Last Day of Preschool

Sad day for me but so proud of my big girl.

She had such a great year!!!

Congratulations Aubrey..........we love you and can't wait for Kindergarten!!

Emily and Jarrell's Wedding

(mom, aubrey, emily, jarrell, austin, dad, me and jon - eliana was snuggled up with her aunt wanda....have to learn how to super impose a picture of her into this shot!! :)

On Sat. June 5th, 2010 my sister Emily got married!

We travelled down to West Monroe, Louisiana and helped Emily and Jarrell get ready for their big day. It was an outdoor wedding at Jarrell's parents beautiful home and 4 acre property and it all turned out just perfect. The rain tried really hard to ruin the day for all the outdoor settings, but we all pitched in, came up with plan b and made it happen.

Emily looked just beautiful and she is lucky to have two handsome men by her side. It was a sweet ceremony and a fun reception. The two families came together and had a great time. We were so proud and happy to be a part of such a special day.

Aubrey loooved being the flower girl. She took her duties quite seriously. She was a little worried that she didn't throw all of the flowers out of the basket on the way up the aisle so she was sure to throw them on the way back.

I was proud to sing "God bless the broken road" for Emily and Jarrell. What a beautiful song for a beautiful and special day.

We love you Emily, Jarrell and Austin and are so happy for you. What an awesome weekend it was to share with our whole family as we grow!!

a few more wedding pics.....

Memorial Day with The Katz's and The Young's....

First of all I want to thank all the men and women, past and present, who risk their lives, miss their families and sacrifice sooo much every single day so that my family and I can enjoy the freedoms that we have. I pray God's blessings on each and every one of them.

Thank you!!

For Memorial Weekend, for the 3rd year in a row, we headed down to Destin with our wonderful friends, The Young's. They have a condo there and graciously hosted us once again! The condo is right on the beach, with a pool right out the back door, so it was pure heaven for Aubrey. Leslie and I went down with the kiddos a few days early and soaked up some extra beach time! Eliana was on our trip last year at just 8 weeks old, but this was the first time she truly saw the sand and the ocean and she absolutely loved it. She dug in the sand and squealed when I took her down to the ocean and put her feet it. She's still not walking so she was completely covered in sand when all was said and done, but she was happy as could be. She is so great to travel with! Happy and slept great, and loved exploring her new surroundings.

Aubrey filled her days with seashell hunts, sand digging, crab hunting and lots of pool time. She loves to swim! Never got tired of it. She looves crab legs so we were sure to get in a couple of crab leg dinners while we were there. She and Ellery and Grant all had the best time together. She learned to throw and catch the frisbee (after much frustration on her part :)

and did lots of hide and seek playing.....good old fashioned summer fun.

The adults hung with the kids during the day, soaking up the sun and enjoying the beach and after getting the kids to bed each night enjoyed some awesome dinners on the back porch of the condo overlooking the ocean. Not too shabby!

We had such a great time and love this tradition with our awesome friends.

The above pictures are my top favorites, except for the fact that Leslie managed to escape every single picture we took!! I'll have to find a way to super impose her on a beach somewhere.......

:)

Aubrey's school art show!

She was sooo proud to show us all the awesome art she created during this year of Pre-K at her school! She loves to draw, paint, cut, and create all kinds of art. She calls herself an artist. I love it.

Fun Run

aubrey participated in a fun run for Children's healthcare of Atlanta through a program called "Generous Generations"
she had a blast! She ran one mile with her daddy while Eliana and I cheered her on.
Go Aubrey!

Swinging....

Papa built the girls a swingset! One on each side for each girl and a nice bench swing in the middle for some family swingin time. We have enjoyed it so much!! Every night after dinner the girls have to go swing.....thank you Papa!

Dentist...

Aubrey's 3rd or 4th time.....all good and no cavities!!

Eliana's first trip! She was not a huge fan. She wouldn't sit still thus the reason for the blurry picture! She wasn't thrilled about the doctor checking out her pearly whites but she did love the giant mirror and toy duck she got to hold! Had to document the first visit though. Here's hoping for a lifetime of good teeth and no cavities! Oh, and no braces like mommy had to have. Twice.

:)

So far so good.

Twilight.....

Twilight viewing party at Leslie's!! We are all huge fans of the Twilight series so we had a special girls movie night in Leslie's media room to watch the first movie of the series!! So much fun and I must say it was soooo much better than I thought it was going to be! The book is still obviously better but the movie was pretty great. You can tell by Hillary's shirt who's team we were all on!! Love the girls nights.....

Spring Break!

For Aubrey's Spring Break this year we headed down to South Florida to visit with Jon's family and had soo much fun! We spent the first few days with Grandpa and went swimming, went to a very cool nature/wildlife/wetlands area that was amazing, and just enjoyed hanging out and enjoying the beautiful weather. (and a few late night ice cream runs...) It was one of Eliana's first pool experiences and she loooved it! She splashed and had a blast. Aubrey jumped right back in to her awesome swimming self and never wanted to get out of the pool. We also enjoyed the flat, beautiful, sidewalk-lined neighborhood of Grandpa's and went for daily walks. Aubrey loved that. We don't get to do that much in the hills of Georgia! She took her time, collected rocks, chased the lizards and played hide and seek with the squirrels.....too much fun. We also got to hang out and have dinner with Uncle Eric, Aunt Sasha, Quinn, Leila, Nancy and Steve Buyer and Uncle Ryan at Grandpa's Clubhouse......delicious food and wonderful company. So good to see everyone!

Our next few days we spent at Mimi's house!! Unfortunately Jon got really sick (picked up a stomach virus Aubrey and I had the week before) and couldn't get out of bed for 2 days.....but the girls and I went to hang with Mimi! We went shopping, watched movies and just enjoyed quality time together at Mimi's house.....She took Aubrey to the Build a Bear workshop and Aubrey made a stuffed unicorn that she is absolutely in love with! (and very sweetly made a duck for her little sister who was home napping!) She took Aubrey to ride the carousel which is one of her top 10 most favorite things to do....She kept us stuffed with yummy food and entertained Aubrey tirelessly for 3 days! And Eliana smiled and posed for tons of pictures with her Mimi and charmed away! We enjoyed our time so much....

Such a fun spring break......2010!

We came home and a few days later got a double treat of our cousins......Aunt Sasha, Uncle Eric, Quinn and Leila stopped by our house on their way home from North Carolina and we got to visit with them again!! It was too much fun hanging out with them and all the kids running around and playing and having a blast. We took them to the Atlanta Zoo and they loved it! Unfortunately my camera battery died but I managed to squeeze in one picture of the kids at the zoo.....they were sitting right next to the Komono Dragon exhibit (which is Aubrey's favorite for some unknown reason!) and one of Uncle Eric and Aubrey.....They are all too sweet.....we love them so much!