Life Lately through an iPhone Clean-Out

Just for the record, 9 days go by super fast lately. I'm not sure why, but I feel like it has been maybe 3 days, and then I look at my last post and it has been 9. Wow. I'm thinking it has something to do with the gorgeous weather, the fact that the pool opened May 2nd, and that whole end-of-the-school-year push that keeps you hitting snooze 10 times before you wake up. Oh wait, pretty sure I do that anyway. ;)

Lots of livin' goin' on here lately. We're leaving for the beach soon, so I decided why not clear out some photos on my phone, and load them up on here instead?

One of my favorite workout partners ;)

The kids got to meet a pretty special person on our way to Kyle's softball game. He's kind of a big deal around here!

all the ladies love him. ;)

 

Pool day! Love getting to go when we have it to ourselves!

Preston and Jocelyn. He thought she tasted good. Love our pool days with the Boyett's!

The big girls saved their money to buy boogie boards for our beach trip. Char wanted one too, but I successfully convinced her into getting sand buckets instead.

His new favorite way to sit in his bouncy seat. Sweet boy!

I've said this a million times. How could I ever say No to him? Those puppy-dog eyes?! Those cheeks?! Those lips! Well, I'm sure he'll do something that will make it easy, but for now, it is so hard to imagine!! :)

Had fun going to Logan's Graduation!! Aunt Candy and Preston hit it off immediately. 

Pool Pizza party after the graduation. We were trying to get Charleigh to sit with all the kids for a group picture. She wasn't happy with me because she knew we were about to leave. :)

BaBa & Pop and all the Grandkids! Happy Graduation, Logan!!!

Early morning snuggles with a squishy baby and a messy faced 3 year old. Love my littles!

All this gorgeous weather has us outside a LOT!! This one loves riding her toys around the driveway.

Guess who has his first tooth? He won't let me get a pic of it yet, but he is gnawing away on Sophie the Giraffe, because the second one is cutting through as well!! Praying after this one comes in he'll magically begin to sleep all night.

my little look-a-likes :)

Callie's last day of Pre-K!!! Love this big girl so much!!!

I am so proud of what all she has accomplished these last 5 months. 

My gigantic, smelly 5th child, Ollie. 

Stopped by to SURPRISE visit my Granny!! 

We all went out for an ice cream treat. The whole time we had her, Granny just kept saying, "This is just such a treat. You just don't know how much of a treat this is" referring to us surprising her. So thankful I can make these special visits with all of my kids on a random Thursday in the middle of the day!!



To close things out, just for laughs, if you don't already, go visit Boo Mama over at www.boomama.net. She is such a funny, southern Mississippian, and I can't get enough of her podcast with Big Mama. It is like listening in to one of my daytime phone calls with friends, except way more southern and way more funny. She has a couple books and they are a fun read as well!

A {Wednesday} Weekend Wrap Up!

Nothing like wrapping up the weekend and finally posting about it on Wednesday, right? :)

This weekend (I can't believe it is May already!) we enjoyed a good balance of having fun and relaxing. We spent Friday morning having a play date at Lauren's and the weather was absolutely gorgeous outside!! The kids loved running around and soakin' up the sweet sunshine!!

Friday night, Kyle attended day 1 of the men's conference at our church, so it was a girls (and Preston) night at home for the rest of us! I let the girls play outside until dark and we ordered pizza for dinner (so thankful Johnny's pizza has gluten-free AND delivers). After I put the girls to bed, it was Legally Blonde, laundry, and some hall closet organizing for me!

I actually love those kind of nights! Having a chick flick on and being productive without feeling like I'm missing out on something else, ha! The best!

Saturday was pretty low-key. After Kyle got home from day 2 of the conference, we spent the evening at the pool with friends and then had mexican food for dinner afterward. Of course I forgot to take ANY pictures, I was probably too busy runnin' my mouth! ;)

Saturday night I decided to run out for a quick trip to Ashley Park (shopping!) after we put the kids to bed and Kyle was cutting the grass. I picked up Lana and we made a mad dash for a whopping 35 minutes of shopping before the stores closed. She bought me a belated birthday gift of a watch and a bracelet and I LOVE it! Will post a picture when I wear them next. :)

We ran to the grocery store (going with my other mom friends is always more fun than alone!) to grab a few items for the weekend and saw that the Friend coke's are back! Look what we found while glancing at all the names! ;)

Sunday morning was worship with this handsome little fella ;)

Hi, my name is Erin and I take too many pictures of my baby BOY! :)

He doesn't last too long before finally giving out for a little Sunday snooze sesh.

