Waterscape Beach Vacation

We arrived home yesterday from the best family vacation we've had yet! Waterscape in Ft. Walton Beach was a blast, and is so perfectly suited for families with young kids, I highly recommend you visit here for your next vacation. It was safe, fun, and entertaining for everyone!

The lot of ninety-something photos are on our Shutterfly share site, click here, but here's a few of my favorite photos!


Above, this is Justin Revelle, Jason's sister, Sarah's boyfriend. He is so good with our kids; we love him!



We loved that the Beckers were at Waterscape the same week. Lucy and Audrey loved playing together!



Notice the orange lips and fingers? Cheetos!



Not bad for a group shot of all the kiddos, huh? :)



On a date with my new man, Connor, and with the entire family - Jason's entire side of the family was able to come: Grandmama and Grandpa Bert, Baba and Grandpa (Jason's parents), sister and brother Sarah and Justin, Aunt Rebecca and her kids, Joshua and Sophie.



Jack is full of hugs and kisses, and like everything with Jack, it's full on! :)



Some sweet quality time with Connor. He is full of giggles and easy to make laugh.




I am in love with these photos of Lucy...






Jack on the slide, which he would play on - climbing up and sliding down - all day!





Our last night at the beach, we visited Baskin Robbins for a cool treat!


Check out the slideshow on Shutterfly if you want to see the whole lot of 'em. We can't wait to visit Waterscape again - maybe we can make it Fall Break?!

Lucy's 4- year-old photoshoot

My little darling Lucy has turned four years old! I simply can NOT believe she is only home one more year before full-time school begins! Oh my...to be a teacher and to be on the other side of the equation will be interesting... :-)

I have so many talented friends who are photographers, but here's my challenge with booking someone for a particular session...it's a crap shoot whether your child (or children) will be in a proper, festive, happy-go-lucky mood, or if they will be an absolute rotten, whiny, ready-to-list-them-on-ebay mood on the day of the photo session. And if you happen to be very unlucky and have a demon on your hands the day of your photos, you're done. Good luck getting anything you might like.

So, I decided to take a chance and capitalize on the times Lucy is in a happy mood, and just see what I could capture on my own. For the "theme" of these photos, I wanted to capture her current personality best. And she is still obsessed with clothes, shoes, and fashion. (Where she got it I'm not sure :)

When we were blessed with a particularly happy Lucy, I told her she could wear her favorite outfits. My favorite outfit is her bright lime-green, too-small leotard, blue and purple very full tulle tutu, pink feather boa, and crocheted floppy hat with velvet flowers. Take that Fashion Police! :)

And I have to say, I'm really happy with how these photos turned out. I made a 16 X 20 collage from Costco for $5.99, and I love it!

Enjoy:


Note the TWO glitter purses!






This is a classic Lucy face here...we get this look often :)










Could she look anymore grownup!?!



Spin, spin, spin!!!



Love this face!



Sneaking some jellybeans! I love my candy fiend!

What we've been up to lately...

It's been a busy week, but hey what's new about that ;-) Jason and I helped host a couples baby shower for our friends David and Cindy Kudrav, who are expecting their first child - a boy (obviously) - next month. We're so excited for "Choo Choo" (what our kids call David) and "Caboose" (what David calls Cindy around our kids :)

Annie and Lauren and their respective husbands also hosted, and we all enjoyed a casual, outdoor barbecue with lots of friends, good food, and very good drinks!

Here are some pics from the big event!



I made this diaper cake, and it was so much fun to do. The most tedious part is rolling up all the diapers, but fortunately, my aunt Karen helped me roll up just a few hundred or so on one of her recent trips to visit us - thanks Aunt K! And would you believe the total cost to make this was only $49!? These sell for over $100...



such a cute baby bump!



I love how Dave opened all the gifts!

Before moving on, another big thanks to Baba and Grandpa for coming up to spend the day with us Saturday and watching the kids while we hosted the shower! THANK YOU!


I've been making a point to try to spend more alone time with Connor, so I've been playing around with the camera and my adorable little guy...



and then "alone time with Connor" was over...big brother and sister had to join in!!!






Connor's rocking the beach shirt!

Not a great photo, but I like how you can see the beautiful sapphire color of his eyes.



Snuggling after a morning cartoon!






My favorite and new facebook profile pic. And yes, Jack is still very attached to his "pallow" ;-)

"Favorite Things" Birthday Party

Although it was postponed one week due to the tornado outbreaks, we were finally able to celebrate miss Lucy's 4th birthday. Back in March, when I asked her what kind of party she'd like to have she replied, "One with decorating cakes, bubble gum, and candy!" Seeing as they don't sell themed party supplies with that exact phrasing, I decided to theme it "Lucy's Favorite Things."

And even though I totally forgot to have bubble gum at the party (but, the blow pops in the goody bags did actually have gum in the middle, so that counts right? ;-), it was a great time!






The kids could choose cupcakes or cake squares to decorate! (And by the way, if you're ever in need of plain sheet cakes, Costco was fantastic to work with. They even separated the colored icing and put it in icing piping bags for the kids to use. I totally love Costco!)


Lucy's concoction - very fancy! ;-)







and there was lots of time for playing! The party was at McGucken Park, and we had beautiful, warm weather.



"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."


Lucy's sweet friends gave her lots of fun dolls, books, and games! Thank you everyone! It was a great party!

And a big thanks to my mom who was here for the festivities and worked hard to help Jason and I prepare for the party, and also kept little man Connor happy during the party. Thanks Mom!!!!! Love you!