Tonight I went out with some girls to eat and just have girl time. It was great! When I got home the house was VERY quiet. I didn't think Chad would have the boys in bed yet but I checked their rooms anyway. They weren't there. I walked into my bedroom and found the boys all lined up on the bed watching a video on Chad's laptop. It was such a sweet picture...I love how Cooper tries to imitate them. Sometimes it's not the best thing but at other times it's just so cute!

Our Vacation to Georgia!

This past week we spent time in Georgia with Chad's brother Cody and his wife Lauren. We had a great time and were able to enjoy several fun things while there. I took about 300 pictures (I was actually surprised that's all I took) so I made several collages so I could share lots of the pictures with you. Just click on each collage to see it in a larger size. The first thing we did was visit the Aquarium in Atlanta. It was wonderful. The boys were amazed by all of the sea creatures and being able to see them so close. I got to pet a sting ray and the boys were able to touch some sea anemone. They had a great play area inside the aquarium that we went to before leaving.

AQUARIUM




The second day we were there we visited the "Imagine It" Children's Museum. This was the neatest place for kids. We stayed nearly 4 hours and the boys could have stayed much longer.

Imagine It



Our last big thing to do was visit the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. One of the main attractions of this museum was the dinosaurs. The only negative thing about this place is all of the evolution used to describe and tell about the dinosaurs. We chose not to read aloud any of that to the boys. The boys thought everything was so cool. It really was a fun place.

Fernbank Museum



Some other pictures of our time with Cody and Lauren

We walked to a park near their house Sunday afternoon. They live in Newnan outside of Atlanta. It's a very neat place with lots of old homes built in the 1800,s. Cody and Lauren actually live in a house that was built in the mid 1800,s. They are doing LOTS of work on the home. It's really neat and will look great when they get done.
Cade and Chance got new hats while on our trip. Cade picked out a Nike hat and Chance picked out a Braves hat. We got to drive by the stadium 6 times during our stay. It looked really neat. One day we plan to go to a game when we visit! We enjoyed our vacation very much and look forward to the time we can go visit them again.

Vacation

We are visiting Chad's brother and his wife for a few days. I will have lots of pictures to share from our trip when we return home next week. We are having a great time and the boys are loving all of the sleepovers we get to have!!

Theme-Sports in Action

This weeks theme at iheartfaces is sports in action! What a fun theme. This was taken last year during Cade's first season of soccer. He had just scored a goal and was SO happy. I also love that you can see arms behind him that belonged to his friend Carter who was happy and cheering for him too. I love to see kids cheer for one another! We are looking forward to starting our second season of soccer in just a few short weeks!!
Head on over and enter a picture of your own or just have fun looking at all of the great entries!

LOOK.......

NO TRAINING WHEELS!!!!!!!

One of our goals for the summer has been to teach Cade to ride his bike. We've tried a time or two here at the house and he does fine but our driveway just isn't long enough for him to really get going. We took him over to the campus earlier in the week to one of the big empty parking lots and tried again. Within minutes he was riding all around the parking lot with his daddy running along beside him (just in case he fell). Chad would get him started and Cade would ride for along time. The kids and I cheered him on from the side. It was so fun watching him ride his bike with no training wheels. Cade was so excited. Today he learned to take off by himself. He is a little wobbly at first but gets it straightened out pretty quick. He is loving it and I really have to resist the urge to follow along beside him just in case he starts to fall. I guess that's what the pads and helmet are there for.

Blackberry Picking!

Over the past couple of weeks we have picked quite a few blackberries. Near our house where we like to go walking there is a random small patch of blackberry bushes on the side of the road. I discovered them last year (maybe 2 years ago) Last year I picked a few and the rest just died. This year we have walked over nearly everyday and picked a few to add to our container. I finally got enough to make a cobbler (my first ever to make) and even some extras that I think I'm going to use in blackberry pancakes or maybe muffins. All of the kids have enjoyed eating some too!




We actually got two small cups this time..more than we usually get. Some days it's just a small handful but it had been a couple of days since we'd checked and there were quite a few ready to be picked.

Happy 4th of July!

We have enjoyed a wonderful day filled with family, yummy food, great friends, and fireworks!! Some of our close friends came into town and will be teaching at Horizons (which is like church camp on the college campus) all next week. They came and spent the evening with us and we really enjoyed getting to visit with them. Rob and Mallory both went to school with us and then moved away several years back. I was so sad the day they left but we talk a lot and even get to see each other at least once a year! I really look forward to Horizons week because I know I'll get to spend time with Mallory. She didn't get to come last year because she had just had Olivia (their youngest of three girls!) a few weeks before Horizons. I'm glad they could make it this year.

click images to enlarge
Chad grilled hotdogs for everyone and did a great job. There is nothing quite like a grilled hotdog! We also had potato salad (Chad's mom made), baked beans, and chips! Everything was so good.

Mallory's birthday is tomorrow so I made a cake for her (and us) to enjoy! It was a Rainbow Sherbet cake. It was my first attempt at making an ice cream cake and it turned out pretty good. It was very easy to do. I found the idea on allrecipes.com. Everyone (including the kids) really liked it and the best part about it is that it's very low fat!!


The kids enjoyed some fireworks! Hope you all had a Happy 4th!