Girls weekend!!!

I know, you think I meant to say Father's Day weekend. But no, my husband cheerfully sent me packing for my annual weekend with my Auburn roommates despite the fact this weekend should have been all about him. What a precious, selfless, servant-hearted husband and daddy this guy is!

Here's the four of us:

We went to Chattanooga this year, as Mikelyn's aunt had a river house she graciously let us use. This was the sunset that first night as we walked around the cute downtown after a delicious dinner at Tony's. Riverbend was wrapping up, so it was definitely a crazy and fun atmosphere down there!

Morning water is my favorite, whether it's the ocean, a lake, or river. Something is just really special about water in the morning. Both mornings I woke up earlier than everyone- some things never change- and spent a long time down on the dock enjoying the water and the Lord.

Breakfast became lunch as it took us a while to get out the door and decide where we were going to go. We sat down at the Urban Spoon, and I was thinking coffee, breakfast, etc... and we get a menu with salads, pork and beans, and meatloaf. After switching mental gears since we DID arrive at 11:00, we really enjoyed our lunch, and my smoked chicken salad on greens was fantastic. Next we headed back to the river house for an afternoon on the dock and in the river. (First of all, let me tell you we got this moon pie banana pudding to go- you read that right- moon pie AND banana pudding- and it was OUT OF CONTROL!!! Picture bits of moon pie substituted for vanilla wafers, with a bit of chocolate sauce thrown in for good measure... ummm, AMAZING. And appropriate, as Chattanooga is, after all, home to the moon pie. (Another pic from Fri night inserted here as I apparently took no blog-worthy pics on Saturday)...

The weekend was simply a pouring out of our hearts and lives and catching up on any minor or major event that emails or texts or phone calls inevitably omit, much to our chagrin. We all come away refreshed, encouraged, reconnected, and so incredibly grateful for the friendships we made at Auburn.

Here is a delish breakfast at Aretha Frankenstein's... quite the wait, but well worth it! That big round carb on all of our plates was ONE blueberry pancake- which sounds pretty minimal til you see how huge they were!

Here is my man and my girls Sunday afternoon after a precious weekend with their daddy! Jake and the girls camped out a Mimi and Bop Bop's for the weekend, and they had a wonderful time going swimming, playing with cousins, watching golf, and going on Bop Bop adventures. At one point, Blythe pulled down a runner on a buffet, shattering a hurricane lamp on it- Mimi went barefoot on broken glass to save my little girl's feet! And no one was injured. God is good! And so is family! Happy Father's Day to our resident hero, man of the house, and #1 man in all of our lives!

Coming of Age...

This morning, Blythe and Joy had their first smoothies! Abby Jane (who is in terrible need of a bow below) has been having a smoothie every morning since she turned about a year, but until this morning, the twins' main breakfast has still been that pumpkin oatmeal. Well, we now have three smoothie drinkers, and I even upped the ante: these pink smoothies are hiding three cups of spinach, distributed across my three little drinkers! Click here for the recipe I went by. Remember, if you are putting frozen (or fresh) berries in, the color is actually still pink, not green.

Here is Janie at 15 months with her morning special.

Joy didn't want to put it down, even when Blythe got down to play.

"Mmmm..."

Speaking of the twins' age, when Blythe had this shopping cart after lunch today...
this was how Joy felt about it.

It's not always easy being a kid!

Last minute

I was thinking about the 4th of July today when it hit me... only two of my three girls have 4th of July outfits. Glad this dawned on me now and not on July 3rd! I have a real hankering to do a turquoise dress (polka dots, gingham, or paisley) with red accents this year, but couldn't do it since it would not do well with the other girls' outfits.

Here's what I got this evening for Joy's "red" seersucker pillowcase dress. Haven't decided what kind of accent I'm doing with the blue yet (I'm feeling some sort of beach theme here), but at least I've got the bones for my red, white and blue dress!

If you need a last minute Fourth of July outfit, too, I'd love to do it for you! Go to 418 Stitches to pick out what you have in mind!

A day in the life...

Of Jake. I have a father's day weekend post coming up, but this day was last Monday, and I thought it was pretty classic.

7:15 Janie wakes up, he goes in to get her up.

8:00 Twins wake up, he gets them changed and sends them toddling down the hall to me for their breakfast, just like he does every morning.

