Beachy Post:)

I am one lucky girl:) To celebrate Mother's Day this year we made the short 1 1/2 hour trip to Emerald Isle for the weekend. ( I so appreciate how convenient it is to live so close to the beach!) Our Saturday was spent with our sweet friends the Braxton's on the beach soaking up the sun. Unfortunately we didn't get too many pics that day because we were so busy chasing kids:) But my girl's sure did love their 10 month old Knox and I loved getting to have his momma Jordan to hang out with:)

Day 2 ~ Aka~ Mother's Day was awesome. We spent it playing with the kids on the beach near fort macon and relaxing just the 5 of us. It truly was a perfect Mother's Day. Of course Hailey, who has been studying the pirate Blackbeard, was filling us in on all kinds of fun trivia. Like that Blackbeard's house, the Hammock house, is a few miles away in Beaufort and that his ship is, according to Hailey, underwater 12 miles off the coast at fort macon. I love that she is really into history like her momma:) We saw lots of fins in the water which were, of course, dolphins. Though you never know on the NC coast!. Tons were out Mother's day, jumping all around near shore. It was so much fun for the girls to watch! And the subject of fins brings us to our all time favorite week of summer~~~~ SHark week~~~. Yes, we know we have a couple of months to wait, but we are shark fanatics here and we anxiously await it every summer. And we are getting so close to summer! Just a few short weeks of school left for the girls and then off to Myrtle beach for our summer vacation! Can you tell I'm getting just a little bit excited for summer.... until then here are our pics from our beach Mother's Day!

Happy late Mother's Day to all of my fellow blogging mommies!! ( Okay, I'm a few days late but, hey, I'm a mother of three and part time worker bee. But I do try:)

My husband is.....

I've been wanting to do this post for a while now. I get so busy posting about those sweet little girls who fill my every waking hour, that my intentions get pushed to the side for another time. But, I think it is well past time that I took a few moments to devote to the person that was my everything before my everythings were born. You know, the reason why those precious little ones are here in the first place;)

So let me just lay it all out there...

My husband is
Hilarious.
Yes, I mean laugh out loud
Funny,
without even trying,
and that in itself is why he can just crack me up.
Most people,
think he's reserved.
They have no idea.
Those of us that are lucky enough,
to really know him,
get treated to his sense of humor a lot:)

My husband is super sweet.
Like almost too good to be true, sweet.
Like coffee when I wake up, sweet.
Foot rubs every night he's not working, sweet.
Brings my favorite candy bar home, sweet.
Stays up after working night shift to watch the girls,
so that I can sleep in, sweet.
First one to tease me out of an argument,
and make me laugh when I'm trying to be angry, sweet:)

My husband is
an awesome father.
I can see so much love in his eyes,
when he looks at our girls,
that it's unbelievable.
You can just see it in his eyes.
He spends time with them.
Doing things they like to do.
Girly things, like dolls, and making beaded necklaces.
Watching Angelina Ballerina and Shake it up.
When he has so little time to do things he likes to do.
And they love him to pieces,
because they can feel how much he loves them.

My husband is
my best friend.
The Best.
Really.
We put up with each other,
and think things are cute,
that I'm sure others would find annoying:)
Like how I always forget the words to well known sayings,
and then say them anyway. The wrong way:) 
Like how he will absolutely not ask for directions.
To anywhere.
I don't care how lost we get.
Or how he always rents action movies (uhg!),
and then trys to convince me that its probably got some romance in it too.
And of course it doesn't.
Or how I fall asleep before the ending
of every. single. movie. we rent.
even if I picked it out.
Always.
But best of all,
I can always count on him.
To save the day.
To say or do whatever it takes.
To make everything alright.

Do I think the stars lined up just right so that we ended up together?
Absolutely not.
I think God chose him for me and me for him.
Because He knew that even though we are not perfect.
We would be perfect for each other.

Things I am loving right now...

Right now I am enjoying a big cup of pumpkin spice coffee (my fave) and attempting to catch up on this blog that has totally taken a back seat to life lately. I am making a promise to myself to be more diligent about keeping this up to date from now on!!

So moving on to what I am loving right now....

Besides the obvious....The Loves of my Life...

(courtesy of my iphone:)

I am really loving this yummy coffee creamer

This equally yummy nail color from Essie

These ADORABLE leg warmers for Bella

Cuddling up with the loves of my life by this

And last, but not least, the only way we have a nice hot meal on the days my husband and I are both working. I LOVE my crockpot!

Oh, and I am practically salivating over this mixer!

A girl can dream can't she??


We also have an exciting new addition to our house in the works and I will have a post about that coming up soon:)  And of course Halloween is tomorrow and I hope to get that post up Tuesday. ( Heres hoping that since I put that in writing, I will stick to it!;)

Super great weekend in Myrtle Beach!!

