Rainy Day camp out

My kids LOVE to build forts - you know, the kind with every single pillow and blanket from all over the entire house??? I think even Had got excited about the tent!!! I think I took this one a little while back when we were getting so much rain and just forgot to blog it... thankfully it's sunny now so we can go out!!!

My precious baby boy is 4!!!!!!

I cannot believe my sweet love is 4 years old. Time flies. He had the best, best birthday. His most favorite things is presents - of course. He showed great restraint and waited until tonight to open them, except for "Nane's" which he opened early this morning. We got so tickled thinking back on how enormous he was as an infant. Hadley is 8 months and is still in her infant carrier. Miller seriously could only fit into his for a maximum of 2 months. Really. He was massive. He continues to be my big, big boy. He got a slip-n-slide from Memaw and Peeps, blocks from Had, a dolphin (he picked out months ago) from Nane, and a marble run from Mommy and Daddy, but his reaction to the check he got from Grandma was priceless. He started screaming and waving the check around saying, "It's a BANK ACCOUNT!!!!!!". We got that on tape, thankfully. He will so laugh at that later. He requested a castle cake, I think b/c we learned about castles and medieval times this year and he LOVED it. Mil had a great day - we all did. I am so thankful for him and for the joy he brings each of us. He is my precious gift from the Lord.

Mil had t-ball practice tonight on his birthday, and we had the best hot dog picnic afterward at the little playground...such a sweet time. The picnic was full of Mil's faves, including: celery w/ ranch, strawberries, and chips. He inhaled 2 hot dogs also. Did I mention he weighs 50 pounds and Laney weighs 52??? One of the hits of the evening was the little pond beside our picnic table that was loaded with ducks, one of which had three little duckings swimming behind her...the kids fed them all some leftover buns and just enjoyed being by the water. I love picnics...

Great Fun at the Great Wolf!!!

I have wanted to go to the Great Wolf Lodge since it opened, and we went for Miller's birthday!!! It was a total blast. Really, if you haven't been, you've got to go. Everything was top notch, and the kids, needless to say, did not want to leave!!! Miller discovered he LOVES water slides, Laney fell in love with shooting hoops in the pool, and Hadley went under for the first time! Memaw sunbathed and Peeps even went down some huge water slides!!! Jay and I are huge water slide people, so after the kids went to sleep, Memaw and Peeps stayed in our room so we could go play. SO fun. Mil woke me up the morning after we got home at 6:45 saying, "I wanna go back to da Gwate Wodge, Mom."

Dred head

Okay...I may be smiling now, but it has taken me a good week to recover from sweet Jason Castro's departure from American Idol. As you can see I am sporting arguably the best looking shirt I've ever seen to show my true devotion to Dreds. I will not watch American Idol next year as I have poured all I have into this season....but I did watch the results show tonight. Go Archuwadda (if someone else must win), as Miller calls him.

More fun at the BBQ...

Our sweet friends, the Selfs, were in town this weekend, and it was such fun getting to catch up with them. Jeremy graduated this weekend!!! Yay!!! Somehow, the only pictures I ended up with of our time with them was this one of Blake, Miller, and Laney - which is blurry and Laney's eyes are closed. My kids LOVE the Self boys, and I'm so sad I don't have more pics of our time together!!!! I was too busy talking to Ash to take photos!!! The top one is of Mil rolling out of control down the grassy hill...

Hads makes her rounds...

Graduation at the seminary was this weekend, and the kids and I crashed the BBQ for the graduates Friday night where Daddy was hard at work. Somehow, I ended up with all these pictures of Hadley sitting with so many different non-family members!! First, Glenn (Jay's boss) held her while I ate, and she totally slobbed all over his shades...he was such a great sport!!! Then, Hadley took her bottle from Jay's dear friend Kevin's mom and Had fell asleep on her. And lastly, Had visited with our friend Ben's mom during the festivities.

Garden night!

School's almost out around our house, but for the past - well - month and a half we've been learning about gardening, and it's been a blast!! We (with much help from Peeps) have planted lots of veggies and some fruit in some mini-gardens in our back yard. The kids have LOVED it and so have I. They got to pick what they wanted in their own gardens, and we also have a little family garden. To kind of wrap up the whole garden theme, we had "Garden Night" last week with Daddy, Memaw, and Peeps. We sang "Inch by Inch" (I'd like to give a little shout-out to my Idlewood homey Amy Watson) by Peter, Paul, and Mommy, we did presentations, took a garden tour, and enjoyed a "rainbow vegetable"dinner. It was so great, and I was so shocked by how serious the kids were about it!! Mil even took it upon himself to change clothes right before we started so as to look his best for the big night. One other funny about Miller - while giving the tour of his garden, he accidentally plucked off his bell pepper that was not much bigger than a fat strawberry, and insisted we eat it for dinner. That boy loves him some bell peppers.

Sweet baby Hads