Shanda!!!

There were so many people I wanted to see while we were gone that I shoud have made a list; and while I was with the people that we did manage to see, I should have tied my camera to my wrist. I'm kind of forgetful, in case you didn't already know this about me. If I didn't see you, I apologize.

I have good intentions, but my follow-through... I'm not a finisher. I did, however, manage to see Shanda, my long lost friend.

She is just as adorable as I remember her being. Now she's married and living a happy life in a town not too far from my in-laws, which made seeing her while we were there just perfect. The kids were thrilled to see her too. After we spent the morning together, she said, "Now, I'm gonna need A LOT of hugs!" not realizing what she was signing up for. So my little overachievers lined up and took turns giving her hugs. When they would finish hugging her, they'd run to the end of the line for another turn. All of them did this, even Kennedy. It was the funniest thing! Until five minutes passed and they were the only one that weren't tired of the game. I cut it off and hugged her good-bye and she went on her merry way. It was so great to see you Shanda! You, by the way, were the initial motivating factor for my daily blogging. And thanks to you, my facebook addiction is a thing of the past. xoxo!

Random Photos of Mawmaw's House

Breakfast on Saturdays is kind of like Sunday dinner at the Suttons' house. They make fried eggs, biscuits and bacon gravy, fried potatoes, sausage, bacon, and sometimes pancakes. It's an impressive spread that we get pretty revved up about.

We bought this keyboard from Musician's Friend, a music warehouse that a few members of the family work for. They sell damaged instruments for discount on top of discount prices. This little gem ended up costing us $35 because it was missing some software and an instruction manual. The kids had fun messing around with the demos and playing Zelda theme songs on it. Kennedy is turning out to be kind of a prodigy with all kinds of music. We'll see where she lands after some instruction, should be interesting.

This is Michael, April's son, and my nephew. He wasn't around much so I didn't get many pictures of him, so I was glad when I found this one. He's a junior in college and the sweetest guy, I just adore him. It's hard to believe he's 20. Whenever I see pictures of him I flashback to the early days when he was just learning to read and he'd climb up on the couch next to me and read me his books. Now he's a man; it's so weird.

Yesterday the kids asked me if they were supposed to call her Aunt April or just April. I think they are having a hard time figuring out where she fits on the timeline. She's older than Dale, but is WAY more fun than either of us, so she seems younger than me.


I LOVE THIS LADY~!!! She's nuts; you never know what's gonna come out of her mouth and we love her that way. She's some-kinda-crazy.

We did a lot of shopping and we found this cute baby at Kohls wearing the same dress as Leila so we stuck her in the cart and brought her home with us. She was just too cute to pass up! Just kidding. It's Deisha. We bought the matching dresses at Kohls, not her.

These boys are best best best best best best pals. Forever. I mean, they were in this picture, and on other occasions. Not all the time, but sometimes.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

I'm kind of a drag about stuff that I used to love. I swore it would never happen to me, but I grew up and had a whole bunch of kids and whenever I have a baby, I drag my feet about stuff that I should get excited about; stuff like being outside and swimming and walking in the woods. Stuff that kids love. And I always have a baby. Thank goodness for single, energetic aunts that know how to have fun.

After the guilt of not being awesome passed I was reminded of why I drag my feet. April and Dana took the kids to Wal-Mart to pick out some fun stuff to beat the heat. They passed on my idea to cover the hill in trash bags and make a monster slide down it, they passed on the $9 slip and slide, and they went with a pool for the big kids, a pool for the babies, and the super-duper-slideintothesharksmouth-awesome-slip-and-slide. They debated about the best placement for the set-up because of septic tank issues, and decided this side of the yard would be best.

Kennedy and April spent an hour in 100 degree heat pouring water into a tiny hole in the shark to anchor it so that the wind wouldn't blow it away. When it was almost full, Michael asked if they had a funnel somewhere. Turns out they did.
After everything was set up and the pools were full, the big announcement came that we were set-up on the wrong side of the house, and because of that, we wouldn't be able to empty and refill the pool. It would cause too much drainage around the tank. **sigh** I'm pretty sure April was about at the end of her rope at this point. That's when Kennedy came in and and said there was a hole in the shark head. **snort**

We decided to party anyway and the aunts and cousins came over decked out for some fun in the sun.
Mawmaw made coffee and dragged out the lawn chairs,

the kids all bathed in sunblock, and dressed up in their new suits,

and just when we thought nothing else could go wrong, Ronin jumped in the pool and threw up. In the pool.

My kids were freaking out. The grown ups scooped as much as they could but we knew we couldn't refill the pool so I'm pretty sure they only emptied a small part of the water so that they could still utilize the pool after all that work. They felt bad, but my kids were freaked and wouldn't get back in. We just had to laugh.

And I'll tell you why April's awesome, because she went in and got out the water balloons and kept the party going. I guess I'm glad we don't have a lot of warm days here because I'd have sent the kids to bed and curled up with some Ben and Jerry's way back when they found a hole in the shark.

The Winslows

You probably remember Marty and Amy from previous posts. They live in southern Missouri, Amy was 9-months pregnant, and they came all the way to Richmond to see us for less than 24 hours. **sniff** I love them.

This is Noah; he's basically awesome. He's the oldest of, soon to be, three girls. He has worn glasses since he was little bitty and after a miraculous surgery, the details of which I cannot disclose, he can see. I would love to tell you the story, but you'd have to ask Amy. She knows I can't remember stuff.

This is Anna. It took a long time for me to get a picture of her looking at the camera because even though she's not really shy, she was not interested in having a photo taken. She's just this adorable in real life.

And you have to meet Emma. Leila just ran in here in a frenzy and said, "MOM! Who's that cute giwl?? Who's that cute giwl? Hers so cuuuute!" She really is too. She talked to me on the calculator for a long time. We're bff.

