First Wordless Wednesday

Because I know Mom and I need a good laugh today

and maybe more of you do too :)

Father's Day

This year for Mother's Day Zach (and Kye) gave me an "Emily Day" filled with all the things they knew I would enjoy. So....I stole the idea :) For Father's Day we had a day all about Zach! We're pretty broke right now due to all our house stuff going on so we said no gifts but after Zach's sneaky self buying me an anniversary present when he wasn't supposed to I felt like I could get away with getting him a little something. So again, I stole his idea and got him a massage! He got a 2 hour deep tissue massage AND a pedicure. He's been under SO much stress lately and doing so much physical work with all the moving that he really deserved it :)

Our day started off with letting Daddy sleep in while Mommy and Kye made cinnamon rolls and then we surprised Daddy with breakfast in bed!

Kye was in such shock to get to eat a cinnamon roll that he just sat there with it in his mouth, my child is so deprived.

With our cards and his itinerary for the day

While he was enjoying his massage I baked him some homemade choc chips cookies, yum.

While we waited for Kye to wake up we enjoyed the afternoon just the two of us by cuddling up and watching some episodes of The Office Season 3. Once Kye got up from his nap we headed out to the golf course for our first family golf outing. I took SO many pictures that I'm devoting an entire post to the event but here's a sneak peak :)

After our tough afternoon on the course we worked up quite the appetite and let Zach choose where he wanted to go for dinner. He picked some good 'ole Southern cookin' down at the Smokin' Pig. Kye LOVES it there (when we went with Brandon and Chrissy he ate non-stop for like 2 hours!) so I, of course, love it there now too (I'm turning into such a MOM). We had a fun time together and I was impressed with Kye's behavior. We don't really go out to dinner often but I was proud when another mom pointed to Kye and told her son to start copying my son's good behavior! 

Overall, we had a GREAT day. Zach said he had such a good time that he couldn't believe it wasn't actually Father's Day! Since Mother's Day and Father's Day always fall on Sundays we've decided to always celebrate each one as a family the day before the holiday so that way we can have a whole day together without the rush of church and all. Plus that way it gives us a chance to spend the real day with our parents. For lunch we went over to Mrs. Charlotte's to spend some quality Dad-time with Mr. Rusty and we managed to snap a few pretty cute pictures in her new garden area! 

I'm so lucky my son has such an AMAZING dad!

Bits of Summer

Summers are always filled with lots of fun things and good times together with friends. So far this summer has been all of that and more for us...having a toddler is just SO fun and I love that we can do so many great summer things together! Here are some of the fun times we've had so far:

We got to go to Giulio's to celebrate Katie's 25th Birthday! It was a fun night with good food but pretty stressful too as it was the first time a potential buyer came to look at our house. I was rushing like crazy to get to dinner on time and have the house spotless, but we made it and had a good time too :)

Kye's saying "not another picture..."

bffs!

My good friend Ashley and her boyfriend, Garrett, have been blessed to have a house pretty much given to them. It needs a lot of work but it's a super cute little place and I'm so excited for them! We have gone out there (it's in Lake Park) to see it and help fix it up and it made me slightly tempted to give up neighborhood living and instead live in the country. It would be neat to have tons of animals and let Kye run and play in a big field...but then reality set back in and I couldn't never see myself living the country life for long haha!

Robyn and I met through this blog and have been friends now for a year! It's hard to believe that time has passed that quickly but it has and I'm thankful for her friendship. Now we are more than friends...we are Toy Watch twins too :) We've had them over for dinner and we've been to their house for dinner already this summer and I'm sure more fun get-togethers are to come, especially since the kids are starting to legitimately play together :)

sexy watch modeling poses

Several months ago I joined an online playgroup community in Valdosta but have yet to actually attend any of the events. Usually they just happen to plan stuff while Kye is napping so we can't go. FINALLY we were able to show up to something and it was so so so much fun! They had a playgroup at this local Splash Park where water jets shoot up from the ground and the kids can run through them. The first time we went the water didn't work and it was so hot outside but the second time it worked and it was worth the wait! I enjoyed meeting the other moms and Kye really had fun with all the kids so I'm hopeful that we can attend more stuff in the future. 

While the other kids were cautious about the water, Kye was the first one to run in!

He loved it and ran around SCREAMING and cheering haha

He is a ladies man and had all the girls wanting to play with him

but little did they know he was using them for their food...

