Old friends and summer camps!

The weekend that mom broke her hand just so happened to be a weekend that I was going out of town all by myself (which never happens!). The good thing about Facebook (for those of you who are not on there) is that you reconnect with old friends!! That is exactly what has happened with many of my high school friends. Melanie, Hope, Kim and me used to be completely inseparable in high school. Melanie and I do a pretty good job of keeping in touch but somehow time has gotten away from us and Hope and Kim. Husbands, jobs, babies....you name it, we all get busy. But anyways, now that we are all on Facebook it is so easy to keep in touch (that sounded like a commercial, huh?). SOOO.....a few weeks ago Hope and I made a quick trip up to Baltimore to go to Kim's wedding reception. When I say quick...I mean quick. We flew up early on Saturday morning, quickly found some good outlet shops to go to (what's a trip without shopping, right?!) and then over to Kim's. The reception was outside and was so nice (except for the call I received right in the middle of it from Justin telling me about Mom being in the ER because of her fall :-(. Then on Sunday, I visited with Dad and Melanie a little bit (they live just 20 minutes away from Kim) and then Hope and I flew back into Knoxville around 11:30 Sunday night. It was a fun weekend and it was so nice to catch up with old friends.

Madelyn is having a busy summer so far. She went to soccer camp and cheerleading camp and loved them both (although she may have loved the cheerleading camp a little bit more based on all of the new "shows" she's been putting on lately...). At cheerleading camp they all made signs that they used in one of their routines. Madelyn's sign was a picture she drew of her and her friend Lane...it was so funny. I had to post a picture of it. It is so funny because suddenly Madelyn is into drawing things. We have art on display all over our refrigerator! Some of her little drawings are so cute!!

The self portrait (check out the glasses...)
Father's Day

And in Drew's world...he now has 2 teeth! I'm telling you, this boy is trying to hurry up so he can move on to eating hamburgers! He is an eater! He is also on the move. He has the military crawl completely mastered. He is all over the place!

Cade's Cove

ConcordQuest 2009

Okay, so I haven't posted anything in 1 month!! Instead of one huge post, I'm going to have several small posts! I'll catch up eventually! There has been so much going on over the last few weeks. First of all, my poor Mom. She had a really bad fall down a steep driveway and broke her hand in 5 places (her beloved left hand I might add). She needed surgery and required 6 pins in her left ring finger and little finger. So her summer pretty much stinks. I don't know what's hurting her most: her hand or not being able to keep Madelyn and Drew for several weeks. Don't worry, Mimi....we'll let you catch up on LOTS of babysitting as soon as you are up to it!! :-)

In June we had bible school at our church. Let me just say that VBS at our church is truly like no other. It's called ConcordQuest and is a huge event. I think there were over 2,500 kids there each day. I helped in 2nd grade crafts this year. Riley and Kaylee came and both of them prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior! What a huge blessing! Madelyn really enjoyed the week and is still talking about it. She was in her friend Lane's class and was so excited to have "Professor Sage (our pastor, Brother Doug. This was his character's name in the play)" sign his autograph on her t-shirt. Even Drew had fun hanging out with other babies in the nursery!

Everyone is super-tired of Michael Jackson tributes I know. I am too. But, as a child of the 80's and early 90's..I have to say that I love those songs. I'm picking just one for my blog as my tribute. He was one strange dude that's for sure. I can't help but wonder where he is spending eternity right now. Let's hope somewhere along the way someone shared Christ with him.

Go Daddy Go!! Go Daddy Go!!

Well I had a really good laugh tonight...so loud that the neighbors probably heard me. We got Madelyn a Slip-n-Slide and needless to say, she wasn't being very "aggressive" with her sliding. If you know Madelyn then you can certainly picture her trotting down the slide very cautiously and "high-leaping" (as in a ballet dance) off the end. Justin and I were trying to tell her how we use to slide down these things when we were kids and how fun it was! She just wasn't believing us and for whatever reason was afraid to really run and slide down in the water.

I could see it in Justin's eyes that he was really just wanting to show her himself.....he was looking at the slide then looking at me like "can I?". Afterall, he had been working in the yard all afternoon and it was very HOT. I decided this would be an excellent time to dart inside quickly and grab my camera just in case this was going to happen. When I got back he was in position and Madelyn was standing to the side saying "Go Daddy Go...Go Daddy Go...Go Daddy Go!!!" Off he went down the slip-n-slide. I laughed so hard I could hardly hold my camera up. He did it again...and again....and again...and again. He soon forgot he was just trying to show Madelyn how to do it because she was having just as much fun cheering him on as he was going down the slide.

