Evening Walk

Love this little look of determination

Last night the weather was so beautiful, and I am so pregnant, so a family walk seemed like the thing to do. I can't believe we've been in our new house 7 months and we haven't done this before now. I guess after moving it was holiday season, and then too cold, and then...well, life. I hope we do it more, because we all enjoyed it.

Do you know how hard it is to get a dog and two kids to look in the same direction?

While on the walk, the kids wandered over to the fence that borders the Cathy family farm. Within a minute or two, all the cows gathered around! It was such a sight, and I don't know who was more curious, the kids or the cows. I was so glad I had grabbed my camera on the way out the door, motivated by the beautiful golden hour evening light.

At first it felt a little weird to have all those large animals up so close to the kids, but after a while we could tell they just wanted to see what was going on and didn't seem bothered or aggressive.

Love that boy!

I tried to get one picture of them looking, but I only got goofy smiles.

 Eventually, Maddox got brave enough to touch their noses. In the picture above, he was saying "Ew! SNOT!" It was hilarious.

I love this one

Look out for the tongue! And the snot!

Something about those cow noses cracks me up

We finally pulled the kids away so we could finish our walk. Except Maddox got a little tired and asked to ride. He's such a monkey. The walk didn't induce labor, but it was a fun memory!

Lailey Turns SIX!!!

Our sweet oldest daughter turned six this week. Since I'm due with baby #3 in a few weeks, I've been going through baby clothes to wash, and I've found tiny little outfits she wore in her first few days and weeks. She's growing so fast, and it's such a joy to watch her. This past year, she has done so well in homeschooling using Classical Conversations. She is learning to read, and she loves math, almost always asking to do it first on school days. She is very artistic, making cards and pictures for everyone she loves, and leaving a paper trail around the house with all her creations. There's so much to her sweet, loving, personality, and I hope to capture it in her birthday interview if I can get it done soon.

On the morning of her birthday, I was going to run out and get some last minute items for the party, so she came along and we had a little breakfast date at Chick-fil-A of course.

I let her order her favorite, a chicken biscuit with grape and strawberry jelly, and a lemonade to drink. She loved squeezing both types of jelly on each bite, insisting that they tasted best together!

As is our tradition, she decided on her party theme months ago. The verdict? A messy art party. We had been checking the weather and praying for no rain, since that would have taken the "messy" out of it if we had to stay inside. The weather ended up perfect, and it was a blast. Since I knew the splatter painting would be so messy, we had dinner and cupcakes first before heading outside for the grand finale.

38 weeks - I feel so big!

Lots of family and a few friends made our "bigger" house seem not so big! It was so much fun to have the space to host, and the party turned out great. In keeping with our creative theme, I purchased plain white iced cupcakes and gave the kids sprinkles and little candies to decorate their own cupcake creation. Now, I enjoy baking cupcakes and making party food in general, but this time it was all about simplicity considering my current very-pregnant status and the fact that everything takes a ridiculous amount of time to do. Thanks to Davey's help, the house got cleaned up and finished in time for the party. He did most of it!

My flash battery died right when they were decorating, so I didn't get any pictures before they devoured the cupcakes.

Once everyone had eaten, I started prepping the painting activity with the help of the other moms. Smocks, shower caps, paint clothes...everyone was ready. We diluted acrylic paint to make it more splatterable (great word, huh?), put it in pie pans, and lined up the kids. With a few guidelines, they were ready to go.

Lailey and Eli starting easy

Avery

I knew it wouldn't take long for the craziness to begin!

She was having the time of her life.

Getting more brave

Notice who is the cleanest? He did NOT want other people to paint him. Stinker. 

Eli, already with a messy face.

My favorite shot

Mia

Piper

Ella

Avery

Zadee

Cousin Addy

It was a blast! Notice Lailey lost her shower cap in the process.

Davey kept his distance, hence the clean shirt. His time was coming though.

Sweet friends

Guess we'd find out later if acrylic paint comes out of hair.

Another favorite! He was yelling "It tickles!!!" as his boots got sprayed off.

I think they look lovely, don't you?

As you can see, they enjoyed painting my belly too. Glad I bought a white shirt!

I'm so glad my friend suggested we get a family picture, even though Maddox had already removed his wet paint shirt. I made sure to surprise attack Davey with a paint brush beforehand. 

