Destin, FL 2009

We had so much fun in Destin this year...it was a little more work than the old days before kids, but we know we will miss these days when our little ones are older!

Our favorite seafood restaurant this year was not fancy, but very good. It was Dewey Destin Seafood. If you are ever in the Destin area, it is a great place to eat.
Michael loved the fried pickles at Cheeseburger in Paradise!
Ryan and I had a few date nights while we were away...thanks MeMa and Papa! This is the hole in putt-putt that really did Ryan in (he scored an 8...we were not playing with a stroke limit because HE chose not to :). Just for the record, I still would have won even if we only counted 6.

The boys

Michael working very hard to help his daddy push the chairs and umbrellas down to the beach. He would work up a sweat everyday, but he loved it!

Kaitlyn enjoyed the pool more than sitting on the HOT beach! MeMa stayed inside with her for a lot of the trip

If you enlarge this picture, you will be able to see a shark in the water. We were glad we were able to view it from the balcony instead of from the water!

MeMa and Papa at dinner one evening It was tough getting a good family shot. This one was the best...oh well!

I know his trunks are big, but I got a great deal on them at the end of the season last summer and was determined for him to wear them :O)

Kaitlyn and MeMa...they were best friends on the trip because Michael pretty much just wanted to be with dada and papa. He was not interested in the girls too much!

It rained one day and Michael may have had more fun playing in the rain than on the beach! Now I'm going to have to figure out a new excuse for why we can't go outside when it is raining!
We always enjoy playing Spades on our beach trips. My dad and I came ready to play on the last night. I hate to admit it, but the Slades won the tournament.

We are looking forward to next year already!

Visit from MeMa Jen and Aunt Hannah

Before heading to the beach, MeMa Jen and Aunt Hannah came for a long weekend visit. We had a great time with them and enjoyed playing Rack-O, Phase 10 and eating cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory!

We had a fun trip to the Zoo. We made Hannah see how she measured up to a gorilla

Aunt Hannah with her niece and nephew

One day during naps, the girls watched Steel Magnolias (my fav) and MeMa painted my toes for the beach...look closely for the flowers :)

After we said goodbye, Michael helped with packing...as you can tell he was a BIG help! Beach pictures will be posted soon :)

Welcome home/Happy birthday Bryson!

A couple of weeks ago, we were able to go to a party for our little friend, Bryson Clark (We had family in town, then went on vacation so I'm a little late with the post). Bryson was adopted from Ethiopia this year and we are so blessed to know him!

Bryson with his momma, Suzanne (my baby food friend mentioned in my last post)
Bryson was fun to watch...he loved the water!

His first birthday cupcake...we all felt sorry for him because it didn't have any icing! Suz claims it is because he doesn't like icing.

Michael enjoyed the hotdogs, doritos and cupcakes (with icing)!

Michael liked the big slide too and did NOT want to leave the party.

Homemade baby food!

So, my friend Suzanne came up with this "great" idea a couple of weeks ago...we could each make homemade baby food and trade. She has a little boy that is only a couple of weeks older than Kaitlyn. My job is green beans and carrots, and she will be making peas and sweet potatoes. It was a rainy day here in Bardstown today, so I thought I would go ahead and get my food ready and put it in the freezer. If she had not put me up to this, I would have quit earlier in the day!! I've got it figured out now, and it will be much easier next time though :)

Cooking the Beans and carrots...the easy part!
I gave Michael some crayons and a coloring book to keep him occupied...it later turned into playdoh, which he and Samson both tried to eat!

My little food chopper was not "cutting it" so I had to resort to my magic bullet, which did the trick. I later heard giggling from Mr. Michael. I turned around and saw that he took some of the packaging from the bullet and thought it would be funny to put it around his sister's head!

Poor Kaitlyn!

My kitchen was nice and tidy before the day began...this was after! Since I saved lots of money today, I think I need a shopping spree!

Our two little blessings

Here are some recent big brother, little sister shots. I just love how sweet they are to each other...hopefully this won't change!

Sorry we didn't get a good picture of Kaitlyn's face at the pool

Snuggling with daddy before bathtime

Kaitlyn, aka "Sissy"

Miss Kaitlyn is already 5 Months old!!! I can't believe how fast time flies. Here are some recent pictures of our little girl.

She is quite the little roller...I put out two blankets to give her some more room one day and she still ended up on the floor!
Her 5 month picture in a new dress Showing off a new bow from Stephanie at www.brilliantbows.com

Ryan is going to have a fit when he sees this, but I just had to put it on here. This is my favorite bow from my recent order and for some reason Ryan actually let me try it on him :).

She loves her first baby doll...I'm determined to make her a girlie girl

Her beautiful smile that melts our hearts!

"Momma, How many pictures do you have to take of me?"

Kaitlyn with MeMa Su-Su (as Michael calls her) on a quick 4th of July trip

Michael Man

Mr. Michael has been keeping me busy lately and is growing so quickly! He's quite the talker now. It's so fun watching him figuring out the world.

These are his two new hands. He takes these two vehicles EVERYWHERE!
Michael LOVES PaPa! Michael has asked for him everyday since he was here on the 4th of July

Michael's first trip to the neighborhood pool (look at the car and truck in his hands :)

He looks like a big boy with his hat on.

He currently has hand, foot, and mouth disease (which is bad news) and has not been interested in eating due to blisters in his mouth. He got to try popsicles for the first time this week...he liked it for about one minute then played with it

Here he is one day after sweating bullets outside. His hair was wet, so I just had to mess with it!

I love that smirk

Well, with his weight being below 30 lbs, he is supposed to wear a life jacket that has something in the back around his neck...the picture shows he was not a happy camper in it so it went back to the store and we found something else!

He LOVES putting on his daddy's shoes!

The picture says it all...the boy likes pasta