8:10 Jake leaves for work.

11:30 Jake gets phone call from me saying we're on our way from a meltdown of severe nature at the pool (picture bicycle pedaling the air/ hysterical crying and strangers giving me dirty looks like I did something to cause it) and though I was calm about it all, I wanted more objective input as to an appropriate consequence.

11:45 Jake meets us at the house for what we deemed "a little shock and awe", some nice conversation with our three yr old, and lunch.

12:30 Jake goes back to work

5:30 Jake comes home, jumps in the game with the girls, and makes the world's BEST burgers. I've seen Abby Jane pick at other burgers, and I don't blame her since all she knows is the best.

6:00 Jake puts Joy in time-out mid-meal for poor behavior at the dinner table.

6:20 Daddy/family horseplay. Which is now officially condoned as healthy for our kids. Glad we have official approval to play with our children. (More "horseplay" in jumping closet at Grammy's recently.)

6:40 Starts bathtime. Successfully and masterfully cleans all children. He's a pro.

7ish B.E.D.T.I.M.E.

People say kind and encouraging things to me about how I mother, but if you look at that one Monday, it looks like I wasn't even here. Which I was. But the point is that Jake is THE man in this house. I might move the household along, but he is the head of it. My sister had a great line when she said that "Just like they say 'behind every strong man is a strong woman,' it works both ways: Em can do what she can do with the girls because of Jake."

Happy Father's Day, babe!

Tackle Abby Jane

Well, the tackling happened before I started recording, but click here for a video I took earlier today of the girls just playing around...

Graduation

We have now completed one tadpole, two minnows, and one seals class. We're done with lessons for this year and ready for summer! Here she is getting acclimated to the water with Miss Katie.

I love how intense Andy looks blowing his bubbles while Someone Else is obviously just looking like she's up to no good!
The proud graduates!

St Simons 2011

Seven adults, nine children (eight and under), and a week in St. Simons, GA! I have condensed down over 300 pictures for this blog, so be impressed with my conciseness with that in mind!

After having to delay our arrival by a day due to a stomach bug, we did the whole plan-to-leave-at-5 a.m. but actually got out at 5:45... this was unposed mid-morning on the way down there.

In case you didn't know, don't be deceived by this picture. Traveling with 19 month olds and a 3 yr old is VERY BUSY and involved! We were very glad to arrive!

Jake brought this mack-daddy wagon to haul our beach stuff and kids to and from our fabulous house down to the pool or sand. It was a huge hit!

Jake's and my great love of all things ocean has not exactly taken root in our kids. All three were not big fans of playing in the water, though the little girls especially loved playing in the sand.

Most of our crew in the pool- lacking my big sis and two of her three kiddos...

Uncle Chris and Uncle Jake digging a baby pool. The big kids were so sweet with the little ones all week long. Blythe and Joy kept dumping out the water that the older kids brought to fill up the pool... and the older kids just laughed. I'm so grateful for how well the children get along.

The house we stayed in was PERFECT for our needs... three bedrooms on the bottom floor, living space on middle floor with huge deck off the back where the kids were banished, I mean, invited to eat. The top floor had a bunk room where Grammy slept with the oldest five (which included Abby Jane, who was ushered down to her mom and dad's room in the middle of the night a few nights of the week). But the rest of the upper floor was a covered deck area where the kids could all safely run wild... and not disturb any babies sleeping on the bottom floor! Hence, a great deal of family peace. Here is a birthday celebration for Jodi, Susan, Scott, and Ashley, who were all born on May 29!Abby Jane and Ashley, three months apart and thick as thieves, having breakfast one morning with Grrrr, Ashley's bear.

There are some moments that I especially see the uniqueness of the whole twin thing. Seeing those two little chubby baby bodies running around together in the sand was definitely one of those precious "twinny" moments!I love this. Even though Abby Jane was not exactly a beachy girl on this trip, I can remember hours upon hours upon hours of the first 18 months of her life that she spent in the California sand, so I am more than confident that she will find that part of herself again in years to come.

The three mamas and 7 of the 9 kids- the other two were out in the water with the dads.
Grammy on the pier with all nine of her "babies".

The siblings... we were so proud no one ended up in the water with so many little people running free on that pier while the six of us were taking this!We followed the pier with playing on the playground by the water and ended up with ice cream from St Simons Sweets. Don't feel too bad for the Blythe and Joy being the only ones without cones. They ate half of mine.

