Congratulations Rachel and Paul!

Well, I was waiting for the 3rd wedding!! Since things come in threes, I knew there would be another one around the corner. Amber, Sarah, and now Rachel!!! Rachel and Paul got engaged this weekend at the top of Mount Mitchell. Rachel is so excited (I know Paul is too - I got to be in on the secret a long time ago during ring selection, but I had no idea when he was going to pop the question). They will probably get married next October is what she was thinking. She wants it to be when the leaves are changing colors. Very exciting!

My family - the comedians

Today my family decided they all had babies in their bellies. Aren't they so funny?!

Kaitlyn is 5 - Connor will turn 7 - Reagan will be 4

We went to Elkin this weekend to celebrate Kaitlyn's 5th birthday, Connor's 7th birthday, and Reagan's 4th birthday. We played at the park, had pizza, ate cake, did presents, and then went to the pool for some refreshing swimming!! It was alot of fun. Of course, I only have 3 pictures of the event. I took pictures with my brother's camera, so I will update this post once he sends out some pics - get crackin Kris!! These kids are all getting so big - it is so weird!!!

Harper loved this spout at the pool - I guess he felt nice and refreshed after sitting on the fountain!!

Dad and Matt couldn't resist the teeter totter!!

Carly, Chloe, Harper, and Sidney (Gina's sister's daughter - she is a month younger than Carly and Chloe) enjoying the teeter totter. The girls actually just went on one for the first time a couple weeks ago when we were out house hunting. The love it!!

Cleaning

We had some showings of the house last week, so I was vacuuming like crazy. Harper Banks had to be in on the action as well. I put my vacuum against this wall (mine is the yellow one) and a little later I walked by and there was Harper's. So cute!! I love how he likes to be with me and help me out all the time. Just wanted to document when he loved to help his Mommy - for later guilt trips!!

MMM - the smell of Dreft!

Last night I made Matt shimmy up to the attic and get down all the girls' newborn and 0-3 months clothes totes. AWW!! So fun! I pulled out all their clothes (and even put some in a yard sale pile - big step for me admitting that this is it!) and today was washing day. I bought a bottle of Dreft, the baby detergent you use when they are first born just in case detergents irritate their skin. The smell of that stuff in intoxicating!! When this baby grows up, I don't want to smell it again, for fear of wanting another baby!! If you have a baby or have used Dreft before, you know what I am talking about. Nothing smells better!!! I look forward to having my baby, dressing her in some good smelling Dreft clothes and cuddling her (of course once she is bathed and lotioned - ah!!!!!) I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Next of Kenn

To all my blog readers - Check out the blog to the left called Next of Kenn. This is my pastor and he is doing a malaria fundraiser soon. As many of you know, he had malaria this January and he was able to live through it, but there are so many that aren't. Read about his voyage and consider giving to a cause that is near and dear to his heart!!

My Ball

The other night we were at a Sunday School party and one of the kids came up to me and said the funniest thing. Little Miss Lenah (she is 2 1/2 yrs. old) stood in front of me and said, "Can I play with your ball?" I looked around to see if there was one laying around me and asked, "What ball?" And as cute as she could be, she pointed to my belly. "That one!!" All of us broke out in laughter and I told her it was a baby. That really didn't mean much to her, so I had to take her into the house and lift up my shirt. As soon as she saw that it was my skin (no ball to be found), she started laughing so loud!! It was the cutest thing in the world. She was truly convinced that I was stashing a ball under my shirt! I am going to miss my ball. Only 1 more month and my ball will be gone. I had to remind Matt last night, as he was complaining about my nightly back rub, that this would be the last time and that he should enjoy giving me my back rubs. I don't think it made it any better, but he at least stop complaining!! The girls love my belly. They love to feel their little sister kicking around. They wake up from their naps and want to just sit and love on my belly. They are so excited! A couple days ago, I had my weirdest child movement ever. My stomach got really hard, which I thought was a contraction, but it felt funny, so I put my hand on my belly. WEIRD!! I felt this baby's entire back!!! Ribs and all!!! It was so weird. I have felt the outline of entire feet before, which was really neat, but the ribs - crazy!! I am really going to miss being pregnant!!

