Old Friends...Pun Intended

This past weekend we drove to Nashville for a 40th birthday party in honor of Bryan's good friend Don. Don is married to my best friend, Gabby. Convenient, huh? We planned it that way. :) Bry and Don were softball buddies long before I met and married Bryan. Gabby and I, of course, have been friends since the 10th grade. They both happened to be single and Bry and I thought..."How great would it be for his friend to date my friend"?! So we played cupid and the next thing you know they are married with 5 kids!!

We've had so much fun with them over the years. Double dates, road trips, softball tournaments, watching each others families grow (especially theirs! hehe!) birthday parties, playing board games until 2a.m. We used to play pictionary all the time and Don and Bry would get so upset because they would draw these elaborate pictures and Gabby and I would beat them with nothing more than a few scribbles on the paper. We knew each other so well that we could almost communicate without even speaking! Ha! That was hard for two competitive men to swallow. :)

Anyway, they moved to Nashville a couple of years ago but we still keep up with each other through blogs and email and we try to see each other as much as possible. We haven't been able to get up there as much as we would like, so I was determined to make this trip. Gabby had invited a couple of their other softball buddies as well. Bry was so excited to see them again. We had so much fun visiting with everyone. Bailey is buddies with their oldest daughter Haley, so she was happy to hang out with her, Luke quickly made friends with a couple of the younger boys and they dressed up and played Superheros all day and Presley....well, she can have fun wherever she is. :) We all enjoyed ourselves so much, we really hated to leave!

Here are a few pics of our day...

The guys showing what a difference a few years can make!!This looks a little different than those old softball photos!

All of the kids!! (most of them are Gabby and Don's! hehe!)

Bailey and Haley

Luke and Presley waiting to smack the pinata.

While Presley banged on the piano keys she sang at the top of her lungs "I'm sitting here with my friends..."

Me and Gabbers

Don and his cakes. If the picture appears foggy it's because there was a ton of smoke from all those candles!! Happy Birthday Old Man!!!

A little boy's prayer

I have tried to start praying with all 3 of my babies as soon as they start to talk. I started out with "Now I lay me..." and then eventually we pray for specific things. After I think they understand a little more, I encourage them to say their own prayers. I love hearing their sweet and sometimes funny conversations with God. They're just so honest and sweet and they say exactly what is on their heart and mind at that moment. I mention this because Luke said a particularly funny and heartwarming prayer the other night that I just had to share.

Lately, one of their favorite things to do is digging up worms from my flower beds to play with (and torture-not intentionally of course, they just don't realize that you can't keep a worm from moisture for too long or squeeze and stretch it too much without killing it). Needless to say, they have seen a lot of dead worms lately. Especially the worms that Presley find.

So, I am going through the normal bedtime routine with Luke. I read him a book, sang him a song and then I start to say a prayer with him. He stops me and tells me he wants to do it by himself this time. So we both close our eyes and bow our heads and this is what he says...

"Goodnight God.

I love you berry much.

Thank you for this place.

And please keep the worms

safe in their dirt.

Amen."

My heart just about melted. I wanted to laugh but I didn't want him to think he had said anything wrong, because he didn't. It was just so cute and like I said, honest. That was what was on his heart at the time. That was what was important to him in that moment. And I love the fact that he started with "Goodnight God". Like he understands that he's actually speaking to God instead of it just being this thing we do at night before he goes to sleep. I also love that he said, thank you for "this place" instead of "my home" or something like that. It was hilarious but so adorable.

It's amazing to me how hectic the day can be, how crazy they can make me, how exhausted and worn down I can feel. Then, I hear this and I think...this is why I am doing this. This is why I am here. So that this little boy (and my two sweet girls) can grow up learning to talk to God, to live for God. That they can turn to God for anything, He wants to hear all of their prayers. Even the ones about the worms.

Fun Run

Bailey's school had a "fun run" the other day. She asked people to pledge dollar amounts per each lap that she ran. She was really into this fundraiser because the proceeds go to the tuition program. One out of every five students at ECS are there on the scholarships that come from these type of fundraisers. Bay loves her school and was excited that she had the opportunity to help other kids be able to go there too.

Anyway, they made a really big deal out of the actual run. Everyone made signs cheering their kids on. The guys running the event were so much fun. They played really great music and made each lap more fun than the last. For one lap they had to see how many high 5's they could get, they did the limbo on another and they even danced a few laps.

It was really fun for her and we had a blast too. Bay was so excited that Grammy, Bre, Aus and Brando were there too!

Bre and Aus (Bre would give Bay a sip of her energy drink every time Bay would make another lap. Austin kept us entertained by dancing! I love his personality! So cute and funny!)

Presley was too busy putting on lipstick to do any real cheering. :) That's my Sassy! She cracks me up sticking her lips out like this!

We hadn't even been there 3 minutes when my hubby stepped in a hole and hurt his foot. We found out later that he has some partially torn ligaments in his foot! Poor Daddy.

