Mimi's visit!

Last week was rough because Robby was out of town all week long, which meant I had to be out the door by 6:30 AM with all 3 kids everyday and I was just plain exhausted.  On the bright side though, Harper, Hudson and I found some great breakfast spots after we dropped off Handley at school and before pre-school started.

I felt really unorganized part of the week and we were living like gypsies.  One night we stayed at Jen and Justen's house and the kids all had so much fun having a sleep over with Parker.  Jen kept Hudson for me the next morning so I could volunteer in Handley's class.  Harper was hoping we would stay a second night because she was really disappointed when I told her we weren't.  I told her I'd only brought clothes for one night, but she had a solution to that...just wash what we have and wear it again tomorrow.  We did head back to Gigi and Papa's, but not for long, because the next day my mom flew in to town for a weekend visit.  Because she was staying at Trey and Stefanie's, they graciously offered for us to stay, too.  The kids and I spent the night on Thursday and Friday night and it was so much fun to get to see Sophia and spend time with my family.  Sophia is so cute and at such a fun age.  She is all smiles and just started crawling, so we had fun watching her do that. Plus, having my mom here was just wanted I needed after such a busy week.

***I have some really fantastic pictures to share of all the cousins together as soon as I get them from Stefanie. Oh, and also one of Trey and Handley doing toe-touches...priceless!***

Saturday morning we made the trek to Handley's away football game to watch her cheer until just after their half-time performance.

She is just loving cheerleading and her squad has really worked hard and it shows!  They look great out there.  She stayed to cheer the second half and ride home with a friend while the rest of us were off to Harper's soccer game. They were supposed to have their pictures made before the game, but because we stayed at Handley's game too long and there was road work I didn't account for, we missed the pictures.  She didn't seem to mind though and just wanted to make sure she wasn't going to miss the snack after the game. I took a few shots of her on my own though that I will get printed!

***She posed on her own. :-) ***

I think Harper was happy to have Mimi there cheering her on because she turned it on and did really great during her game.  She scored 2 goals and probably would have been more except that she thought after she got the ball to the goal box that she had to stop and let the goalie pick it up because she did that repeatedly. During one of her breaks I explained to her that she didn't have to stop there and that she could keep running/kicking all the way to the goal. After that she did just that!  I was so proud of her and she had so much fun.

Below are two videos of Harper during her game.  Because the team they played had dark green shirts on, Harper's looks yellow in the video.  Look for her blonde hair and pigtails!

This one shows her taking the ball all the way down the field:

And this one shows her scoring one of her goals:

Next up we made our way back to Trey and Stefanie's house to see Robby (who had just gotten back in town) and to cheer on our beloved Dawgs.  It was one of the most exciting and nail-biting games we have had in a while and we were so happy we pulled out a win.  It's great to be a GA Bulldawg!

And just so I don't leave Hudson out, here he is doing his favorite trick at his tumbling class:
(he is the on in the white t-shirt with the teacher in the back of the room)

Lots to celebrate

I'm about 3 days late getting around to posting this because the past 3-4 days have been a blur.  Early mornings, late nights and lots of running around in between.

On Sunday we had two birthday parties to attend.  The kids were all super excited about seeing Annabelle at her skating party.  Mostly because we hadn't seen her since we moved (but they were also excited to skate!). I grew up when roller skating was the thing to do.  We would always go to the skate rink, loved school skate nights, and had so much fun playing games and going round and round the rink.  I really wasn't sure how they would do, but they LOVED it!  The whole place was rented just for the party, so Hudson had a blast running around and acting like he owned the place and I felt comfortable letting him (for the most part) because we knew most everyone there.  It's a good thing it worked out that way because for the first little bit I was running back and forth between Handley and Harper trying to keep them on their feet.  It took some getting used to, but before long they were both skating around and having tons of fun.

