday the water was amazing!

Dinner at George's

Quick trip to Canada

Nate and his dad had a business meeting to attend in Canada so Debbie and I decided to join in and take advantage of a little quick trip. Debbie and I flew in to Toronto on Thursday and headed straight to the city. We wandered around the area for a few hours. It was so nice to have no plan and just wander around. Toronto is a big city! New buildings are built attached to really old ones and its like one big building. We found ourselves a perfect little italian restaurant for dinner and enjoyed ourselves so much! We kept saying that we were glad the men were still at their conference bc we just wandered!
Friday morning we headed to Niagara Falls, ON. We did not have a planned tour and thankfully it was a gorgeous day so we took our time and walked around. It is beautiful! The US side is very wimpy compared to the Canadian side so I am glad that is where we were. The city of Niagara Falls itself is very touristy. I cannot imagine being there for more than one day. It was one of those checkmark places but I am happy to have seen it! That evening we had the best dinner at a restaurant I found on Trip Advisor called Weinkeller. It was fantastic. It was a 5 course set price meal. 2 of those courses were wine from their own winery on tap. The food was absolutely delicious. It was one of the best meals I have had.
Saturday we headed to a town called Niagara on the Lake. Our waiter from the night before recommended it. It was great. Again, we had awesome weather so that made it that much better. It was an old town on Lake Ontario that was built in the 1700's. The War of 1812 was fought there. The houses were beautiful and the little main street was so charming. We enjoyed the weather and walked around. After that we toured some wineries in the area. I never knew that Niagara was famous for wine but they have a ton of orchards up there. After a few wine tastings we headed back to Toronto.
It was a short but fun trip. I enjoyed spending time with Debbie and Jim without the boys.

View of the falls from our hotel room

Niagara on the Lake

Easter weekend

Well we totally changed up our normal routine for Easter this year! Mae Mae and JD invited us to come to Memphis. Why not! So we all PACKED in the suburban and left Thursday after work.
Friday the big boys played golf while MM, mom and I took the boys to the Children's Museum. It was fantastic. The boys had so much fun. They had a playground, FedEx airplane to explore, firetrucks, police cars, a Mississippi River, climbing wall and much more. We went and had lunch then headed home. We all enjoyed dinner out Friday night. The boys did great adjusting their schedules and had fun! Nate and JD headed to the Williams house after dinner since they were getting up so early to turkey hunt. Cookie, Doc, MM, me and the boys headed to Arcade for a yummy breakfast then played at MM house. We headed down to the Williams' house at lunch time. We arrived just in time to see the turkey hunters come home with their turkeys. They waited in the same place for 7 hours! After a few naps and calls 3 gobblers came on the field at once so Nate, JD and Ben all got a turkey. I must say it was very exciting! We spent the afternoon riding the tractor and climbing the dirt pile. We cooked out at their house then headed back to MM and JD's. Sunday morning everyone slept a little later which was nice! Whit was thrilled the Easter bunny made it to Germantown. Mom and Charlie stayed to get brunch ready but the rest of us enjoyed a wonderful Easter service at Harvest Church. After a great meal we packed it up and headed home! MM and JD were so sweet to let us all come. It was a fun change from our typical Easter. The boys loved it all!

Charlie was a natural at milking the cow

FedEx plane

3 Gobblers!

JD loves my boys something fierce and I am thankful!

Tractor rides

He found them!

Camo and lace.... perfect combination

On a mission with his egg

Candy fight

Sweet big boy

Funny little boy