Annie

Back in the spring, Aunt MerMer asked if we wanted to go see "Annie" when it came to Dallas in June.  Originally, we bought tickets for all five of us to go but Parker ended up having a baseball tournament so he and Cory didn't get to go.  The girls and I met up with Emily and her kids, Meredith, Craig, and Craig's niece Tatum who was visiting from Oklahoma for a fun afternoon at the theater.  

Our seats were pretty high up but the kids still enjoyed their first Broadway play.  Eden may or may not have fallen asleep during the entire second half of the play but she still said she like it!  The only thing that would have made it better is if they had served popcorn during the play!

Our Girl's Afternoon Out wouldn't have been complete without a little ice cream on the way home!

I sure do love spending time with these two precious girls of mine and I can't wait to take them to more plays as they get older!  Thanks Aunt MerMer for a fun afternoon!

BClan Reunion 2015

Today was our annual BClan reunion at Heath's house.  It was great to visit and catch up with all of Cory's high school friends and their families.  Our kids are all getting so big and have a lot of fun playing and swimming together.  Lily especially enjoyed playing with Walt's daughter, Emily, who is just two months older.  I did a horrible job taking pictures this year and only took a few.  Here is our annual family picture and the group picture of the guys.

The only other picture I got was of Eden going down the slide for the first time.  Until today, she has been too scared to try the slide but today she faced her fears and did it!  Cory and I were both so proud of her! 

It was a great day and something that we all look forward to all year!  Thanks again to Heath and Brende for being such gracious hosts year after year!

VBS 2015

The kids have just finished a great week of VBS (or "DVS" as Lily insists on calling it!).  They've enjoyed going each day and couldn't wait to tell me about all the fun things they did when I picked them up. 

I am so thankful to my friend Carrie who took some pictures of the kids during the week since I wasn't there to take any myself.  It was nice to get a little peek into their week!

As always, the kids had a GREAT week at Mr. Reed's VBS!  He always does a great job and it's something we look forward to ever summer!

Florida Beach Vacation- A Few More Pics

After going through all the pictures, there were a few that I forgot to post so I thought I would do one last post with a bunch of random stuff!

 

First, the girls were THRILLED to learn on the first night that they unknowingly had matching pajamas.  Addison and Eden had heart gowns and Lily and Aubrey had butterfly gowns.  You wouldn't think that something so small would be so exciting but I guess when you are between the ages of 4-7, things like that can be the highlight of your day!  And I bet you can guess which pajamas these girls wore the ENTIRE trip!!!

The house we stayed in was perfect!  The kitchen was big and updated and the balcony was great for sitting out on and visiting at night.  But the two favorite things in the house were 1) the bunk bed room and 2) the air hockey table.  Perfect for our six kids!

The kids all love their Uncle Craig but unfortunately we don't get to see him very much.  This trip was the first time we have been able to spend some extended time with him since the wedding (it's usually one day here and one day there).  We all enjoyed the week with him and Meredith so much!  And it was fun to watch him with the kids.  From boogie boarding with Parker in the ocean to reading with Ryan before bed, he's just so great with the kids and is going to make a great dad one day!  Congratulations Craig!  You survived your first Rhone vacation!  I hope it's the first of many to come! 

And finally... our vacation would not have been the same without our "littles"!  They both made our trip so much fun and kept us on our toes!  It's too bad they don't have any personality!! 

And that's a wrap on our Florida Beach vacation!  I'm so thankful for the opportunity to give our kids new experiences and make lots of memories and I can't wait until our next family adventure!

Florida Beach Vacation- Days 9 & 10

The last two days of our trip were uneventful... just lots and lots and lots of driving.  We were able to get pictures with the last two state line signs which made a grand total of four new states to add to our kid's travel logs.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch in Mississippi and stayed in a nice hotel in Louisiana but it was so nice to be home in our own beds again on Sunday night.  It was a great trip but it's true what they say... There's no place like home!

Florida Beach Vacation- Day 7 & 8

The last two days of our trip were spent enjoying as much beach time as possible. We mostly went to the beach at night just to avoid the intense daytime heat, which was better for both the kids and adults.  We also enjoyed walking around the local farmer's market on Thursday morning, an adults-only lunch date at Stinky's Seafood on Thursday afternoon, and taking the kids for an ice cream treat on Friday after lunch.

The kids favorite thing to do at the beach was boogie boarding.  Even Ryan and Lily figured out how to catch a few waves by the end of the week!

Uncle Jon was a trooper!  It was rare to see him relaxing on the beach.  He spent most of his time out in the water helping all six kids learn to boogie board.

On the last night, the kids found a small dropoff in the water and spent most of their time marching off the dropoff and "falling" into the water.  As always, it's so fun to watch them interact and play with each other.  There is never a lack of fun when our cousins are around!

 

It was so hard to leave the beach on the last night and I would be lying if I said there weren't any tears shed.  The kids did not want to get out and probably would have stayed well past sunset if we had let them.  Our first beach experience was definitely a success and a lot of great memories were made last week.  I don't know when we will ever make it back to the beach but I know they are already looking forward to our next trip whenever it may be!