Ashlyn

Here are a few pictures from Ashlyn's football game, and they won!

This is my wonderful mom and my beautiful sister with Ashlyn at her b-day party! I can not believe my first born daughter is already 9! Time really does fly by!

This was a very busy weekend, and I will post those pictures in the morning!
My husband Bill had a birthday on Friday, and because I wasn't feeling too hot, he went and picked up his own cake. I know, that is pitiful, but I felt really yucky. Saturday we woke up and went to Fun Spot and rode rides for 3 hrs, came home, and Bill took the big girls to the pool. Mommy stayed home with Allie and took a nap, plus the pool would require a bathing suit. Not happening people! Maybe after boot camp I will do that, but not now! Sunday we went to church and to lunch at Celebration Town Tavern (our favorite weekend spot) and then Bill took the girls to see Elmo Grows Up at UCF. They had a ball and were back in time to see the Cowboys beat the Packers! Good weekend!

What a morning!

I woke up this morning and got Madi ready for preschool. Today was Teddy Bear picnic day, so we had to take Glowy Chloe (she lights up when you push her paw). Ashlyn came up with the name, pretty good huh!

When I told Mallory to go upstairs and get her shoes, this is exactly how she came downstairs while yelling," I weady,I weady to go Mama!" Look at that belly!! Too sweet!


When it was time to go get Madi I pushed the double stroller and carried Allie Grace in this:

I did a post not so long ago on my wonderful double stroller, well, I do love it BUT, if I hear any more of this I will scream: Don't touch me! Keep your feet on your side Mallory! That is my strap! Give me my sippy cup! My hand was here first!

What a morning!

What have I done?

I just made a purchase on my AMEX that I will regret for God knows how long! No refunds either! I just signed up for this starting Oct.1. God help me now!

Neighborhood houses

We just got back from our morning walk, and I had to show you what our neighbors are doing! These are taken with my cell phone, so they are not good quality. We walk the back trails so the kids can see all of the birds and sometimes even a small gator. This section is called East Lawn. Although God has truly blessed us to have a beautiful home in a wonderful community, and a great place to raise our children, our house does not look like these. These are the 2.7 - 3.9 million dollar homes. Ours could very well be the pool house :)

See the big rock slide on the right and in the middle is the 2 level infinity pool!
The rock slide again. This thing is huge. The pics do not do it justice.
5 chimneys for Santa to choose from
They are putting in a slide and a new addition on the left. All of these houses are side by side. Must keep up with the Jones' huh!?

Another view.

Soccer practice

Today was our very first soccer practice. Bill did a great job with the kids, and Madi was so excited to have her Daddy as the Coach (Coach B)! He is so good with them and they just loved him to pieces! He was home at 5:00 to get to practice by 5:30. I about fainted having him home before dark. We need soccer practice 3 days a week!

Watching their big sister practice.

After soccer practice they headed straight for the playground. Emily's mom pushed them forever on that tire swing!

Ashlyn's team won their game tonight. Way to go!

Saturdays in the South

Notice the score board Wolfpack fans!

We won this one too !

My family knows how to spend Saturdays. What better place than Death Valley?? Thanks Aunt Pat for the great pictures.
These precious Tigers Willie and Cooper, belong to my cousins Jessica and Amanda (both Clemson grads-you go girls)!


I found this picture of my sister and me right before a home game. How funny! We rode to every home game in "Big Orange". That was our big orange Blazer. What great memories! Now my sister is a Gamecock! YUK. She will love this picture!

A fun Saturday

We had a great day today! Everyone woke up early so we got dressed and went to Cracker Barrel! Yes, my diet went out the window today!! Madi and Mallory look so serious playing checkers with Daddy.

They know exactly what they are doing by making you drag kids through the candy filled store to get to the table! After buying our wonderful Wood Wicker Pumpkin Pie candle,4 Christmas ornaments, Halloween bowl,and candy, we went here:



We decided at the last minute to do Fun Spot and they were clearly not dressed for it but who cares, they had a ball!





Now off to bed for a nap! They love racing upstairs, and I could not resist the picture. They race up on their hands and knees and I had just taken off their dresses to put on nap clothes! Too sweet!