Dale rarely holds kids that are not his own, so it surprises me every time. He makes me laugh.

I prayed for this friendship for a long, long time, and God does not disappoint. I can't tell you how thankful we are to have friends that are like-minded, having the same love for Jesus that we have. It makes me teary just thinking about them. We are anxiously awaiting the birth of their newest little one, so say a prayer for a safe and healthy delivery and baby. We love you guys!

The Suttons

I love country living. I used to sort of look down my nose at people who spent all their time sitting in the yard staring at nothing, drinking iced tea. Now it's the way I hope to spend the last half of my life; funny how people change. You may recognize Grandpa, Pawpaw, Dale and Marty.

There's no denying this little sweetness!!! She loves strawberries and she's mine.

This was taken before the sun moved and the trees were shading this half of the driveway. That's Aunt Marsha standing up and then Cousin Jamie is sitting on the end in the blue shirt. I just love this family. It's so fun to be a part of it.

Dana and Kennedy sat over there and talked for a long time. This is what she misses the most, no doubt, is being in the midst of the kids running all directions around her. Boo! Waaah! I miss it too!!!

These little gentlemen, I barely recognized. They belong to Cousin Lisa. Liam is on the left and Ronin is on the right. They were so funny! Liam is like a little ball of sunshine and Ronin is the typical firstborn, all business. So cute!

This is Aunt Angie with Jordan. I think he outweighed Deisha by at least 5 pounds, and he's 3-4 months younger. But boy is he snugly.

Kiera's picture is a little dark, but she belongs to Tracie, Marsha's daughter. She came across like a delicate little flower. I barely heard her speak until I ran into her telling someone to get out of the way. I guess when you're the youngest of four you better be able to hold your own!

Maybe it's just because she never got too far from me, but I ended up with a lot of pictures of Deisha. I threw our exersaucer away because Deisha never wanted to play in it. She wanted to run. But when she saw how much fun Jordan had in this, she had to try it out. It was hilarious to see her bouncing around in it. She seemed too big for it, but maybe I just threw it out before she was ready for it. These are the things that you would think I should know at the end of six kids, but whatever.

Oh yes, now here's Kiera again, and this time with Jade, Jordan's older sister. She is a hoot. This was so much fun for my kids to have all these cousins around them, all genders and ages.

Tracie is in the black t-shirt, she has the four kids my kids' age. Her mom is Marsha, next to her. Then Dana is sitting with Tre across from them and Kiera is in the background. I just love this family. Let me make a note here on one of the more critical elements of my trip home. Take a look at the table, do you see those giant Sonic cups? That's right. Sonic, baby! Every day from 2-4 Sonic sells all their drinks for half price. What's more is that there was a Sonic just down the street from Dana's house and my mom's house. It was so easy to just swing in there and get a Diet Vanilla Coke every day. I never drink that much soda, but have you ever had a drink from Sonic? How 'bout the ice, seriously? The ice alone is worth the stop! BOOOO! I MISS SONIC!

Anyway, more pictures tomorrow! xoxo

Third Stop: Mawmaw's House

We only lived in Missouri for a few years, but those years were so significant that I feel like I'm home when we're there. These are my adorable in-laws. I just love them. And I especially love when we are all here together in the kitchen, getting together a good ol' country spread.

And this is my awesome sister-in-law, April, whom I also adore. We had so much fun with her while Lonnie and Dana were working.

This is Grandma and Grandpa Welker. They came over for our homecoming party. You wouldn't believe the food at these gatherings. I don't think I've ever been around a group of people this big that could all cook! SWEEEET!

Here's Cousin Kaylee. She was just as happy as she could be to have some older girls to play with finally! They had so much fun with the Barbie collection in Mawmaw's basement. She has two brothers and a sister; I'll post pictures of everyone else at a later date.

This is Cousin Jenny and her little dude- Second Cousin Jordan. This is a giant, snuggly, marshmellowy, lovey dovey angel with huge blue eyes. He's precious! He also has a sweet sister, but I'll have to add more photos. I'm having trouble moving pictures around. Hopefully it will just repair itself for tomorrow's post. Happy Day to you!!!

Second Stop: Day Two

Meet the Conleys, this is Bert and Dallas is in the background making pizzas. I can't fully express how significant this family was to me growing up, so you can imagine how excited we were to know that they were hosting us for their famous Conley pizza at their house.

It felt really strange to see my kids playing with toys in the very same spot I used to park my Barbie car for the drive-in movie...

...and seeing them sprawl out on the sectional like it was their second home the way it was to me....

... was just pretty exciting for all of us, especially these twins in their brown(ish) dresses.

This is significant because this giant table still looks brand new even though we played ping ping on it, made forts under it, fought over which seat we'd get at meal time, and this is the same pizza the made our mouths water all those years ago. Still just as good as I remember it being.

It was just really cool to share this home with my own family. The kids even said, "Are they like family to us?" To which I tearily said, "Yes..."

Enter Jon Jenek, Sarah's new most favorite person, a title I did not easily relenquish!

Leila insisted on having this spot between Dale and Jon, which was so funny because she looked so tiny between them.

I think this paper/rock/scissors game was to determine who got the last little root beer. These two crack me up.

After dinner, I held off as long as I could, but finally kicked all the kids off the piano and took it over. The same piano we all used to play chopsticks and that old booma-chucka song on. Sarah took over when Deisha wouldn't cooperate. boo... I miss my piano...

Dinner was wonderful, the visit was delightful, and in the end I was thankful to be grown-up because my life is so rich and everything I hoped it would turn out to be. Thank You, God, for the small things. And thank you Conleys for a lovely evening!