Keepin' Cool

We've been having lots of water fun these days.  From swimming at friends' pools, taking swimming lessons (E and H), playing in the sprinkler, and going to the lake....we're keeping cool.  

This was our first family swim of the summer and we had so much fun!  Thanks to Mark and Lisa for always making us feel so welcome! 

One afternoon we decided to turn on the sprinkler and let the girls just play.  

Claire's face in the picture below cracked me up. 

Our beautiful Hannah.  

Emily looks so big to me in the picture below.  

I decided to throw in a couple of pictures from some sprinkler fun that the girls had last year, just to compare.  

CK was as content as could be in her Daddy's arms last year, not this year.  She didn't miss a beat.  

These were 3 happy girls.  

They're growing up fast and we're loving and thankful for every minute of it. 

Family Photo Session May 2015

My friend from Toccoa, Suni, took our family pictures again this year.  She does such a great job and we are so thankful to have them!

Bert went back to Nicaragua this year in April and he brought back these beautiful dresses for the girls.  He did such a great job picking them out.  He didn't ask for one bit of help from me on sizes, colors or anything...he surprised us with them!   

  

  

Picking out outfits, coordinating times (especially since we drive to Toccoa), and picking a location is not my favorite job.  It can get stressful for me, but I am always so glad we did it.  Totally worth it to capture our girls at these precious stages.  

Georgia Aquarium

My brother Stanley was between jobs for a couple weeks and texted my sister and me to ask if we wanted to bring the kids down to Atlanta one day and take them to the aquarium or zoo before he started his new job.  We thought it sounded fun and started trying to find a date that worked for everyone to go to the Georgia Aquarium.

My Claire bear checking out the fishies.  

This November will be two years since we last visited the aquarium.  Emily was 3 1/2, Hannah was 21 months, and I was very pregnant with Claire.  

The big kids loved the moving sidewalk that takes you through the tunnel under one of the exhibits.  

Mimi with her two youngest grandbabies.  They were both so sweet and just along for the ride. 

We were taking a few pictures thought it would be fun to get a picture of Stan with all  his nieces and nephews. The kids had other plans and these next two pictures were the best we got. Ha!

I love Emily's expression in this one as she sees something in the water above her, all while Hannah's crying and Claire's trying to make a getaway! 

Jacob wins the award for most cooperative in this photo session.  Ressie comes in second.  My three...well, they tie for third.:)  

Just before we were about to leave Hannah saw this little fish that they call "Deepo" and was about to burst to go see him.  

Family pic.  We missed Brett and Papa Stan!  

We had a fun day!  Thanks so much for inviting this wild and crazy group to hang out with you, Stan! We love you and we're praying for you as you start your new job!! 

Date Night

A really kind member of our church gave me a mother's day gift that I decided to use on a fun date night for me and my hubby.  We had never been to The Melting Pot and I've heard great things so we decided to try it out.  

We had so much fun!  It was such a different experience, from the types of food that you eat to the fact that you cook your own food at the table!  We were there for over 2 hours and we laughed and talked the whole time.  We especially loved the dessert and I could totally see us going back for a dessert one night.  

After dinner we headed downtown.  We love to go downtown with our kids, we love to go downtown on date nights, we just love downtown Greenville.  It so beautiful and so much fun to walk around.  

Date nights are the best!

Runway Cafe

MCBC's children's ministry went to the Runway Cafe in Greenville at the end of May.  Runway Cafe is located at the downtown Greenville airport.  The kids got to get on a plane, eat a yummy lunch, and play on an awesome playground...all while watching planes take-off and land.  They had SO much fun!! 

Mr. Randy (who was a friend of a member of our church...he didn't know any of us) took time out of his day to talk to the kids and let each kid take a turn getting in his plane.  

Mimi and Jacob came over for the day.  Jacob loves planes and trains and the girls were super excited about spending the day with their cousin.  Jacob said "Next time can we make the plane go?" Ha!  

Em loved it!

My sweet Hannah didn't want near the plane.  She was holding on tight to one of us at all times.  

She did agree to stand by the plane for one picture once she finally believed us that we weren't going to make her get in.  You can tell by her "smile" that she wasn't too happy about standing there!

The lunch was so good and we got to sit in a hanger with the door open so that we could see the planes taxiing around the runway while we ate.

They had two playgrounds....one for bigger kids.  

And one for smaller kids.  

Claire was a fan. 

Thank you, Lisa, for planning such a fun activity!  We're planning to take the girls back soon to play on the fun playground and watch the planes come and go!

Class of 2015

We have such a sweet group of high school graduates this year. These students were finishing their freshman year in high school when we moved to Greenville. It's hard to believe they're graduating now! Two of them are going to Clemson University, one to Anderson University, one to the College of Charleston, one to West Virginia University and one to Presbyterian College.

Very thankful for the students and proud of all of them!!  

Furman

A couple weeks ago we were on our way to an event at Furman.  I had put the girls down for early naps and we had rushed around and run out the door so that we could get there on time.  While we were driving over I got a call from Bert who said there had been a misunderstanding from the person who invited us and kids ages 5 and under were actually not allowed at that event.  Ha!  That left us 0 for 3.  I decided to go on to Furman anyway and let the kids enjoy just walking around.  

You can click on this picture to make it bigger, I thought Claire's facial expression was cute.

We had a great time walking around that afternoon and met up with Bert after the event was over! Furman has a BEAU-TI-FUL campus!!