This past weekend we headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for the Thundercats second national competition this year. And after much hard work and persistence these little girls are now first place national champions!!! Needless to say, Hailey was thrilled (and Mommy, Daddy, Marykathryn and Bella were too!!). Below are some pictures we took during the competition....











Not only did we have an awesome time watching our Thundercats perform and bring home the national title, but we also had so much fun enjoying the beautiful weather at the pool and beach....












Planet Hollywood was AWESOME!!.....




What a fun weekend we had and all three girls were so well behaved! Hope they are equally as good for our next trip!


The girls in their Nat'l Champion jackets!....




We are just so very proud of Hailey, all of her fellow Thundercats, and of course coach Stephanie!!!


And now we are looking forward to going to Baltimore, MD for another national competition next week!!

The little loves of my life.....

I Cor. 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails



Hailey
My oldest baby girl who I couldn't bear to let out of my sight for the first year of her life. The little girl who I have watched transform from a clingy baby to a confident, loving, heart on her sleeve big girl. My perfectionist, overachiever, independant, little mommy, helper. Who's inner beauty far exceeds her outer beauty.


Mary Kathryn
My sweet little Mary Kathryn. My cuddle bug, determined, big hearted, sharer. Ever loyal to her "sissies". The one who always gives "the last one" to others. Who wants to be just like her big sister and who's white blankie makes everything okay. Who I can't imagine a day without her funny antics and big hugs.




Bella
My littlest baby Bella. My "Bella bee". The pudgiest of my babies, good natured, smile warms my heart, angel baby. Who I still can't believe she is here. Who is worth every single "fussy time" or wakeful night. My pretty little, beautiful blue eyed, big cheeked baby girl.




Three of the biggest blessings of my life. The reasons that each and every evening when I go to bed I know I have something wonderful to look forward to the next day.

HaLLoWeEn Fun!!

This year we were lucky enough to have Michael home with us to enjoy all of the festivites of Halloween. I was grateful that it fell on his weekend off this year! We started Friday just after lunch with trick or treating at the local businesses in downtown Tarboro. The weather was nice and cool and sunny, so it was the perfect day for walking. (Well, we walked. Hailey and Mary Kathryn ran!) The girls had such a good time running from door to door and letting the employees guess what they were dressed up as. Both girls had on tutus I purchased on ebay for about $8 and the black leotards that I found at a consignment sale for 1 and 2 dollars. I bought Hailey a $5 leopard accessory kit and Mary Kathryn a pumpkin top headband from the dollar bin at Target. 29 cents for the felt to make Mary Kathryn's Jack-o-lantern face and I had two pretty cute costumes for less than $15 a peice! Since it worked out that we were out during Bella's nap, I dressed her in a cozy sleeper and she slept in her stroller while the girls trick or treated. (Her costume consisted of a white tutu and onsie with a ghost face on it and white tights and hairbow. Click here to check it out!) Afterward we had a late lunch at a local diner. I ordered the best homemade vegatable soup and pimento cheese sandwich ever! So good! Michael had a double cheeseburger and then helped me with mine. The girls wanted candy for lunch but I convinced them to eat a grilled cheese and they could pick a peice of candy for dessert!








Saturday night after Bella went down for the night, Hailey and Mary Kathryn's favorite lifeguard, Sara, came to babysit so we could go out to eat and to a haunted hayride. To say that they had a blast is an understatement! They are already begging to know when Mommy and Daddy are having another date night so Miss Sara can come over again! This was the first time I have left Bella with a sitter and I felt completely comfortable knowing Sara would take great care of her. Luckily, Bella stuck to her schedule and slept right through, so Sara was able to spend time watching movies with Hailey and Mary Kathryn. In the meantime, Michael and I had a great time with a couple of our favorite friends, Chrystal and Jason. The Olive Garden was yummy, as usual, and the haunted hayride.....well lets just say it was more funny than scary! Wish I had some pictures, but I was so busy relaxing and enjoying a night to ourselves that I didn't even think about the camera!

On to Sunday. The trick was on us! After church we decided to stop by the grocery store and do our shopping for the week. When we came back to my car to load the groceries; we had a very flat tire. Oh boy, 2 kids, 1 baby and a cart full of perishable groceries! Needless to say, that was no fun! So after we finally made it home we all took naps and rested up for our last night of trick or treating. After meeting up with Chrystal and Jason and their little boys, Gavin and Hunter, we headed out to let the kids load up on candy once more. I think the funniest part of the evening was how Gavin decided he wasn't going up to anymore houses because they were too "smooky" (spooky)! How cute!:)





I would definitely have to say that the best part of this Halloween was not all the fun things going on, but spending time together. I guess you could say one of the "upsides" to Michael's crazy schedule is that we truly appreciate the time that we do have as a family. I am already dreading that he will be working on Thanksgiving, but maybe the girls and I will whip up a yummy dinner for him for when he gets home!