The splash park is seriously awesome but it's located in a semi-shady area of town so I don't feel comfortable going alone. It runs from 12-7 Tue-Sat if any other moms want to go check it out (I can go at noon or possibly at 3 on weekdays). I really want to get to go again soon!

I mentioned in my post about stuff I feed Kye that I made surprise-icles but hadn't had Kye try them yet. Well, he's tried them and they are a HIT!

First time ever having a popsicle

figured out how it works pretty quickly

"mmmmmm"

would you kiss this face?

I'm sure there will be many more posts of all our summer fun times to come!

In Honor of Tripp

By now anyone who reads this blog has heard about sweet baby Tripp's journey to Heaven. You have probably also been reading Rachael's blog and keeping her and her family in your prayers. Please continue to do that as I know God is comforting them and surrounding them in His love.

I have been in awe of this online community and the amazing outreach we've all been for this family. Several of us "blog moms" have been "talking" and feel strongly that we have enough people among us to do something very special for the Copponex family in honor of Tripp.

SO many of you have contacted me asking what you can do. Many of you know Rachael and her family personally, but many many of you know her only from her blog. You read her cute stories and honest take on parenthood and you laugh right along with the rest of us. And now, reading about her experience in a grief that no parent should have to face, your heart reaches out to them. We all love Rachael and we ALL want to do something, anything, just to help ease their pain even just a little bit.

Several people have mentioned some GREAT ideas to us and we've been brainstorming the past few weeks on what we could do for Rachael as a "We LOVE You!" type thing from her blogging/facebook/online family. We've decided on something and I'm SO SO thrilled about it!!! I don't want to give anything away on here because just as I read Rachael's blog...she also reads mine and aren't surprises more fun???

Over the next several days I'm working on contacting everyone I can through Facebook. I will give details there in private messages on what we have planned but if you are a blog follower and not a facebook friend then please leave a comment about how I can contact you so I can fill you in!

I have created a "DONATE" button that will direct everyone to Paypal. This is the safest and easiest way to collect any donations towards this gift and it will also allow me to keep track of everyone that donates so we can be sure to include ALL our names in a nice card. There is no set donation amount, please feel free to give as little or as much as you'd like. Even if Rachael doesn't know you or won't recognize your name I think having a TON of names on that card will be so special! Feeling that love and support from so many people will be a powerful thing for her and her family! If you want to have a special message in the card please leave that in the comments section when you pay on Paypal. Paypal will automatically generate a receipt for you and will send it to your email account.

Click Below to DONATE to the gift for the Copponex Family!

I, along with the other "blog moms," plan to continue to collect money over the next few weeks. There is another donate button on the side of my blog which I will keep up during this time to allow everyone an easy way to donate. Also here is a direct link to the donation site through Paypal, please pass it along to anyone who may be interested:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=KSJ6E6DBQV7VL

If you have a blog and would like to add a donate button to your page, contact me and I can give you the info on how to do it!

I am THRILLED with the great ideas we've come up with and am hoping we can collect enough to do both of the ones that we think will be the most meaningful. All of us are hurting and will never forget Tripp. Although we all wish we could somehow undo all of this and bring him back to us we know he is at home with the Lord in Heaven. Let's show our support and give his family something special in a way to honor his life here on Earth.

Thank you in advance, and please more than anything else keep those prayers going!!!

House Plans

I am BEYOND excited to show all my blog buddies the plans for our future home! Zach and I have been praying so much about this situation. We are firm believers in giving to GOD FIRST in all we do, including with any money "we" (meaning "Zach") earn. I'm proud of us for that because when you add up how much we give to God each year financially it really adds up and I know most people our age would blow that cash and not want to give it "away." But truly, it's ALL His anyway! And we believe that He will always take care of you as long as you put Him first. So we try, we're a work in progress, but that's one area I feel proud of us about for sure!

By taking on this new adventure in building a home we are having to come up with money all over the place and it's scary. We trust that the Lord will provide but at the same time we aren't sitting back and waiting for it to fall in our laps. We feel the house we build needs to fit our needs but not be extravagant. You don't go buy a Porsche then say "Okay God pay for this for us!" When we were in Amelia Island and I was sick I spent an entire day researching things about building a home, especially about saving money. We then went through a million house plans to find one that fit what we needed AND would be the least expensive to build. We knew we'd need two stories but I read that having a house where it looks like one story but inside it's two (like the second story is in the roof kinda) is cheapest so that's what we found. I also read that the more square and even the house is to build the cheaper the construction cost, so again, we found us a square house!

