Nana + Grandaddy Come

Nana + Grandaddy went on a long road trip + on their way home they squeezed in a visit with us.  Unfortunately they're arrival overlapped with Ivory's movie theater birthday trip, but as explained before, it wasn't really something we wanted to reschedule...again.  But the kids were over-the-top excited to come home and see them.  The sugar + caffeine helped with the excessive displays of cuteness + silliness, especially seen in our crazy little Micah Man. The next day was Nana's birthday so we celebrated by taking her to our favorite donut shop...which actually doesn't sell donuts anymore (feel free to mourn with us...though our cholesterol probably isn't mourning).  They do, however, still sell some pastries + delicious breakfast + lunch meals.  To our kids it will forever be "the donut shop."  This was Nana's first visit and it was a hit (of course this didn't surprise us) right down to the homemade tomato gravy + biscuits.  Good Southern home style cooking here, folks.
Ivory convinced everyone that a stop at the park was a good idea before heading home.  The weather was surprisingly beautiful + sunshiney so we agreed.

When we got home Ivory unwrapped some birthday presents from Nana + Grandaddy.  We especially love the hand colored wrapping paper from Anna + Ella.  So fun!
A round of Pretty Pretty Princess anyone? Trying out joint naps again...mildly successful. 
Later that week went with Nana + Grandaddy to visit Nana's mother, Mamaw.  While she didn't quite recognize most of us (she has Alzheimer's) she was still sweet and friendly and just loved seeing the kids.  Love these sweet moments between Korban Stanley + his namesake, Mamaw Stanley.
Ivory *loved* playing with Nana's older sister, Kathleen.  Aunt Kathleen became well educated in all things princess.  Micah enjoyed playing cars with Grandaddy. Squishy face hugs are best!
The kids did really well at Mamaw's--the princess bag + cars bag kept them rather entertained.  That and lots of attention.
Love this sweet moment between Mamaw + Korban. It's amazing how young the love of cars begins in these boys.  Korban is already in complete awe of his older brother + joins him in playing cars, sound effects and all. 
We went in the backyard to admire the flowers and run off some energy.  Ivory immediately began picking every little microscopic wildflower she could see. The kids have such great grandparents.
Our attempt at a picture of all three...
Korban promptly fell.
And Micah was rather unimpressed with the portrait session.

And this is the best we got.

Love my boys.  A very accurate picture of most days...the boys holding my legs or under my feet.

The boys love their Grandaddy.

Love this picture--three generations of church goers.  Not just church goers, but 3 generations of Christ followers.  Grandaddy, Daddy, Ivory.  And prayerfully Micah before long.
August is a great month for birthdays apparently...Happy birthday, Cassie!  We love our Cassie.

We finished off the visit with a round of handmade gifts from the cousins.  Lots and lots and lots of paper, coloring, and tape. So much tape.  So cute.  The kids had such fun--thank you Anna + Ella.
Goodbyes are never easy. 

Thanks for coming, Nana + Grandaddy.  We love you!  see you again soon! 

Meeting Mamaw Stanley

Tuesday we ventured out to meet Nana + Mamaw Stanley.
Nana + Korban Mamaw normally stays in bed all day on rainy days (Tuesday was very rainy) so we were just hoping we wouldn't miss her. When we arrived Jason prayed that Mamaw would wake up--within a few minutes of our arrival Mamaw came wandering down the hallway.  Jason was so excited to hand Korban to his grandmother. 

Mamaw has alzheimers and her health has been failing rather rapidly lately.  We are so grateful that we had these precious moments with her.  She took such delight in holding her great grandson.  She seemed to know for at least a little bit of the visit who Jason was and that this was his newborn baby.
As we left we told her his name again.  She gave a big smile and said, "Stanley.  I'll call him Stanley.  Stanley." 

I loved watching Jason interacting with Mamaw and our newborn. Four generations: Virginia Stanley, Joy (Mamaw's 4th), Jason (Mom's 2nd), Korban (Jason's 3rd)

Micah was so well behaved and very silly during our visit.  He loves sitting on furniture like a big boy.
Micah, of course, played lots of ball.

And enjoyed playing with his shape sorter and playing with Nana.



After visiting with Nana + Mamaw we made a quick stop for dinner and went for a short visit with Mrs. Patti and her family.  Micah had a blast playing with Dillon during our visit and Mrs. Patti loved snuggling our new little one.  We had a great visit with them--always so encouraged after talking with her.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures.  We came home tired, but so happy with our visits.

Visit with Mamaw

Last Monday Nana was planning to come visit with us and stay a night. She had been visiting with her mother (who we affectionately call Mamaw) who is suffering from Alzheimer's. She called Sunday night to say that Mamaw is getting worse, to the point of not even recognizing her at times, so she wanted to stay longer and hoped that wouldn't upset Ivory too much. Well, Jason and I discussed it, quickly called back and asked if it would be okay for us to visit them instead. So Monday, following afternoon naps, found us on the road headed to Mamaw's for fellowship and delicious Sonny's barbecue we picked up on the way, courtesy of Nana. We really enjoyed our visit with Nana & Mamaw, though unfortunately failed to take any pictures with Mamaw this trip! We did get a few, in very poor lighting, with Nana, though.

You can see how much Ivory adores her Nana. She was very fascinated with Nana's pictures on her iPhone. It was a good chance to catch up on recent photos of her cousins, Anna, Ella & Aiden. Micah wasn't quite so enthusiastic about seeing new people, but was pretty pleasant as long as Mom & Dad were nearby...and when his top tooth wasn't breaking through. Yes, it finally broke the gums during our visit. Sweet boy only fussed for a few minutes, though.

A cool God timing thing that happened is a few hours we got there Mamaw received a shutterfly photo album in the mail I made her for Mother's day.

So, she looked at all the pictures, remembering all about our family, and then saw us and remembered us and stayed with us the whole visit. How special is that? Can we say, thank you God! I love how He's all about the details.

Visit with Grandparents

Grandaddy (Jason's dad) + Mamaw (Jason's grandma, his mom's mom).

Nana (Jason's mom), Matthew (Jason's brother), Jason.

Mini Jason.  Jason's mom says, "That's Jason!"  =)

Rocks, leaves, acorns...so fun.  Who needs toys?  I told Ivory to pack a few of her favorite toys in her princess tin purse to take with her.  The tin contained: plastic disposable cup, 2 scoops, a scrap of pink stretchy fabric.  And she was happier with that selection then any toys I've ever packed for her.  Love this girl.





Micah getting some Mamaw loving.  Love that my children have 2 godly great grandmas.  So special.

Ivory & Grandaddy taking a picture of mommy taking a picture.


Jason's parents were returning from Mississippi and heading home so we met up at Mamaw's to see them for a few hours.  We were so glad to see them, even if it was a short visit.  Hoping they'll coming visit us soon for a little bit longer stay!