Mom's Lake Day

Mandi hosted a few mom's and their kids for a Mom's Lake Day in July. We miss all of the fun things to do in Birmingham so we've really enjoyed being able to go to the lake.  The kids loved kayaking and swimming.  The mama's loved a little time in the sun!

Summer Games 2015

Throughout the summer, our neighbor sponsored "Treasure of a Mother's Heart" once a week.  It was an opportunity for just mom's and one child to spend quality time together.  Lucky for Pierce, since he's an only he got to go to all of the events with me rather than me picking and choosing which child to take.  The final night was "Summer Games".  We did sack races, water balloon races, dizzy bats, and other fun stuff.  These three groups won, so our kids got to pie us in the face as winners.  Mine got me real good.

Family for the 4th

Since my sister and her family could make it for the 4th this year, we swapped and headed to Luverne instead.  Pierce loved nighttime swimming with daddy and graddaddy!  And, of course, time with Max and Madison.  They had a serious game of uno while we were there.

And of course, lots of snuggle time with Lily Grace!!!  Pierce is still a baby hog and loves to hold her.  I'm pretty sure that M held her for the first time too.

Then, we headed back to Auburn to cookout with the Flowers family and watched fireworks in town. They were pretty good but we missed our fireworks at the farm!

Old Friend Favorites

Vaughn and some of his family were in town in June, so we got to have a fun day with him.  We ate downtown, had a cool treat at Toomer Drugs, then headed to the pool!  What a fun way to celebrate time with this sweet buddy from Kindergarten!

We headed up to Birmingham close to the 4th to spend some time with Carter and lots of other missed friends!  Sally and I took the kids to McWane on our rainy arrival, along with the rest of Birmingham.  It was crazy!  They such great exhibits right now.  Pierce and I really miss all of the fun activities that bigger cities have to offer!

Vet Pierce

Another favorite spot is at Shades Cliff Pool.  We loved seeing so many familiar faces and catching up with old friends.  Oh how we miss our lazy summers there!

Sweet Maggie!  She has loved on Pierce since he was an infant and he adores her.

We were only able to fit in a quick ice cream break with Chase and his sweet mom.  These boys didn't skip a beat!

Maybe next time I will do better taking photos with everyone.  Sadly, we only made one trip this summer...but it certainly fills our hearts when we do!

Lily Grace Carpenter

As Pierce and I were headed back home after telling the cousins goodbye, we had no idea we would get to meet a new cousin that day too! Lily Grace decided to make her entrance into this world a little early.  So on June 26, 2015 we gained a new baby cousin and precious new niece!  We could not be more excited!!

Catching up with daddy while we wait on her arrival.  I think he really missed him since we were gone all week!

She's here!  7 lbs and perfect.

This one was super excited and had lots of questions.  Since he's not a big brother he's never really been at the hospital for a newborn.  He kept asking if Mallory would take a break and come out and visit us in the waiting room. 

This big cousin was SUPER excited to get his hands on Lily Grace!  He loves holding her and loving on her.  Who knew?!?!

Cousins Camp Week2

Week two with the boys started on Father's Day so we headed to church that morning before we headed down to the farm.  M had a super special day with lots of kids to wrap his arms this year!  All of the kids from VBS performed in front of the church, so they were all excited about this.  I was excited that they could wear their casual clothes and t-shirts!

Later that day, I headed down south with the boys for us to stay at the farm for the week with Gigi and Poppa.  What a special day that Poppa got to see all of his grandkids toghether for Father's Day!

It was a ridiculously got week while we were there.  So hot, that it was hard for the boys to play outside.  Thankfully, we got in lots of pool time, adventures at Lake Jackson, tractor and ATV rides, trips to the airport for treats, and who knew that art time would literally entertain almost the whole day some days!

Almost every night was musical beds, you never knew who was sleeping where!

So very thankful for this rare time together with these cousins.  I know they won't forget it!

Cousins Camp/VBS Week 1

To say we were excited that the cousins were coming for a visit was an understatement. Not only did they come alone for one week, but they stayed for two! On the first week, we stayed at our house and went to VBS...along with a few other fun things too.  They really, really got tired of my daily photos!

First day of VBS, all smiles and excited to go!

Chapman and Sullivan had to tag along on our karate days too.  Sullivan was really into it until he realized you didn't get to just punch people any time you wanted.  Then, we sat down and fell asleep!

They enjoyed the afternoon we went bowling (not lots of fun activities in Auburn in the summer).  They made up silly names instead of using their own names.  I think Sullivan was Batman.

He was surprised he was winning!

They REALLY wanted to go play laser tag, so we held this over them all week for good behavior.  The big two were talking smack so we teamed up against them with Sullivan and took them down!

We also had a neighborhood block party, so guess what?!  We drug the cousins along with us to that too!