You may need a kleenex but it's worth it....

We love Taylor's Swift's music and have a couple of her CDs....I heard this song when her last one came out and I just loved it. I just saw the video that she made for it as a present for her mom and I had to share it! I was blessed with an incredibly loving, supportive, fun mom and this song reminds me of her--and that I want to be that kind of mom too. Just click on this link and enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8PmbpFCbic

---quick sidenote--also a great reminder to dust off your video cameras :)

Crafty Nana and other fun things...

I wanted to share the latest addition to the Crafty Nana line...she actually made this months ago and I just remembered I hadn't taken a picture yet! It's one of my FAVORITE outfits--can't get enough of it (or the little girl in it)! Thanks, Crafty Nana--you rock!!
My girl knows how to relax...
These three have such a great time together--Collier joining in on the crazy slide blockade thing the boys like to do...
I love these happy faces...Collier is a total dare-devil on the fort/play set--she climbs up the ladder and slides down over and over!
Collier and I had our first tea party just before bedtime last week. It was almost more fun than my heart could take. We just had imaginary tea--maybe next time we'll try adding some water and a few teddy bears. I love a good party!



I wanted to share two "Griffin stories" from the past few weeks...
1. One day we were at lunch with Nana and the boys got some gum out of those little machines. They've only had gum a couple times, and Griffin was playing with his and pulling it out of his mouth. My mom told him he shouldn't do that and he of course wanted to know why not. She explained several reasons to him, one being that it might get stuck in your hair and you'd have to cut that part of your hair out. A few minutes later he noticed a bald man at the next table and exclaimed, "Hey Nana, that man must've gotten A LOT of gum stuck in his hair!"
2. A few weeks ago we were at this shopping center and they had this huge "Spider Man Mountain" for kids to climb--it was one of those things that looks like tremendous fun but ends up being more difficult than fun. The boys started up it and quickly realized how hard it was--they both headed back down. I gave them both a pep talk to not give up and keep trying and they ended up both making it all the way to the top (even some older boys were giving up at the bottom). I was just so proud of them for persevering and they both felt such a sense of accomplishment. Anyway, that night when I was putting them to bed Griffin brought it back up again and he said, "Mama, you're the best Mama. Thanks for cheering us to the top." It just melted my heart and reminded me that I always want to be their biggest cheerleader!!

Griffin's Par-tay!

Some very sweet friends of ours let us borrow their super cool waterslides, so we had a wet and wild birthday party for our big six year old! He LOVES these slides, so he was thrilled about his party and had a blast!! The calm before the storm...these poor slides didn't know what was about to hit them!

Griffin lunging off the top of the slide (yes, it does make me nervous)...

A water balloon fight... Griffin and Elise chillin' in the pool!
Anderson and his friend, Jacob, busting a move to the pirate music--this was so adorable I just wish I had a video (sorry for the blurry pic)!

Some of the girls took a long break from the slides to perform some acrobatics...

Griffin and his friend, Julia, from school!

Ms. Jenny and Aunt Nanette filled up the water balloons for us :)

Blowing out the candles (right after this he took a bite out of the side of the cake)!
Waiting for his piece of cake!
Anderson had a great time at the party too!

A rare pic of Michael and I w/out the kiddos!

Nana and Poppy!

Granny and Papa Dave!

Griffin is so into pirates that we went with a "pirate" theme to go along with the waterslides...pirates sail on water, right? I think the party ended up being everything Griffin wanted it to be, and we were so thankful God gave us such perfect weather. Griffin had a great time with his friends and I think it was a really special day for him!

Happy Birthday Griffin!!!

Griffin just had his sixth birthday! My baby is growing up way too fast--does anyone know how you stop this?? He started out his special day with some of his favorite breakfast--eggs with cheese, bacon, cheese grits, and canteloupe. I got to visit his school that day and bring donuts to the class!
He's really enjoying his friends in his class--there are some crazy boys in there!
When I picked him up from school that day, Nana and I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese for lunch to celebrate! Personally, I was dreading it when that was his pick, but we had a great time (that place is much more doable at lunch time :)

I didn't grow up with any siblings, but I now realize that a birthday for your brother or sister is in many ways like a birthday for you!

Daddy stopped by too! The boys enjoyed a fierce game of air hockey! That evening Nana and Poppy joined us for dinner at Chick Fil A. I have always loved birthdays--when I was younger I always wanted to celebrate my birthday month, birthday week, etc. Now I love making birthdays special for my family! I think Griffin really enjoyed his special day--we all did!! More on his birthday party in the next post...

Starting School!!!

Griffin started Kindergarten!!! God gave him a wonderful teacher and he's off to a great start! It's hard to believe he's been going for a month now! He gets out everyday at 11:45 and has absolutely loved every minute so far!

This sweet friend was in his K4 class last year, so the first day of school he came running to the door to give Griffin a hug (does a mommy's heart good :)
Anderson and Collier just started back last week! Here they are with their lunchboxes before the first day!
Collier is only going one day a week, but so far she hasn't cried when I drop her off and her teachers say she smiles all day long!
Anderson is in 3K and he has been super excited to go! His teacher, Mrs. Tracy, is so sweet, and he gets to go to music which he talks about all the time!

We really had such a great summer. It was so nice to be able to spend mornings in our pajamas and have so much more down time for the kids to play!

Here's Anderson, AKA the Seaweed Monster!

Cousin Ty-Ty (Tyler) and Will came to visit us at the beach!

The gang: Bryce, Elise, Griffin, Anderson, and Collier!

When Collier was 6 months old I had her pictures taken in this old fashioned hat, and my mother-in-law thought it would be great to have her pictures taken in the same hat every year! A couple months ago I took her in with great intentions to only buy that one pose...you see here how that decision panned out...