We have been working with a company this week making changes to the plan we found online. If you want to see the original plan here is a link to it. The outside will be a little different than this but we aren't 100% finished with the plans quite yet so he hasn't given me a print-out of the outside.

We will have vertical concrete siding (possibly gray) instead of the brick and the dormer windows don't look quite as country as they do here. Is this my dream home? Nope! But I like it and think we will really enjoy the big front porch and that the vertical siding will give it a more beachy look instead of so country.

If you are looking at the original plans then you will be able to tell we've made several changes to them. Here is the downstairs of our new plan (you can click on the pictures to make them larger):

Sorry it's not very straight, I'm no pro when it comes to scanning stuff! Here are some of my notes about the downstairs:

•  This plan doesn't show the back porch but it's on the original plan and we are doing the same one that it shows on there :)
• I'm super pumped about having TWO closets! Hopefully all my clothes will be able to fit in our room for a change ;) The closet in our room has a pocket door to help save on space as does the water closet in our bathroom.
• We wanted our room as well as two other bedrooms downstairs because I don't like the idea of trecking up and down stairs during nap time so the youngest two children will always be downstairs near us.
• We are going to do a normal shower for now but will eventually take it out and tile it ourselves, we are also hoping to be able to have a jetted tub now.
• I LOVE that we were able to add a door from our bathroom to the back yard...having a pool I think easy bathroom access is essential.
• We are not big on front foyers and I wanted our space to feel as open as possible. I love our current layout as the dining room is open to the family room which is great for entertaining. Here we took out a wall to make the dining room feel more open and also made the front foyer as small as possible.
• There will be archways in the hall way and in the mini hallway between the family room and the kitchen (our builder does an awesome arch and I think it makes the house look a little more "fancy")
• We are pumped about the corner fireplace and plan on having it sit high so we can sit around it (it's called a "hearth")
• The front entry and dining room will be hardwood, all the wet areas will be tile and the rest (including the stairs) will be carpet. We like carpet and want it in the family area as to us it's more cozy.
• There will be a pantry under the stairs (as well as a cabinet type pantry in the kitchen) and the stairs will be open on the family room side with a banister.
• We put the back door at the end of the stairs because we plan to tile right there (coming in wet from a pool onto carpet is not good!) and because it'll make it easier to move furniture up and down the stairs.
• We didn't want to walk in from the garage through the laundry room (we have to do that now and I can't stand it) so we pushed the laundry room down a bit and added an entry off the garage. I'm excited about the little "drop station" we'll have with cabinets for keys and such, a counter for my purse/baby bags, and under storage for shoes.
• Our room will have a tray ceiling (all the downstairs rooms will have 9 foot high ceilings) and the front foyer and family room will have ceilings that go all the way up through the second story. We wanted to do a tray ceiling in the dining room too but the way the upstairs sits it's not possible.
• We plan to have mini windows above the three windows in the family room to help bring in light. We also plan to have a window above the front door (right now we have them on the sides and I feel like someone could break in so easily).
• We decided to close in some of the storage area in the garage so we can stack stuff and not have to worry about it looking junky.
• I love our windows now in the dining room and Kye's room-how low they are so Kye can stand at them so we made sure to do that again with the windows that are under the porch.
• We extended the breakfast nook and made it square rather than bay. We love bay windows but it's cheaper to do a square, it makes more space, and we thought it'd be neat to someday build a bench seat with storage along the windows.

Here is the second story, there aren't as many changes made to it. Zach REALLY loves the balcony and I think it'll be neat plus it's an inexpensive way to add architectural appeal to the house. 

• The two older children (so basically Kye and Baby #2) will someday use these rooms and I really love the dormer windows as we thought Zach can someday do a bench seat in each of those. The walls that have the dormers on them will be slanted (due to the roof line) which I think adds some character to them but at their lowest point they will still be 4 1/2 feet high which is plenty of space for furniture.
• The balcony overlooks the front foyer and the family room.
• Zach's office will be small but it's just enough space to fit his desk and such (and ALL his football "treasures"). It's nice that it's upstairs away from all our daily distractions!
• I really like the double sinks upstairs and how we did a water closet for the toilet so both kids can be in there getting ready at the same time.
• The attic area off the office will be our attic unless someday we end up having more than four children (or adopt like I'm hoping!) then we can finish it and make it a bedroom.
• The BIG attic area will be partially finished right now but not included in the heated square feet. It saves us a TON of money to not completely finish it and Zach can finish it in a couple years. It will serve as the kids playroom someday and I hope to put a closet in there for my craft/scrapbook stuff. There will still be some attic space on each side of the playroom as well when it's completed.
• Since we won't be having ALL four children for several years we plan on using one of the upstairs bedrooms for a playroom and the other for a guest bedroom for now. As we have more babies we will just shift the children around to new rooms and by the time we have baby #4 we will no longer be able to have a guest room (but who would want to come stay with our house full of children and animals anyways?!).

