Favorite Picture Friday

Since we have been at the beach this week, I thought I would try to choose my favorite picture so far. It was hard...but here it is! Weston does the thumbs up almost everythime I am taking his picture, and Gracie does everything he does. She loves him!!

Enjoy!

do we HAVE to go home???

Well, I can't stand the thought of this vacation being over!! Really, I could stay here for weeks!!! Hale said "why don't we just move here?" That is how beautiful it has been. Actually today we had to make a mad dash to the car before the big storm came! (while we were at the beach) We all got to the car except Daddy! Bless his heart, he was taking his time putting his TENNIS SHOES on!! Who wears tennis shoes to the beach? That would be Daddy. The beach is NOT his favorite. He says vacations are for relaxing. To him realaxing is taking naps and doing hours of word finds!! HA! That's my Dad. Anyway, about the storm, it lasted all of 10 minutes. Now the sun is shining bright!

Here are a few more pics from this week!

lovin' the beach....

We are having a GREAT time on vacation!! The weather is perfect....not too hot! We are just relaxing and enjoying this time before we get back to "reality"! School starts in 2 weeks for Weston. Mom and Dad are having fun getting some rest , and playing with the kids, too! Gracie will finally get in the pool without hanging on to me for dear life, and Weston is a fish!!

Here are a few pics....enjoy your week!

Favorite Picture Friday.....

There is no special "story" to this picture, I just think it is sweet! I LOVE my kiddos!!!!

Join me and post a favorite picture every Friday!!

Have a great weekend..... we are off to the beach!!

something different....

I saw this thing on another blog and I think I will try it. " Favorite Picture Friday" Maybe it's just me....but I am a total picture fanatic!! C'mon Mandy...I know you'll do it with me!! So every Friday I will post one of my most favorite pictures...new or old!! Sound fun?

lazy day

We are having a lazy day around the house today. It is raining and I just realized that our poor dog (Lady, our oldest baby) was outside! Poor thing , she is almost 15 and we have to make her go outside. When I noticed it was raining I went to let her in and she was laying as close to the back door as she could. Needless to say, she was not happy with me! I am trying to get it together, and get motivated to start packing for our beach trip! We are leaving Friday to go to Perdido Key, Florida with my parents! Yeah!! We are excited, but I am so sad that when we get home I have only one more week with my little man before he goes back to school! FIRST GRADE....AAAHHHHH! We have had a great summer! It's so weird how much faster the summer goes by when you have kids in school. I have taught preschool for 17 years; the last 3 1/2 I have worked at Mother's Day Out at our church so I have summers off. This summer has flown by! MDO does not start until after Labor Day, so I have a little more time before Gracie and I go back. I seriously don't know what I will do with myself in 2 more years when my girl goes to Kindergarten. Well,we just won't talk about that right now!!

Anyway....

Ya'll have a great day!

birthday fun.....

We have had a nice week, and weekend so far! Today was Paige's 6th birthday party at their neighborhood pool. It was a "Luau Party"...so cute! The kids had fun swimming, and doing the limbo! We had fun last week swimming with some friends from church, and going to the park with Weston's friend Brooklyn and his Mom and sister McKenna! They are such a sweet family! Last night we cooked out with our friends Roxanne and Andy and their kids. The kids had a great time! We leave next weekend for one more trip to the beach....this time with my parents! I am so excited!

Here are some pics from Paige's party...Have a great weekend!

a few prayer requests....

Please keep these 2 families in your prayers.
Kate is a 5 year old girl who was diagnosed with a brain tumor a few weeks ago. She is precious, her family is having a tough time. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mccraekate
This family lost their first baby last year at birth. Their son was born last week with Trisomy 18; he passed away Sunday night after only 6 days. I can't imagine their pain! Please pray for them. http://www.kinseygracethompson.blogspot.com

Thanks ya'll! Have a great week!

Family Fun

We have had a great weekend! Yesterday we took the kids to the Pink Palace. I was not sure what they would think about it, but they LOVED it! There was a Dinosaur and Sea Monsters exhibit, and lots of fun stuff! The kids were both so well behaved, no arguing and no whining---which we hear alot of these days! Today we went to a family cook-out with everyone from my mom's family (which is huge). It was really hot but the kids had fun playing with lots of cousins that they don't see very much.I hope ya'll had a great weekend! We have a busy week ahead of check-ups, swimming, and movies!