Luke and Brandon held these signs almost the whole time. They ended up with their picture on the ECS website. They were just too cute!

Not quite how I planned it...

Bailey's spring break was coming to an end and I really wanted to go do some more fun stuff. Like the Children's Museum or something like that. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. On Thursday, I had the finishing touches done on a root canal. Then on Friday, I had to go in for last minute oral surgery. Two of my teeth needed to be removed. They are going to put in dental implants once it heals but right now I am trying not to smile so much. :)

Anyway, we did have a little more fun with the kiddos before I had the surgery. We spent one afternoon just playing outside. Bay got out her golf clubs and they all had fun "trying" to hit the ball. :)

Bay showing off her Spongebob golf ball.

Bry giving Luke a little advice on his swing. :)

My Sassy girl giving golf a try.

Bay trying to act all civilized. hehe.

We also brought Max in a lot. The babies LOVE Max! He gets so hyper with them and chases them around the whole house. It's so cute. We are trying to make him more of a house dog a little at a time. As if I don't have enough mess-makers in my house!

The girls being silly with Max.

Bay and her puppy

Presley getting a smooch from Max.

She was a little surprised by Max's kiss. :)

Presley acting like a puppy dog. One of her favorite things to do!

Spring Break Day 3

On the third day of Spring Break, the kids wanted to play with play dough. So I got out the cookie cutters, rolling pins and dough and let them have at it. They LOVE play dough. Me...not so much. That is one of the reasons I love my garage. They can be as messy as they want and I get to enjoy it, instead of spending the whole time trying to figure out how to get playdough out of carpet. :)

Bay and her playdough pretzel.
Luke with his "Mommy, leave me alone so I can play" smile.

Presley proudly displaying her creation...a ball. :)

More Spring Break Fun

My three little Picasso's

On the second day of spring break I decided to let the kids paint. I put some of Bryan's old shirts on them and let them paint to their hearts content. They used paintbrushes, stamps, sponges and of course their hands. By the time they were done they had used a whole jumbo pack of construction paper. They had so much fun though. I love to see their little creative minds at work!

Bay

Luke

Sassy

I always say "If it ain't movin', Presley will try to eat it!" Well, here's proof!
Some of the kids masterpieces

Catching up

Last week was Bailey's spring break. Normally, we try to take a small trip on her week off, but we are saving up for a summer vacation so we ended up staying home. I tried to find something fun for them to do each day to make up for it.

The first day we went to the zoo. It was a beautiful day! The kids love the zoo. For some reason, all of the animals decided that we needed to learn about their bodily functions that day. Almost every animal we saw pooped or peed while we were standing there. As if that wasn't bad enough, the giraffe and the gorilla used their "waste" to satisfy their thirst and hunger. Blek! The kids got the biggest kick out of it though. Presley spent the next few days telling people about what the "monkey" did with his poop. :)

Presley LOVES animals. She wanted to pet or hold all of them. Even the 30 ft. snake! While we were standing in front of the gorilla, she kept saying "Monkey, hey monkey! Over here!" He completely ignored her. Presley does not like being ignored. She screamed "Monkeeeeey, it's me! Presley!" Like, do you not recognize me?? So adorable. Anyway, here are a few shots from our day at the zoo...

Luke and Presley gorilla watching.

Bry and Luke in front of the tigers.

The pandas were passed out! Presley kept asking "Mommy, is him dead?"

My babies Me and my beautiful Bay

Luke taking a break at the playground.
Cooling their feet after all that walking. This is one of their favorite parts of visiting the zoo.

SnOw FUN!!

It's hard to believe as I sit here enjoying this 70 degree weather, that it was only a week ago that the ground was covered in snow!

The kids woke up and could not wait to get out there and play! Presley has never played in the snow before. The past few times that it has snowed she was either too little or too sick. So she was especially anxious to get outside. We bundled them up and sent them out. Bry and I stayed up on the porch like the old folks that we are! :) I don't remember snow being so cold when I was little!

It was so fun to watch them play. Bay had fun throwing snowballs at the babies. Luke got her a few times too. Presley figured out how to make snow angels all by herself. She just walked out there and plopped back in the snow. It was so cute.

They had a blast and we wanted to go inside WAY before they did. Eventually, thank goodness, they did get their fill of throwing snowballs at each other and rolling around in it. We brought them in and stripped all their wet clothes off and bundled them up on the couch together. I don't think they moved for 2 hours! I don't know if it was because they were tired from all the fun they had or if it was because it felt good to be so warm. Probably a little of both. :)

Enjoy the pics...

You can see the snowball right before it smacks Luke.

That's o.k. though cuz he got her back good!

My beautiful Bailey.

Presley showing her excitement. :)

Luke trying to make the perfect snowball to pay back his big sis.

My little snow angel.

Little snugglebugs!

Bailey said she could barely smile because her face was so frozen. :)