Celebrating babies!

Wednesday night, our Bible study crew threw a little shower for the two families in the group who are the closest to having new baby girls. Now there are two more families expecting, both girls, but we have a little more time till they arrive. So for now, we just spent some time anticipating Evelyn and Josie's arrivals, playing games, laughing hysterically, sharing our own baby delivery stories, and of course EATING...a party just wouldn't be complete without the food!

And once again, Jeremy and I walk away from a night spent with terrific friends thinking, Whoa...is God good and gracious and faithful, or what? These folks are fantastic. Some we have gotten to know better than others but we are excited to get to know everyone even more, to learn each of their stories, and to let God use our pasts, presents, and futures together for his Kingdom! Each and every Momma, Daddy and baby...we already love and look forward to growing more closely together. Thanks for letting us spend time with you.

The guys race to see who drinks most efficiently from a bottle.


And the winner is...Brian Edwards!


Meanwhile, Jeremy practices the art of being a baby...eyes closed and all.


Lia blindly inspecting a rattle.


Jennie's safest item, by far--Tic Tac's.


All my beautiful friends--Lia, Julie, Kristin, Jennie, Erin, Rebecca, Rebecca, Heidi, and Aron.

Little River Beach Bums

I've always loved the beach. Although I have a terrible memory and typically struggle to remember most details of my childhood days, there are a few memories that I can recall quite vividly. And several of those involve the beach. We would go nearly every summer with another family, the Blackmons, who had three kids the same age as Brook, Whitney and me. I remember getting matching bathing suits with my friend Alice, building drizzle castles, lazily floating out in the waves on our boogie boards, going to the water parks and daring the tallest, curviest, swirliest slides; but most of all, and I know this is a little weird, I remember the smells--our Mom's Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion, the salty air blowing through as we played underneath the pillars of the rented beachhouse, the smell of cotton candy and pretzels and the musty haunted house at the Myrtle Beach Pavilion. Man, I feel like I'm eight years old again--I wish!

And so all these things I want for Olivia to remember. Of course not my childhood, but her own. I want her to have fun, exciting memories--and if she has a poor memory like her mom, I hope that she--much like I do--has an overall sense of fun, enjoyment, happiness from her summer days. Melting ice cream, sand between each and every finger and toe, splishing and splashing away that hot sticky sun.

This past weekend was one for the memory bank. Even pictures can't do justice to the fun and joy we had at being with friends, building stronger relationships, seeing Olivia's smile and energy and eventual exhaustion after long days with her own best buds! We are so grateful for a place (thanks to my Mom and Dad) to be able GET away that is not so FAR away...but just far enough to let our worries and hectic lives and busy-ness go for the weekend.

Here are some shots from the trip!



The whole crew--The Severance, Edwards, and Emert families.




Olivia gets a lesson in bubble blowing from Mrs. Jennie.


Jeremy, Olivia, Stacey, and Abby enjoying the ocean before our long discussion later than night about sharks! Thanks Brian!


There's that joy I was talking about!


Beautiful mommies and babies!


The guys getting some frisbee time.



Thank goodness for big buckets, plenty of shovels, and endless amounts of sand.



Carlisle with a beachy smile!



Moms and Dads entertain the kids with a puppet show.



Who's hungry?

Abby goes exploring.

Good times at the beach! What a great weekend. Hopefully only the first of many, many more!

Long time, no see.

My very best friend from high school, Lisa (Gentry) Kephart, made a rare trip home to Thomasville from Holland, Michigan where she and her husband and three children live and serve. Her family in Thomasville (Momma, Cathy and Dad, Dan) were gracious enough to sacrifice an entire day of their time with Lisa so that she and I could spend the day together, hanging out with our kids in the morning, catching up on our lives during their afternoon naps, and then a little child-less Mom's night out with dinner and Starbuck's coffee at Barnes and Noble that evening. It was great. We didn't make plans, we just let the day and the events of the day come about without a schedule to stick to or places to be. Lisa is such a true, devoted, heart friend. I have been blessed throughout the phases and seasons of my life to have some of the dearest women to walk through those times with. Some of those friends have been specifically for that season and due to various reasons, our interests and places in life have taken us different ways. I am grateful for them and know that God used them to help make me who I am. But there are a couple of other friends that, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that nothing will impact our desire and dedication to walk through the rest of our lives together...whether we live close or not, before we had kids, with one child or four, or the day when we are old and gray with grandchildren to spoil, we'll be sharing our stories, giving/receiving advice and encouragement, laughing and crying through the triumps and setbacks. All that to say, Lisa is one of those women. She just gets me...knows how I tick. Even before I could have known it, God gave me such an amazing gift in her friendship. One I don't have to work for or put on airs or create conversation...just a natural, easy blessing. And then there's her precious family. Her two eldest children, daughters Bella (5) and Selah (2), got to stay behind with their grandmother, Daddy Micah's mom, so only little Caedmon came along. It was Olivia's and my first opportunity to meet him--what a sweetheart. Never heard him cry, fuss, complain, and boy is he handsome! Here are some pics from our walk around the Gentry property. What a fun morning. Thanks for sharing it with us Lisa. We look forward to seeing you again at Christmas, hopefully.



