Happy Birthday Owen!!!

Owen was 2 on January 27!  We have been blessed with our little man.  He is full of energy and is almost always smiling or laughing (unless he isn't getting his way).  He loves his paci, blankie and Monster (his lovie).  He loves playing with Ava and Emet.  He is into all things sports and trucks.  (Just like his big brother!) We love seeing his personality come out and are so thankful the Lord chose us to be parents to this sweet little guy.  He is saying all kinds of things right now, wearing clothes that Emet wore last year (Owen weighs only 5 lbs less than Emet), loves going to the YMCA pool and sports class, cries when Ava goes into school (I think he misses her), talks about his buddies from church and gives lots of hugs and kisses.  We couldn't be more blessed.  Happy Birthday Owen, we love you!!!

Pizza Birthday Dinner

Community Group birthday celebration...thanks Mary for the cake!!

Love them!!

I'm 2!!!

Pirate swords for his birthday...he loves dressing up with Emet too!

Carolina Christmas

We had a great time with our families when we went to North Carolina and South Carolina for Christmas.  The kids and I flew down early and spent about a week with my parents.  We had fun going to a museum, making bird seed ornaments, baking cookies, spending time with Granna and Pops and seeing our friends.  We were also able to see some of my mom's family while we were there.  It truly was a great week and we loved having time with them.  Jon drove down and met us at my parents' house and we celebrated Christmas a day early with them.  We had  Christmas with them on Christmas Eve morning and then headed to South Carolina to be with the Chasteen crew.  Our time in South Carolina was extra special this year because AMY WAS HOME!!!  We were all so excited to see her.  Ava started screaming in the car as we rounded the corner and saw Amy standing in the driveway to greet us.  Our time with Jon's family was great.  We (all 19 of us) went to church together on Christmas Eve.  We were all together on Christmas day as well.  We were there for a week and a half and loved having time with everyone.  We even went to Atlanta for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Year's Eve!  Go Clemson!!!!  We are thankful for the time we had in the Carolinas and count it a blessing to have had an extended time with all of our family.  Here is a (long) picture recap of our time!

Pops, Granna and the kiddos before church

Owen

Making cookies

Hanging bird seed ornaments

Ava with her cousin Kaleigh

My aunts, uncles and mom and dad (minus Bob and Linda)

My kiddos with my friends' kiddos...love seeing them all together!

Love my girls!!!

Ava with her headlamp...Mom and Dad gave us all headlamps for Christmas

Love my babes!

Daddy Daughter love!

Love my boys!!!

Family photo

Christmas Eve at church

So thankful Amy was actually in the room with us Christmas morning and not on a computer screen.  Our time with her was so special.  Loved each moment with her!

Cousins in Christmas pjs

Emet got an official pee-wee football.  He is ready for little league!

Jon and his Mom

Love him!!!

Ava and Bryn on Christmas morning

Gingerbread House

We celebrated Bryn's birthday on the 28th

Loved seeing Kelsey play volleyball!

SO SWEET!!!

First Day of First Grade...Our Little Girl is Growing Up!!!

Ava had a great first day of first grade.  She started last Wednesday.  We are so proud of our sweet girl. She is off to a wonderful start and loving the year so far.  She has a teacher who LOVES her job as she wrote in a welcome letter.  This makes a momma (and former teacher, who loved her job) very happy.  I know that Ava's year will be that much better being in a classroom where her teacher wants to be there!  Here are her first day of school pics...enjoy!

Leaving for school

I love my little girl and loved having her home all summer.  I know she will enjoy her year...but I am sure going to miss her everyday!

Sign I made for the first day of school

Sign Ava made for the first day of school

Our neighbor and Ava's buddy, Conor

Love the Brooks School and thankful to be there!

She survived her first day!!!

Pick up in the school yard

Love my sweet family!  It's hard to believe next year this time I will have two in school...but I will try not to think about that for now. 

Sweet Carolina

We had a great visit with family and friends when we traveled back to North and South Carolina a few weeks ago.  We made a long road trip and the kids did well in the car.  Our two weeks down south were spent visiting with the people we love.  Jon was also able to spend some time in the library at Southeastern preparing for his dissertation.  Enjoy all the pics from our vacation...they are in reverse order, sorry...blogger has changed things up on me and I'm having trouble figuring it all out!

