Mini Mud Run

Caleb and Tyler, along with a few friends and neighbors participated in the YMCA Mini Mud Run this weekend! They've been doing some practicing running around the neighborhood, but this race added some obstacles along the way. They both seemed to have fun, especially running with their friends. They also got to enjoy some yummy cupcakes afterwards to celebrate!


The crew ready to run!

Caleb's friend Lilly that he's known since they were born recently moved back to Virginia and I think they took more time catching up than running! :)

                          Tylerman! 

Atlanta

This weekend we set out on our big adventure to Atlanta. While we were there we got to ride the MARTA train, attend a Braves baseball game, visit the Legoland Discovery center, swim at the hotel and we finished out our fun weekend with a yummy lunch at The Varsity. Caleb and Tyler had gone to Atlanta last summer for a Braves game and were looking forward to going again. This was the first Braves game for Garett, Sophie and cousin Lily and they all had so much fun! We had awesome seats on the second row down the first base line. It was a bit intense at some points when it came to foul balls, but we all escaped without a bump in sight, and all three boys ended up getting a ball from the game each to take home! We got to enjoy some yummy treats at the game and of course got to enjoy a Braves win! Since we attended the Friday night game, we also got to enjoy some fireworks after the game was over. While we waited for the fireworks they were showing people dancing on the jumbo tron, and Sophie and Lily got up on there dancing away! They had both been dancing away during the whole game it was so funny. All of the kids were so into the chants and songs, and especially the tomahawk chop-- so cute! It was a late night, but it was so much fun! All the kiddos slept in on Saturday since it was such a late night, but luckily got up before they stopped serving breakfast at the hotel! Once we got up and moving, we went to the MARTA station again to catch our train to our special surprise. All three of the boys absolutely LOVE legos, and Sophie loves her princess duplos, so Mommy knew they would love the Legoland Discovery center. It was a very cool place with a few rides, huge play place, places to build legos, a HUGE display of the fun attractions in Altanta, and of course a store. ;) We spent a lot of time going through every inch of the legoland, and then once the kiddos were satisfied that we had done everything we could, we headed on out to the store for the kids to pick out a treat. They were so excited to pick out a new lego to take home from their trip! Saturday evening we hung out around the hotel and we got to swim. This is one of our favorite activities anytime we stay in a hotel, so we got very excited! We all slept well again Saturday night and got up on Sunday ready to head home. We had one more stop to make before we headed out of town. We went to The Varsity for a yummy lunch. It never disappoints and we left with happy tummies for our drive back to Nana & Paca's. We had a wonderful trip to Atlanta, and hope to do it again next summer!! It will be even better if we can take Daddy along for our fun-- that would've made it even better!

All 5 grandkids in front of the big baseball! 

Caleb and Sophie at the game

Tyler enjoying the game!

Paca and Tyler at the game! 

Nana & Paca with the grandkids

Sophie and Aunt Katie

Sophie doing the tomahawk chop

Paca and Garett on the MARTA

Sophie on the MARTA

Tyler is 6! 

Lily on the jumbo tron

Sophie on the jumbo tron

boys! 

watching the fireworks! 

Turner field in Legos! 

Garett riding with mommy

Caleb and Tyler 

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tyler man is officially 6 years old! The kiddos were on the tail end of an adventure in North Carolina and heading to meet Mommy in Atlanta for a special birthday weekend on the day of his birthday. Tyler got to celebrate a little early with Grandma and Grandpa and a trip to the lake. He then got to have another celebration with dinner, presents & cake at Nana and Paca's. On Friday, Tyler's actual birthday, the monkeys piled into the car with Nana, Paca & Aunt Katie and ventured down to Atlanta to meet up with Mommy, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Richard and cousin Lily for a special weekend!


Happy birthday Tyler James!!

Summertime!

The monkeys have had some great adventures this summer! The boys got to venture down to North Carolina for another visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Sophie stayed behind with Mommy to help her get ready for their big trip to Atlanta. The boys got to go to the lake to celebrate Tyler's birthday and had a great weekend away! On Monday, Mommy and Sophie headed down to pick up the boys and head to Nana and Paca's house. They had a great couple of days visiting and celebrating Tyler's birthday again with a yummy spaghetti dinner and cake. On Wednesday, Mommy left on her big adventure. She was heading down to Atlanta early for the 31 conference, and we were heading down later to meet up with her. We got to ride to Raleigh with Aunt Katie to drop Mommy at the airport and see all of the airplanes. We got to have a couple of more fun days at Nana and Paca's and spent Thursday getting ready for our trip!

Brotherly Love

Tyler & Garett share a room and have bunk beds in their room. Every once in awhile when Mommy goes to check on them after they've been in bed and she is on her way to bed, they've gotten in the same bed to snuggle. We always knew they really did love each other! :) On this particular night they were looking so sweet, Mommy decided to snap some pictures. Tyler climbed into bed with Garett and they were snoozing away! Tyler was practically falling out of the bed, so Mommy moved him over a little bit, and he then snuggled right up to Garett. Sweet boys!

Summer Happenings!

