Cousin Day

Aunt Stacie met Aunt Daph and her crew at Oakes Farm Pumpkin Patch while we were at the game. For quite a few years we had a tradition of all of us going to the pumpkin patch so I was thrilled they got to go with their cousins. Stacie said they had so much fun. The pictures should show that! Then they headed to chic-fil-a for lunch. Gaines invited Lucy over to Aunt Stacie's for Halloween crafts. Gaines started in on this idea with Aunt Stacie as soon as we arrived on Friday. Will and Josh went to Mamaw's for some playtime without the other cousins. I love that they all have each other. Will was soooo excited because he was going to get to spend the night by himself at Mamaw's without Gaines. Big time! He kept reminding Gaines he got to go alone. Mamaw said he did great on his first sleepover without Gaines except when he woke up with his head stuck under the bed!

Cousins 2013
Will (3), Josh (3), Emma (8), Lucy (4), Riley (10), Gaines (4)

Aunt Stacie and her boys!

Lucy and Gaines time at Aunt Stacie's house

Josh and Will time at Mamaw's House

Will's first sleepover at Mamaw's house. he did great!

Friday Night Lights

We headed to Knoxville for the weekend and our first stop was Uncle Rob's football game. Rob is the principle at Fulton High School - Go Falcons! Will was so excited and Gaines was for about 15 minutes. The boys are spoiled rotten and don't even know it. We got to play some football on the field during warm ups and watch from the sidelines. Gaines  started whining as soon as the game started so I took little Christy to the concessions and we sat in the stands and got some snacks while watching Will cheered on the team from the sidelines. I Love watching Will around any sport - he is just smitten. He is into running plays. He says, "ok I'm Peyton (manning of course), you are the wide receiver, and you are the running back lets go!" Uncle Rob and Daddy are in heaven with their sports fan. It was a perfect fall night for football.

We Are Family

We told the boys today our big news on Baby O coming but they had to keep it a secret until my fam came over for dinner. They were sweet. Will was instantly really protective of baby and punched Gaines for getting too close to my stomach. The plan for the reveal was Gaines was to lead charades and then do baby to share with the fam well needless to say they did not really get it until Gaines screamed out "No, we are having a baby." I'm not really sure my dad has smiled since. No offense Baby O he just sees more work in his future! Mimi just laughed and shook her head and Nonni well she does not do well with surprises. We did get a great video though. Enjoy!

Not sure where the video went!

Unexpected

This morning the boys came into our room extra early, as in before 6am, and I got up to go to the bathroom and this is when our lives changed forever! I was supposed to start my period the day before and I was getting a little anxious because in the past year my period has gone from 28 days to 38 days so I usually have a pregnancy test handy so I took one and it happened to be the fancy one that spelled out your results. So at 6:03am, it spelled out PREGNANT! Oh my goodness my heart went into my stomach. For the past three years, I have talked about wanting a third but have not had the courage to actually make the decision to go for it and Garrick and I had finally decided we were done having kids and I was truly at peace with it. This feeling came after we had an amazing and relaxing vacation with the kids. Technically, Garrick has had that "peace" since Will was born and thought I was crazy! Well, needless to say I should have jumped on that birth control pack! I was seriously freaking out for so many reason but mainly out of just plain fear. Fear that my baby would not be healthy. Then the fear of the house issue we have been dragging our feet on for literally a year. I kept saying we really have no pressure to move...well now we have that pressure. It is all overwhelming! My family is going to be so surprised. My Dad might pass out. After crying in the bathroom for a good 20 minutes I went downstairs to catch up on my Bible Study for tonight and God literally jumped right off the page to me.

So now I am just going to breathe because I have no idea how to do go through this regular Sunday like life is just the way it was yesterday!

You are already loved and God has a plan for you. You were meant to be.

Everything I read just kept easing my nerves and I knew no matter if this was not my timing this was God's timing.

4th of July - Greenville, SC

We celebrated independence Day in Greenville, SC this year with Uncle Lee, Aunt Taffy, and Kalee. They moved here last summer form Houston for Lee's job. This was our first time to visit and absolutely loved it! Their house and neighborhood is so cute with all back driveways and cute courtyards for yards, pool, green space, a huge pond, etc. All over the country it poured down rain for the 4th and we got it too in SC but despite the yucky weather all weekend we still managed to do everything we had set out to do. I fell in love with downtown Greenville. We went to the Farmers Market, hiked around Falls Park in Downtown, went to a minor league baseball game, ate and played. It was a really good trip but I am ready to be home for a while. We have literally been gone since the first weekend of June.

The boys went firework shopping with Daddy and Uncle Lee

Will fell in love with Daisy. He just followed her around. I'm so thankful he is getting over his fear of animals.

First time setting off fireworks on our own. Will did not like the noise and Gaines was all too comfortable with it. They both liked the sparklers.

Kicking off the festivities with some poppers. Will figured it real quick! Take Cover!!!

Love this pic of Kalee and Lee - such daredevils!

The rain is back

First Sparkler ever.

Tanks

Will did not like the loud ones at all.

Feeding turtles at the pond looking for the Great Turtle that legends talks about but did not see it!

Gaines rode the golf cart immediately. We finally got Will on with Garrick.

Napping - this is Garrick's mickey from his childhood.

Ridiculous...

We got one pic at the Falls before the storm rolled in.

And the rain came down again

At the Greenville Drives baseball game

Falls Park in downtown Greenville and the Farmers Market

We walked and walked and walked and after we left the park Will decided to cool off in a fountain.

Love this pic of the boys.

they did not take naps on Saturday despite our efforts! At one point we looked in and they laid with their arms around each other. Didn't last long but it happened!

Our drive home took 7.5 hours instead of 6 because of wrecks, traffic, and weather. MISERABLE!