Thursday
We got about an hour down the road and decided that we needed to stop by Mamaw's house and introduce her to Micah before he gets any bigger. So sweet to see Micah meet his great grandmother--what a sweet, precious woman of God she is.
We were disappointed that our trip didn't include the visit to Danielle we were hoping it would include. She has been my dear friend since I was 12 years old serving as maid of honor in my wedding. Unfortunately, she came down with a little flu bug and so we were unable to stop by and see her. We hope it will work out to see her another time soon! It worked out that we stayed in a hotel because the kids were SO ready to stop and before we would have made it to Danielle's place. Ivory found the hotel experience to be very exciting and a great adventure.
Micah was not impressed with laying by his sister. No, he didn't sleep with her. Ivory just wanted to snuggle with Micah for a minute.
Ivory asking for no more pictures, please.
Friday
Another loooong day of traveling. What should have been a 13 hour trip took us closer to 20 hours travel time (this includes our ridiculous amount of stops). Traveling with kids is defnitely different. They really handled all the traveling quite well, all things considered. Pam and Adam were our hosts and they greeted us with smiles and dinner. We fed the kiddos, let Ivory run around, Micah lay down, and then we all crashed.
Saturday
Ivory woke up excited to explore her new surroundings.
Their dog, Hunter, was big enough for Ivory to ride. She found the dogs--and all the animals for that matter--very exciting.
Love seeing daddy & his girl.
This land is rented out so some local kids can raise cows for 4H/FFA.
Our host, Adam, with their baby, Hunter.
We were delighted when Timothy & his mom arrived. This was our first time to meet Timothy and we fell in love.
Timothy is one of the most cheerful, smiley kids I've ever met. He's a true delight.
His momma, Lynne, is my dear friend since before I turned one. She was also by my side as I married the love of my life, and I was priviliged to be by her side as she married her sweetheart. I have been blessed to become her sister in Christ, as well. She is my dear friend and I treasure our friendship. I enjoy watching her be a mom--and she's a great one!
Ivory loved picking & shucking corn--she'd make a fabulous farm girl.
Pam helping Ivory out. Pam's mom was actually prego with Pam when her mom & I met, so I've known her since birth. I have loved watching this girl grow into the beautiful Christian woman she is today and look forward to continue seeing her grow in Christ. She was an extremely gracious hostess rushing to serve us. Our first morning there she knocked on our door once she heard us stirring and asked if she could take one of the kids so we could get ready. That was just the beginning of the many times she helped with all the kiddos--thank you so much, Pam. Oh, and we were also in each other's weddings. Love my girls.
Pam had the back porch decked out with baby gear. She also had 2 play pens & a bassinet ready (Debi also stayed here with her two--yes, brave couple!) so we didn't have to bring all our baby gear.
Tim was doing this hilarious knee walking during our visit. The word on fb is he's now moved on to big boy walking on his feet. Way to go, Tim!
Later that day we went over to Beth & Doug's (parents of the 5 girls I call sisters) house to hang out, check out their toys & animals, and enjoy a delish dinner. Doug is *quite* the grill master.
While there we watched in awe as Audrey (the youngest of these fabulous five who is now a senior--can we say too fast?!) as she displayed her many projects she was entering the following week to be judged by 4H judges for the county fair. So much talent in this little country town. Check out this amazing piece of art she drew on glass with colored china pencils.
Now hear the suprising part--she got reserver grand champion on this incredible piece of art. As stated before, amazing talent in this small county. But, not to worry folks before the week was over she was to come home with several grand champion & blue ribbons (her work included a beautiful photography poster--featuring Ivory in two photos =), latchwork stick horse, crochet/needlework(?) scarf, pottery, dog show, pencil drawing, etc.).
And for those of you who, like me, are relatively clueless about music, this is a drawing you can see she imitated from the above picture of the band members from Coldplay.
Because the drawing was on glass it took a creative solution to frame & hang it. Laughingly (sort of) I said, "Well, knowing you guys in a few minutes you'll just whip up a frame of your own." Audrey laughed at me. Looking quite seriously I replied, "No, really, you all probably will." Sure enough, Beth (Mom) heads to the basement & sodders a frame for her (Lynne & Beth are quite the stain glass artists. We currently proudly display 3 of their works of art). She comes up the stairs and together they fashion a leather frame for it to sit in from some old scraps they have lying around. The boys (Marc--Maggie's(oldest girl) husband & Jason) get in on the action and help figure out how to hang it. Jason was in his element up there with all that creativity, farm life and outdoor fun. He would have fit in so well with us growing up!
