The Cousins Are Here!

The "cousin countdown" has finally ended. The girls have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of their cousins, Morgan and Garet, from Montana. They've been counting down the days for about the last two months. Finally, they arrived tonight around 9:30. Mimi left the airport around seven this morning to fly out and accompany them to GA. After about 14 hours, she made it back with two kiddos that we barely recognized. It's been a year and a half since Reagan, Sophie, and I have seen them, and almost three years since Romeo has seen them. Needless to say, they've grown a foot it seems.

Morgan stops to give hugs to the girls.

But, Garet made a bee line for his Poppy!
The cousins, my brother's children by the way, wanted to head straight to the Varsity for dinner.

Garet never stops smiling! He's the happiest little fellow I've ever known.

All four kiddos-They're headed to Mimi and Poppy's for a sleepover.

Wedding Bells

Today was our niece's wedding. Ashley is Romeo's sister's daughter. Both our girls were in the wedding. Reagan was a junior bridesmaid, and Sophie was the flower girl. They both did a nice job. The wedding was very sweet, and the reception was lots of fun. It was held at a cir. 1850 home that is used as a special events center. Congratulations to Mark and Ashley. May you enjoy many happy years together. BTW-I have to brag...I made the cake!

The girls both looked so grown up in their dresses. It made me wonder about the day when our girls will marry.
I was so thankful to have the cake out of my house. I was terrified of some sort of disaster. There is NO way I would decorate cakes for a living. I'd constantly be a nervous wreck!

The girls with Shae, Romeo's cousin's daughter. She was so sweet to let the girls "hang out" with her for two days. Sophie was especially smitten with her.

Romeo's crazy Aunt Rachel-She is so much fun to be around!

Girl Scouts to Savannah

Last Thursday, Reagan and I took a trip to Savannah with her Girl Scout troup- twenty-nine of us (17 girls) in all. The girls earned the entire trip through their cookie sales. So, thanks to all of you out there who bought from us. We stayed at a hotel that caters to the Girls Scouts. There was a "Girl Scout suite" where all the kids slept with the leaders, and the other moms slept in rooms on the same hall. I've got to admit, I wasn't super keen on the idea of going with the troup, but it ended up being GREAT fun!

Thursay morning ready to depart

We stopped in Meter, GA, for a fill-up at a service station that had all these farm animals.
This guy was our favorite. You cannot look at this creature without smiling.


Day one we went down to River St. and took the ghost tour. Savannah's history is rich with ghost stories.

Reagan with our "tour guides"

The girls before the tour-The after picture of some of them wasn't so pretty. A few got "spooked".

Ok-I know this is dark, but if you look very closely on the right middle of this shot, you'll see a white circle. According to the tour guide, these are called orbs (spirits). It's a bit creepy when you know that to the right of the vehicle in the picture is a grave yard. You be the judge.

Day two was slam packed! We first visited the Juliette Gordon Low House. All you Girl Scouts will know that she is the founder of Girl Scouts. Next, we visited the Andrew Low House, her husband's homeplace. Then, we took a Pirate Walking Tour. Finally, we went to the Savannah History Museum.

Reagan at Juliette's birthplace

This plant is in the courtyard of the J.G.L. House. It's called a Century Cactus. It is 19 years old and blooms only one time each year. It was MASSIVE. The reason I found it so interesting is because I just planted one in my flower bed not knowing how big it would get. It made me think of the plant from Little Shop of Horrors. FEED ME!

The whole crew at the J.G.L House

Reagan and Calico Jack-This guy would not come out of character for anything. The girls were smitten with him.

Day three- The girls went to the Marine Science Center at Tybee Island. Only five chaperones were allowed to join the group, so the remainder of us HAD to sit on the beach. Darn!

While the girls were exploring marine life with Jordan, the marine biologist, they found a sharp nosed shark that washed up on the beach. Of course, Reagan is now considering a career in marine biology.

After the beach, we went to Fort Pulaski. It was a Civil War fort. They actually fired the cannons and muskets.

Reagan and Lauren, her bunkmate for the trip

After Fort Pulaski, we got dressed up to go on a mother/daughter date on River Street. We ate a wonderful dinner at Fiddler's, shopped for souvenirs, and strolled along the waterfront. A funny note for those who've been to Savannah, and especially those who went with us last October, the guy in the green cut off shorts and white shirt was down there. I thought I would crack up.

The fourth day was the best in my opinion, but unfortunately, I didn't have my camera to capture the fun. Hopefully, one of the other moms will send me pics soon that I'll post. We went on a dolphin sight seeing cruise. The dolphins came right up to the boat! It was amazing! Also, Reagan got to feeling a little sea sick, so she got to sit with the captain and drive the boat.

Year End Celebrations

Last weekend the girls had their piano recital. They did a beautiful job playing two songs each. Many thanks to Mimi, Poppy, Ed, Randi, and Grandma for coming. Many thanks to Ms. Julia, the girls' teacher, who made the recital such a special occasion. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.
Then, on Tuesday evening, Sophie had her year end gymnastics banquet. It was amazing. I was so impressed by how elaborate an event the school puts on for the gymnasts. Siblings were not allowed, so Sophie got to enjoy being the center of attention. She was so surprised when her name was called to receive the "Most Improved Gymnast" award for the level three girls.

