17 years is furniture

You told me the traditional present for 17 years is furniture. I had no clue, but of course, that is exactly who you are. So how do we celebrate, by shutting down a furniture store and eating ice cream. I ❤️ you, John Asbell.

Golden Birthday

This was Luke's Golden Birthday!! Nine on 9.9.19!!

Luke...it's been a great nine years.

 

Luke celebrated his ninth birthday with great friends at Urban Air.

But all he wanted more than anything was an Icee. 

Luke, we love you more and more each and every year. You are funny, passionate, loyal, observant, and trustworthy. Your laugh can literally light up a room. Our family is better because you are in it.

Delayed Kindergarten Drop Off

As mentioned in my last post, Evan has been coming to school with me since 3 months old. So the thought of dropping my child off at a campus that I was not on...well...it scared me to death. I was finally experiencing what all the other mother's experienced dropping off their child for the first time, and it was horrible.

Not only that, I couldn't drop him off on his first day of middle school. My momma heart almost couldn't take it. Thankfully, John jumped in a was super dad. What I love is that every child at St. George's starts their school year with chapel. John went and Evan was given his patch that he will wear on his formal dress blazer for the rest of his SG career!

I did get to take this cutie to school. I am glad I have 3 more years before he leaves me too! 3rd grade is going to be a great year!

Eleven Years

E L E V E N years.

11 years ago this happy, chunky, bald baby walked (or was carried) into St. George’s for the first time as a 3 month old. I had no way of knowing what the next decade (plus one) would hold for him at this school. I couldn’t have fathomed the best friends he would make right there rolling around on the carpet in the infant room. No way I could have seen the lessons of character, perseverance, and leadership he would learn from his teachers, friends, and classmates. Never would I have known what healthy risks his school encouraged him to take and the confidence and pride he would exude from that. I couldn’t have imagined him learning how to shake a hand properly, write and give a 7 minute long speech to 200+ people, build a boat out of cardboard to float across a pool, dance and sing on stage while reciting lines from his curriculum. I couldn’t have known he would become that amazing boy he is.

He walks into a new campus at SGIS for middle school. He begins a brand new chapter with new challenges and unknown hurdles. He’ll face those with his friends, classmates, coaches, and teachers right by his side in a place that will encourage, nurture, and allow him to find his way. Thank you SGIS.

Best Zoo Trip EVER

If you are lucky, you have those friends in your life who are lifelong friends. The friends who have been through it all with you. The friends who no matter how long you have been away from each other, you can pick up right where you left off. Those people who you say, "those are my people."

And then your kids meet and they act like they have known each other for years.

We took a trip to the zoo with this crazy crew. It was so much fun that Evan and Luke deemed it "The Best Zoo Visit Ever."

Even though we've gone to the zoo a billion times, my kiddos have never taken a camel ride, until today!

And when you deem it the best zoo trip ever, you have to CHEERS!

Summer Highlights!

We are a summertime family. We love everything about summer. This summer was no exception.

A cast didn't stop us from a lot of water activities!

Gran had a great birthday! And in the words of one of the boys, "I am so glad you lived another year!"

We had a lot of family time!

And A LOT of Poppy love.

We ended our summer vacation with a trip to the lake courtesy of the Williamsons!

Summer of 2019...we didn't want you to end!

21 Pilots

This was a year of first concerts!!

Evan has been a huge fan of 21 Pilots for a long time. When tickets became available via a friend, we jumped at the chance to take both boys. The tickets were in a suite, so I knew Luke would be more comfortable, especially given his reaction to Evan going to PATD earlier in the year. 

We were lucky to be able to invite some friends AND met up with some friends who were already there!

The old people enjoyed the concert too.

Da beeeeeeach!

The boys have talked about going back to the beach since we left last year. They wanted to stay in the same condo, eat at the same restaurants, go to the same venues...what can I say? They are creatures of habit!

I actually found a newly renovated corner condo in the same place we stayed last year. The corner aspect allowed me to engage in my favorite activity, people watching and sunset viewing. We took any meals we ate out on the patio. It's my favorite way to dine at the beach.

Moms of littles....y'all. I have some words of encouragement. You WILL get there! I promise. Our first years at the beach were hard. It was full of chasing kids, lathering the constantly with sunscreen, temper tantrums on the beach, kids refusing to eat out, exhausted kids but more exhausted adults. Your time will come!! 

Our kids were so independent this year at the beach. This trip can be clearly defined at the Skimboard and Sandcrab year. There was no shortage of these two activities.

Evan even 'taught' this sweet little girl how to skimboard.

After dinner strolls were some of favorite times.

Our food was amazing, yet again. We tried out a couple new restaurants but kept some old favorites on the rotation. Whiskey Bravo was a new one that we will definitely be back to!

 The Hub, Perfect Pig, Grayton Brewery, Old Florida Fish House will OF COURSE always be on the list!

We somehow started telling each other riddles at dinner while waiting for our food. I don't even remember how it started, but each time we sat down the boys would ask me for a new riddle. Most I had to look up on my phone. One evening, the boys asked our server if he knew any good riddles. He pulled a chair out and started in on one of the most elaborate riddles I've heard. He gets to the end and simply stands up, pushes in the chair to go help his other diners. The boys thought it over and solved the riddle. As soon as they gave him an answer, he launched into a new one. I have NEVER seen anyone pull out two complicated amazing riddles like that. More importantly, the time he spent with the boys was above and beyond!

There was a hurricane on its way into town. There were two days of double red flags. This meant no one was allowed in the water. On the second day of double red, they didn't even set out the beach chairs. That was okay because the weather was still nice. We headed into Panama City Beach for an afternoon of money spending fun.

We also got to meet up with some friends who actually live in the same state. I mean, when you have to drive 8 hours to see friends who live 3 hours away....

And of course, there was a ton of awesome beach time.

And if you don't handstand on the beach, were you really even there?