So, do I recommend a messy art party? Well, if you're up for the madness, then totally. Lailey absolutely loved it, and it suited her personality perfectly. Happy Birthday!!!

Washington Trip Part 2

(If you get the email updates to this blog, then you may notice my recent posts are weirdly out of order. I'm back-dating them - if that's the word - to keep them in order on the blog. I'm taking the time to do some catch up blogging while waiting for baby #3 to make an appearance.)

 Before heading south to Olympia to visit my grandmother for the remainder of our trip, we did a quick stop at my childhood home. It was so crazy to see it after all these years.

 It was a very sad day having to say goodbye to my cousin, Christy, and her kids. Lailey cried for most of the afternoon. It broke my heart. Thankfully, she did adjust okay and was able to enjoy spending time with Grandma Cele (my grandmother, her great-grandmother).

Watering the hydrangeas

It was very special to take my kids to the same place where I have so many wonderful childhood memories. Many weekends were spent doing things at Grandma's house that my sister and I didn't get to do at home (like eat Lucky Charms for breakfast, haha!).

If you've never visited Washington state, then you don't know how lovely the weather can be. It does rain a lot, but when the sun is out, it's perfection. We were actually surprised how hot it was on a few days, even as resident Georgia folk. Poor Washingtonians...they were dying in the heat. For us, it was fantastic, because the humidity was so much lower. I guess it's what you're used to.

My grandma's beautiful hydrangeas

Buddy and Lailey, enjoying the sun

Running in Grandma's big huge yard

My grandmother has spent many hours clearing paths in her woods, so we enjoyed some nice walks back there to see what she had cleared. With no worries about snakes, it was such a peaceful place to be. My kids can't get enough of the outdoors, and they soaked up the time.

-Trip to Mt. Rainier-

We knew that we wanted to head up to Paradise at Mt. Rainier National Park. I had been there as a kid and also took Davey once before we were married. But it had been several years. Letting my own kids experience these fun places was so neat for me. 

We had heard it could get quite crowded there and parking could be limited. I think we drove around for 45 minutes trying to find a spot. Phew! It took forever, especially with kids in the car. But we finally got a spot and headed toward the path up the mountain.

Such incredible weather and visibility. July/August is definitely the time to go.

Seeing the snow and standing in it in their shorts was definitely a highlight for Maddox and Lailey! They were fascinated! Unfortunately we didn't get to stay in it very long. The park rangers were very strict about where you could go. Apparently due to the high number of visitors, getting off the path can damage the beauty of the natural landscape. I understand this, but it's still a bummer.

Glad we got in our snow pictures!

Such a beautiful place

You can't really see much of the mountain due to the clouds from this angle

And this is my goofy husband taking a picture of his Xero Shoes with the mountain in the background. Nerd.

This pretty much sums up our silly family

We didn't hike for too long because we knew the kids would get tired and we had a long drive back to Olympia. But it was a beautiful day and a very fun memory.

Another special memory from the trip was getting to see several friends and family members. Here are Diane and Ben, who I went to church with as a child. They are dear friends and hold a special place in my heart. They were such a blessing to our family during the time my mother was sick and also after she passed away. I know that as a kid I didn't know half of what they did to help us out. Same with my grandmother. But as an adult I appreciate so much of what I do remember and I realize what a sacrifice many made to support our family.

Lailey and Maddox love to paint, and so Grandma took them on her deck one evening to enjoy some outdoor painting.

Painting the blue hydrangeas

My grandma's neighbors have a dog named Jessie. She's best friends with Grandma's dog, Buddy, and they love to run around the huge yard. Well, Maddox and Jessie had a special connection. She was so attentive to him and he would talk to her and interact. It was adorable! Apparently she had never really been around kids, but you would have never known it.

I don't know what he was saying, but she was listening

Jessie kisses

Finally, it was time to board the plane and head back to Georgia. Thankfully, we got on the first flight and had nowhere near the trouble going home as we had coming. 

Eating sandwiches at the airport

Goodbye, Mt. Rainier

When we landed in Atlanta, we were some of the last to get off the plane. Before we did, the pilot let the kids in the cockpit. Now, I remember getting to do this as a child, but never did I think my own kids would be able to do it, with heightened security these days. But the pilot was so nice and let them sit and even mess with the controls! I was really nervous about this, but he didn't mind a bit. Just one more fun thing to remember about the trip.