Catching Up

I seem to be getting back on track this week :) We are already in the countdown to school around here!! The boys go back on Aug 9! It's hard to believe.

I still have more beach pics to post and then some baseball pics to :) I'm going to try to get through those pretty quick so I can move on!

 











This is the closest thing I have to a family picture this trip.  The boys were never all in the same place and I didn't chase them down this trip.  Looking through the pics, I don't know if I have one picture of Cade (except baseball)!  Oh well...he was way too busy to worry with his mom :)


Braden and part of his crew.  I remember the days when all Braden did at the beach was put on goggles, grab a net and search for creatures in the water the entire day.  Now, all they want to do is walk the beach and search for cute girls :(  Yuck!  Give me the sea creatures any day!!


The girls taking turns with Paw Paw.


Cade is at church camp this week and he is having a blast.  He has been excited about this trip for the entire summer!  I am so happy that he was able to go.  I have realized this week that Cade is alot of work!!!  He always wants attention and must say my name a million times a day...most of the time, just so I'll look at him!!  I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying this little break :)  Of course, I will be happy to get him back :)

Ugh!

Yep...this is the kind of week we've been having! Not for any real reason, I'm just feeling old this week :) It will pass. I still have lots of beach pics to post, and haven't even uploaded baseball pics :( I have got to get myself together!! I mean, seriously, what else do I have to do with 5 kids running around ;)

Beach Days

We are home. We were in Orange Beach for Braden and Cade's world series baseball tournaments. Usually, our beach trips fly by. This one seemed to last forever. We had a great time on the beach for a few days and then crammed 14 games into 2 days! It was lots of fun and a good end to the season. I can't say I'm sad for baseball to be over this year...some years are better than others, and this year needed to be over :)

As you can imagine, I have tons of pictures to go through. I'm going to start sharing some of them. I took the girls out 2 different evenings to take pics. The first time, both girls were totally into it. The second, Wesleigh decided she'd rather not. Stinks because the lighting was so gorgeous that second night, and the dress she had on looked amazing on the beach!!! UGH!! Anyway...here are some of my favorites!











I love this one! If you look close, you can see her monogram on her bloomers :)













I'm afraid you'll be seeing pics from this trip for a while :)  I cannot wait to have some of these shots printed on 8x10 canvas'.  I'm going to do a collage with them :)

I made the boys bring clothes they could wear for some pics, but unfortunately, that never happened.  I hardly saw Braden and Cade because they were always running around with their friends.  I'm having some family protraits done soon, so hopefully I can get pics of the 5 of them before long.

Our Toes...

....are in the sand!

(Gracie Joy's cute piggies)

Wesleigh's New "do"

We did it! I have been wanting to for a while...we've had the appointment set for weeks, but that didn't keep me from almost freaking out when she made that first cut! I don't get that nervous when it's my own hair! She looks adorable and is so proud. She kept looking in the mirror and saying "it's so cute" and "I so fancy". She is feeling super sassy today :)







Wesleigh is growing up so fast.  She is usually the sweetest thing, but when she decides she doesn't like what you're doing or telling her, she can lose it pretty quick.  I know you don't believe me, but she can be quite a turkey sometimes!  She has recently stopped sucking her finger, which was her self-soothing method as a baby in China.  It makes me so sad :(  I'm thrilled that she no longer needs that finger, but I hate it all at the same time :)

Wesleigh is all about learning how to write her name.  She practices constantly and switches from her left hand to her right hand after each letter.  I am a lefty and both Wesleigh and Gracie look like they're going to be leftys too.

We are heading to the beach in a few days....my happy place...and Wesleigh's happy place!  I am hoping that it becomes Gracie's happy place too!!

Something BIG....

...is happening over here today! Can you guess what it might be?? It involves one of my favorite people and a pair of scissors!!