I know when you compare the plans to the originals it looks like we added a TON of square footage but in reality the original plan was 2747 square feet (heated which means it doesn't include garage areas, attic areas, the unfinished playroom, porches, etc) and our new one is only 2781! So we made a LOT more space by only adding les than 40 sqft! Yay us :)

Like I mentioned, this isn't my "dream home" but it's what we feel is the best choice to fit our needs and stay as low on cost as possible. The more I look at it though the more I love it and I can't wait to move in (can we just skip over the four months of having to live in the trailer house?)! Zach has a little bit of guilt over putting in a pool as he feels like he doesn't want to be spread too thin financially and doesn't want to feel like we're asking more from God than we should. While I am proud of him for wanting to do what is right and to make sure we live within our means, I don't feel like we are doing "too much." We are doing very basic things, even with the pool. We are going as basic as we can on everything but as structurally sound as possible. We can always make things nicer but you can't change the foundation of the home once it's built! Like Zach said it's so neat to think that we are building this home and doing all of these things for children we don't even have yet. We are both excited to be SETTLED and to know we will have this home for many, many years (our plan is at least 10!).

I hope everyone loves the plans as much as we do! We are not 100% finished with them yet so if you have a suggestion or tip I'd love to hear it!

Hat Boy!

This past month Kye has fallen in LOVE with wearing hats. My mom told me early on that the more hats we put him in then the better he'd be at wearing them but I never thought he'd be ASKING us to put them on him! He loves getting into his closet and pulling out his fireman hat from his one year photo shoot. Here's a video of Kye lookin' "handsome" in his hat. Tell me this isn't adorable?

he typically misses his head and puts the "hat" on his neck

I hope this is one love of his that never dies

500 Entries

Wow, I've officially written 500 blog posts! Can you believe it??? I never thought that when I wrote my first post that it would become what it has. Not saying I'm Kelly from Kelly's Korner gettin' some 200 comments per entry or anything but it's become a big part of my life and I've made so many close friends because of it. I enjoy having people come up to me in stores or write me on Facebook and talk about my blog. Growing up I always dreamed of writing a book and this is the closest I'll ever come to doing that. It's such a great feeling to hear that someone has gained something from what I write, that I've inspired someone in someway, or even just that Kye is cute. I have an instant bond with anyone who says they read it as I know they aren't strangers but are instead close friends. I write because I truly love it. I love expressing myself through writing (just ask Zach, I'd rather we argue through emails as maybe I'd have a chance at winning a few of the fights! haha) and I love being able to keep all my memories. All my life I've been the "picture taker" of the group so that combined with my love of writing and memory keeping makes blogging a natural fit!

I truly hope this whole online journal world will never go away and that only more and more people will start keeping blogs themselves (please share yours with me as I not only love writing but reading them too!!!). I plan on keeping mine going for as long as it's physically possible to do so and I'm super pumped about having baby #2, #3, and #4 someday and having this as a resource to reflect back on. I'm also pumped about all my children reading my words someday when I leave this Earth and being able to truly know ME! We all want to leave our mark and this is the one I will leave in my little corner of the world :)

In honor of my 500th post I decided to share with you my Top 5 Favorite Blog Entries so far!!! I know many of you may not have been reading from the beginning and may not have read all my favs but here they are so you can read them now and I can reflect back and "remember when."

5. The reason behind my blogging is to keep memories of my sweet boy. To capture ALL the moments I possibly can :) So duh, some of my favorite posts are about him. I love looking back at my favorite video we've posted (which was the "milk in my mouth" one Zach made with Kye). I also love comparing the now to the then like looking at Kye when he was one month old versus one year...hard to believe that's the same child! I love seeing him with things he loves like his monkey, swimming, jumperoo, books, yellow link, and his backyard toys. My 5th favorite post so far is one that is pretty recent. The joy Kye had at our day at the beach brings a smile to my face just thinking about it and I love looking at his happy face playing in the water!