Audrey is currently deciding whether she should go to college for Art or Astronomy. Can we say, "too much talent?" Nah, you go girl! Jason suggested majoring in Astronomy and then drawing incredible pictures with what she learns. Wish I had photographed the incredible mural she painted on her bedroom wall! And that's where the incredible parents part comes in--Beth & Doug always encourage this artistic ability by proudly displaying their kids art, helping them every step of the way, providing supplies, and creating art work areas. We think Audrey should fly down for a Florida vaca and paint some murals in our youth rooms...
To top all this off, Audrey is a kid magnet. Her and Ivory bonded within oh, 30 seconds? Pam wasn't too impressed. I mean, she's the one who fed her strawberries and helped her shuck corn, right?!
Here's some more pictures of Pam doing what she did best--helping with the kids! =)
In her own words, "Where's a baby? I want to take a nap without feeling guilty."
Girl--you earned your naps! Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture the nap she took Sunday with Larissa.
That's one thing I remember well about these girls--they work hard, play hard, and crash hard. There were many a nights Debi & I excitedly looked forward to a late night slumber party of movies, popcorn and girl talk...only to be the only two still awake.
This home was also equipped with some great play areas such as this sun room. And there was no shortage of adults to entertain--which was also pretty much amazing.
We were so excited that Maggie & Marc could join us with their little beauty, Shiloh (9 months). Maggie & Marc are one of the cutest couples I have ever seen. Their wedding was such a blast! The ceremony was held in a gorgeous Catholic church and the reception in Grandma's barn! It was gorgeous. Here's a few (poor quality) pics to prove how beautiful and fun it really was. If only they could do it justice.
Maggie, the bride, made beautiful pottery platters to serve all the food in and then sent those who helped set up for the wedding home with one. Mine is proudly displayed on my kitchen counter at all times--it's gorgeous. Maggie is now an Art Teacher and has incredible talent. She graciously drew a picture of Jason & I and matted it for people to sign at our wedding. We get compliments on it all the time. It is so very special to us--especially since the artist is so dear to us.
Maggie wore her grandmother's & mother's wedding dress & looked lovely wearing it.
Did I mention they have a huge family? This is *most* of their mom's side of the family. Beth is one of 10. 5 boys - 5 girls. Yes, her mom is also an incredible woman.
Is it possible to take too many pictures of when you are first meeting your sister's, and best friend, first little girl?! I'd say not. Thus, the ridiculous amount of completely unposed (as you'll see) pictures. Yes, I apparently am quite expressive and should be warned before photos are taken.
I love my sister's face right here.
You can tell she's so in love. She is truly an incredible mom and sister. She has been my best friend ever since I can remember. She was the only one who believed I would be a girl (apparently I was, ahem, uncooperative for sonograms) and was the first one to feed me a bottle. She has taught me so many things by word & example. She's the reason I memorized enough verses to make it into the envious Red Hotts group at church as the youngest member. She was my cheerleader, motivator and inspiration--and still is to this day. Her words of affirmation come second only to my husband. O the power of an older sister. Debi, thank you for taking your role as big sister seriously and inspiring me to be the woman I am today. I only wish you had started us off on this whole mommy thing so I could continue to follow your lead! Well, at least I can watch you parent a boy first!
And yes, she's beautiful, bright eyed and feisty. Very feisty. Our little princess and the pea. We love her so much. If only I could give her auntie cuddles daily!
I love how Debi's nearly perfectly posed in all these pictures and I'm just too busy talking to notice--so captures our personalities...since childhood. I love that we are moms together. I daily attempt to reconcile myself to the reality that we aren't moms within close proximity like we dreamed of as children (we dreamed of living next door to each other...I admit I still do), but thank God for phones & internet that make it bearable.
And I love how this one captures Micah & Larissa's personalities. Micah: chill, calm, relaxed. Larissa: hungry, squirmy, feisty.
Lynne finding innovative ways to feed her little man...we all shared the high chair options! Lynne has such a tender heart that I have always been drawn to. I always looked up to her and remember often wishing I could be as calm and kind as her. I still look to her as a model of sensitivy and thoughtfulness. Her kind notes and words always come at just the right time. Lynne is extremely athletic going to college on a volleyball scholarship where she broke many school records. She traveled in college while earning a degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant all the while making excellent grades. We were excited when she had a game in Pensacola (only 2 hrs from my college) while I was in college so Debi came up and we headed West to see her play.
The Indiana Hounds
Lynne and her good friend, Emily.
Fan club!
Doug & Beth went to as many games as they could in their normal, extremely supportive fashion.
We even brought a new fan, Eddie, to the game.
I love the following two pictures, although the quality is poor it captures the chaotic fun of our trip.
