Sweet Summertime

We spent Memorial Weekend at Lake Ouachita and kicked off our start to summer there.  The kids were literally counting down the days till we could pack up and leave town.  Going to the lake truly is a stress reliever for Adam and its a really fun activity to do as family, the memories we've made with our kids will last a lifetime and I look forward to making many more!

Here's a little taste of our weekend.

We had most of our meals out on the covered deck over looking the water, it was quiet and serene, we  all enjoyed our time there.

Lake time with the three amigos looked something like this.  They set sail on an unknown adventure out into "Wakeboard" cove.

Ava Jane was beside herself to tube with the boys this first time!  Last summer she hardly ever wanted to tube, this kick-off weekend, she couldn't get enough of that yellow and orange package full of fun!

There were some beach balls and a volleyball net to play with, so the kids kept busy while we grilled burgers and hotdogs. How cute is my girl?

When I asked Emerson what he wanted on his hamburger, meaning, mustard or ketchup, cheese or no cheese, all he said was "just the ham Mom."  We all died laughing...he didn't even know why we thought he was so funny!  This will forever be one of those quotes I'll remember him saying when he was a kid (and in case I forget, I've got it documented here.)

Ava Jane ruled the pool, no one else was using it the whole weekend...could it have been because the water was some 65-70 degrees....but who cares, right?!  Not the four year old!

The kids were glad to get to spend the weekend with my parents.

We had dinner at Cajun Boiler's, where I enjoyed eating a plate full of crab legs; I don't do that very often, but I sure do enjoy when I do!!  

My sweet girl, was pretty tired after a fun day on the water, she zoned out for a bit while we waited for our appetizers, I couldn't resist snapping this sweet picture.

While Ava Jane zoned out, Lawson thought it'd be fun to take my cracked shells and play with the claw from my crab legs.  He went so far as to try and attach it to my Dad's ear lob, then tried to look surprised at the occurrence.

And after our dinner we decided to take a sunset cruise and I snapped this picture before we took off.  These little people of mine, truly make my heart want to burst. As I see how big they are getting and realize I simply have eight more of these summers with Peyton before he heads off for college or full time job responsibilities, my heart wants to break but it also inspires me to make the most of these days.  To try and soak up each little morsel of time that I have been given and to make the memories, get wet even when the waters cold, to ride in the tube, laugh at the crazy and just enjoy what God has so graciously blessed me with.   So, here's to sweet summer time and to more memory making!

Norah Jane's Sip and See

I'm at that stage where I'm not getting regular invitations to many weddings anymore and honestly not even many baby showers either.  So when two families in our D-Group each adopted precious baby girls within weeks of each other, us ladies began thinking about how to celebrate the excitement of this news.  We got to celebrate Lizzie Hutchins precious life a few weeks ago (which you can see here) and last weekend we joined together with more friends to welcome sweet Norah Jane.  After our initial text of trying to find a date that worked for most people to host it, we determined that literally the very next Saturday was the only weekend that worked for most of the hostesses due to summer plans and family vacations.  So we threw this little soirée together within seven short days.  And if I do say so myself, I think my talented friends and I did a fabulous job pulling it off.  We chose to go with a color scheme that mimics what Marla is going to do in the nursery, black and white stripes with pops of hot pink and bright colors.  We had a fantastic brunch complete with a mimosa bar as well as a coffee one too.

This group of ladies are some of my most dear friends (Nana and Megan, what fun it was to do this shower together.)  

Marla is not short on exuberant expressions and I LOVE that about her!!  (Here she is showing off  Norah's adorable bedding!!)

And I'm always in my happy place when I'm getting to snuggle a precious baby and this one is no exception!!

Marla, what a privilege to have gotten a front row seat to this God story.  From start to finish, what a remarkable, thing God has done for your family.  I'm so very, very glad that Nate "got to bring his 'work' home!"  I CANNOT wait to see what the Lord is going to do through this precious little bundle of joy!   May God continue to knit your hearts together as you bond and may He fill your hearts with incredible peace as you and Nate continue to follow after Him.  

Baseball 2017

This was Emerson's first year to play baseball.  For the past few summers we had played out at Burns Park, wanting to give the boys a chance to see if they even liked the game before jumping head long into what we had heard was "serious" baseball out at Junior Deputy.  We have been pleasantly surprised at how well we like being out there, seeing lots of familiar faces from church, school, etc and with not having to get into the traffic crossing the river bridge over into North Little Rock, that was really nice as well.

Emerson played on the Indian's team with a few buddies from school and though he had a lot to learn, we were so proud of how well he concluded his first baseball season.  (He isn't technically finished just yet, he has tournament games that start Sunday and could go for a few days depending on if they win or not.)

Lawson was a Kansas City Royal.  He has played baseball before, so this year was full of more fine tuning his hitting and catching abilities.  Adam and I were proud of him all season long except for those few times he decided to roll around in the out field. ;)

He enjoyed playing catcher a couple of times.

And this sweet girl was her brothers biggest cheerleader.  She went to the practices, the games, the double headers...all of it, and she smiled almost the entire time.

(We were cheering on Emerson here.)

And this little dude accompanied us to many a game so we always had a bag full of toys, snacks and drinks.

We enjoyed a lot of popsicles and Elephant Shaved Ice the past few weeks and of course the ball park regular items like hotdogs, hamburgers and MnM's.  I enjoy all of these items but this Momma is a little hotdogged out if you know what I mean!

I must say that Adam and I were very please with the Dad's who coached both of our teams, they taught sportsmanship, having a good attitude as well as teaching the boys basic skills to help them compete.  We couldn't have asked for better coaches and assistant coaches!

All in all, it was a great season, filled with lots of cheering, some sliding and a whole lot of fun being had for the onlookers as well as our two cute players!  I do have to say, I'm kinda glad to be getting  back two days worth of practices and game nights for our summer enjoyment.  Driving down I-630 to Chester four or more times per week between 5:00 and 7:00 pm was getting a little repetitive, but we will look forward to another season of baseball when the time rolls around.