4. While I don't consider myself funny I do think sometimes some of my posts are. When people tell me I'm funny I know what they really mean to say is that I'm honest. Honesty is rare and it makes people laugh for some reason. I've gotten several comments about my gas-loving post and how funny it was but my #4 favorite post so-far that actually made me laugh while writing it was my only attempt at a Not-Me Monday thing from McMama's blog.

3. Not all my blog entries have been about Kye and parenting. At first the blog started out all about those things but as my journal it has evolved into everything I face in life. I've blogged about Nana passing away, Uncle Spear entering Heaven, and more recently sweet baby Tripp leaving this Earth much too soon. While I stirred up some controversy with a couple posts too, I'm still proud of them. I feel like I did a great job expressing my feelings on my self-esteem, instantly loving my baby, my struggles to forgive during some issues at our church, my awesome Mother's Day luncheon speech, and my pain that I experienced during my brother's wedding. My third favorite blog entry is actually about my spiritual growth through my mourning and grief when Nana died. It's my post about Heaven and the book by Randy Alcorn. I'm thankful for that book as it helped me grow SO much and I'm thankful that Rachael is now reading it as I know it'll help her during her tough time as well.

2. I will NEVER forget all my breastfeeding issues and how proud I am of myself for continuing to nurse as long as I did throughout all the struggle and all our many trips during that time. Speaking of trips we've had LOTS of those that I've blogged about too...like Paris, St. Simons, Daytona, Cancun, NYC, Disney, Skiing and so many more. However, my second favorite blog entry so far is the one about my pumping experience in Paris...it was so insane and looking back I crack up remembering the whole experience.

1. It's the obvious favorite but whatever! I re-read Kye's birth story more than I read any of my past entries and with that I also love reading Zach's version. Both of these posts tie for #1 for sure!!! I wish I could go back in time and blog about other big events in my life (like our engagement and wedding and such) as I know those would rank pretty high on the list as well but at least I started this early in my pregnancy and will be able to remember each and every special event as a mommy :)

I can't wait until I reach 1,000 posts when I'll get to look back again and pick out my top 10 entries! Anyone have any favorites I left out???

15 Month Pediatrician Visit

June 7th was the day I was dreading. The big MMR appointment. YIKES. I am a person who likes to research before making decisions but I typically prefer to rely on trusted resources (like the Babywise books or blogs I follow or close friends). When you start hunting around on the internet for advice regarding this shot you get so many different answers. You also get so many different answers when talking to friends. You hear that there is NO link to Autism with getting the vaccine but then you hear of those cases where the child had the shot and BAM! woke up Autistic. It's just scary. And the stats for Autism are an unbelievable 1 out of every 110 children! Since boys are more likely than girls to suffer from it I feel I'm right in worrying. It's a scary thing and I just don't want to make a choice that could potentially affect the rest of my life and especially my child's life.

In the end we went with getting the shot as scheduled. Our pediatrician feels confident about it and our close friends all gave it to their children. Zach's sister, Courtney, did hold off until Colt was 2. Based on that alone I almost waited. However, Dr. Griner let us know that the Dr. who did all the findings linking the shot to Autism has been stripped of his license to practice medicine since he was found guilty of falsifying his data AND that there is currently an outbreak of measles in the Northern US due to parents not vaccinating. Hearing that I went for it! I know it sounds horrible to think this but it's what I thought: if I HAD to pick Autism or death then I would choose Autism. Who wouldn't?

While I'm still so nervous about it all so far Kye seems fine and just like himself. And even if he does, by some chance, start to show Autistic symptoms then I have enough faith in the Lord that Zach and I will do everything in our power to make sure we seek the right help to get us through it.

Other than the "big shot" I didn't have many questions this time around. Actually, it's the first appointment that I didn't have a LIST of questions! We did talk about several things and this dr (Dr. Kelly) actually ASKED us milestone questions which was a first and I told her I loved her for it!!! Here's a list of what was covered:

