Girls' Trip 2018

We had our 4th annual girls' trip last week!  We had two sweet baby boys join us this year. :)

 

 

We were very last minute nailing down a date and finding a place to go.  We were pleasantly surprised when we got to our condo!  It was perfect!  It had recently been remodeled and it was clean and decorated minimally!  Just like we like it! :)

Lots of help getting ready! :)  Why do girls always like someone else to do their hair!?

It was such a needed time away.  We laid by the pool reading "for fun" books!  What a treat!

Mariah had  fun with Elliott in the pool.  He wasn't thrilled with the water but it was a little bit cool!

Sweet little fellow!  The babies were both good for us!

McKenzie , Madeline and I enjoyed daily runs on the beach.  Mariah enjoyed staying back keeping the babies and watching her favorite old television shows!

We also took long walks.....

                                                 Me with my oldest.

                                                             Sisters...

                                            Isn't he the cutest!?

 We enjoyed pizza one night and they even had gluten and dairy free options for Madeline!  I can't say hers was as yummy as ours.

Boat ride on the river.

 

We walked through the candy shop and didn't buy a thing!

AFTER we got on the boat she announced that she doesn't really like boats. :)

Watching a barge pass by.

"I see you wear Chacos… tell me about your adventures."

 

 Morning hangouts on the porch.

                                                  Two worn out baby boys.

We had dinner at one of Paula Deen's  restaurants.  Mariah enjoyed the white bread... guilt free! :)  The joys of youth!

The food was ridiculous!  This was what McKenzie and I ordered.  We could have split one meal.  Since it was our last night we were able to take it to Matthew.

 

Finishing another run...…

We stayed at the north end and had the beach pretty much to ourselves!

Sweet little Elliott getting lots of auntie love!

We walked the pier one evening. 

Snuggles with "Aunt Nana"!

 

Another trip.... more sweet memories...

~Until next time.....

Mother's Day

I got on here to write a post and saw that I never published this one!  That pretty much sums up my crazy life right now!

Mother's Day was very sweet this year.  The grandbabies got dedicated at church.

 

We also had a dedication for "Baby L" after the service.  The pastor did such a sweet job. (For those that might have missed the post we have a brand new little foster baby with us right now.  Praying that things work out for us to have him permanently and one day I can share more about him!)

Matthew bought me this beautiful andevilla  and he even did the planting for me!

After church we went to eat at Freddy's!  McKenzie and I both decided we wanted to do that.  It was quick, the kids like it, and our kitchens stayed clean!

Macheus saw that "Bubbie" gave me a flower so he went outside and picked one to give me. :)

The pictures didn't upload in the right order .... :)

After church Marc and the kids all gave me sweet gifts and I laid on my bed and visited with them.  It was a very relaxing afternoon!

I ended my day with a swim at McKenzie's house. I took Macheus with me and enjoyed some time with him.

 

~Until next time....

Spring projects...

I always gear up for projects when the school year winds down.  I recently cleaned out our office/classroom.

 

I painted the walls a soft gray color that looks much cleaner than the tan  that it was before!  I threw a bunch of stuff away and it is a more peaceful atmosphere now.

Books!  The one thing that I rarely declutter!  This is our G. A. Henty collection and some of our other wonderful books that we all enjoy so much!

These windows had sheers on them for years.  I took them down and liked it so much that we left them down!  Nobody can see in our windows from the road anyway so it is so nice to have this view during school!

Then there is our bedroom.... I wish I had taken some before pics.  Along this wall there used to be two small walk-in closets.  We have another large walk-in closet and all it did was allow too much space to keep too much stuff!  Our son-in-law busted them out a couple of months ago!  I wish we hadn't waited so long.

I ended up hauling a ton of stuff off to donate and figured out other places for some of the stuff.  It has worked out just fine not having those extra closets!

When he busted them out we had no idea one of the walls was where the plumbing for the upstairs bathroom was. :(  It was a stressful few minutes.  I should've taken a picture of Daniel's face when he realized it. Marc hired a plumber to come out and reroute it and all was well. Of course, that makes it sound super simple and it wasn't, but at least it was workable!

He talked me into doing the accent shiplap wall.  I really like it a lot!  I figure if I ever get tired of them we can always go back to sheetrock.

 

We also are slowly replacing popcorn ceilings. Ugh... why on earth does anyone do those!  Along with the new ceiling we put in a new ceiling fan. It is lighter and cleaner looking than what we had before, and I sold our old one and made a chunk to go towards the new one!  Score!

I love projects like this!  It always makes me clean stuff out that I might not otherwise take notice to.  I also kept my walls a little more bare and I like that.  We did the same gray in this room and it is a very airy and peaceful look now!

Well, that is all for today!