"Just normal days...."

Our days at home are very "normal" - lots of laughs, lots of tears, lots of noise, lots of fighting, lots of forgiving, lots of love, lots of frustration, lots of impatience, lots of bearing with one another, lots of imagination, lots of "I'm bored", lots of mess - in our house and in our hearts -, lots of giggles, and lots of grace.

I am very thankful for "normal" days tonight.

May be one of the freakiest pictures of her yet - but so captures her personality!  She found some stickers that were part of her princess sticker collection, and naturally she put them where pictures of eyes go!! 

In "Ninja Turtle" mode 

He made a Ninja Turtle "bow staff" out of a stick horse. Pretty creative if you ask me. 

"Princess Miranda". Seriously, people would pay money for her hair. She did not get that from me!!  

"Out of the mouths of......."

The past several months have been especially busy for Jay with work and we haven't seen him as much as we would like to. There have been many weeks recently where he hasn't seen the kids for 48 hour stretches - which is really hard for all of us.  Well, this past Friday, he turned off his phone and took a day off! We were all so happy, and loaded up in the car and took the kids to Wild Animal Safari in GA. We had wanted to take the kids before now, but it never worked out, and actually they are just now at a great age for it. The weather was perfect, we pretty much had the place to ourselves since school is back in session, and it proved to be everything we had heard that it was. The pictures don't really do it justice, but I did the best I could while watching animals literally stick their entire heads in the car and trying to keep Ellison from freaking out!  She actually did pretty well for the most part, but did get frightened a few times and jumped in my lap. She is my animal lover though, so overall she absolutely loved it. Elijah did great too - he wasn't quite up for them eating out of his hands, but he did great throwing the food in their HUGELY gaping mouths!  We were told that we could feed any animal from our hands except the Zebra's and the Emu's/Ostriches....., and they were right! These animals were pretty aggressive, but everything was fine as long as we threw the food right into their mouths.
I sat in the backseat with the kids laughing my head off watching Jay trying to drive the car while a different animal stuck it's head in his face every minute or so. At one point he was looking to the right while feeding an enormous buffalo, and a llama came up to his left side and stuck his head in the car. When he turned around, he was eyeball to eyeball with this llama and he yelled so loud that it startled all of us!  A week later, and we are still laughing about this - you would have just had to have been there :)

It really was such a fun little adventure for our family, and we were just so glad that we were together - and that the animals cooperated!

Be prepared for lots of mouths!!

"Beach memories...."

We have really had a wonderful summer. We have been able to have a change of scenery a few times, but for the most part we have stayed close to home just enjoyed "normal life".  Our summers always include the Alabama Bar Convention with my parents, so we loaded up and headed to the beach for several days towards the middle of the summer. This is one of the highlights of our summer each year. The convention is very family friendly, so the kids are never lacking for fun things to do. My Dad works very hard while we are there while the rest of us play, but this year he was able to spend more time with us which was wonderful. The hardest part about the week was having 2 children with 2 very different levels of interest - Ellison hated the sun, sand, and ocean this time, and Elijah Brooks couldn't get enough of the waves. So, Jay and I had to "divide and conquer" which meant we didn't spend much time together during the days. Ellison wanted to "live" in the hot tub all week!!  She thought it was the greatest thing about the beach - in the middle of July - the hot tub. I convinced her to at least play in the inside pool if she didn't want to be outside. I wanted to be outside so bad, but hey, I took one for the team. I would have rather been inside with a happy toddler than outside with a miserable one. Elijah loved the water and stayed out most of the day with Jay, and he would bounce back and forth between pool and ocean. Nighttime was wonderful - lots of kids' activities, great food, live music, perfect weather, fireworks on the beach, and happy children!

Mom and Dad, thank you again for letting us tag along with y'all!  We tuck this one away in our memory file as another fabulous, family trip.

Had to post to capture Ellison's "dramatic pose"! 

Getting all 4 of us in a picture is rare

Getting all 6 of us in one is even more rare - so thankful we have this! 

Yes, it really was THAT big! 

Could this be any sweeter? I think not.  I haven't seen this very much at all this summer, so this picture is especially dear. They DO love each other! 

In motion - as expected  :) 

She lost 3 balloons in the sky in a matter of minutes!  I calmed her down by telling her she was sending them to Aunt Elliot because they were her favorite color. 

Making "minion" balloons 

...., and I think a "minion" visor

Stopping to pose with my girl! 

They all look so happy don't they?  Dad is probably hanging onto Ellison for dear life. I see her feet flailing ! 

Another family picture!  I can't believe it.  Love that a gust of wind is blowing my dress - adds to the drama in the family! 

Thanks again Mom and Dad for a wonderful week!