July 4th

I'm a little late posting about the 4th, but I just haven't had time to sit down and do it! We had a wonderful 4th of July. We went to the lake with some friends of ours and then went to a block party around the corner from where we live. It was a lot of fun. The host for the party, Kevin, is a DJ here in town and so he brought out the karaoke machine! The kids had a blast singing songs. I wish I had video of Sutherlan singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for everyone. Of course, Dylan had to get up there and sing "I like Big Butts and I Cannot Lie"...this is Brandon's child, right??? At least that's what I told the man standing next to me who said, "Who's child is that?" Of course he was laughing hysterically and said he loved it and hoped one day when he had kids that they would do something like that. Here are a few pictures.....



Sutherlan, Hudson and Bailey at the lake.



Brandon and Dylan singing karaoke.



Sutherlan with her sparkler. She loves those things!

Even though we missed seeing our families on the Fourth, it was nice to hang out with good friends!

Dylan Finally Loses His FIRST Tooth!

We are so excited!! Dylan finally lost his first tooth. All of his friends have already lost most of their baby teeth and have the permanent ones in place. I was getting concerned and when we went for our six-month check-up to have our teeth cleaned about a month ago I asked about his teeth. I was assured that if he got his teeth late (which he did..he was 13-months-old before he got his first tooth) that he would be late loosing them. In fact, she said that his two bottom teeth were already starting to get loose. She said they weren't quite ready, but it wouldn't be long. Sure enough, one of them had gotten really loose and Dylan was constantly playing with it and wiggling it. Lately, it had gotten painful to eat and last night he went into the bathroom and when he came out he was holding his tooth. At first, I think he was a little shocked because he started tasting blood and then started crying. I told him it was fine and that it might be a little sore. I had him rinse with a little salt water and after a few minutes, he said it didn't hurt anymore.

The tooth fairy came and left him $5 dollars. Lucky for him, Daddy and I let him keep his tooth fairy money and not put it toward the money he owes us for the window!! :)

Life Lessons

How many times have we heard the saying, "Don't play ball in the house?" Well, I always thought growing up that my parents were saying "No" to be mean or just to say no, but now that I am grown with kids of my own I know that parents really do say no for a reason! Because they know what the possible outcomes might be!!!

We had just gotten home from the pool and I was getting out of the shower when I heard a loud crashing sound. I thought..."What was that????" I yelled downstairs and when I came down the hallway saw that the den window had been broken! Dylan had been swinging one of his miniature bats in the den and his hands were sweaty and the bat slipped out of his hands and through the window...a double paned window at that!!! I know if we told him once, we told him 1,000 times NOT to play baseball in the house.



Needless to say, this WON'T be something Dylan forgets anytime soon, but I bet he won't be swinging a baseball bat in the house again....do you?

Rosemary Beach 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We went to Rosemary Beach again this year and if you have not gone....you have to go! We absolutely love it there!! The whole town is so family friendly and the kids had so much fun. They have lots of activities for the kids including "Movie Night" on the lawn. There is the Sugar Shack where you can get ice cream and candy from "back in the day". They also have different activities you can participate in. You can rent bikes or just hang out on the beach all day.

The first day we arrived, the West Indies Market was going on and I found Sutherlan some cute dresses and some handmade jewelry. Talk about wonderful places to eat too...this year, we discovered George's and Paradis along with some of our favorites from last year...Wild Olives, Cowgirl Kitchen and Summer Kitchen. We drove over to Panama City to play miniature golf one night and ate dinner at The Back Porch at Pier Park. We drove to Destin one night to have our picture taken on the beach (That was my Mother's Day present - we should get those back in a couple of weeks..Can't Wait!!) While in Destin, we ate at Fudpucker's. The kids love to eat there because you can feed the alligators and have your picture taken with one. We had such a GREAT time! By the end of the week, we were all exhausted. We hated to leave, but happy to be coming home. Until next year.....

Enjoying Summer!

I know it's been a while, but things are always busy around here and we have been BUSY!! We have been loving being out of school and enjoying summertime! So far, our summer has been filled with team parties for baseball, swimming at the pool, making brownies together, going to Braves games and Dylan going to Vacation Bible School with his friend, Chet. Let me tell you all about it....

Dylan had his team party for the Cubs. They ended up finishing 1st in their division, but, unfortunately, lost their first playoff game. Here are a few pictures from his party.





As you can see, it was a swim party and the boys had a blast!! This season was so much fun and we were lucky enough again this year to get on such a GREAT team!! We had a great season...only losing one game the entire season until the playoffs.

And what would summer be without some junk food!! The best part of summer is being lazy, eating whatever and sleeping late! Sutherlan wanted to help me make brownies...yum yum!




We've been able to go to several Braves games this summer and hopefully we will get to go to some more before the summer is over.






Also, June 8 - June 12, Dylan went to Vacation Bible School with his friend, Chet. He really had a great time! He complained a little about getting up early in the morning during summer...What?!?!, but once he got there he had so much fun! The theme for VBS was Totally Out of Control. It was themed around NASCAR and they learned about Self-Control. I can't wait until next year when Sutherlan can attend! When we went to pick Dylan up each day, they would be singing songs and she had so much fun just in the little bit of time we were there. I know she is going to LOVE it!!

We have had a fun-filled summer so far and looking forward to more activities to come!!!

Class Party

Dylan had his class party last Thursday and, of course, Sutherlan and I were there! It was a lot of fun!! I made goody bags for the kids (beach buckets with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, play dough and ring pops). We had pizza, chips, cupcakes and Sprite. The last few days of school were basically "Fun Days" for the kids and they all had a blast. Dylan even took his PSP to school the last day. We had a wonderful year and we had the best teacher anyone could hope for, so THANK YOU Mrs. Davis!! I can't believe my baby is a third-grader now!!!

Here are some pictures from our party:






Mrs. Davis gave each student some pictures she had taken before the Music Explosion program on the last day of school. I just love the group picture of his class before the program.

Awards Day

Dylan had Awards Day at school on Wednesday and Mrs. Davis said he would be getting an award, so be sure to come. Well, Sutherlan and I were there in the second row waiting to see him get his awards. We were so proud of him!!! He ended up getting THREE awards....

1 for all A's and B's for the year
2 for no discipline points for the year
3 his class voted for one boy and one girl that showed good citizenship going above and beyond for their classmates and Dylan got the award for his class!

Way to Go, Dylan!!! We are so proud of you and we love you!