The skating rink had these great little things that almost looked like walkers on wheels to help the kids who were learning to skate with their balance and to keep them from falling so much.  There were still a lot of spills, but no one seemed to mind.  Handley got really good towards the end of the party and wasn't using the thing and didn't need any help.  She really enjoyed it most of all and kept asking if we could go back and go skating again.

When Hudson discovered the walker things he went wild running laps around the rink and pushing that thing all over.  He also started doing tricks like standing on it while I pushed him and spinning around and around.  It definitely wore him out.

I took a few videos of the kids skating, so click below if you want to watch.

THIS ONE is of Handley.

THIS ONE is Hudson doing one of his tricks.

THIS ONE is so funny because it shows Handley skating well and then Harper trying to show off so I will video her, too.  I thought Hudson was wild, but she is the wild one!

Harper was thrilled to be reunited with her sweet best friend, Reece, at the party! We sure do miss seeing Reece, Jake and my friend (their mama), Christy on a daily basis like we used to.

 After that party we loaded up and made our way to party #2.  I was so exhausted from helping the girls skate I didn't have enough energy to carry my camera along and take pictures. It was a dancing party though and all the kids had a blast helping Leah celebrate turning 3 years old.

Then it was time to come home for one last celebration.  Robby's brother and his wife and their son had arrived after their long drive from Colorado to Georgia.  They've flown every other time they come to visit, but had to drive this time because they were on their way here for good!!!  They just sold their house there and moved here this week and we are beyond excited to have them close by now.  The kid table said "cheers" as we welcomed Rylan to Georiga! 

Making This House Our Home Sweet Home

Most of y'all know we bought an older house we are going to be remodeling and adding on to.  I have started a new blog where I will document the process, beginning to end, of how we will be making this house our home sweet home.  I plan to include lots of before pictures, all sorts of details about our project, lots of during pictures, and (hopefully not so many months away from now) lots of after pictures, too!  I'd love it if you would follow along this journey with us.

Making This House Our Home Sweet Home - www.makingthishouse.blogspot.com

Cafeteria, School Pictures, and Spelling Tests

I really enjoyed this week having Harper and Hudson at home on their fall break.  The end of the week was a nice break away from the traffic and we got to do some fun things, too.  On Thursday I took Harper and Hudson to have lunch with Handley at school.  She was so excited to have them there and Harper was in awe of the cafeteria I had told her about since she will be at that school next year and eating the majority of her lunches there.  Harper and Hudson snacked while Handley ate (because it was still so early) and they were kind of sad to say goodbye to her when lunch was over.

That sadness didn't last long though because then we were off to meet up with Jake and Reece at a park to have a picnic and play.  We hadn't seen them since we moved so Harper was SO excited (and Hudson was pretty happy himself to have playmates).

Today Handley got her third spelling test back and her third perfect score!  She's still working to improve on the sentence writing portion of her test, but she is close to a perfect score on that part, too! She has really be working hard to improve on her math skills and got a perfect score on her math quiz last week, too. I'm so proud of her hard work and her teachers even mentioned how they could tell she was really trying her best and working hard.

She also got back her school pictures today, which turned out really cute.  She laughed when I picked her up this afternoon because the dress she had picked out to wear to school today was the same one she had her pictures made in.  When she picked it out to wear last night we couldn't remember if she had worn it to school yet, but obviously she had.  We talked about what a coincidence it was and she thought it was just so funny!

While she was at school today Harper got to have a special one-on-one day with Gigi and Hudson had a blast at his gymnastics class - his best one yet.  It was a good day all around!

Art Barn

This morning started off bright and early when I had to get all three kids up and out of the door by 6:30 AM.  I was just painful.  I am not a morning person and neither are the kids.  Handley is the best at getting up and putting on a happy face in the morning, but it takes the other two a little bit longer to wake up.  I let them have a pajama ride and thankfully I was somehow able to keep Hudson sleeping as I moved him to the car so he slept almost an hour more, all the way until we dropped off Handley.