We came home for a new family favorite recipe! I made BBQ Brisket Quesadillas. 

Thanks to Shay at one of my favorite foodie blogs for this idea! Definitely a delicious meal and easy to throw together! We enjoyed it so much we have been having the leftovers throughout this week. You just can't go wrong with a slow cooker, we have so much left over every time!

Sunday afternoon was spent rocking on the front porch as long as we could. We even captured Preston's very first laugh during that time! I love a relaxing Sunday afternoon with the fam!

Now that Summer is in full swing for us, we are putting pool days on the books left and right and packing our bags for our upcoming beach trip! I am so in love with May- breezy warm weather, perfect for relaxing outside or splashin' in the water, and the start to those long summer nights of playing outside until you can't see anymore. :) Happy Summer! 

Closing out April!

I had to. I laugh every. single. year. I really miss 1998.

I can't believe it is April 30th! April was a month full of celebrations and enjoying a very rainy month of Spring!

Last week was Camryn's first day of horseback riding! She was over the moon excited and I was too for her!! She is the perfect child to be around animals.



Last week we also ended our school year with our academic Co-Op. The girls really enjoyed participating in their Presentation Night!

 

 

They worked so hard all year and we are so proud of them.We closed out our school year with an End of the Year party at Camp Southern Ground. The girls had fun playing and the weather turned out to be great!





After the party we came home and made gluten-free Mickey Mouse shaped sugar cookies for Charleigh's birthday the next day.

After the party Saturday, we spent the rest of the day at home working on the project that never ends tree house with Kyle's parents, and getting ready for worship on Sunday.

Finally got up all four walls! So close to being done!

Aunt Sarah and Logan came to visit us on Sunday for church & lunch at Green Ginger since it was Charleigh's actual birthday. Sarah spoiled both me and Charleigh with birthday presents and we loved getting to catch up on hugs! :)

One of the many gifts she received from Aunt Sarah! Her favorites were the dollar tree sunglasses and cup though. So funny!

She loves Aunt Sarah!!

a very pretty birthday girl.

Sunday night was a celebration at church for the kids Lads to Leaders program that they participate in every year. Our good friend Mr. Chris made it super special by having everyone sing happy birthday to Charleigh.  A perfect way to end her birthday!!

Monday was our season one dinner finale event for Becoming. As usual it was a lot of work in a very short amount of time, but so rewarding! I am so grateful for my team and everything that this ministry has brought to our church family. I will write more on that soon. :)

Tuesday Cam had her second day of Riding Lessons that afternoon.

 The little girls and Preston really enjoyed getting to watch her and all of the horses. They even let Callie hop on for a short ride. 







I am feeling really good with our decision of where we chose for her to take lessons. It has worked out really great so far!!

Wednesday was back to school and back to normal, finally!!! After nearly a month of all kinds of breaks here and there for various reasons, it feels so good to know that here on out all through summer we are doing relaxed schooling (reading & math only) mixed in with a whole lot of homemaking! I already got back to organizing, starting with Preston's clothes- he's growing so fast! Now that we are done with our main curriculum and Becoming is on a break until Fall, I am truly looking forward to just focusing on our family and home life with no other to-do's for a while. I've never been more excited to meal plan! The neighborhood pools open up this weekend so I'm also excited to join our friends at the pool each morning while everyone else is still in school ;) #perksofhomeschooling

May is going to be relaxing and exciting! We are officially counting down the days until our family beach trip, Preston's first trip to the beach!! Can't wait to see his little baby toes in the sand. The rest of May will hopefully be spent outside soaking up the last of the nice not-too-hot weather outside before summer hits and the Georgia Heat takes over!

Coming up next on my little blog... more of In Case You Were Wondering, more about Becoming, and as I promised last week, my favorite weeknight dinner recipes and as a little bonus, my favorite desserts I've been whippin' up lately for local activities. Happy (almost) May!!!

Tuesday Weekend Wrap-Up!

Happy Tuesday to You!!

This birthday weekend of mine was fun and laid-back! Saturday morning started with a Chick-fil-A breakfast at home, thanks to my thoughtful Kyle.

 He didn't get me an actual gift for my birthday because we took a trip back in late February that was to celebrate both of our birthdays. But breakfast plus a date night counts as extra in my book!! 