Sarah's Shower

Today was Sarah's bridal shower! It was a lot of fun and it was great to celebrate Sarah and Tim's upcoming wedding! I enjoyed preparing for the shower and getting everything decorated. I must say though, I am definitely worn out. We had VBS all week at church and I did the crafts. So I have been non stop since Amber's Wedding!! Matt had a present for me on the kitchen table when I got home from the shower. It was a ped egg all wrapped up and a certificate for a foot massage. Isn't he so sweet!!!?? He said it was for this whole week of being on my feet. It is exactly what I needed. Now, I guess I have to get ready for a BABY!!! Only 5 weeks left! The Beautiful Bride to be!!!
The table settings - Carly and Chloe were drawing to keep busy!

The food spread

Amber's Wedding

This past weekend marked a big first for us!! We left our kids for the very first time for 2 nights!!!!!!!!! I was in my friend Amber's wedding and it was in Raleigh, so we packed the kids up and sent them to Grandma's and Grandpa's for the weekend! They were so excited to go on vacation to their house. I actually wasn't that bad off. I missed them, but we were so busy that we didn't have that much time to wish they were there. We got to Raleigh about 4:30, just enough time to check in our hotel, change and get to the church for the rehearsal. We then went out to eat to this restaurant called the Pit. It was an awesome barbeque spot (it was even on the Food Network for best barbeque places). We had bbq, beef brisket, collards (the best we have ever had), and beans - Yummy!! Saturday morning, Matt and I walked downtown Raleigh so I could find a place to paint my toenails (something that got overlooked at home). We called the kids to say hi, and my Mom asked them if they wanted to talk to us - in unison they said, "Na ah!!" So no, they weren't really missing us!!! At 10:30 that morning the beautification process began!! All of us girls went to the mall to get our hair and make up done. We then went back to her parent's hotel room to get ready together and eat some lunch. We took a huge expedition limo to the church and then to the reception, which was on NC State's campus, called the State Club. The reception lasted until about 11:15 and we were off to our hotel for bed!! I slept in on Sunday to 7:45!! It kind of stunk that I was so big being pregnant, because I have to get up in the morning to get my body adjusted for the day. Kind of painful when I wake up, so sleeping in isn't an option. We ate breakfast at the hotel and headed home. The kids were kind of glad to see us, but they definitely wanted to stay! It was a lot of fun!!

My Hair (this was actually taken at midnight so it was falling out and bobby pins were sticking out, but you get the gist)

They had a photo booth at the reception so here is a pic of our picture strip. It was really neat.

Amber and me - Amber looked so beautiful! The sour apple dresses looked so nice too. Mine actually fit!! I was so worried that it wouldn't, but it was great and no, it was not a maternity dress!! They were very comfy. We held bouquets with hot pink Gerber daisies in it. So pretty!

My husband and I all dressed up! With baby in the middle!

The cake table!!! YUMMY!! There were 8 cakes - 4 flavors: snickers, orangecicle, an Italian cake, and blue moon. They were so yummy. Matt tried 3 out of the 4. He liked the orange one the best.

8 Years!!

Yesterday, July 7th, Matt and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary!!! I can't believe we have been married for 8 years - time sure flies when you're having fun!! I am so thankful for my wonderful husband and best friend. It is crazy to see how much our lives have changed in the past 8 years, and we can't wait to see what is in store for us in the future! Matt is such an awesome man and I love every ounce of him (yes Matt, even the obnoxious ones!!) So what did we do to celebrate such a wonderful occasion? Matt cooked me crab legs and then we did some chocolate fondue - Yummy!!! We ended the evening with a movie, and of course I fell asleep during it! We are also taking off to Raleigh on Saturday for a wedding that I'm in and we are going to spend some nice quality time together. Anyways - here is a pic of us to document our 8 years together!

Happy 4th of July!!

