Picture Night at the Beach

Our Group Shot!
We missed you, Keegan!!


A couple of things to note on both of these pictures, the biting flies were TERRIBLE on this night!!! Oh my goodness!!! So if our faces looked strained or painful... you know why!

And also in this picture below, my granddad made a tombstone for the hurricane. We were so sad that our vacation was most likely going to end early... and it headed in a totally different direction. I think our pirate-ness scared him off.



I wasn't kidding. We took a few pics then hauled it back up to the house!


Mom and Dad



Chelsie

Ryan & Melissa

The Girls


Chris & I




Nana & Farrah




Aunt Melissa




I miss the beach!! Blessed that we live so close to heaven though, and were able to go with both of our families this year! I'll TRY to get the rest of the pictures on the next post! There are so many good ones it's always hard to choose.

Pirate Night at the Beach

My Granddaddy is part pirate.

Can you be part pirate? He can.

Last time we all went to the beach together three years ago, he came out one night all dressed up:

From Cape San Blas 2009

So this year, we all planned to surprise him and dress up as well. My Grandmother was great to keep it all a secret. He was thrilled when we all jumped out at him and yelled, "ARRRGGGG!!!!"

We dressed up on our first night and planned to go out to eat. (Thank you Mom for basically putting together our outfits. It is hard to get a family with small kids out of the house and to the beach, much less with costumes. Good thing my mom likes to obsess over creat fun things like this! She got all project runway!) We did the "pirate night" earlier in the week because we didn't know if hurricane Issac was going to make us leave early.

As we drove up to the Raw Bar... oh my goodness... there was a HUGE crowd. We got out of the car - giggling and slightly embarrassed... Everyone stared for a while. Then they slowly started coming over one-by-one to ask what the heck we were doing and to get a picture with Granddad.

It was such a fun night. By the time we were able to sit and eat, we had forgotten we were even dressed up. I have to say the girls looked so cute! I think I have Halloween costumes covered... :)





















It was an AWESOME way to kick off vacation! :) And I think we scarred off Hurricane Issac!! ARRRRGGGGGG!!!!

We miss you, Hallie.
We miss you everyday.
We talk about you everyday.
Your Mama thinks about you all the time.
When it's quiet.
When it's loud.
All the time.

Bella loved holding you. She tells me often.
She thinks you are so special.
Farrah is a great big sister.
She would have taken such good care of you!
What we would give for more time with you.
To have seen you do all the baby milestones your sisters did and will do.
5 days is so short.

I look at your picture and I go right back to the moments.
Of holding you. Hearing you breathe. Of feeding you.
But it feels so far away sometimes.
Like it was all a dream.
Looking at pictures helps me remember.

We love you.
Always will.
I am thankful for your dad and sisters. For family. For friends.
To keep us together.
To keep us going.
And we are thankful for the memories we have.
We rejoice daily that we will one day see you again.

Gulf Shores

Last week we had a planned vacation with my family in Florida. We left a couple of days early to go and visit the Walkers in Gulf Shores. They are living there for 6 months before going to Europe for a while! How fun, huh? We loved seeing them and of course the girls had a blast with Amelie (and baby Liam tried his best to keep up with the squealing girls.)

We had a GREAT time! Thanks for having us Kelly and Bobby. We love yall!!

Now get ready for this cuteness. Oh my goodness.

Family Get Together

Last weekend, we celebrated Chris' uncle getting married. Here are a few pictures of the girls and their 2nd cousin, Gracie, who is two years older than Bella. Bella and Gracie favor each other, don't you think?

Bella and Pre-K

Bella started Pre-K last week!

Or, as she called it, her "First Day of going more days!"

She's been going to her school basically since she was born. I volunteer at the church once a week, so she and Farrah go to school that day as well. Now, she gets to go a couple of days more and she has been looking forward to that all summer! She loves school, her friends and her teachers.

The night before, I asked her if she'd like any special requests for breakfast or lunch. She asked for pancakes (with no syrup - she doesn't like her hands sticky!?!) and for string cheese in her lunch. I can do that!

I put up a couple of balloons and paper lanterns and she thought it was the best thing ever. She is constantly setting up pretend parties during the day - mostly pretend birthday parties for when Dad gets home. So I knew she'd love it. It really was so simple, I just have to stop and remember to do those things sometimes! She walked in the dining room that morning and said, "You did this for me?" That made it so special. I love my sweet girl. She is not growing up. She is not growing up. She is not growing up.



Farrah does like syrup.

I may need a new griddle. Or maybe I just need to learn to use it correctly. But they ate them! :)

Chris and I get a kick of how she naturally likes to sit with her legs crossed.


Sister with her sparkly necklace, had to dress up for the occasion.


We are so proud to be your parents, Bella!!

Pictures on the Beach

GG and Poppy!


Farrah





Bella



I love this one!


Family!