What I love most about summer...

Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE watermelon. I love right after I cut it open and I see that it is perfectly ripe and the amazing watermelon scent fills the room. Over the years, I have perfected the art of cutting up a watermelon, not wasting a single slither of it (all our years on Summer Beach Project helped with that...I was the designated watermelon slicer at every "Beach Olympics" event...usually slicing at least 10 or more watermelons each time). I literally could live on watermelon alone. I remember growing up and there were many days that I would eat an entire watermelon on my on in a single day. I can still do that. Throughout the summer, there is rarely a day where you will not find watermelon in our refrigerator. It is a staple. The girls share my love for watermelon. For that, I am grateful :)

Chick-fil-a....officially an addiction

When Gran and HayHay come to visit, one thing is for sure....the addiction will be fed :) Above: Gran and HayHay just arrived and the girls were wheeling their suitcases in so we could hurry and get to the Chick!

Order of events: 1. Eat lunch inside at a table.

2. Go outside and play at the playground.

3. Finish with "Ice" cone. Yum.

Gran making all things better after Jocie fell down...

"Don't even THINK about taking my Ice from me...."

We love eating the cone first so then all of our "ice" drips out EVERYWHERE...

Daddy joined us after his final clinical evaluation review and was starving...of course, he got to eat in PEACE, as normal :)

For the love of heels....

The girls are obsessed with my shoes, especially my shoes with heels. I snapped these few pics of Gabbie strutting a pair. Hilarious.

She was trying to jump up and down. Too funny...

Fun in the Sun!!

We recently took a trip to Clearwater, FL to celebrate the engagement of two of Shane's classmates. The beach was beautiful and the weather was perfect. The girls haven't been to the beach since last August, so they were slightly hesitant at first, but after a few minutes they got over their fear and had a BLAST!

Jocie would stand at the edge of the water and when the waves were coming, she would flap her arms really fast and scream "here it comes, here it comes!!!"....hilarious.

Look at this face....it was like she thought she was "sneaking up" on the waves....

This is a perfect pic of them being twins, yet totally OPPOSITE...

John and Sandy...the newly engaged couple...congrats!!! We are SO excited for you guys!

The condo John's family had was right on the beach and also had a sweet pool and hot tub.

Love Gabbie's "pigs"...

Happy 11 Years and Happy Graduation...it's been a good month!

On May 8th, Shane and I celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary. I cannot believe we have been married 11 years....that's totally crazy! Yet, at the same time, it's hard for me to remember my life without him. He is the most amazing man, husband, and father that I know. I am incredibly grateful for him. He is my special gift from the Lord.

This past Friday, Shane GRADUATED from seminary!!! Yay. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Thank You, Thank You. Amen. Whoop Whoop. Ok, you get the picture....I am just a little excited that he is DONE!! He is excited as well, but I think I'm just a bit more excited than he is :)

HayHay and Gran came down for graduation and the girls got their fix of chick-fil-a and the hotel swimming pool. Thanks to the daddy that carries them/drags them/throws them up and down in the water. I'd much rather be chillin in a lawn chair :)

I know...you can't see anything in this pic, but I wanted to post it so I could remember it. Shane had the privilege of reading the passage prior to the graduation speaker, Dr. Sproul, speaking on it. He was actually very nervous about reading it, but he did great...no mispronunciations, long pauses, or anything...way to go, Shane!

The graduate!

Shane, his mom, and Hayward

Shane & Demetrius

Dr. Coupland (left) and Dr. Coffield (Right) are Shane's two counseling professors at RTS. This pic cracks me up because Shane looks TINY standing in between them!

After the graduation ceremony, I felt as though I had actually graduated as well (not necessarily with a seminary degree...just another kind that could be titled "I survived my husband going to seminary" degree). So, I thought it was appropriate to get a pic to prove it.

Congrats Shane! I'm SO proud of you!!

May Snapshots

I know that every kid has a "baby" that they can't live without...but mine have at least 100

"babies" that they insist on having with them every second of every day...here are just a few of Gabbie's babies eating breakfast with her. It's too funny :)

The past two weekends our twin friends have had their two year birthday parties. Needless to say, the girls new favorite food is birfday cake :) Here are some pics from Brielle and Kendall's Elmo party. They had a blast! The next weekend was Ellie and Kathryn's Minnie Mouse party. My camera broke (great)...so I don't have pics from that one yet.

Trying out the water....

Jocelyn kidnapped Elmo....

Gabbie was having so much fun she had to take regular breaks... :)

This is the most adorable pic!! Here are all four kiddos anxiously awaiting for the daddy's to get home (if there was room on the window seal, Amy and I would have been up there too anxiously awaiting their arrival as well :)

Jocie's signature cheese face :)

Chelsea is a former basketball player/friend from USA. We haven't seen each other in like 4 or 5 years! Her and her husband came to Orlando a couple of weeks ago for vacation and we drove to the airport to see them. It was SO great to see you, Chelsea!

While we waited for Chelsea and her husband to arrive, the daddy happily rode the "moving walkway" for 45 minutes constantly....it just doesn't get much more fun than that!

Please notice the cheese monster again....

And again...

And again....this time sporting her awesome Elmo big-girl undies and her pink sparkly high-heels. Classic.

She can do all things in her heels....

Josh has been staying with us the past few weeks finishing up his seminary classes. The girls LOVE "Uncle Yeshy" and also love to dress him up with the pink heels and babies (with real diapers on them) scattered all around. He will be leaving on Tuesday. I'm sure he will miss this SO much!!

Shane with the four kiddos. He looks SO happy :)

Sisterly Love..... :)

The girls love to eat their meal in their booster seats and then when they get done, they get to sit in daddy's lap and eat all of his meal, too. Not a bad deal, huh?!

The cheese monster cheesin' even with her mouth full of food....hilarious.

So, I had this bright idea to let the girls make some "homemade" mother's gifts for their grandmothers. I really was just going to get them to do their hand prints on some paper then we were going to make flowers out of them. Pretty simple plan I thought. I should have known that the paint was not going to just stay on their hands and on the paper. Why was I so naive? I went inside for 30 seconds to get a drink and when I came back out, they had paint ALL OVER THEM and ALL OVER the chairs, table and floor. Nice. It actually was quite funny. And since it was already everywhere, I just let them paint each other from head to toe. They thought it was the most awesome thing they had ever done! I am so glad it was washable. I got a few pics of the process, but by the end they were completely naked, so I chose not to post those :) Needless to say....they now ask to paint EVERY single day :)