Oh my goodness...it was funny. I love summertime don't you?! Turn up your speakers to hear my new favorite summer time song and then scroll down and laugh at these pictures!!!

Boys will be boys..... :-)

Look who's sittin' up........almost.

Look who's sitting up now! Drew is 6 months old now (oh my goodness I can't believe it!) and he is growing so fast! He had his 6 month check up yesterday and had a nice healthy report! Here are his latest stats: 18lbs 12oz and 26 3/8 inches long! He is now eating baby food and absolutely just can't get enough. So far he likes just about anything I put in his mouth!! We have been so blessed to have such a healthy little boy. He absolutely adores his big sister......his little face just lights up when she is in the room.


So we had another trip to the park yesterday too (I promise I won't post pictures on here all summer long everytime we go to the park!!). Drew is big enough now for the swings so I wanted to get some pictures of him swinging at the park for the first time! Madelyn was a "fairy" while we were at the park too. She wanted to wear her wings because she wanted to see if she could fly while she was swinging. I've gotten better about just going ahead and letting her wear her silly little things like this outside of the house (thanks to Sarah!!). Actually, it's just kind of cute and I know she will be out of this stage so fast and I will be wishing for fairy wings again!!

And finally, Justin is still puzzled on how he could have a child with blonde hair and blue eyes (for those who do not know Justin, he has black hair and almost black eyes and has a dark complexion). He says this all the time "How could he be so fair with blonde hair and blue eyes?"...and I'm like "Hello?! Have you seen my baby pictures?!!!" :-) So anyways, I think he does indeed get this from me. It never looks like he has hair in any of his pictures so here is a close up on his little noggin.....look close....you'll see hair! ha ha ha ha......

~ Singin', Swingin' and Dancin' ~

Oh the joys of being a little girl! Madelyn has had lots of fun stuff going on over the past few weeks. With the school year ending, there has been a number of "end of year" activities. The children's choir at church sang during Sunday night services a few weeks back. They were all so cute up there playing their little instruments and singing "His Banner Over Me is Love"! Her preschool class had a little program to show off some of the things they learned this year. My favorite was singing in sign language to "Our God is an Awesome God". So cute! Madelyn was so sad on the last day of school. She came out to the car crying because she was going to miss all of her friends. She gets so attached to her friends in different classes and it becomes quite traumatic for her when the class ends!

We've also been spending more time at the park these days because the weather is getting warmer!! Madelyn LOVES to swing these days because she has finally mastered the art of "being able to swing all by myself with no help like a big girl!" We met up with Sara and Gabriella the other day at the park. Drew and Ella were so cute in their matching strollers!! hahaha...Sara and I are sure everyone probably thinks we are dorks with our matching strollers AND matching diaper bags (except hers is pink and mine is orange!!).

And then there was the dance recital.....Madelyn's favorite! She loves dance and has so much fun. We could see a big change in this year's recital as compared to last year. What a difference a year makes!! She actually knew her dance this year! It was so cute. Of course, Justin and I both had tears in our eyes after her dance was over. It was just so sweet watching her up on the big stage having the time of her life (much bigger than the countless number of "shows" we watch in our living room sitting on the couch!!). So precious.



Drew was brave and took a ride in the wagon with big sister! I love this sweet picture of my babies!!

WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!

We are back. We had fun. We're probably going back next year :-) !! Justin and I have been to Disney 2 times before we had kids....it is a COMPLETELY different experience with the little ones. We had so much fun! It goes without saying that Madelyn had a wonderful time...seeing all of the princesses was the highlight of her week. She was so cute getting out her little autograph book and collecting signatures from the characters. She was so brave riding all of the "big kid" rides too! We were surprised! We had 3 "character meals": Cinderella's Royal Table (I think I enjoyed this the most out of the group...Madelyn is too young to truly appreciate the significance of eating inside the castle!!), Royal Banquet Hall in Epcot (this was with 5 of the princesses...lots of fun for Madelyn), and the Garden Grill in Epcot (the best food all week! Mickey Mouse & Chip n' Dale were there). We went non stop from sun-up to sun-down all week. Plus, Madelyn and Justin would go swimming most days when we got back to our room! Drew became even more spoiled throughout the week...he was held just about the whole time which was heaven in his world. So.......I have pictures posted on 2 slideshows (I had too many pictures to get them into just one slideshow). I knew I had taken alot of pictures on the trip but I had no idea I had taken nearly 500!! Yikes! Don't worry....you don't have to look at all of them! Only the best ones are shown below!!!! ha ha ha......