Finger paint

What to do on a rainy day? Daddy bought the girls finger paint, and immediately I had a Kate Gosselin moment. I thought to myself, how messy! What was he thinking!? Then I decided to let them go in the shower and get as messy as they wanted! They had so much fun and it kept them busy for about 1 hour! When they were finished with their masterpiece I just turned on the shower and we watched the water turn into colors as it ran off of their sweet little happy faces.

Birthday girl

Happy 9th birthday my sweet girl!

This morning I woke up and realized that this is your first birthday that I have ever missed. I will not be able to tie your birthday balloons to your chair, or lay out your presents and cards beside your cake. I will not be able to take goodies to your class at school, or pick you up from school and take you for a special birthday lunch. Ashlyn, I can not tell you how much we miss you here! I miss your contagious laugh, and your silliness. I miss the way you walk in the door from school and your sisters go running to you while screaming your name. I miss the way you love your little sisters, and the way they love you back. I miss you singing so loud in your room that I hear you outside. I miss all of your little performances, and your fashion shows you have with Madi. We just miss you! One thing that keeps me going is that you are happy, and that I know I will see you very soon. I want you to be happy, because this is the only thing that reassures me that letting you stay in Greenville was the right decision. Not for me, but for you. I hope you enjoy your presents, you should receive them in the mail today, and we will see you in a couple of weeks. I love you and Happy Birthday!

Sweet Mallory

Mallory is getting so big. As a baby she would never let you rock her or cuddle. Never did this child fall asleep on her Daddy's chest. She wanted to be turned around and see everything going on. Now all of a sudden she wants to be rocked every night. I love it! When she is ready for bed she will grab her blankie and point to the stairs saying,"bed,bed, night-night". Such an easy child to put to bed. Now Madi, that is another post. She would stay up until 10 if I let her, and still wake up at 7! It is amazing how different all 4 of my girls are. No two are alike. This definitely keeps things interesting!

More from Naples...

Daddy with his girls.

Madi and Mallory before hitting the beach!
Mallory loved the sand!
Madi,Uncle Alex and Gavin finding shells.

A sister sleepover

When we were in Greenville 2 weeks ago Ashlyn and Madi had a "sister sleepover". Madi went to spend the night with Ashlyn at Robbie's house. How funny does that sound! My daughter spent the night with her sister at my ex-husbands house. Dear Lord!

They had so much fun and Robbie and his wife Robin were so sweet to entertain Madi for the night. It was so funny when Robin(Ashlyn's step mother) called me and said that they were fighting alot at bedtime so they were going to need to separate them. Welcome to my world sweetie! They did have a great time, and Madi loved seeing "Sissy's room in Greenville". I am so thankful that Robbie and I have such a great relationship. This makes it so much easier on Ashlyn.

Ashlyn, I will see you soon sweet heart. Have fun tomorrow night at Mimi's for piano lessons! She may be your grandmother, but you still have to listen and PAY ATTENTION! I may be in Florida, but Mommy is always watching you (just like Santa) I have eyes everywhere.

Ashlyn and Madi playing dress-up. Ashlyn is growing up so fast.

It's a great day!

Another successful day at preschool, followed by a very long nap, and topped off with a stroll in our new jogger stroller!

Why in the world did I not buy this thing 2 yrs ago? I have been pushing around this double stroller that weighs about 2 tons and is long as my husband is tall, 6'4 that is. We returned the old one (glad I kept the box) and got this one for only $35 more. That is the best money I have ever spent. It even has a plug with speakers for my IPod. I know my sister is laughing right now and saying,"what is it with you and the ipods!" Our baby swing also came with a plug for an ipod. We never used it, but it was pretty cool to have. This stroller feels like I am pushing 20 lbs. Wonderful. I walked 1 hr, and I could have kept going, but Allie was getting fussy. Yes, she was in her new BabyBjorn carrier. I wish I could have gotten a picture of me pushing 2 kids and carrying one. This weight better start falling off quick! 3 lbs since Saturday, I'll take it!


This picture of the girls was taken on my phone in the dark garage, so it is not the best quality, but as you can see, the girls love the new stroller. I did hear toward the end of the ride, "get your feet off my side,MALLORY and quit touching my juice cup!"

Naples

Hey everyone. We had a great Labor Day weekend. We were in Naples again, and we did get very heavy rain from the ever sweet, Gustav! It was not pretty at all. The kids did get to swim the very last day, so here are some pictures.