God bless America...and His precious children!

Happy Memorial Day and God Bless America!  It is a very happy day at our house- Daddy is home from work, DeeDee and Uncle Scott will be over soon to cook out and play, and the weather is gorgeous....hot....but gorgeous!  I decided to do an early morning photo shoot with the kids on some train tracks near the house, knowing it may be a great idea or a total disaster! Grafton had a blast, of course, since it had to do with trains! James was ready for his nap and was pretty much all over the place, but I still got a couple of cute and funny pictures.  I sure do love these precious babies and their Daddy.  Oh how blessed I feel getting to love on them each and every day!

Carnival Time!

Grafton talks about going to a carnival at least 3 times a week, so I was extremely excited when I saw the trucks with carnival equipment come into town last weekend!  Grafton watched as the Ferris Wheel went up, the big slide got all ready, and the games were organized.  Then, on the first night of the carnival, we took off for some family fun!  Grafton is a ride junkie- she LOVES to ride on anything and really is never scared! She tackled the roller coaster first, moved on to Tilt a Whirl next, then the Ferris Wheel, train, slide, cars.....you name it and she did it! Eric rode everything with her and by the end of the night felt sick! James hung out for most of the rides but did get on the carousel and hot air balloon ride....he would have done more but I was too cheap to pay for a 1 year old to ride and ride!!  DeeDee, James and I left once it got to be James's bedtime, but Eric and Grafton stayed till wayyyyy past hers!  It was a really fun night, and both kids had a blast.

Starting the night off with a roller coaster ride

She got a little bored with the train after doing a roller coaster!

She rode this 4 times! Eric felt sick by the end of the night!

Such a Daddy's girl

waving at Grafton on the Ferris Wheel

They love a carousel

Another favorite for Grafton

Yay! Who's excited?!

Pooped out after the carnival!

My little fish

Grafton has always been my little fish.  She LOVES the swimming pool and would live in it if she could! I am nicknaming her Little Flipper for the summer because she literally swims and swims and swims and swims!  We went to DeeDee's house today to swim, and the cool water did not scare my little flipper off- she played and swam until I thought she was going to take her nap IN the pool!  James on the other hand likes the water, but if it is cool at all then he is NOT a fan! He will stick his legs in and kick around but he would really rather not get his little tummy wet and cold in the water!  We all had a fun time today- getting some sun, having a picnic, and enjoying the pool.

Momma's Day!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day- spending time with family at the beach Sunday morning, then driving home in time to have dinner with my mom Sunday night! On the car ride home from Ocean Springs I had plenty of time to reflect on how blessed I have been as a mom as well as how blessed I am to have such an amazing mother myself.  From the time I can remember, my mom has always been there for me through anything. She is a Godly woman who has taught me how to love, serve and share with a Godly heart and giving soul. I am blessed beyond words to be able to see her nearly every day and have her be such an important part of my children's lives. She is a special lady.

I am also incredibly blessed to have the two funniest, sweetest, happiest children I could ever imagine.  They bring me so much joy every single day, and my heart is full of love and adoration for these precious kiddos.  I can't wait till baby Price is here to join these two, and I can only imagine the fun and trouble we will all get into in the years ahead.  I thank God for blessing me with these babies as well as an amazing man to stand by me each day.  God is so so good.

Family + beach = a great weekend getaway!

Last weekend we decided to make a trip down to the Mississippi coast to visit Eric's brother, Jason, and his wife, Karem, and their 3 children! We knew it would be a crazy weekend with 5 kids between the ages of 17 months and almost 4 years old, but we also knew it would be so fun for all the little cousins to play together.  Also, Grafton has been dying to see the beach, so this was just perfect! The kids did so well on the drive down, we went to the beach as soon as we got in town, and then the kids played and played all night! Saturday morning, the dads took Grafton and Thomas (who are the same age) to the donut shop and then Karem gave them a tennis lesson...which Grafton LOVED!  We had seafood for lunch, hit the outlet mall in the afternoon, then played and played the rest of the night. Grafton just adores cousin Thomas, and James always has fun playing with all the children.  We hit the beach one last time Sunday morning before heading home to spend Mother's Day night with my mom.  It was really such a fun weekend, and I have a feeling we will be planning another little trip down there before the summer is over!

Pictures from the 1st day in Ocean Springs- beach, beach, beach!

2nd day in Ocean Springs....

playing trains with cousin Thomas

Karaoke time!

climbing all over Uncle Jason!

James loved cuddling up to Uncle Jason

2 men in a mini-van!

Day 3....