family

my sister Grace, her husband Tom, and her girls Baylee & Savannah are all coming to visit for the weekend! we can't wait to see them!

it's always such a blessing when family can come and visit. boys are excited to have their cousins on the way and i'm sure Addison will be THRILLED to get some more girls in the house! :)

can't wait to love on my nieces and relax with my sis and brother in-law.

hope y'all have fun weekend plans!

"hey mom! look what i can do!?!"

yesterday we met for our weekly Spanish class. i have been telling my friend Heather that i need to bring the boys bikes one day because they have a nice FLAT court and that's non-existent in our neighborhood. she's also been able to help a few kids we know learn to ride bikes without training wheels so i was hoping she could give the boys some pointers! i had tried to teach Harrison once before but the hills around our house didn't help too much.

while Heather was giving Jackson a quick lesson in balance and explaining that if you "just keep peddling you won't fall off" Harrison decided to pick up his bike and try it out.

He did it!

First try! I was so proud I just kept snapping pictures! :) She gave him some pointers on how to start, which is the hardest part, and he figured it out very quickly.

Jackson is not far behind him. He totally did it. He just needs to work on his confidence. After he earned his fruit snacks for going 10 peddles in a row TWO times, he decided he wanted his training wheels back on. :) less work, you know. but it won't be long...

here is Jackson getting his lesson

well, off he goes!

high five!


my BIG BOY!!!


check out those flip flops she found from the garage! :)


see, they BOTH were riding for a little bit there. :)

He's been riding his bike ALL day. decided that he does like our neighborhood hills now that he can ride. he told me "i like feeling the breeze in my face." what a cute boy! now i guess we'll be needing to get him a bigger bike soon. he's about out grown this one but i didn't want to get him a new one until he had those training wheels OFF!!

WOO HOO Harrison!!! We are SO proud of you! This is big boy stuff!

Addison's first trip to the ER

We had an interesting turn of events as the party was ending. The birthday boy had to give up all the attention for another pressing matter. All the guests had left and we were going to turn in the tickets we had earned. you know, so the kids could buy some "junk". i had plopped Addison in her stroller but I had not buckled her in.

well, I'm guessing you know where I'm going with this. REALLY wish I had taken the 5 seconds to buckle her in. Donovan and Harrison were having an argument and I was busy lecturing and teaching, etc... I saw her stand up in her stroller out of the corner of my eye and as she was sitting back down she fell over the side of the stroller and landed on the back of her head...on the cement, tile floor. when I saw her laying there and the look she had on her face - there was something inside me said this is bad!!!

she had tears in her eyes but it was like she was stunned. she only cried a minute and then immediately became extremely exhausted and was floppy like a rag doll. Mimi and I were working hard to keep her awake as we were trying to get us out the door. I was still hoping she was going to snap out of it. Then on the car ride home she started vomiting. over and over and over again. I knew at that point she was not OK and that we needed to take her to the hospital. I don't usually handle those kind of situations well and I didn't this time. I pulled myself together after I got out of the driver seat but to say I was worried about our baby girl is kind of an understatement. I've already had a choking scare with her that practically left me passed out on my neighbor's lawn.

We took her to the ER and they started looking at her right away. After we were there for a while she finally started to come back into her own. They did a CT Scan on her to rule out any bleeding in the brain which all came back clear! Praise the Lord!!! While we were waiting for those results she started laughing and wanting to walk around the room. I was so happy to see her being more like herself. She had been acting SO strange.

They told us she had a mild concussion and that we would need to wake her every couple of hours through the night to make sure she was moving and breathing. Once we finally got in the car to come home my tears started to flow. I think I was just trying to remain calm and the gravity of what could have been was starting to set in.

We are SO thankful for God's protection over our sweet little Addison, for the SECOND time. You know, as careful and conscientious as you try to be with your children it's in times like these that I am reminded how in a split second something terrible can happen. A moments decision to make an exception when it comes to safety can be a near fatal or life changing and damaging consequence for your child. I need to be that much more careful and ever mindful of the hand of God over my family! Thank you for all who knew through FB or text, etc. Knowing you were praying meant so much to us. So glad our baby girl is as perfect as can be! :)

go carts, mini golf, & meltdowns

After our pizza and cake, we split up. Some of the kids played laser tag and the others rode go-carts. The party took a lot longer than I anticipated. It was tough to get it all in. A couple of the boys had to leave early and didn't get to do the mini-golf with us but we gave them their tickets so they can come back with their family some other time.

We really were having a blast!!! Some very fun memories were made!

Anthony & Justin

Papa & Jackson

look at that little hand! i just LOVE it!



Anthony & Harrison

Papa & Donovan


our birthday boy having the time of his life! :)


a tired little girl

ready for mini-golf








so much fun can lead to an exhausted big, i mean little boy.

yes, we're all melting down.

see, another bites the dust!

little J is still happy as can be, he knows how to have a good time! :)


wait a minute, she's back...



WOW, what a fun party we had! We loved celebrating our boy. We love you Harrison and we are SO proud of the young man you are becoming.

Harrison's 8 year old Birthday Party at Adventure Landing

We decided to let Harrison have an "away from home" birthday party this year. He chose Adventure Landing which is a fun go cart, mini golf, arcade game place not too far from us. It was a huge treat and it will be a birthday we won't forget! It was fun to celebrate with his friends and to do something extra special for our big boy!



i didn't buy this shirt, we've had it and i believe it was handed down from Grant. but it was perfect! fun that he was wearing an 8!






















i love these two pictures. Jackson is ALWAYS so excited and happy for his brother. he loves Harrison SO much!




a tired baby girl!


losing it. a little cake helped perk her up a bit. :)