** I was stopped at a light when I snapped these pictures.**
I am so thankful for iPads in the morning to keep them entertained.

Chickfila drive-through for breakfast was next and then we went to Jen's house (which is somewhat close by) to eat our breakfast, get Harper and Hudson dressed, and then head off to the ART BARN with Jen and Parker.  All of our pre-schoolers are on fall break this week so we decided to plan something fun.  Sadly we kept this a big secret from Handley because I knew she would be so disappointed that she didn't get to go.

The kids loved seeing all of the animals and getting up close and personal with them.  Hudson was so happy when we first got there and then the newness wore off and he just wanted a snack.  Harper liked getting to hold the baby chicks and the egg that had just recently been laid by one of the hens.

Next up we got to take a tractor ride and that was probably Hudson's favorite part of the day.

The kids got to paint pictures of roosters in the art barn and Harper did a fantastic job following along with the steps.

After a picnic lunch it was time for us to head back to pick up Handley.  Then the regular afternoon of dance class, dinner, and cheer practice followed.  I sure do wish I was a coffee drinker because I certainly need a little something to keep me going on these long and busy days.  I'm just glad that Robby is back in town now and that tomorrow morning won't be quite as tough.

Our soccer star

When it came time to choose activities for this fall, I had a hunch that Harper would be great at soccer.  She loves to run (and she's really fast), she's naturally athletic, and she's pretty rough and tumble, too.  Turns out my hunch was right because she did AWESOME at her first game today.  

One of the coaches wasn't able to attend today and since Robby was one of the first dad's there the coach asked if he would help out.  Harper loved that he was out there with her and told us later on that, "Daddy was on my team, too!"

She was really excited and earlier when I was explaining to her that it was OK to take the ball away from the other team, her eyes got really big and she said, "really?" That seemed to click and all make sense because during the game she took off and didn't stop. She was really aggressive (in a good way), pushed her way into the mix and went after the ball with full force. 

All of the girls got a turn to play goalie and she had fun with that part, too.  We were all very proud of her and loved getting to cheer her on!  

Harper is playing with one of her friends, Kendall and they were both so cute and red-faced after their game.  

After soccer we stopped for a quick lunch and then were off to cheerleading for Handley.  Each week they pick two captains for the games and she was one of the captains this week.  It was a hot by this afternoon, but the girls did great and the football players did, too.  Our team won, which is always icing on the cake.  Gigi and Papa were able to come watch Handley cheer today and she was  so happy to have them there.  

During the game Hudson and Harper had fun running around and playing.  Harper did cartwheels on the sidelines and Hudson threw his football or kicked the soccer ball non-stop. That boy is all boy! 

Happy Birthday Robby!

Today is Robby's birthday!!! He had to fly out of town bright and early this morning and since he was going to be gone on his actual birthday we did a little celebrating on Sunday evening instead.  We were not about to let a little work travel get in the way of a birthday party.  We grilled out, the kids helped decorate cupcakes and he opened a few gifts.

The girls were really into helping with the wrapping of the gifts and Hudson was really into helping with the unwrapping of the gifts.  So much so, that he ran off with one of them and the next thing I knew I heard the trash can closing. I was worried he'd thrown the whole gift in the trash, but when he ran back wearing the visor he'd just unwrapped I realized he was just getting rid of the paper and delivering they goods.  

Robby and I had our first date was the day after his 18th birthday and here we are in our early (approaching mid) thirties.  I love that we are growing older - not old, just older :-) - together.  He works so incredibly hard and such long hours, but he always makes the most of his time at home to be silly with the kids and they just love his fun and playful side.  It always makes me smile to see them all playing "dog-pile" on the floor or when I think the girls are asleep and I realize he is in their room and they are all cracking up about any and everything.  He is the most devoted, caring, fun, silly and playful dad for our kids and I couldn't ask for a more dedicated husband.  WE LOVE YOU!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!