Debi--always the photographer. Katie knitting (brilliant, yet also creative). Carter & Tim performing on the piano. Lynne videoing (she made this incredible video for our graduation of our fun times together as kids).
Carter apparently loves peas. Who'd have thought? I feel like my time with him was so very limited. Maybe that's because he was almost in constant motion? This boy is a little runner!
I love that Ivory, Carter & Tim are signing babies! Not the most flattering picture of my handsome nephew, but it shows him signing "more."
Doug & Beth helped out with baby-holding until my parents came and took over their grandparent "duties." Thanks Doug for holding, "The boy." =) Doug was alwasy referred to as "the boy." Doug is, of course, dad to 5 girls. To help his level of sanity he went out and found himself a boy dog for company and named him George Washington, GW for short. He has a love for history and you can often find him with a history book in hand in the few moments he gets to himself.
Lynne and Ben meeting Rissa Roo.
As if being a Mom to an 8-month-old, wife to a full-time student, and Art Teacher isn't enough to keep one busy, Maggie made this sweet little bag for Ivory. How thoughtful is she? Thank you, Maggie--Ivory loves it. Maggie has led the way in artistic talent & creative play ever since I can remember. Her creativity is matched only by Debi's imagination--those two are QUITE the pair. Oh the stories. They were the instigators of just about all crazyness--and fun--around our households.
Read more about Saturday here.
Sunday
Amazingly enough we were able to get our little brood (our family + my sister's family) to Pam & Adam's (hosts) church Sunday morning wearing their Sunday best by 9am with very little tears. We enjoyed their service, toured their new facility and then headed to Beth & Doug's house for lunch & fellowship with the rest of the crew.
Here Larissa is sporting the dress I made for her in this post. Gotta love some daddy loving--Ben's such a good dad. So glad my sister found herself a quality man.
This was Carter's typical appearance during our stay--rosy cheeked, sweaty, curious, and adorable. He *loved* running and exploring every place we went. Lovin' the plaids!
This little car was quite the hit. Timothy was kind enough to share even though at Grandma & Grandpa's he normally has it all to himself.
More grandpa lovin'. But not for long...my parents were soon to arrive and take over their grandparenting rights.
Beth has quite the touch having mothered five girls of her own so well.
Jason is certain we now need one of these on our front porch.
The rest of the day consisted of great fellowship, delicious food and lots of fun. You can read more about Sunday on my sister's blog here.
Monday
Monday was Timothy;s 1st Birthday! He was to have a party the next weekend, but we wanted to celebrate with him while we were in town. His mom made some delicious cupcones:
in honor of our family's traditions. Only these weren't for a half birthday. And they weren't eaten off the dishwasher lid--a perfect (when clean), sanitized table top for little ones.
We spent the afternoon at Lynne & Ben's playing with Timothy's toys & swimming in their pool. We had deliciously grilled food, and, of course, cupcones!
Aunt Pam was a hit with her truck pushing.
Note Carter's face: he *loved* the truck ride and was only upset because she stopped!
Beautiful Shiloh.
Rissa Roo & Daddy
Lynne reading Tim one of his favorite books. You can just see Grandma looking on with with such love and approval.
Sister talk: Aunt Pam, Shiloh, and Maggie.
Friends for life. Their friendship began with Robin Hood at the age of 5. They've been best friends ever since. Different as night and day, their relationship has definitely been one characterized by strengths & weaknesses making each other stronger. Love these girls.
Lynne, Beth, Timothy, Audrey
Taking over their place!
Grandpa had to sneak into the side room to catch some zzzzzs.
Audrey = kid magnet
Maggie is such a beautiful momma!
Grandma & Grandpa C
Tim the tool guy. Timothy was sweet to share all his toys with our kids--thanks Timothy!
For more pictures from Monday click here.
Tuesday
unfortunately, I took no pictures of Tuesday. Fortunately, my sister did. Check out her post.
Wednesday
This marks the sad day of our departure. We had a blast on our whirlwind trip. It was too fast and we were sad to say goodbye, but so grateful we got to visit. We wanted to steal just a little bit more time with my sister and her family so we met for breakfast at Maggie's before she headed North to Canada and we headed South to Florida. It really was a comical event full of meltdowns and very little adult conversation. A great memory to laugh about in retrospect.
Lunch at Arby's headed home.
All in all the kids did pretty well on our 14 hours driving there and 14 hours home (not including stops). I won't be sad if our next long drive is a ways off--I don't know how many more long drives my neck could stand right now (twist, turn, twist, turn, etc.).
1 comment:
Lee Ann this was a wonderful post. you are too kind. you know you are an amazing mom too.
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