Sophie with her team and coaches

The girls get all "decked out" for the event.

The dinner was DELICIOUS!

Mimi and the girls following the recital

We are so proud of our girls!

I loved this picture of Poppy playing with the girls.

Grandma and the girls

Couldn't resist posting this pic-She looks so serene!

Despite the fact that only six little girls performed (taking all of 15 minutes), Ms. Julia treated this event as though the girls were playing at Carnegie Hall. Look at the beautiful reception complete with homemade cookies from her lovely mother.

Eddy and Randi joined us. Thanks guys! Our girls love you so dearly.

Reagan and Ms. Julia-She even had trophies made up with their names on them.

Sophie and Ms. Julia

Happy Mother's Day

It was a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! My mom and I celebrated by watching the greatest chick flick, P.S. I Love You. I highly recommend it, but get out the box of tissues! We enjoyed breakfast with Romeo's mom Sunday morning at Cracker Barrel. And, I got to work in my yard uninterrupted for three hours...pure bliss.

Thank you to my mom for all the love and support she's given me through the years. I know that I'm turning into my mom when my friends come over and I ask them if they want to come look at my flower garden.

Thank you to Romeo's mom, Thelma, for raising such a wonderful, kind and loving man!

Thank you God for my precious Reagan and Sophie for the joy they bring to my life!

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day!

Soccer Party

Saturday marked the end to Reagan's spring soccer season. Unfortunately, the girls didn't get to play the game because of the huge storm that hit, but we still went to Partner's Pizza for the end-of-season party. It's been a great season! Coaches Jay, Russell, and Romeo have done a great job, and we had some really sweet girls on our team this time.

Go Hurricanes!

Reagan and Russell's daughter Helena. Ironically, we lived two doors down from Helena's family for seven years, and the girls never even set eyes on each other. It wasn't until we moved to our current house and Reagan started playing soccer that the girls met and became fast friends.

Hodge Podge Crazy May Days

May is always a hectic month with all the culminating activities with school and the end to sports seasons like soccer and gymnastics, but we seem to be especially busy this month. Let me give you a glimpse of the last few days. Wednesday night we made a trip to Wally World to find supplies to make a toga. A toga? Yep. Our school is really going all out this year with an Olympics themed field day. It really is fun, but of course it adds work. So, my class' country is Italy. To add to the fun for opening ceremonies, we decided to come up with costumes that would represent our country. Students came up with ideas to be artists, chefs, wear moustaches, carry pizza boxes, etc. Well, I couldn't dissapoint, so I decided to don a toga. I was the non-traditional college student, so I had to google how to tie the darn thing. It turned out to be great fun, and my kids were happy to see their teacher acting like a nut yet again.

My precious class! I have the greatest group of kids this year. I will be really sad to see them move on!

One of my babies dearest to my heart-Javaris

Well, Thursday after switching the toga for more appropriate attire, Romeo and I had a date! We went to the Bon Jovi concert!!! Whoooooooooo Hoooooooooooo!!! Any fans out there? I don't have any pictures, but let me say that it was "One Wild Night", and we went out in a "Blaze of Glory"! It was a blast looking at all the people who tried to sqeeze into their eighties outfits that they probably wore when Jon croaned "Bed of Roses" for the first time. Too funny! Thanks a million to "Uncle Buck", aka Richard, who came to the house and played Nanny for the girls so that they could be in their own beds at bedtime. You're a gem Bo. We love you!

Knowing it would be a late night, I planned a personal day for Friday. I RARELY do this, but let me say it was wonderful. First, I must say thanks to Reagan's teacher, Kristyn, who came by the house and picked the girls up for school so that I didn't have to go across town to take them. Then, I met my dear friend, Julia, at Panera for breakfast. We sipped coffee and chatted about books and our children for about an hour before leaving for the next task...Yard work! I ran my errands and made my way home to tackle the yard (a gratifying task for me!) I worked in the yard all afternoon planting and transplanting, clipping, cleaning, and spreading pine straw. Kristyn was also gracious enough to bring the kids home so that I could stay elbow deep in dirt. Thanks again! The next task at hand was getting the house into shape for dinner guests. We thoroughly enjoyed having the Kings and Coggins to the house for dinner.

Saturday morning, our involvement team from church came for breakfast. No pics, but we had a super breakfast (even if someone did forget their bread). It was a great time of food and fellowship. Then, at 2:00 I went to a shower for our niece, Ashley, while Romeo took the girls to my mom's for the night. By the time the shower was over at 4:00 it was time to head to Decatur for a "Kentucky Derby" party. I can't say that I have ever been into horse racing, but it was great fun. It was hosted by one of Romeo's long time co-workers. We had a great time.

Finally, I had to share these funny pics. When we arrived home from church this morning, we had a visitor at the door. This huge turtle must have made his way up from the lake across the road and parked himself at our door.

Well...time to go plan another week packed full of frenzied fun!