Look at this 1st Grader!

Today was the first day of school for J. He was really excited this morning about going and seeing his friends and getting to know his new teacher. Mrs. Perry seems like she will be a great teacher for J. Jeff drove J to school this morning, but he wanted to ride the bus this afternoon (which is actually REALLY helpful for me!) When he got home, he was very excited to tell me all the cool things that 1st graders get to do, for example, he gets to keep his bottle of water on his desk all day and can drink it any time he wants... and if he has to use the restroom, he can just go pick up the pass from Mrs. Perry's desk and go any time he wants... you know, big 1st grader stuff like that!

Pics from Giggy's and Pappy's house

I just now had a chance to look at some of the pictures I took from this summer at Giggy and Pappy's house and thought these were too cute to pass on posting....

J enjoyed riding his bike everyday.

W enjoyed a little skinny dipping.

B forces a smile in exchange for a pillow to build a fort on the porch.

We always enjoy our time at Giggy and Pappy's house!

Happy Birthday Willilam!

Where did the last year go? I mean, really, what happened to the time? I cannot believe W is ONE! This has to be the fastest year ever.

W is such a little sweetie! We celebrated his birthday all weekend with cupcakes, cake, ice cream, presents, and family. W learned to stand all by himself this weekend too. It seems like he is just learning something new everyday. Here he is enjoying his new walker and his cake! I love this little monkey!

Going private

So, some weirdo left me a comment on my blog. I've changed my blog to readers by permission only. This stinks.

The Disney Wonder

Well, we are back from the most amazing cruise vacation to celebrate our anniversary. We boarded the Disney Wonder on Thursday morning and had the day to explore and check out the ship. It was beautiful. Jeff and I could not get over how incredibly clean and well kept everything was. I think you could have eaten off the floor, it was sooo clean! We left Port Canaveral around 5:00. Here are some highlights of our trip.

This is from the front of the ship as we were leaving the port and headed through the canal to the Atlantic Ocean.

This is our room. We booked the least expensive room available, but truly could not believe how nice, clean, and big it was. It had a king size bed, couch, and small bathroom, but no window. I was a little worried about not having a window, but it did not bother us at all.
This was our sunrise as we approached Nassau's port on Friday morning.

This is Nassau's lighthouse. Look at that crystal clear water...just beautiful!

We decided to go on an excursion at Nassau and choose to go to Atlantis. Words cannot describe how incredible this resort is. There are several towers of rooms, a casino, several unique aquariums, gorgeous swimming lagoons, and beautiful beaches. We went straight to the beach for the morning and then walked around and explored that afternoon. Truly amazing!

We boarded the ship around 5:00 and overnight, the ship went to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. This is the view as we arrived at Castaway Cay. The small ship at the corner was from the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Flying Dutchman.


On Castaway Cay, there were several different beaches to explore. This is the family beach with an ocean playground. It looked so fun for the kids.
And this was the adult only beach. It was incredible! We basically had the beach to ourselves. The water was crystal clear...you didn't even need a snorkel and mask, you could just look down and see fish, giant starfish, sand dollars and urchins. Beautiful! We had the best time and are so thankful for mom and dad for keeping the boys for us. Now we just have to save up some more money so we can all go and take the boys next time!

Ten Years

Ok, so our 10 year anniversary is coming up this week, on the 12th. I really cannot believe it has been 10 years. This morning I was thinking about our upcoming trip and about packing and such and it occurred to me what we were actually celebrating... our 10 year anniversary! Ten years! Ten years of being married! I started thinking about how and when we met, when we 1st started dating, getting engaged, planning the wedding, getting married, going on our honeymoon... then starting our lives together, working, me teaching, Jeff at the golf course, building our 1st house, finding out we were expecting our 1st baby, having our 1st baby...beautiful Jackson. Then Jeff started the business, we found out we were expecting #2, having #2...gorgeous B, selling our house, building a new house for our growing family, moving to a rental house, moving to our new house, J starting soccer, then baseball, making new friends, finding out we were expecting #3, having #3...sweet W, then football, more soccer and baseball, more friends...and before you know it 10 years have past. When I think back over these last 10 years, I feel an overwhelming sense of emotion. God has blessed us in SO many ways. I am so thanful for this INCREDIBLE life and family together.

So, yeah, 10 years....do you think we look any different?? Ha! Here is a picture from March 1996, just a few months after we started dating. I think this was probably the first time Jeff come home for the weekend with me and met mom and dad.



And this was January 1997. Our first trip to Sanibel Island. Gotta love those sunglasses!


This picture was in the spring of 1997, in the midst of planning our wedding. The funny thing is, I think Jeff still has this shirt!

And on our way back home from our honeymoon in the lovely Cancun airport.

Funny Boy

I cannot believe W is now 11 months old! He is getting so big and is such a little ham. I've decided to do a little picture card for his birthday invitation so I tried to take some up-close pictures of him today. He is standing at one of his favorite spots in the house, next to the tub in our bathroom. For some reason he loves pulling up here and turning on the water! Ha! Real safe, huh!? Well, I let him stand here so he would be still enough to take some pictures. (I'm actually in the tub!) Boy, he was a little poser today!

What do you want me to do?

You want me to smile?

Pluuggghh! How about this!!

Well, maybe I'll give you a little one...

Awe, alright, how's this....

Sweet, funny boy!

Back From Chicago

We had the BEST time ever in Chicago. N and A, thank you SOOOO much for such a great weekend. The boys had so much fun playing with E and M and miss them terribly already. After such a great weekend together, it leaves us wanting to see you guys very soon again and more often! Thank you again for your hospitality and for a wonderful time! I have so many great pictures from the weekend. N, I'll send them to you through shutterfly soon.

Smoky Mountains

Here are a few from our fun day at the Smoky Mountains. We had a picnic at the river and then hiked up to Laurel Falls. We didn't see any bears, but we think we smelled one (it smelled like a skunk, but supposedly that is what bear tee tee smells like!)

Hello Dollywood!

We have come to just love going to Dollywood. It reminds me so much of going to Opryland when I was growing up. The boys love it too! We had such a great time over Father's Day weekend in the mountains.

Last ones from the beach

A few more from the beach. The color looks off on these because I forgot to convert it for posting to the web. But in real life they look great. I still haven't gotten to my pictures from Dollywood and the mountains yet. We leave for Chicago tomorrow and we are so excited. We are looking forward to seeing Evie, Mac, Aunt Nattie and Uncle Al. I'll have more pictures to share when we return!