We originally had Charleigh's birthday party planned for Saturday morning, but due to like 8 days in a row of rain, we had to reschedule it to the following weekend. Since the rain continued that morning as well, even our plan B of working on the tree house had to be rescheduled for another time. So plan C was to stay home, get some things done inside, and have some fun later in the day.

The girls spent the morning playing outside in the rain with their new rain gear. Still in the market for a good rain coat for Cam and rain boots for both her and Callie, but they were all happy with their new umbrellas. I am so ready for some sunshine days so we can work on our landscaping and porches! The weather has just been so nasty. April Showers!!

Later that day we went out shopping. I picked up some new shoes and new swim suits for the older girls. We have a beach trip planned in just a few weeks, and I wanted to make sure I had some options to choose from for both modesty and quality purposes. Ended up scoring some super cute and modest sets at Belk made by Jessica Simpson. I was surprised! 

After shopping we enjoyed a late lunch out, since we had late-ish dinner plans that evening.

Came home after lunch and our whole family took a much-needed nap while it rained more. It was heavenly. I slept so hard I woke up a good hour after I had planned to, and felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks. Nothin' like a good nap though!!

Saturday night was date night!! 

After all our previous plans had been thrown out the window, Kyle asked me if he could take me out Saturday night with some of our friends to celebrate my birthday. We met up with our friends Dustin & Lauren, and Missy & Paul for some dinner and fun at a local place here, Meat N Greet. 

Lots of laughter, good food, great company, and the rain even let up while we were there so it was a really nice little local evening out!! Kyle had some sort of manly burger and I had a sweet potato with pulled pork. 

I'm tellin' ya, having really good friends that do life the way you do is what makes all the difference in the world, especially with homeschooling!! It is so important to have like-minded people in your life. We just get each other. So thankful for these friends and all the friends I have made throughout  the last two years. I know God sent them to me and I am so grateful!

Missy and Lauren both treated me to a little birthday present, and I love them! Thanks again :)

Sunday morning we went to worship service and the girls had a date planned to go home with my parents for the afternoon.

Love his little baby hands reading his little baby book during worship!! 

Also, Charleigh entertains herself pretty well during church. She doesn't like stickers at all, if you haven't noticed. ;)

My mom got Preston some toys for his car seat (she's been nagging encouraging me to get him some for like two months but I kept forgetting to!). He loves his little toy!! I feel bad for neglecting him of fun for so long ;)

I also came to the conclusion that I am pretty sure that I won't be able to tell this boy No. I just love his little face so much, and I kiss those cheeks about 1000 times a day. can't. get. enough.

 I spent the afternoon working on some things for our final Becoming that is in a week. Sunday night was sunny and gorgeous for a few hours. We went to dinner to Arby's with friends (forgot to take a picture) for a low-key quick meal before heading to the store to buy groceries.

Stuck with our plan to grocery shop on Sunday night together as a family. It is so nice to divide and conquer the store in half the time! 

Monday morning we were up early and out the door to head to our last day of CC! We are changing locations next year to one that is closer to our home, so I am sad to say bye to some of those faces but I'm sure we'll keep in touch. Monday morning was pretty hectic though and I totally sent this text to my friend Aimee who always tells me that she loves how laid back I am and that things don't get to me much. 

(NOT TRUE. I'M CRAZY.) Super behind on things from having so much fun the last 3 weeks. Okay so maybe 7 loads of clean laundry, and they're all sorted by person and folded, but still I am going nuts! Survival mode at its finest. Also, my mornings are now a two-a-day coffee minimum.

The kids all had a pizza party after class let out. 

We even had gluten free pizza for Char so she was a happy girl! 

Preston was exhausted so he cried most of the time but he made up for it in his super long nap when we got home. :) 

Mallory, Callie's teacher, and her kids (my kids good friends) are moving to Florida this summer, so we are super sad to see them go! 

This was a sweet moment I was able to capture of Callie, Madison, and Mariah (who is moving) at the pizza party. 

Rehearsing for Presentation Night!

Tuesday we've got school, riding lessons, errands, then a quick dinner at home before heading back to Co-Op for the girls presentation night. Looking forward to hearing their sweet voices tonight!!

I have a TON of things to do this week aside from school, our end of the year party, Becoming, and Charleigh's birthday party (Lord willin' and the creek don't rise- literally). Making lists and crossing them off like they're my job! Oh right, they are my job. 

Have a great week! Check back in the next couple of days for another In Case You Were Wondering series post, as well as some of my favorite week-night dinner recipes.