North GA State Fair

We took our second annual trip to the state fair last week. The girls had a fabulous time and it was a nice change to our weekly routine. We've discovered that if we go on a school night the crowds in the kids section aren't too bad. One of the perks of homeschooling - no school to wake up for every day!

Crack me up! She just started raising her hands and screaming on the 2nd ride. I think she remembered when we rode a little roller-coaster at Disney World and Marc told her to hold her hands up and scream.

The girls were fascinated with the robot, but Macy didn't want to get too close to it.

And a trip to the fair wouldn't be complete without some cotton candy.

This picture is a little blurry, but I had to include it. She was watching me eat my caramel apple and getting upset that she couldn't have any. Poor baby!

And of course the girls remembered the fishing game they played last year, so we let them play on our way out.

We had a great evening and the girls are already asking when they can go back.

Wedding Weekend

Marc's brother Chris got married this past weekend at Callaway Gardens, so we had a weekend away. All three girls were FABULOUS. Their schedules were off, sleeping was off, and lots of people they didn't know came up to talk to them. While they might have been really good I was still ready to get home, get us all in our own beds, and get back on our regular schedules. It's tough traveling with kids!

This was taken at the rehearsal. The wedding was on a bridge overlooking a lake. It was beautiful and a perfect choice for the bride and groom. But let me tell you something. South Georgia + mid-September + outside at 6PM = HOT! I thought we would all melt! I'm sure the guys were all worried about being in their tuxes the next day. Saturday was wonderful though! The sun stayed behind some clouds and there was a small breeze. It was SO much cooler thankfully.
Marc bought these beards for them to pull out at the rehearsal to match the groom. I was with the kids, but I hear it was quite the joke. Those things were NASTY and I can't wait to get rid of it.

We stayed in a cabin with Marc's parents. It was a decent little cabin, but I'm a germaphobe when it comes to public places and hotel rooms. I usually bring a pair of socks to wear around because something about hotel floors makes me feel icky. I forgot my socks, but wore my shoes most of the time. The bathrooms are another issue with me. I'm usually fine taking a shower, but I didn't like the thought of putting my girls in it for a bath so Kayla and Macy took a shower (Macy was not too happy about that). We bathed Brooke on the counter and stuck her under the shower to wash her off. She had no idea what was going on and really didn't care for that shower either! She sure was cute getting a little bath, though!

And a quick shout-out to my husband who ALWAYS bathes ALL THREE girls. I joke around that I don't even know what temperature they like the water. Guess I'll figure that out soon since he is left on a business trip this morning.

Chris and Amanda had 11 kids in their wedding. Yep. 11. I thought she was crazy, but I know she wouldn't have had it any other way. The kids were absolutely adorable. They ranged in age from 9 years down to 8 months. Of course Brooke didn't walk the aisle, but all of the other kids did. They each held a flower and walked it to Amanda to hold with her bouquet. They did so good and it was so sweet. One of the bridesmaids searched out these cute little dresses that fit every little girl except for Brooke. My mom graciously made one that was similar for Brooke.

The kids had the best time at the reception. They even made a few new friends. The little girl holding Macy's hand became her best friend for the evening. She held Macy, played with her, and when I took Kayla to the restroom I saw that she was taking Macy! Seriously! What a sweet little girl!

By the end of the night we were all so tired, and little Miss Brooke was out cold.

I was going through my pictures and I have not one picture of the bride and groom. It was probably because I spent my time coordinating kids and only pulled my camera out at the end of the night. I'm sure I'll be able to steal one from someone soon. Congratulations Chris and Amanda!

More Baptism Pictures

Kayla's Baptism

Kayla was saved in April. We talked about baptism, but she was afraid of putting her head in the water. Over the summer she spent some time at the pool and has become much more comfortable in it. She decided a couple of weeks ago that she was ready to be baptized. She walked down to the front of the church on Sunday and told the pastor that she wanted to be baptized. I was so proud of her. She was so excited all day and didn't act the least bit nervous.

She wanted to wear her favorite pink shirt. :)

Ben Smith baptized her. When he asked her if she had asked Jesus into her heart she said "yes" really loudly. The audience giggled.

Right before she went under she scrunched up her face and drew another laugh from everyone. I just love the little feet in the air.

We kept Macy in church with us so she could see her sister being baptized. She loved seeing her sister on the big screen and at the end called out "that's my Kayla!" Marc said everyone around laughed. I wish we had that on video.

The church photographer took some great pictures too. I'm waiting on those to be emailed to me and then I'll post them. I'm so proud of her and so excited about her decision to follow Christ. It's an amazing experience to watch your child make that decision and then grow as a Christian. We have several children's Bibles that she loves to read at night, but we bought her a regular Bible for her baptism. She was so excited that she had a "big girl Bible with her name on it" and that night we read the first chapter of Genesis. She knows the story well, but I was proud of her for wanting to read it from a Bible with lots of words and no pictures. She is such a blessing and I couldn't be more proud of her. My prayer is that she always has this love for the Lord and wants to learn, follow, and obey Him.

8 Months Old!

Seriously? 8 months? Who told you that you could grow up?

So serious!

There's my goofy girl!

We love you so much and we are cherishing every moment of you growing and learning.

This is How We Roll

We have started to settle into a nice routine on our homeschool days. We don't start school until Brooke takes her morning nap. It's just much easier that way. It also allows us to have more laid-back mornings.

Brooke has started feeding herself and would much rather do that than be fed baby food (unless the baby food has bananas in it and then she's all about that). Unfortunately she is quite a picky eater and there are still a lot of foods that she isn't ready to self-feed. Cheerios have been a huge hit. Even Kayla and Macy love snacking on them. Strange since they have refused them for years. All of a sudden it's their favorite thing. I guess they just want what their sister has.
Kayla loves playing on the computer. Macy is starting to play some games on their as well and is getting pretty good at using the touch pad. We have 3 laptops in our house, 4 if Marc brings one home from work. Two of them are little notebook ones (one was free and the other cost about $50) so the girls each have their own. Yes, they are 3 and 5 and have their own computers. I was in high-school before we had a computer in our house. I digress.

This is how Macy spends most of her day. Well not just coloring, but making a mess. She likes to take lots of things out of where they belong, play with them for 5 minutes and move on to the next thing. I can't keep up and I've pretty much given up on trying. I don't know what I'm going to do when we put our house on the market next year.

Sleeping Sisters

I love that they love each other. I love that they want to sleep in the same bed. I love they can sleep in crazy positions.

Buddies

Brooke and Jack are quite the little buddies. Not that they really play with each other or anything, but they do spend a fair amount of time together. Most of it would be at Moe's or Chick-fil-A watching each other eat, but hey, all good friendships start somewhere. Ours just tend to revolve around food. :)

Ahhh...

7 months. It has been a magical month for Brooke. She is now consistently sleeping about 10 hours at night without waking up to eat or for her pacifier. I can take her to the church nursery and she doesn't scream the entire time. I was able to take her to childcare at the gym today and she did great. She doesn't get too grouchy when she is tired so the fussiness has pretty much gone away. She is now able to sit up on her own, and to top it all off with a cherry she is now putting herself to sleep! Praise the Lord! Overall she has been a pretty easy and happy baby - as long as she is with her mama. It may have taken her a lot longer than most babies to get to these milestones, but that's okay since she is my baby. I'll take the extra snuggles, extra time spent rocking her, and her need to be with her mama all the time. All too soon these things will be distant memories.