Harper Mae, Sunshine & Patches

The kids just got back from spending several days at my parents. They enjoyed playing with their cousin Harper Mae. She is just a few weeks younger than Zane & Zander. They also really loved the adopt-a-kittens my mom got for Emma Kate. Seriously. She "borrows" these cats from a friend so that Emma Kate (whose Mom won't buy her a kitten) can have pets to play with when she's there.

This is Harper Mae. She is such a little doll!

I asked my mom why the boys didn't have pants on. She said it was just too hot.

I think Zaney's face and hair says it all....

Here are the cats that my boys toted around....
I don't know which is which. One is Sunshine. The other is Patches.

So they not only toted them around, but looks like they kissed them also....(as I make a scowling face while typing that)

Guess what else Emma Kate got while she was at Grandma & Grandpa's? An iPod Touch. For real. I was thinking that might possibly be a Christmas gift. Guess not.

One day they went to Harper Mae's to play. My boys loved her playhouse!

When they emailed this picture to me, I instantly noticed all those curls on Zander's head. Once again proving just how hot and humid it was.

They weren't one bit spoiled when they came back home.

Easter 2010

We went to Texarkana for Easter this year. It was a quick weekend trip, but it was a good one!

The weather was beautiful, so the kids enjoyed walking down to Memaw's house....
Zander and Zane in Mimi's swing....

Mimi and Papa's church had a great Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning. It was in the backyard of a beautifully landscaped home...

Zane

Zander

Zane loved his "egg babbit" (egg basket). He carried it everywhere for days after Easter. During the egg hunt, he wouldn't let anybody touch it to help him.

We attempted to get a picture of all 4 kids together, but it didn't go too well. Eli and Emma Kate did great though!

After lunch and naps, we went to a nearby park....

The next morning when we woke up, Mimi & Papa's yard was filled with eggs...

Zane LOVED gathering as many eggs as he could fit in his egg babbit...

After finding all the eggs, we got dressed for church....

After church we attempted another picture of all 4 in front of Memaw's house. This is the best we got for Easter 2010....

Gator Homecoming

The day after Eli's 9th birthday was Gator Homecoming! Philip and I took Eli with us to the game as his birthday present.

It was unseasonably cool that day so we stopped at the bookstore to find me a long sleeve shirt. While in the checkout line, we spotted the black-out eye gear with scripture like Timmy Tebow wears. Eli thought that was super cool and really wanted some. I think he looks so cute with them on! The College of Pharmacy held their Alumni Bar-b-que before the game. As part of the "package" deal, they had a section of seats blocked off for the alumni. Philip thought we would probably be way high up in the bleachers. But we were so happy to find out we had GREAT seats 11 rows up in the end zone....

If you know me at all, you know how much I LOVE TIM TEBOW!!! My infatuation with him goes back to before he ever even stepped foot onto Florida Field in a Gator uniform. Right after he signed with them, Philip and I were laying in bed one night and he was watching ESPN (shocker, I know). They were doing a special segment about Tebow and his family and their faith. I was immediately drawn to their morals, values and priorities. I became an instant fan and still am. His performance and enthusiasm on the field is second-to-none, but its what he does off the field that I love. His commitment to sharing God with others and being the Light that Christ called us to be is so out of the norm. Look at this example below....90,000 + people around and what does he do before the game....stops, kneels down and talks to our Creator. You better believe that I pointed that out to Eli.

Although the Razorbacks played so well and Florida played so bad, we really had a good time at the game. (not sure if I could've said that had the Gators lost)

After the game as we were walking out of the stadium, I saw a group of people gathered around a trash can taking pictures. I walked over to take a peek and found this....

kinda funny, kinda gross!

GO GATORS!!!!!!

Back in Gainesville

One week ago today, we flew back to our old stompin' grounds in Gainesville. We lived there from 2003-2008 and absolutely loved it! The last 3 years that we were there, we made several lifelong friends, so its such a treat to get to go back and spend time with them.

This is the first time that we've taken all 4 kids with us. Philip and I went back for a few days in January and took Zane and Zander. But this time, we wanted to take Eli and Emma Kate as well. It was Eli's birthday while we were there and we were going to a Gator football game, so we decided to do it BIG! We had no idea what it would be like to fly with all 4 of them, but we were pleasantly surprised!

Per my usual, I started off the trip by taking lots of pictures and then was taking nearly none by the end of the trip.

The picture below was while we were waiting to board the plane for the first flight. I'm pretty sure all the other passengers were a bit concerned as they watched my two toddlers climbing up and down and over the seats in the waiting area. But, look how good the other two were being. Here they are both doing schoolwork. Not that they volunteered to do work, but they had been given a set amount to do on each flight before they could get out the "good and fun" stuff from their backpack.