Here are a few pics from the Pink Palace! Enjoy!

Nonni---we hope you had a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!

Uh-Oh...

Me and my non-computer savvy self just accidentally deleted my background! AAGH! My computer savvy husband is at work and yes... i am probably the only person on the planet who can't successfully "copy and paste" so I can't fix it ! I was just trying to add some pictures , that's all!
I wasn't planning on posting today, we had a pretty uneventful day. BUT since I am on here, I guess I could vent about the fact that today (and many days before today) I am having serious BABY FEVER!! What am I thinking? Please tell me! I have 2 healthy kids, a boy and a girl! What more could I want? After Gracie was born, I could honestly say (outloud) that we were done. Then around the first of this year, we starting talking about what it would be like to have another baby. Hale was fine with the idea, except for the fact that we only have 3 bedrooms in our house and don't plan on moving, and he doesn't want to be "old" when our kids are in high school! Me? I would probably go NUTS for a couple of years, but I would love for Weston and Gracie to have another sibling to grow up with. Am I crazy? I am 36 years old, and while I know that is not old, my chances of something being wrong with the baby are like 1 in 100. That scares me!! I told Hale that I just need to pray about it. If God wants us to have blessing #3, he will let me know.....somehow. Anyway... just venting here! My babies are getting too big TOO fast!Thanks for listening to me babble! Have a great weekend!

The Simple Things.......

We have had a pretty lazy week so far. I am always trying to keep the kids busy with "fun" things like going to the pool or water park, the movies or whatever. We have stayed home the last 3 days, watched movies, played outside, and today...... had a picnic lunch- in the front yard- and they were sooo excited! We have had a picnic at the park several times but they couldn't believe we were going to sit in the front yard, on a blanket and have lunch!! It was actually really nice and peaceful. Who knew something so simple (and free) would be so fun for them!

Hopefully ya'll are having a nice week! Summer is going by way too fast for me! I am not ready for school to start back!

Also, in the last post I mentioned a precious little girl Kate---please keep her in your prayers. She has a long road ahead of her and she is only 5 years old. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate

Happy 4th of July!!

We had a pretty fun day today! The kids really loved Daddy's firework show tonight!! Weston was sad when they were all gone, and Gracie was happy....the child is not an fan of noise and fire!

Here are some pictures from today!

Also, please keep this precious little girl, Kate, and her family in your prayers. I read her story on another blog and it breaks my heart. She is only 5 years old, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week. Her only symptom was tremors in her hand. She had surgery yesterday and needs our prayers. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate

Happy Birthday Gracie!!!

Three years ago today, our little Gracie girl was born!! God had blessed us with blessing number two!! Now that we know her so well, it is not a surprise that she had to surprise us with an early entrance saying "Here I Am!!". Gracie was born at 36 weeks after an emergency c-section(cord was around her neck), weighing only 3lbs 13oz and 17 1/2 inches long. She was a tiny little thing! She was very healthy, just small; so the NICU was her home for a long 8 days. Today she weighs a healthy 37 pounds, and people always ask me if she and Weston are twins!! (Bless his heart, they are 3 years apart!!) Gracie was a very good baby; sleeping through the night at about 8 weeks! Seriously, sometimes it felt like she was not even here she was soooo good! Weston loved her sooooo much from the day she came home (1st time he really got to see her). He loves being her big brother! She is beautiful, sweet , very strong-willed, fiesty, and keeps us laughing! She loves milk, cheetos, apple-cinnamon nutri grain bars, Baby dolls, Max & Ruby, watching tv, changing clothes 10 times a day, Weston, Daddy, and most of all.....her paci and lovey("nite-nite"). Yes, we are working on that, a little at a time for my sanity!!! I can't believe my babies are growing up so fast, so sad to me.

We woke up this morning, sang "Happy Birthday" and opened a few gifts. We couldn't go anywhere special because they both have strep throat!!!! They are feeling better now, good enough to make some cupcakes for dessert tonight! Gracie kept saying " I'm ready for the fire on my cupcake"!! Here is a video from tonight! (please excuse Weston's bad manners!!)

Happy Birthday Gracie... WE LOVE YOU!!