Luke's Pirate Party

Luke chose a fun pirate theme for his 5th birthday, which was on March 5th! We had a treasure hunt through the neighborhood and the cutest pirate cake I've seen! He loves his pirate costume, so this was a fun chance to dress up! He had some fun gifts this year - a Spiderman bike from us, and the best ever........ a real set of golf clubs from Mimi and DoDad! He is really excited about golf, and he is so proud of these nice golf clubs! He said he would give his "fake" ones to Ben and Sam!

Birthday Celebration in Atlanta

This year we decided to take Sarah Caroline on a special trip for her 8th birthday! Thanks to Katie and Talmadge and Mimi and DoDad for keeping all 3 boys! Marcus and I loved having special time with our only girl! We had a special birthday dinner at the American Girl Bistro, and Sarah Caroline had her doll's hair styled and ears pierced! She also had a very special hotel room complete with a bed for her doll!

Ben's Birthday in the Barn!

Ben loves horses, so we had a fun 6th birthday party at Circle Y in Corinth. We had a great day taking a few of his friends to ride horses and pet some goats! It is hard to believe how big our children are getting!!

Christmas Memories

Eagerly waiting to see what Santa brought!! Not sure where Sam was at this moment, but probably on my hip!

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Each year on Christmas Day we have a birthday cake for Jesus!

We had an early Christmas at Mimi and DoDad's house! They were sweet enough to give our kids a Wii, so they had several days to enjoy it before Santa came! It was fun all being together! Sam was a little too interested in Graham's new toys! Well, DoDad was pretty interested in the Wii as well!! We left the Wii at their house for one night, and evidently Justin and he stayed up pretty late having a competition! Only an hour went by after moving the Wii to our house that DoDad was shopping to buy his own Wii!

To get us in the Christmas Spirit, we have some wonderful neighbors who really go all out with their decorations and lights! As it came closer to Christmas, Santa and Mrs. Claus began hanging out by the street to greet children and hand out candy canes. One night we drove by and an Elf had joined them! We just had to stop for a photo! You never know what you may see in our neighborhood! Only a couple of days earlier I drove up to see Santa having a hot chocolate stand at the Beans house!

DisneyWorld Delight!!

In November we had the most fun ever at Disney World!! This was our first time to take our kids, and Marcus had never been! We had such a great time playing together and being silly and being away! We were so blessed to have a full six days, so we spent three at Magic Kingdom, and one each at Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot.

Sarah Caroline had a special treat at the BippidiBoppidiBoutiqe! She had so much fun getting a makover and transforming into a beautiful Princess!!! This was a highlight of the trip! That night I took her to a Cinderella Dinner, and you would not believe that she was asked to dance with Prince Charming!!! She looked so pretty and it was such a special night for us to have together!

Luke's favorite character, Buzz! The entire trip was great for all of us, but I loved Luke's age for going to Disney! During The Lion King, he was so amazed he looked at me and said, "Are they doing all of this to make me happy?" Yes, they were!!!

This trip we did not take Sam, and we are thankful to Aunt Bec Bec and Uncle Justin for taking such good care of him! They are the greatest!! I will have to give them credit that it all went really well until they all got sick with the stomach virus. They managed to survive the illness while taking care of two babies under 2! Did I mention that we are the ones who gave them the virus??? We really owe them a lot!! We hope to help them with Graham when they need us to! And any future kiddos they may have!

Catching Up Again!

I am going to attempt to catch up my blog once again!! I think I am an all or nothing person.....I really get into what I'm doing at the moment, but then leave it for a while and move onto something else. Why can't I just do a little every week??? Somehow I get busy running around with four kids!! Can't imagine how that happens!!

Halloween '08

SuperWoman, a cowboy, Buzz Lightyear, and a lion. What a group of cuties! Luke enjoyed his costume the most, I think! He practiced being Buzz for a several weeks beforehand, and loved flying through the house with his inflatable wings hitting everything possible on his way! Sam was not interested in wearing the lion hat, but he did love the candy!!

Golf Obsessed

Marcus, being the wonderful (or crazy) dad that he is, took our children and one extra friend on a shopping excursion one Friday night while I had a night out with some friends. One stop was ToysRUs, and Luke's toy of choice was a new set of golf clubs. He has become obsessed with this set, and for several days in a row he carried them over his shoulder constantly through the house. I think the only thing that stopped him was that Sam began taking his clubs out, and he was not interested in sharing with his baby brother. Thankfully he will share with Ben. Do we have a future Tiger??

Soccer Madness

Somehow I have missed a picture of Sarah Caroline in her soccer uniform - yes, she plays too. That's why I call it "soccer madness". It is fun when you finally make it to the field, but it is "mad" trying to get there. Socks to find, cleats and shin guards to put on, soccer balls to load up, water bottles to fill. And that is after shoving supper down kids who aren't hungry because I just let them eat too many snacks while I was getting their gear together. Then on the way....what field are they playing on?? Was it the boys playing at 6 and Sarah Caroline at 7, or the other way around?? I am still trying to grasp this idea of sports and young children, but Marcus is convincing me that it is good for them! And it is fun to see them "run" around for a goal at the wrong end of the field, even if it does stress some of the parents out (mostly dads!). Maybe one day I will have some sound spiritual advice to young parents about why sports is good (or bad) for our kids, but for now, I am trying to figure out what I think about the madness. Any wise parents out there....I am open for advice!!

Fall Fun at Pickwick

Once again we were blessed with a weekend at Pickwick lake. We love the lake anytime of year, but it is so wonderful in the fall! Wendy, Mia Katherine, and John Nicholas came with us for part of the weekend, and we had so much fun fishing, hiking, boating, playing, and relaxing. Well, as much as you can relax with six children ages seven and under!!