This year the girls were so excited to see some fireworks! We had planned to just stay in the neighborhood and watch the ones here - they collected money from neighbors, so we knew it would be a pretty good show. Well, we also have some new neighbors (3 younger guys renting the house next door) and they said they were going to have a really good show too. So, at about 6:45 we had the kids outside playing trying to burn off time until it got dark. The guys next door just couldn't control themselves and had to start lighting some off. This scared them to death!!!! They were not expecting that at all! Chloe took off into the house, Carly buried her head into Matt's lap, and poor Harper was in the middle of the yard mowing, so he had to abandon his mower and took off screaming!! At this point the girls said, they were done with fireworks and wanted to go to bed!!! So we went inside, got baths, and ready for bed. Harper went right to sleep (he did need Daddy to go in there and hold him a little bit to unwind). The girls and I made some firework pictures and then headed to bed. Of course they needed us. I couldn't deny them some security - they were petrified!!! As we were snuggling in, Chloe looked at me, rubbed my arm and said, "You're nice Mommy." Oh!! Sweet girl! She just needed us and I am so glad we were there for them. We laid there for a while and all was quiet outside as everyone was awaiting the 9 o'clock hour. No go. They were not going to sleep. They are too big now to know that more were coming. I told them I was going outside to watch some and they could either come or stay in their beds. They came - cotton in their ears and all. We had to cover their ears and smash their heads against our chests. I had Chloe and Matt had Carly. We tried to give them their glow sticks that they had to have for the big show. Carly had a long one death gripped in her hand and it looked like Matt had an antenna! We watched for a little while and they just were so tense, I felt so bad. So we headed back inside into our bedroom. We opened the blinds so they could see the ones outside and we turned on the TV and watched the fireworks in NY and DC. They loved this!!! They liked the music and the quiet firework display! I even let them snack on some Cheerios. When I brought them the Cheerios there was someone singing on the TV and they said, "Mom, this is our song." It was the song Big Girls Don't Cry!!! So funny. Anyways, we watched these until about 11:00 and all was quiet in the neighborhood. They were pumped at this point, but managed to go to bed. It was really fun to stay up and enjoy the night with the girls, even though the beginning was really rough. And the past 2 days all we have heard about is how they want to go see fireworks!!!

Here they are with their glow sticks enjoy the show on TV in our bed!

Happy Birthday Harper!!!!

On Monday Harper officially turned 2!! Kind of felt like he has been two for a while since we celebrated it so early. I had planned on making him grits for breakfast. He loves cheesy grits!! I usually make them around 9:30ish for Matt and myself and he gets on Matt's lap and eats with him (his 2nd breakfast). Matt had to go to work at 7:30 and Harper got up early around 7:15. So, Matt ran in and snuggled with him on the couch before work. Matt said, "So, Harper what are you going to do now that you are 2?" Harper says, "Eat grits!" It was so cute! So I jumped up and started making him his special breakfast. Then Harper says, "Daddy and Harper eat grits!" Well, that was enough of a guilt trip for Matt. He left to go to work and not 2 minutes later he was back in the kitchen eating grits with his boy! Harper did say he wanted to sit in his highchair and feed himself - I guess when you are 2 you are a little more independent!! That afternoon we headed to the aquatic center for an evening of swimming. Kris, Connor, and Kaitlyn were in town so they came with us. When Matt got off work, he picked up pizza and brought the cupcakes that we had made earlier that day. Harper loved when we sang to him - he loves to blow out candles. Then we came home and gave him his presents. It was a fun day for our special boy!!

Harper and his grits! (sorry the pic is sideways - can't figure out how to twist it)

The Party Crew!!

Harper sharing his ice cream cone cupcake with Daddy - take a look at Daddy's nose - he is just as messy as Harper!

Harper got a Black and Decker tool bench with tools, a train set, and a magnet boy thingy for his birthday. He loved this hat - it had to be on the whole time. He also had to help assemble the tool bench. He laid on his belly and was tightening screws with Matt - it was so cute!