Taking a walk/ride around the Gentry property.




Newfound friends



Olivia's always happy with a snack in hand.



Olivia decides she might like a kiss from Caedmon.



Moving in on her unsuspecting victim.



Caedmon never even had a chance.



Can you blame her, though? These blue eyes make him pretty irresistable. At least she's got good taste :)


Thanks, Leese and Caedmon, for a wonderful day! Let's do it again soon!

CRAY-ZEE

So, I've sat down several times over the last two weeks with a mission to blog...as evidenced by my last entry, I have been unsuccessful in my mission. So enough is enough. There's major pressure to blog in my little community of friends--all the cool moms are doing it, so I just must keep up! Now, I must recap too much time in too little space, so let's get started.

Our fourth of July was great! We had a day full of fun which, although we love having holidays that intersect with weekends, it was great to have a free day right in the middle of our hectic week. We started the day going to a town festival with blow-up slides, face painting, and live music. Not too long after arriving, we ran into a family from our Bible study group. We got some Italian ice, waiting in line about 15 minutes for a flower balloon that popped literally 3 minutes after we got it, then walked around a little more and made plans to go swimming with our friends after going home for a nap.

Celebrating our freedom!


Dancing along to the beach music of SeaCruise!


Our little mooch!


Brotherly/sisterly love--Connor and Calista


After eating lunch and catching a few zzz's, we went for a swim with the Williams' family, and then got ready for our final stop. Our friend, Stacey, is in a band that was playing at a cookout/party so we joined many other Florence residents to celebrate the holiday with some pond swimming, live music, hot dogs, and little girls running around having a blast just being together!

Heidi, the human jungle-gym!


This is what results when selfish Moms are desperate for a good picture.


More of sweet Abs!


Good weather, good friends, good food = great day!


The following weekend, we met Whitney and Chris and Mom and Dad at the beach. Cora got to join us as well which was so much fun for Olivia to get some one-on-one time with her best cousin friend. We had fun at the beach and hanging out at the pool and playing Catchphrase...I ate a little something that kept me feeling queasy most of the weekend, but we still managed to have a great time. Olivia truly loves spending time with her extended family.

Granna and Liv waiting for some delicious seafood for dinner.


Kissing cousins


Thank goodness for Daddy's ability to entertain.


Granna teaching Olivia how to shag.


Chris, Whit, Jeremy, and Courtney


Back from the beach, back to real life. We had a pretty crazy, busy week. Jeremy was slammed from a work standpoint and was working late most nights so we struggled for family time all week. But we did eat dinners together, Daddy was able to give his girl her nightly baths, and we tried a new local restaurant--Starfire Grill--to add to our restaurant repertoire. Olivia and I got to join all our favorite friends for a day at the Columbia Zoo on Thursday so that was a nice change of pace for our week. We met at Miss Jennie's early in the morning, loaded up the cars with plenty of snacks, sunscreen, and strollers, and headed out. The kids did so well and we all had such a fun time. Our Chick-Fil-A lunch was pretty chaotic with 9 incredibly exhausted kids--not to mention their 7 sweaty and spent Mommys, but nonetheless, we had a wonderful time.

The whole crew, minus me, the photographer.


Up close and personal with Mr. Giraffe


Tallon and Olivia doing some wild animal observation.


Makgill admiring the seal.


Lia and Abby having fun on Abby's first trip to the zoo.


Abby understandably questions Olivia's strange approach to sippy-cup etiquette.


The three amigos--Carlisle, Olivia, and Abby


Hot, sweet, sweaty Carlisle


Olivia's going for the hairbow while Abby's snagging her grapes.


A theme for the day was Olivia wanting all the other Mom's to hold her--sorry guys! She just loves you all!
Olivia and Aron


Olivia and "Becca"


Olivia and Jennie


Olivia and the fish


Tallon getting his late morning snack.


All the kids--minus Tallon--at the end of the morning, ready to go.


Whew! I'm tired after that recap. It's the weekend again now and we actually are in town with not a lot going on, and VERY thankful. We love going, going, going, but we love having time to just spend the three of us. After getting a babysitter last night, we had a much needed date night and then spent today at the pool, taking naps, and unwinding...next week isn't looking any slower than this last one. Olivia and I are off to High Point to visit my best friend from high school who's visiting from Michigan with her newest child whom I haven't yet met, and then we leave for our Girl's Weekend at the beach with the Causey girls...like I said, no rest for the weary! But it'll all be fun, so off we go. Florence friends, take care of Jeremy while we're gone!