The kids and I got to make a couple of day trips to Durham while Jon was in the library studying.  We enjoyed Pelicans Snoballs with Sharon and Cindy one afternoon.  Oh, my the snowballs were good, but our time with our sweet friends was even better.  This is Emet and Shay-Shay as we like to call her.  He loved being with her when we were at Gorman!

Ava and Cindy...love Cindy and miss her!

Ava and Addi...best buddies!  It was SO GOOD to see these two back together again!

The Chasteen and Murray Kiddos...we spent and entire afternoon with the Murrays.  I love my sweet friend Laura and her precious girls.  It was great to get to spend the day with them and to see the kids together.  I enjoyed getting to catch up with Laura and have an afternoon together!

My College Girls...it's hard to believe these two were in the 8th grade when I met them.  I love Brittney and Chelsie so much.  We had a great lunch with them and enjoyed our time, even though it's never long enough!

Janet and Larry Perry were so dear to us while we were at Gorman.  They loved on us and our kids so much.  We made a stop by their house and got to catch up with them for a little while.

Bob and Linda (my aunt and uncle) had my mom's side of the family over for dinner one night so we could see everyone.  It was a special treat and so good to see my mom's family.  This is my cousin Tammy with Owen.  Love her!

Nana and Papa and the kids...and Precious.  As always, it was great to spend time with Jon's family.  We got to enjoy their new house, their whirlpool and a community pool in their neighborhood.  We are looking forward to getting them up here next week for a visit!

Allyson and the kids

Papa and Ava

We got to spend a couple of hours with Tracey and her kiddos.  We met Tucker for the first time and got to love on Bailey.  Loved seeing them.  Tracey and I were also able to squeeze in two early morning runs while we were in S.C.  It was great to get to run with Tracey.  I'm so thankful for her and her friendship!

We went to Clemson for church the Sunday we were in South Carolina. We loved being able to worship at Crosspoint.  That evening the family came down and we all hung out at Liz and Jeremy's house.  Emet was worn out and fell asleep on Kaleb.  It was so sweet, I could resist this picture.

Lydia, Ava and Bryn in the dresses Nana made them...they matched for church on Sunday!

Sweet O with Liz

Dad's company had family day at Carowinds the Saturday we were in town.  We spent the day with both sets of our parents at the park.  The kids LOVED it.  Ava was our little thrill seeker.  She even rode a big roller coaster.  Thanks dad for bringing us all along and toughing out a day at Carowinds for us.  Our kids also really loved the water park.  I think that was their favorite part of the day!

Me and Ava on the swings

Whirlpool time at Nana and Papa's

Pool Time

Papa and Mama Simmons came for lunch the day we got to Jon's parents.  It's always good to see them.

Ava and Pops

Ava and Eli...we had a picnic with Leigh Ann, Kellie and their kids one evening.  Loved having time with them!

I'm so thankful for these ladies.  I love that our friendships that formed in college have withstood time and the distance between us.  I love these women and can't imagine my life without them!

Me and my man

We made a trip to Boone one day.  We met my friend Holli and her kids for lunch at Chick-Fil-A. It was good to catch up with her and to see how much her kids have grown.  Holli was the first friend I made when we moved to North Carolina (I was eight years old the summer we met).

We got to visit the stadium and see a little bit of practice. Thanks to Kindsay for showing us around and giving us the tour.  It felt good to be back at ASU...some great memories were made there!

It was a real treat for Jon to see Coach Moore, his old coach.  He also got to connect with some of his other coaches as well as an old teammate of his.  He loved his years playing for the Mountaineers and being coached by Coach Moore.  It's always good to go back and see how things are going for the team now.

Mom and Emet...we had a great visit at my mom and dad's house.  Their neighbor had a pool they let us use, which the kids loved.  Mom made cookies with the kids, dad had them help feed the birds and they enjoyed playing and riding bikes in their driveway.  Mom also treated me to a massage...I loved it.  Thanks mom!  It was a real treat!

My fish!

Owen loved the water!

We are thankful for a great week with mom and dad and look forward to seeing them again soon!

Summer Vacation was a blast!  Thankful for time away and for time with friends and family!