Saturday, July 30, 2011

Celebrations!


I feel so very behind on my blog posts. There is so much I want to share, especially from our trip to Georgia. However, based on the week I have just had and what's coming up in the next few weeks, I am not going to have a lot of time to write, so I thought I would at least give you the abbreviated, picture-book version of our trip to Georgia.



4th of July

We actually partied twice with Jeff's Grandparents, once for fireworks the week before the 4th, and once on the 4th. We had a great time! For the first gathering, Jeff's Grandmother, Mama Bea, had a birthday cake and gifts for the girls. So very sweet. I wish I had taken a picture at the fireworks. All of the cousin's children were laying all over a blanket on the ground together. It was adorable!


 Jeff and Pop

 Jeff and Mama Bea


 Every year, as a tradition, Pop makes Brunswick Stew, better known as "Pop's Stew". Mama Bea told us to take a picture because this would be the last year Pop made it. So I did. This is it. :-) Yum!



 Meggie was very tired at this point in the trip. My little sunshine...not so sun-shiney.


 Some snuggle time with Mama Bea definitely helped!


 Here is Jeff, all stressed out....NOT!


 And my very tired little sunshine barely made it out of the driveway before she crashed. Poor Baby. This was towards the end of the trip, so she was worn out!


 4th of July picnic with lots of our church friends.
















 My God Bless America toes. Bev and I had fun getting a pedicure!


 Pleeeease Alyssa. Just one more picture....


A Change of Plans

There was one day in particular when the girls had something really big planned. However, as things go in life, sometimes those plans change at the last minute. So....we went bowling as a distraction from what they weren't getting to do that day. It wasn't as fun as what they had planned, but I think they still had a good time. This was a first for the two little girls.

My girls!! Check out the pink cowgirl boots...cracks me up!


 Uncle Thomas and Noah
(Oh, how I miss that baby boy!)


 Uncle Drew


 Emilie looking cute as ever.

 Megan holding a ball bigger than her head.


 Noah wanted to bowl, too!


 Sassafrass enjoyed it for about two frames. Then she just wanted to look cute, which she does with very little effort. :-) She managed to get a few strikes in spite of her lack of interest, though. That orange ball is the one she just sent down the lane. Does that give you any indication of how long it actually took it to get to the end? We could have gone out to lunch, almost, and been back in time to see it hit the pins. :-)


 The final score. Pathetic. Yes, I was beat by my 5 year-old AND my 10 year-old. (I am the 'J' at the bottom.)


 Thomas actually broke the record TWICE on the punching bag game.


 The photo booth was broken, so we took our own picture. :-)

The whole gang (Except for me and Alyssa. Someone has to take the pictures! I don't know where Alyssa was. Hmm...weird.).


Birthdays!!

 Grandma Jackie with the girls at Funopolis. That was Grandma's way of celebrating some birthdays! We followed that up with dinner and gifts at Ryan's. The miniature golf that I posted the story about took place on this day.


 Why, yes I was raised in a barn, thank you very much. :-)




 More cute American Girl stuff. As you cans see....THRILLED!

 
 I thought this was so cute.


 Clara's friend Nay-Nay (Rene...who is our friend, also) was not able to celebrate Clara's actual birthday because she was out of town. The night before we left for Georgia, she came and picked Clara up and took her to "any restaurant she wanted". Guess what that little rascal picked? You guessed it....McDonald's. What is it with kids and that place? Anyway, she snapped this shot of Clara eating the biggest ice cream ever, and I thought it was adorable!! Those two (Clara and Nay-Nay, not the ice cream...although she likes the ice cream a lot)  hit it off the minute they met, and Clara adores her!! What a fun memory!


 My parents also had gifts waiting for the girls at their house, but like a dork, I forgot my camera when we went there. That means there are no pictures of the cute American Girl doll outfits they received as gifts, my Dad smokin' some BBQ ribs, hours and hours in the pool, or my sweet sister and her kids that I only got to see for one brief afternoon the whole trip. :-( We had a ton of fun, though! My Mom has promised to give me a disc of her pictures, so as soon as she does, I'll share!

The very last day we were in Georgia, Jeff's Aunt Peggy had a huge gathering at her house. It was a great time together celebrating Jeff's cousin's birthday and getting a chance to see our family one last time. My parents, Drew, Thomas, Diana, Noah, Peggy and her kids and granddaughters, Jeff's sister-in-law, his niece and nephew, and Jackie and her husband were all there. It was a bittersweet time together, as we had SO MUCH FUN, but we knew that at the end of that time would be "good-bye", tears, and snot.

Since I did not have my camera, I am so thankful Jeff's cousin took some pictures. There was a Slip-n-Slide set up for the kids in the yard. Ashley told the girls to "strike a pose" and this is what she got. I think we should be scared!


There are also no pictures of the afternoon we spent at my Nanny's house. It was so great to see my Nanny, aunts, uncles, cousins, and their children. (My 2nd cousins??) There was a humongous spread, as always, and lots of laughing.

We also enjoyed an afternoon on the river (my friend, Jennifer's property) with our homeschool co-op friends. We have missed them terribly and it was great to see them. Unfortunately, due to a little snafu at the Kroger pharmacy, we were significantly late, but thankful for the little bit of time we had. Again, no pictures.

There is nothing in the world like being with family and friends you love. There were so many that we still did not get to see, but it was not for lack of trying. Every single day we were there, we went at least one, if not two or three places to visit family and friends. Next time...

I hope you enjoy this sneak-peek into our trip. It was a great trip. We came home exhausted and it was worth it!!

Many Blessings!
Jeannie

No comments:

Post a Comment