I'll post an update later :)


We got our favorite summer treat, snowballs, the other day.  I am so sad for most of you that you don't have the shaved ice snowballs we have here!  I don't know why they're here and not other places, but I'm not asking too many questions.  The ice is so soft, it's amazing!  I used to crave them horribly when I was pregnant with Bryce and Braden (of course they were born in Aug. and Sept.!)  Thinking I'm going to head that way in a little while :)






Gracie has had no problem adjusting to these frozen treats!  If you stopped by my house on a random day, these are the rag-a-muffins you'd see :)


I love these sister shots...they are so funny together and truly love being with each other!


So funny!  I don't think Gracie was doing this on purpose, but it sure made for a funny pic!

New and Old Friends

This has been a fun week filled with both old and new friends.

You might remember me talking about Jennifer and her family when they traveled to get Molly not too long ago. Jennifer and I grew up in the same city, but never knew each other then. We met when she contacted me via email. She shared that she had done a web search for "brick floors" and my blog came up :) She started following my blog and before long, her family decided to adopt from China!!! What an amazing and humbling story...I love it!! This family does not live in our city anymore and this week was the first time I have been able to meet them in person. I was thrilled to meet Jennifer, her husband, three precious boys and sweet little Molly!!  My girls are in love with Molly!



We also got to visit with my longtime BFF, Rachel, and her family.  I didn't take many pics at all, but here are a couple.  Rachel has 3 kids the same ages as my boys.  They always have so much fun together, and the girls are no exception.  They love Caitlin.


And Miss Wesleigh could not leave Cooper alone :)


Looks like Cinderella found her prince!!  lol...


We had a very boring calm 4th of July and it rained most of the day.  No cute red, white and blue pics for me this year :(

Just Happy.

This picture deserves its own post.  Not because I look so beautiful "au naturelle", but because it represents the happiest I've ever seen Gracie.  Gracie always exudes joy, but this week on vacation...she was just happy.  I don't know if I can really explain the difference, and it was subtle... but I saw it.  This was the first time since she has come home that we were all in the same place for an extended period of time.  We didn't get in the car for entire week, and she loved it!  She loved spending time with her family and even though she only got one nap the entire week, she was sweet and pleasant.

I think this is the first time she ever fell asleep on me like this :)

Vacay, cont...

I'm just going to warn you...there are lots of pics in this post. I have got to get the rest of these posted so I can move on!!

 If you know anything about my girls, you would assume that Gracie is my brave child and Wesleigh is more timid about new things. That would seem to make more sense, but it's actually not the way it is! Wesleigh is much more adventurous than Gracie at this point. Wesleigh was so excited to go on this slide. Cade brought her up thinking he would go down with her, but when they made it to the top he found out they would not let them go at the same time! He ended up going down first so he could wait for her at the bottom. Wesleigh was not upset one bit. She let the worker at the top give her a shove and down she went! She got out of the pool and walked straight back to the stairs to do it again!! She must have gone down this slide about 15 times! About half of those times she didn't have enough momentum to make it to the bottom so she had to push herself to the end and jump off...so cute! Once the counselors knew her a little better, they would almost throw her down the slide a bit so she would go fast enough to reach the end. She loved it!!

 So what did Gracie say when we asked if she wanted to go? "No way! Scaaawwwwy!" lol...















My goofball Cade.


Lori and her new friend Gracie Joy!  Lori....I lub your flowers!!  lol...


Hudson was such a cutie taking these pics!  At first, he acted like we were torturing him, but then he didn't want to get up!  He just sat there grinning surrounded by all those girls!  lol...


Three spicy Hunan girls!!  I think they resemble each other...although I have no idea where Gracie's wavy hair comes from :)




Cade and Trey...a friendship that began in China over 2 years ago (see next pic).


Cade and Trey in Guangzhou.  Love their shirts :)


We have been loving summer and spending lots of pool days with friends.  That is my favorite thing to do in the summer!  We are busy too, though and I know summer will be gone before we know it!  Time just goes too fast!!!  I haven't figured out how to slow it down yet though!!!  Hope you are all having a fun summer!!