We've been quite busy around here this summer! It's definitely good to keep busy, because it is making the days pass quickly, and each day that passes is one closer to Daddy coming home! Mommy has been able to take the boys on some special adventures to the water park and air and space museum, and we've all been able to enjoy outings together, among which have included the movies! We love going to the kid summer movies in the summer, because even though some of the movies we own, it's much  more fun to watch on the big screen! There have also been a few new kid movies to come into the theaters that we've gotten to enjoy!

                Here we are getting ready to watch "Brave" with friends!

Caleb and Tyler also got to participate in VBS at church and they had a blast! They came home talking about what they did and learned! After they finished up at VBS, all three boys headed to North Carolina to spend time with their grandparents! They were gone for a total of 10 days, and Mommy and Sophie definitely missed them! They got to spend a few days visiting at Nana and Paca's and a few days visiting at Grandma and Grandpa's! They had so much fun and were exhausted by the end of their adventure! With each visit there were special things planned for the boys to participate in, and I think they enjoyed each of their fun adventures!!


While the boys were off on their adventure, Mommy set off on her own adventure to get Sophie completely potty trained. She had done very well, but not quite getting I need to tell Mommy when I need to go, so that was their goal for the week! She did great, and just a couple days in began telling Mommy when she needed to go, and by the end of the week she had earned her special new princess she had picked out as her potty training prize. Needless to say, Mommy is so happy to have her potty trained and that the experience was quite painless for them both! ;) She's staying dry during naps, and is doing better at night, but we're still working on it! Hoping her one diaper at night will soon be none. After 7.5 years of diapers we're almost done with them! Yay Sophie bug!

We have a couple of more fun adventures planned for this summer, so stay tuned!

Sophie the gymnast!

Sophie absolutely loves gymnastics! She thinks every day should be her gymnastics days. :) She goes twice a week, and I think she would be ecstatic to go every day! Her favorite apparatus right now other than the trampoline, seems to be the bars. She hangs like a monkey, pulls her feet up to the bar and loves having her teachers help her flip over the bar. Today, she mastered a new trick. She has been working on her "skin the cat" on the bar, and she finally did it all by herself. After she figured out how to do it on her own, she kept doing it over and over again, at least 15 times! Her teachers had been watching, and were impressed with her new trick on the bars! They gave her a special ribbon for her accomplishment, and she hasn't stopped talking about it since! She knows her ribbon is for her "skin the cat" :)

                                Showing off her ribbon! 

Happy Father's Day!

We spent Father's day weekend with Nana, Paca & Aunt Katie visiting. We got up Saturday morning and headed up to Williamsburg to spend the day. We took Paca to get some yummy BBQ, spent some time at the outlets and made a special trip to sno-to-go for sno-cones and yummy treats! It was a fun day, but we were missing our Daddy! Sunday morning before we went out for lunch we decided to dress our "flat daddy" up in a superhero cape and mask and we had a little photo shoot! Here are some of our attempts! Happy Father's Day to our Superhero Daddy!! We miss you and love you lots!!

Last day of school!

Today was officially the last day of school! Garett had his last day of preschool on May 25, but was able to attend a few weeks of preschool camp so he was still going to his school. Today was officially the last day for all three boys! Caleb is officially a 2nd grader, Tyler a 1st grader and Garett is in pre-k! It will be crazy in the fall. Sophie will even start her first year preschool in September. Time is flying by!

Surprise from Daddy!

We got a special treat in the mail from Daddy today! We love getting mail from Daddy when he is away for long work! We were so excited to open it!! It was a special book called "Under the Same Moon." It is the perfect book since Daddy has to be far away from us, and it helps remind us that he is always thinking of us and that he is missing and loving us just as much as we do him! It was even more special because it was a recordable book. Now we get to hear Daddy's voice reading to us whenever we want!! We love it! Thank you Daddy! We love you and miss you so much!

Sophie the Diva

Miss Sophie can be quite a Diva. She has her diva glasses as she calls them (sunglasses) that she walks around in day and night, inside or outside. She even wore them in the movie theater! Sophie changes her shoes at least 10 times a day, carries around her purse and her babies, and her newest obsession is having tea parties! She is a girly-girl to the max and just keeps us laughing. She can even convince all of her brothers or "my boys" as she says, to have tea parties with her, she will say "Caleb, have tea party with me?" And all of them always say yes!

One of her many pairs of diva glasses

Happy diva with a corn dog & sunglasses! 

Ready for bed in her "fancy sandals" and headband! 

Can't go swimming without a headband! 

Have a tea party with me, Garett! 

Some videos of Sophie bug the Diva!

Sophie doesn't like being left out. She thought she was missing something, and she's so short she cannot open the doors, so she bangs on them and begs until someone gives in! 

Sophie enjoys her trampoline time alone when "her boys" are at school! 

Poor thing cannot open the refrigerator. Mommy decided to video her attempt before helping her get her milk out! 

Tides Baseball Game!

We got a fun treat today and got to go to a Tides Baseball Game! We always love going to baseball games, and we had great seats. It was a fun day to spend as a family and with some neighbors and friends!

Haircuts!

The shaggy boys were in need of some haircuts. With summer weather quickly approaching, they needed some hair cuts in order to avoid some long, shaggy, sweaty hair everyday! Mommy was brave and gave all the boys a good haircut. Pepper was checking out the pile of hair that was leftover!