Labor Day

We went up to the Murphy's cabin/barn for Labor day weekend, to celebrate Jason's birthday. We had a great time hanging out and relaxing. Joel (Ryan's dad) has built a pool in the river for the kids to play in. It was so cool. We sat in the river and held on to their inner tubes while they had great fun. Jason and Ryan took the kids up to play by the rocks on Sunday and Ryan saw a water snake. Luckily I wasn't with them, or I would have freaked out. They got the kids away quickly and never looked back.

I think that the kids rode the tires off of the ranger and the 4-wheelers. The went all over the mountain on those things. They were constantly wanting to ride.

They have recently built a new cabin on their land, it's beautiful and relaxing. We stayed in the cabin with the Barber's while the others stayed at the barn or camped out. Tristen wants to sleep in a tent next time. So let's hope daddy wants to camp out :) We woke up to the sounds of 3 wild turkeys on Monday. I thought maybe someone was hunting and using a turkey call, but it was the real deal.
As soon as we left Tristen asked to go back to the mountains. Needless to say she had a blast.

Bella and our roadtrips

I thought that it's probably time to update a few pictures of Bella. She's growing like a weed. I can't believe that she's already 3 months old. Time really flys by. We've been on quite a few road trips in 3 months. We've been to the beach twice, Ohio once, and we went to Asheville Monday. We had a great time at the beach. My Aunt Pam and 2 cousins, along with their hubbies got to join us the 2nd time. The girls had so much fun, they were very entertained. My cousins are wonderful with them, the girls adore them. It was really fun, we don't get to see them too often. We did however get to see Jenna, Pam and Uncle Bill on Monday. We went to Asheville for a haircut and we spent the day with them. Tristen didn't want to leave, she wanted to spend the night with Jenna. :) Ofcourse she didn't understand why I couldn't drive 2 hours to pick her up in the a.m. Thank God we made it home safely, and Tristen fell asleep for most of the ride home. Parts of the ride were a little stressful, but a few deep breaths kept me sane.

We went to Ohio for a week over July 4th. We spent time with the family and Chris's buddies. Everyone got to see Bella for the first time. and the car ride actually wasn't too bad. They did get sick on the way home though. But we expect that now. Somehow they always get sick when we travel.

Bella and Tristen got to take a boat ride to see the fireworks. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of that :( But we did get some pics with family and friends. Tristen went on a few jetski rides, she thought that was cool. She called them boat rides :)





Bella had a fever yesterday. The girls tend to pass things back and forth. Tristen passed a form of hand-foot-mouth to Piper at the beach and now we got it back. She has little blisters in her mouth, but seems to be doing pretty well. She's a sweet baby. I really can't complain. She's healthy (until now), happy and she's a great sleeper. She loves her swing, bouncy seat, and her green passy. She keeps trying to sit up, it's really cute. Next time I blink she's going to be walking.




Oh, and Bella got her ears pierced at the beach too. She did really well, and I did too this time :) I cried when Tristen got hers done, but I guess I was more prepared this time. They look really cute, they accentuate her little pixie ears.



That's probably enough random stuff for one post.

Amazing

You've got to click on this link and watch this video. I couldn't figure out how to paste it where you could just click play. It's definately worth the extra step. My aunt Pam shared this with me. It's so inspirational, thanks Pam!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT7x3VnrqbA

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day we went swimming at mom and dad's house then over to Aunt Gale and Uncle Erik's for dinner. Of course aunt Gale had the margarita machine going (her specialty). We had a good time enjoying each others company and watching our crazy girls entertain everyone. There's never a dull moment when Piper, Gracie and Tristen get together.





The girls ate watermelon which they loved. I think they really liked spitting out the seeds. Piper got a hold of the chocolate cake. Needless to say her face was covered with chocolate icing, she's a trip. Gale also had bubbles and water guns for them to play with. The girls pretty much got everyone wet. Auntie Gale always has fun things for the girls to do.

Tristen's Birthday Party

Cool Cherry glasses from Belle

Grandma and Grandpa

Gracie, Tristen, Papaw and Piper

Happy birthday to you!

Cousin's Carly & Carissa

Makenzie and Gracie having their own little conversation

After Tristen was better we had her party the next weekend. Due to the reschedule most of her friends weren't able to make it, but the family was there and she had a great time. She had a pool party at Nanny and Papaw's house. It was an extremely hot day, thank God we were in the pool. It ended up being a better day for the party than the weekend before. The kids swam the whole time, except for when they ate cake and ice cream. Aunt Lindsay decorated Tristen's Ariel cake, and did a fabulous job. Tristen was really excited when she saw the final product. She asked for an Ariel cake for the next 2 weeks after her party.

Grandma and Grandpa even made the trip from Ohio. Tristen was sooo excited for them to come down. They even brought 2 of her cousins along, Carly and Carissa. She had a great time playing with the girls. I think they were all water logged by the end of the trip. We were sad to see them head back home.

Happy birthday T-Bird!!!

Tristen's b-day

This year Tristen turned 3. Wow, I can't believe that my baby is already 3. Ofcourse she was sick on her birthday. She used to get sick all of the time, but has had a long stretch of wellness (Praise the Lord). Just a couple of days before the big day she woke up in the middle of the night barking. The poor little thing was so pitiful. She could barely breathe and couldn't quit barking. I knew right away that she had croup. The Dr. confirmed my diagnosis the next day. Unfortunately there wasn't much we could do for her, we were told that it would just run it's course. Luckily it only lasted about 3 days, atleast the worst part of it.

We took her swimming on her actual b-day and couldn't resist letting her have her big birthday surprise. She was so excited when the shop door opened, revealing her Jeep. Her eyes lit up and she said "It's my very own Jeep." She ran over and planted a big kiss on the hood. It was too cute, and luckily I was able to capture the moment on video. She and her buddy Jack play a lot together and he has a jeep as well. They have a ball playing in them, so we knew that would be a fun gift. Her Nanny, Papaw, G-ma, G-pa, Mimi, and Meemaw, went in with us for the big surprise. Thank you guys!

Chris's Birthday

This year daddy is 32. We had a couple celebrations. On his birthday we went to Firebird's with our good friends Megan, Seth and Aubrey. We had good food and a good time. The girls played outside for over an hour at the mall entrance. They have a great time playing together and they're so stinking cute.

We had a family celebration at mom and dad's. Dad makes the best ribs...Chris's annual birthday request. Tristen helped me make daddy's favorite cake, Red Velvet. I think she ate most of the batter :) Yes her poop was red.

She's been helping me cook a lot lately. It's our very own "special" time together.

Happy Birthday daddy!