Seven

Seven years ago we were blessed with our second grandchild!  What a blessing she has been! She is pure joy in a little package.  Lillian is slightly dramatic, smart, athletic, extremely tenderhearted, and a true joy to be around.  She loves doing everything her big sister does, and is the best storyteller around.  She celebrated with friends earlier this week, and we will all spend the day at the water park on her actual birthday. That was her request.  Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Our chunky monkey!  It's hard to remember her like this!




The dancing queen!




Just like her Nana-she loves opening presents!




Sweet and beautiful, too!

 Smart and snaggle toothed!!

She is busy with all-star practice right now.  We love watching her play.

Unless it's a fishing trip, she's always up for an adventure!

Lillian and Papa's birthdays were one day apart, and we always celebrated them together.  We will greatly miss him being here this year, but we will celebrate the wonderful legacy he left.  

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Memorial Day

What a wonderful weekend we had!  There is nothing I enjoy more than having all of my children and grandchildren here.  We enjoyed lots of good food, pool time, and a couple of trips to the river.


Pool time!  Even Beau got in on the fun! John Sawyer had a great time!

 Fun was had by all!

Big Sis!

Making homemade ice cream and playing with John Sawyer.  The top right photo is of one of the neatest things I've ever seen at the river.  Reed spotted these three planes coming water high around a curve.  Luckily, we were at the right place at the right time to see this.  It was quite a sight.

This one has still got it!  I predict she'll be skiing on one by the end of the summer!

There is nothing more fun than playing on a sandbar!

 I was so proud of this hard working mother of three!  She had a little trouble moving afterwards, but she did an awesome job!

 The girls tubing

Pop's co-captain and more fun tubing.

 And this is by far their favorite thing to do!  Everybody jump!

And on a much sadder note, we lost our sweet Gus this weekend.  He simply died of old age, which I suppose is the way to go.  He was a good and faithful pet for 13 years.  He was greatly loved, and we miss him terribly.

Awards, Graduation and Taking a Spin

We love following the grandbabies in all of their athletic endeavors.  However, this teacher enjoys following their academic journeys just as much! It means making lots of trips east, but I am very thankful that I am able to do just that.  Let me give you an example -last Thursday I spent the night there to attend the awards program. They came home with me for a long weekend. Monday I met Lindsey in Maplesville to take them back.  Tuesday, Reed and I went back to watch Reed's graduation.  I came back to keep John Sawyer on Wednesday, and then went back to Alex City Wednesday afternoon to go on a fieldtrip with Reed on Thursday.  They all came back with me again for the weekend. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Let's see if I can get this right-Maddie was the outstanding fourth grade student in Math, Presidential Fitness award and all A's for the year.  Lillian got an award for being the top first grade ELA student, and all A's for the year.  So proud!!

You go girl!

Very proud of this cutie, too!! Look out second grade!

And this cutie finished his preschool career at Jacob's Ladder!

Yes you did!!

Jacob's Ladder has been apart of our lives for the past 10 years!  Mrs. Kim is the director, and she has been just wonderful!!  We will truly miss this special place!

Headed to get his diploma!

Special guests!

Mom and her sweet boy!  Where you ask was Josh? Lillian had All-Star practice, and Maddie had martial arts.  He dropped them off and then rushed to graduation.

Nana and Pop loves this little one!

Big Reed and Little Reed

Lulu and Uncle Josh sent this car back for John Sawyer.  We've got to do a little detailing on it, and it will be as good as new!  He loves it!  He loves feeding Papa's fish, so right now it's up there.  It's the perfect place for taking a spin!

We play hard and rest hard!!

Summer is in full swing!! Next up, our first river trip of the year!

Sweet Summertime

This is truly my favorite time of the year.  I will forever be a school teacher at heart, and there is just nothing like sweet summertime!  Maddie, Lillian and Reed were here this weekend, and we actually spent 9 hours at the pool one day!  They did go in occasionally to eat, and Lillian made a tent under a swing and took a two hour nap.  But basically, we swam and played all day and into the night.  Then we ended the night with smores and catching lightning bugs.  Does life get any better than that?












But first, how cute is this? They both love being outside. My sweet family gives me a really hard time about my dog, but he really is a sweetie.  These two are buddies!

These two are also buddies!

After attending the girls Award's Program we headed back across the state.  We made a stop at Peach Park for a little ice cream and play time. Next post will be about the Award's Program.

About 5 minutes after we arrived home, they were in the pool.

The real fun began the next day when Uncle C, Aunt Tay, Tori, William and John Sawyer joined us!

Uncle C is the best playmate!

Fun in the little pool!

A little poolside snack.

Last fall, we cut every tree in the backyard.  The pool is warming up very quickly, which is great right now.  Probably not so much later in the summer. 

They will be back this weekend, and we are planning on doing another one of my favorite things-a trip to the river!!