• She asked if Kye can turn pages in a book, say 4 or more words, throw a ball, stack blocks, follow simple instructions, and walk. The answer was yes to them all!
• She said he's a good walker and complimented his Stride Rite shoes (from Gramma!). She said good shoes are so important and that Stride Rite is the best!
• I did ask about his teeth as I worry about the bottom ones. They are very close together and seem to get some discoloration between them. She said it's normal and that it may be from him having a fever or something when they broke through but that if she were me she'd go see a pediatric dentist just to have a look at them and get a suggestion on how to prevent it from getting worse.
• Along with his teeth I did not ask about the gap between his top ones. I had the gap (thank you veneers!), my brother has the gap, my dad has the gap, and both of my grandmothers had the gap. It's very genetic and we call it "the Sedgley split." Well, I didn't ask b/c I didn't want to know...but she told me anyways. She said that the gap will be permanent as his gums come to a point between the two teeth. On the one hand I hated mine, but on the other it looks better on guys and it's neat that he'll have something that I can look at and always know he's my child :)
• While one thing that's "me" on Kye is here to stay, another most likely isn't. Again, I didn't ask because my gut told me the answer and I didn't want to know, but Dr. Kelly informed us that Kye's eyes are changing and will probably end up being hazel. I mean duh I'm okay with it b/c what can you do to change it?!? I love the blue eyes but never got too attached to them just in case!
• She did ask some questions about his right foot which makes me a little nervous. It's a 1/2 size smaller than the left one and sometimes I've noticed (especially in his "early" walking days) that he'll lead with the left foot and even occasionally seem to drag the right one. She looked at his joints and such and didn't seem overly concerned so I didn't want to appear as a panicky mom...I'm sure if there is an issue we'll explore it at the next appointment.
• I asked about his head as, to me, it still appears a little flat in the back. She said it can take awhile for that to fix itself and that his is normal and could also just be the natural shape of his head. More hair will help :)
• His stats at 15 months old are: weight is 25.5 lb which is the 60th percentile, length is 32.5 inches which is the 90th percentile, and head circumference is 18 3/4 inches which is the 60th percentile All of these shocked me. I thought he'd be a higher percentile for weight, lower for height and higher for head circumference! I think it's because we're used to seeing him compared to all our friends kids and they are all so thin which makes Kye look thicker than he is??? And I guess being around Colt and Payton, who are both so tall, makes him look short?
• Along with the MMR shot (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) he also got the Hib vaccine.
• She checked him out and all his man parts look great. She also said (again) that he has "beautiful" ears! I don't get it but I like hearin' it! I told her he's never had an ear infection (knock on wood) and she couldn't believe it. I gotta think it was the breastfeeding...but it could be genetics? 

He behaved pretty well for this appointment. He again did great on the big boy scale and did well for missing most of his nap (the appointment time was at 10:30). I was nervous about his behavior as Robyn told me that Lorelai has realized what going to the dr means so she's been acting up during their visits. Luckily, Kye did pretty well. He did get annoyed that all my attention wasn't on him (since I was trying to talk to the dr...so next time Daddy may just take him out of the room during that part) but overall he was great and did well for his shots (at least I couldn't hear much screaming from outside the door!).

It's strange to think he only has two appointments left then we'll only be going once a YEAR! I joked with the girl that by that time I'll probably have another one (I won't, just sayin') and she thought I was pregnant. Thanks lady!

Slippin' and a Slidin'

The weekend when I went up to Atlanta with Crissy to show our support for Rachael and family we had, as usual, already had plans. Saturday was Mrs. Charlotte's Day. For Mother's Day we all chipped in and got her a gift card to a local nursery and said we'd spend the whole day at her house helping to make her yard beautiful. While I hated to miss a family day, I didn't miss much other than all the work (which I got lucky to miss for sure!) Crissy and I got back just in time for the fun to start :)

I left one of my cameras with them so some pictures could be taken if I missed anything and here are some of the cute moments Mommy missed from the day:

Older cousin pushing the younger one in the rain

Kye learned how to drive Colt's Power Wheels 4 Wheeler (potential Christmas present?!?)

On our way back from Atlanta, Zach called and said that they were setting up a slip and slide and for Crissy to tell Seth to bring the girls over there too so they could join in. While I opted out of the slide, I did enjoy watching! Btw...we live in the country so our slip and slide is some black plastic and dish soap :)

Colt and Kye loved it!

Daddy was the official pusher

Big Boy Colt

Here comes Kye!

Payton pretty much enjoyed just eating the soap

Stevie stayed frozen like this in tears, she hated it

of course Neela is down for anything!

Mr. Farmer Rusty wearing overalls in 100 degree weather haha

After the fun of the slip and slide wore off the kids played in a little pool and had a great time fighting over toys. It was so neat having SO many kids together (5 total!). They all got along very well and all did pretty good sharing toys and taking turns with stuff. We ALL ate dinner together at their house and just had a fun, relaxing afternoon. I was a little out of it as I was sooo tired and sooo emotional but I loved having everyone together!

LOVE this face...he looks like he knows he's pimpin' the ladies haha

cute one of Kye, awesome one of Neela's crack

only my child would drink that nassssty water