And Another Birthday

My mother-in-law's birthday is September 16th. So we celebrated her birthday Saturday night at Carrabba's. We have been going to Carrabba's for several years now, and we just keep having to get a bigger table! This year we needed seating for 14 plus a high chair plus a sling for the car seat. After dinner, we played, opened presents & had cake & ice cream at Nanny & PawPaw's house. A good time was had by all!

The Craziest Thing A Mother of Four Can Do

Last Friday night I stayed up until 5 a.m. Okay, so its not the craziest thing in the world, but I had a good reason. My nephew was born! Griffin Dale Crotts was born at 2:50 a.m. He was 8 pounds 12 ounces & 20.5 inches long. I was so excited to meet him. I was surprised at how excited I was. I guess that helped me stay awake so late. I had Nolan with me at the hospital - and he was a champ. Jennie was a champ, too. It was not an easy birth - but well worth the effort!

Mountains Again

Last year we went to Sky Top Orchards with the Davis Family for honey crisp apples - my favorite. Last weekend we did it again. We didn't actually get any honey crisps - they were all gone before we got there. But we did add a stop to our trip. We took the kids to Pearson's Falls, the same falls I saw a few weeks before with my mom & sister. The kids enjoyed the hike & falls, we had a picnic lunch, then picked apples. A full day!

Stephanie's Wedding

Stephanie's wedding was beautiful & too quick! It was a joy to spend the weekend with Grannie Annie, Aunt Donna and my sister Amy. It was also pretty exciting to manage 4 children at a wedding! But it was definitely worth it - especially on the dance floor! I'm sorry I don't have a great picture of Stephanie in her wedding dress - I was a little too busy to get a great one.

Bridal Luncheon

Getting Ready

Cutting the Cake

Cutting a Rug

Mountains & Monkey Joe's

A few weekends ago, my mom took two of my sisters and me to the mountains for a last weekend away, before Stephanie's wedding (more on that soon). We stayed in Saluda and visited Pearson's Falls, had a great dinner at a cafe in Saluda, shopped and just enjoyed some peaceful time alone together before all the chaos of the wedding started. I did take Nolan with me, but I got a mini-vacation from the rest of the kids. Dan the super-hero Dad kept the kids and they had a blast with Daddy.







After such a peaceful weekend away, I decided it was time for a trip to Monkey Joe's to get myself back to reality! I slid down the big slide with Nathan - I haven't been able to really play with the big kids in a long time because of two pregnancies! And Ava played in the kiddie area for the first time. We met the Brooks kids there, and Rebecca and I actually had some time to talk!

New House Report

My parents met us at the new house a couple weeks ago to see the progress and Mom had a great idea. She thought it would be fun to write scripture verses on the 2X4s before they were covered with insulation and dry wall. Then my new house would literally be built on the Word. So over the past two weeks I have been thinking about the purposes of the different rooms of our new house and finding scripture that goes with it. I've gone to the house twice to write on the 2X4s and came home dripping from the heat both times! I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to think and pray over the new house this way. Great idea Mom!

Showers and Sleep

We have been enjoying some "showers" in the back yard. The kids love to run in the sprinkler & Ava even joined them one night last week.


Ava cooling off...

What Dan looked like...

I also had the privelege of showering my sister Jennie on Sunday. My sister Stephanie & I hosted a baby shower for her at Encore - a local restaurant.