Most of you probably don't know that 2 lap-riding babies (meaning they are under 2yrs old and you didn't buy an airline ticket for them) cannot sit in the same row together. (due to lack of oxygen masks) So, Philip and I always have to be split up.

Eli, Philip and Zander on the first flight....

Me, Emma Kate and Zane's ear on the same flight....

Okay, so all of those were taken on Wednesday. Now skip to Friday, which was the next time I even took my camera out. (I told you I fade fast with the picture taking)

We stayed with our bff's Tom and Terese. We love them and just all get along so well. They have 2 boys ages 5 and 2 that my kids love to be with.

Friday afternoon my baby boys were particularly cranky, so I popped in a Baby Einstein DVD. Colton (their 2 yr old) decided to watch with them. Look how cute they all are together....

Colton and Chase have this little kids table & chairs set that my little boys loved! They are so happy to be eating their snack at this table rather than in highchairs....

The trip was nearly perfect! We had such an enjoyable time getting to see our friends. We were able to do a date night with Tom and Terese, I got to do a lunch date with my other bff Bridget, and Philip was able to see friends and professors from his time in pharmacy school.

Here we are with Tom and Terese right before we left to go back to the airport on Sunday....

Good Times.

Beach Memories

I have been planning on posting one last entry from our beach trip. Each day keeps flying by and at the end of the day as I fall into bed, I realize that I still haven't done it. We've now been home 11 days, so I think its time to do it!



I've given this post the title of "Beach Memories." These are just some random things I jotted down that I want to remember from our trip. Some are accompanied by pictures. Some are not.



**I want to remember.....going out on the beach at night with Eli and Emma Kate to look for crabs. They took their buckets and flashlights each night and chased little white ghost crabs all over the place. Eli took this picture while we were out hunting ghost crabs.....

**I want to remember.....Eli getting up EARLY (5:45'ish) in the mornings to stand on our balcony and watch for dolphins playing in the ocean.....

**No picture with this one, but I want to remember what Emma Kate told me and Philip one day when we were all playing in the water together. Philip and I had Zane and Zander out about chest deep in the water. Eli and Emma Kate were up closer to the shore with their boogie boards "riding" the waves. Emma Kate yelled out to me and Philip, "Mommy, Daddy, I haven't even got drowned on yet." Needless to say we were so very excited that she hadn't drowned! We laughed at her innocence and use of wording.

**Which reminded me of.....when we lived in Florida, I enjoyed buying our groceries at Publix. Since we now live in Walmart-ville, there are no Publix, but there was one at the beach. Seeing it reminded me of the way Emma Kate used to say Publix when we lived in Florida and she was 3 or 4. "Momma, we need go to Pug-licks?"

**I want to remember taking walks as a family in the mornings. As soon as Zane and Zander woke up at 7:00, we would load them into the stroller along with their milk and cheese toast. They sleep in footed pajamas at night, so we took those off before heading out for our walk. I thought they would burn up if they went outside in those pj's!

**It was on these early morning walks that Zane got to tell us all about his favorite beach animals....the birds. Everytime he saw one, he would point to it and say "kah." Not sure why he chose that word for birds. Here he is pointing to one in the sky....

**Also on those walks, Eli and Emma Kate took bread to feed the "kah" (aka birds). (you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

**I want to remember how much fun we had at Lambert's. I mentioned it in one of the previous beach posts but didn't elaborate. We each enjoyed different things about the atmosphere & food. I decided that I may work there someday and be a sassy waitress like the one we had. Philip decided that he may work there someday and be the roll thrower. Zane loved boppin' his head to the loud Southern music playing. Zander loves to eat, and he especially loves bread products, so he was just in heaven! Not really sure what Emma Kate's favorite thing was. But, Eli, without a doubt, loved all the practical jokes that the waiters and waitresses played. Our waitress came to our table with a pitcher of soda, started to pour it in Philip's cup, and pretended to drop it in his lap. He jumped only to learn that it was fake soda. Another guy came around with what appeared to be a bottle of mustard. He squirted it in Eli's face only to have yellow silly string fly out. That is what Eli was laughing about in the picture below.....

**I want to remember how totally relaxing it was to lay on a raft in the pool. I do not like to "lay out" and work on a tan but I think I could've laid on the raft in the pool ALL DAY LONG!

**Of course it wouldn't be a beach trip without remembering the beautiful sunsets.....

**As I mentioned earlier, Eli woke up early early each morning. Most days Emma Kate would get up 20 or 30 minutes after he did. On our last morning there, we had to be out by 10:00. Zane and Zander woke up at their usual time of 7:00am but Eli and Emma Kate were still not awake. 7:30 went by, 7:45 went by and still not awake. Philip and I decided that they must be fake sleeping or purposefully staying in their room to try and keep us from going home. I peeked in their room and much to my surprise they were still sleeping.....