Their Aunt Betsy and Uncle Paul gave these super-cool suits for Christmas, and it was awesome to have to cover that much less skin in sunscreen! Not to mention they looked like little surfer girls!

Susan talked to me several months ago about splitting up the work to make shirts for all of the kids with their number in the birth order hand-appliqued on the back. It was a fabulous idea for a precious photo!

Number 9, a.k.a. Maggie, got a little squirmy after a minute, and I like this one even better. Mischievous little bookend...

Getting ready to go out our last day...

Our sweet friends, the Kelley's, are temporarily living in St Simons, and we got to see them a few times. Unfortunately, my eldest was having some three-yr-old attitude issues at inopportune times, and our destination playdates were not as idyllic as you might think. We did have some moments of sweet enjoyment of beach/pool together with their two girls and sweet Shelley in the midst of dealing with the drama that comes with kiddos. I was thankful for those snippets- we sure miss that family! Here is Anna Beth and Abby Jane.
Our last evening there, it dawned on me to offer Abby Jane the goggles I've had for her for months. They were a huge hit, and she couldn't ask us enough to watch her go under water! Brilliant mom here should have pulled those out in the beginning of the week. At least we still have the rest of the summer!
Jake had to fly back early in order for Friday's orientation at KSU. Friday at the beach was a pretty trying day with my ladies- the twins were exceptionally clingy and Abby Jane was as mentioned above. I asked that Jake would pray that I would get to go watch the sunrise on Saturday before our drive home- it would be so therapeutic to get that quiet time soaking in God's creation before a potentially crazy day of alone in the car with the girls. God was so good and gave me a more than glorious glimpse of what a mighty and beautiful God He is!
Then he let the girls behave beautifully on the ride home... even to the point of this lasting for over an hour!!!
I read this passage that last day, and it's one of my favorites... "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? ...To whom will you compare God?...He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them like a tent to live in... Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom." - from Isaiah 40

***By the time I posted this blog, my sister's entire family had gotten that crazy stomach bug, as well as both of the Kelley girls! It had a THREE day contagion period! Oh well- what would family vacation be if you didn't have a few crazy things happen along the way. The Gross family promised to be at least a week out from any viruses before future family trips! :)

Setting the Scene

I was about to blitz into telling y'all about our week at the beach, but there were several factors leading up to that week that made it sweeter. So in an effort to not forget the weeks leading up to our big family beach vacation, here goes.

1. In mid-April, we found out within about 10 days that my brother's family is moving at the end of June to Manila, Philippines, in an incredible career move, and they will be there for 3ish years. We also found out that Jake's sister's family is moving at the end of the summer back to New Zealand, where my brother-in-law Paul is from. They have been Stateside for about six years, and a great job opportunity became available to them that would allow them to return to Paul's beautiful country.

2. At the beginning of May, I launched 418 Stitches, and in the two weeks before we left town, I either sewed or embellished 13 articles of clothing, including a few shirts we used for a photo op at the beach. I was so thrilled for such a strong start, but it made for a busy few weeks before heading out of town!

3. Jake's busy season of work is the summer, as he is the Director of Orientation at KSU. The first summer orientation was the day before we were due to depart for the beach, which made for a busy work week for Jake that ended up paying off big dividends in a great opening orientation day.

4. Jake turned in his proposal for his dissertation on Saturday, so he was able to NOT DO ANY SCHOOLWORK while on vacation- the first time he could not possibly do anything for school even if he wanted to in over a year. However, it did add more to his week before departure!

5. Prior to our vacation, our family had a stomach virus. Our departure for the trip was delayed by a day as we wanted to have the 24 hours under our belts before possibly exposing any family members. The pediatric nurse assured me that after 24 hours, we could be confident in not being contagious.

Well, this bug was a little more virulent than that, as it ended up hitching a ride with us to St. Simons...

But we didn't know that when we delightedly left the pressures of the prior week behind and headed to St Simons for our last big family extravaganza before the Elliotts go to Manila!

One afternoon last week

First braids!

In response to playing our "Don't laugh" game...
Not in response to "Don't laugh" game. Just grumpy.

On our afternoon walk...
They are fascinated by this sewer. Every time.