Family Fun Monday

(I'm really behind on blogging and plan to go back and fill in with posts from Christmas soon. But I'm starting with today and hoping to update more often in the future!)
Keri and Addie both had Monday January 21 off for MLK Day. After a laid back morning of chocolate chip banana bread, playing pretend, and snuggling on the couch we decided it was time to have some fun. We all got dressed and watched part of the inauguration on tv and also took time to remind the kids who MLK was and how he helped to change our world. Then Keri decided we would go on an adventure in our own town.




We loaded up and Keri told us he would drive us around town. If we saw somewhere we wanted to stop all we had to do was tell him and he would! Doak was the first to speak up and chose a fun park near his school. We all played on the playground and had a game of soccer too.




Brock fell asleep on the way to stop #2. But when we arrived he woke up and was happy to continue on the adventure. We never skip his nap so this was a big deal! Addie chose stop #2 to go to the Waterway area.




At the Waterway we watched the beautiful fountains








lounged on Addie's quilt on the grass,




the boys rolled down the hill over and over,




and we had a delicious picnic lunch from a few Waterway restaurants.




We watched the Waterway cruisers (definitely want to do this soon!) and had the best time just relaxing and enjoying each other and the gorgeous weather.




Stop #3 was another Addie pick. She has wanted to go ice skating for months and she finally got her chance! Doak and daddy joined her and they had fun trying something new!




Stop #4 was to Berri-Pop yogurt. Keri and I were still stuffed from lunch but the kids were up for some fro yo with toppings!




Stop #5 brought us back home. We watched a new Wild Kratts special on tv and snuggled together on the couch. Just about a perfect day!
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labor day

I love that Labor Day comes after the first week of school.  One last day of summer was just what we needed!  Keri had practice in the morning, so the kids and I hopped on our bikes and rode to a fun park.  They were excited to visit this park again, but they didn't realize that they had to ride 2 miles there and 2 miles back.  They were exhausted, but they made it!

 

Big second grader enjoyed a vacation from school for the day.

 

I asked Doak to smile for a picture and this is what I got.  This boy is OBSESSED with Lego Ninjago, so naturally this was his pose of choice. 

 

The one thing the kids love best about this park is this tunnel/slide.  All three kids took their snacks in the tunnel and hung out for a while!  (Addie's face and Doak's dirty feet!)

 

Doak and Addie spent a big chunk of time pretending with this car.  They drove to England, Tennessee, and NYC : )

 

Keri made it home by early afternoon and I took the kids with me to the grocery store so that he could have a little nap.  We ended the day with a yummy dinner with some great new friends.  They have a precious newborn and Doak just had to hold him!  We're thankful for a great day to relax and rest!

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day started off with a yummy breakfast, cards from loved ones, and Valentines from Mommy and Daddy.



Doak's class had an ice cream sundae themed party and Brock and I were invited to join in on the fun.



His teachers had a cute Valentine bingo game that Doak loved playing! After Doak had consumed plenty of sugar we slipped out of the party a little early to head to the next party!



Addie's class party was fun! She loves having us up at school and I love being there. It is a little difficult, however, to keep Doak and (especially) Brock contained in a full classroom with 23 kids along with parents and other little siblings!



Thank goodness for friends! Jennifer helped me wrangle Brock, we took turns holding him and both got a good arm workout that day!



Trinity and Addie-pretty in pink!



Doak and Addie sharing the love!



Addie and sweet Haley!

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After the kids had their fun, it was time for the adults to party! Keri called our favorite babysitter, Meredith, to come and keep the kids for the evening. He also made an appointment for me to get my hair done and arranged for a dinner out for us! We loved the time out together and I'm so thankful for a husband who loves me so well!

Happy Valentine's Day!

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thankful for a wonderful trip!

Sunday November 20th, our family of five hopped into a very tightly packed car and began a 2 day journey to Tennessee.



All 3 of our little travelers were so good in the car!



Frequent stops made the trip more manageable. First stop was in Texarkana at McAlister's Deli. There was a wooded field next to the restaurant which was the perfect spot to burn off some energy.







The end of the first travel day Brock had finally had enough. After trying everything else I put in a Praise Baby and set the dvd player right on his lap. It worked! After a night in Memphis and another day of travel we finally arrived at our destination-Jeff and Ami's house!




cousin love : ) Keri with Hallie (3 months), Ellery (4), Addie, Brock, Kiran (6), Olivia (21 months), Doak



Our first day in TN was cold and rainy, so Ami took us up to the gym in their little town and we let the kids play with balls, ride bikes and scooters, and run!





Sweet Brock got to celebrate his first birthday TN style



happy birthday Brock Landry



after some initial hesitation he decided he was a fan of the cupcake





Brock's first birthday party was so special because we got to spend it with this sweet family. Living states apart means we almost always miss birthdays, and I love that we got to share Brock's first birthday with J, A, K, E, O, and H!



Brock and Olivia were room mates for the week and they played together quite a bit too. Brock is 9 months younger than Olivia and 9 months older than Hallie. I love that they will grow up together!



Jeff, Ami, and I made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Jeff smoked a turkey and it was the best turkey I've ever had. Ami and I were proud that we could manage to make such a big meal-it took lots of planning but we had so much fun doing it together.



Hallie, Ami, and Olivia-beautiful girls!



On our last evening in TN we went to play on the playground at Kiran's school. The kids had a blast and I loved playing hide and seek, chase, and teaching the kids to use the teeter totter.



Ami is an amazing mom and I'm so glad to walk through motherhood with her. Hallie is the sweetest, most laid back baby too.







Brock had a great time crawling around the play structures. Poor guy had hand, foot, and mouth disease while we were gone and was pretty fussy til we figured out what was wrong with him! After we started giving him tylenol and motrin he was back to his happy self.



Can you find Livvy? Hide and seek time!



Sweet Ellery is so beautiful and has the best imagination. She and Addie are both girly girls and play so well together.



Kiran's school has a bog where classes do science projects and learn about nature. How cool is that. Ami and I took the chance to get a picture together with our littlest ones by the bog.



Our family (complete with wet feet of kids to jumped in the bog!)



Livvy, Jeff, Brock, Nat, Ellery, Addie, Doak, Kiran and Keri (Ami and Hallie took the picture).

This trip was wonderful! I don't want to forget:
-Man Up!
-late night ice cream snacks
-cooking with Ami
-Keri taking Doak and Kiran to see football practice at UT
-kids climbing trees in the front
-the sounds of feet running upstairs
-talking with Jeff and Ami late at night
-shopping with Ami
-warming by the fire
-snuggling with sweet Hallie
-hearing Kiran read
-seeing Ellery dressed up in various dress up clothes complete with accessories
-cousin slumber parties
-meeting Jeff and Ami in the hallway in the middle of the night to see whose baby was crying
-Jeff and Keri's 'guy time'. Lots of times when we travel to see each other the guys have to stay home to work. So this trip was especially sweet because we were ALL together!
-Percy!