Family Fun Day Outside

It was a beautiful day here in New Jersey.  That's right, we're in New Jersey again.  The girls and I got here last Wednesday.  We hadn't planned on coming until over the weekend, but my poor hubby pulled his hamstring, so we came earlier to help him heal up.  We are so happy to be together as a family again.  Today was a scorcher, in the 90s, but we still had a fun day.  We went to pick strawberries and then came home to play in the water hose.  Whitney had a blast at both, but our sweet little Lindsey, well, she didn't seem to have much fun anywhere.  She kept falling in the strawberry rows which got her mad and she screamed at the water as if she was being chased by...I don't know what, but she was terrified.  I'm hoping it was just because it was cold water.  I am so grateful for this day, my husband, my girls, my life...great day!

 Ready for the wagon ride to the strawberry patch

Whitney was such a good big sister hanging on to her sister so she didn't fall off

So, you know how you aren't "supposed" to eat the strawberries?  She was giving it away for us :)

Sweet Whitney

Cooling off with a popscisle

Yummy!

Sweet girl

They had many animals there, goats, chickens, baby cows, donkeys, peacocks, but Whitney's favorite was the rooster that kept crowing.  She loved it!

Water works at the house...Daddy had a little too much fun hosing down his girls.

Having fun...

Not having fun...Bless her little heart

So sweet

A Good Day

So my birthday was yesterday...31...Ben, unfortunately, wasn't here, but he spoiled me the day before with a brand new pair of sassy Ralph Lauren sunglasses, a Zune (Microsofts version of an Ipod) and we'll be going to dinner at a fancy restaurant in the city called, Per Se, in the next couple weeks.  He's super duper in my book!  The actual day was fun, I took off to go shopping for the day, then my BFF Mandy came over to make me a birthday dinner, chicken piccata and BLT pasta.  Yep, it was delicious!  And I had numerous phone calls, multiple versions of Happy Birthday sang to me, lots of emails, Facebook messages...So what I'm saying is...I was pretty much spoiled to the max for my birthday!  Maybe 31 isn't so bad after all...

Night Out on the Town

A big group of us went out to dinner over the weekend to celebrate my 31st birthday.  It really was just a "reason" to get out of the house and feel like adults for the night.  Outstanding!  We had dinner at Buckhead Diner, but that really was just a formality before the big star of the night, Cafe Intermezzo.  You can eat dinner there, but the star of the show are the two cases full of desserts.  I had the Oreo cheesecake.  Yummy!

Chad and Mandy

Chuck and Stacey

Kim and Britton

Jason and Pamela

Andrea and Bowdie

Barry and Christa

Who is that handsome fellow?!

Strawberries!

It's strawberry time! Today we went to pick strawberries, two buckets worth to be exact. Whitney did a good job picking (minus a couple small green ones) and kept saying "look mommy, this one is really juicy." She's so funny. We plan on eating alot of them and making some strawberry bread. Yummy!

Mother's Day

So, I know we are going to regret this one, but we didn't take a single picture this Mother's Day.  It was a really great day though.  Ben made me breakfast in bed, pancakes, eggs, toast, fruit and a caprisun to wash it all down...then Whit gave me a Pandora bead for my bracelet that she picked out, then we headed to church.  After church we went to lunch and then came home and had the best two hour family nap ever!!!  Unfortunately after our nap we had to take daddy back to the airport for the week...Boooooo!  But he'll be back on Thursday night.  We love him and miss him already!  Thanks for a great day hubby and sweet baby girls.  Mommy loves you!

Day Date at Durhamtown

Ben and I had a "day date" on Friday at his most favorite place in the world...Durhamtown.  Ben, of course, had his bike and we rented a 4-wheeler for myself.  We had a great time together and I loved seeing Ben having so much fun.  I did admit though, that it freaked me out a little to see him jumping the way he was.  But I was more comfortable with it as the day went on.  I sure think he's pretty good.  He was a great teacher for me as well and did a good job looking after me.  We didn't take many pictures.  He just took couple of me learning my ride and then at the end of the day all dirty.  We were so thankful for a wonderful day together!

Back in Jersey

The girls and I finally got to come up to stay in New Jersey this week.  We spent the week getting settled, shopping for bedding, kitchen stuff, just some of the little things you need to get a house up and running.  Ben and I also enjoyed some time together in the evenings which we haven't gotten to do for the last month or so.  Today we are leaving for Ohio for the week, then back to Georgia for a few weeks, then back to Jersey for a few more weeks.  It's quite the travelling circus...Here are some pictures of the house we are renting.  It is in a cute little neighborhood, close to places and is a definite upgrade from last years living arrangements! :)  We are still in the process of getting the basic furniture.  Right now we have a couch, love seat and the girls each have beds.  We are still sleeping on an air mattress, well really we stole Whitney's bed and put her on the air mattress, but she's young and can take it.  We have a few endtables, a dining room table and our bed yet to arrive, but thats really all the furniture we plan on getting.  We might get a couple carpet remnants as well.  It's going to be nice to have a house to call home this year during the season.  Kudos to the hubbster for finding us yet another great rental in yet another city.

Yes, that's a minivan in the driveway that I swore I would never drive.  It's very nice, but I'm not ready to get rid of my Sequoia any time soon.

What we are going to use as a playroom, to the right as you walk in the front door

The view straight back when you walk in the front door, kitchen, then living room

Dining room off the right of the kitchen

Living room

Whitney's room

Lindsey's room

Our room

Backyard

The Cast is Off!

Whitney got her cast off this week.  The doctor said her finger looks great, all the tissue is "viable" and she should be good to go in a few months.  She didn't want to use it much that first day, but she is already using it more and more.  Now we just have to get the collarbone healed...another couple weeks for that.

Cast off, soaking the finger in peroxide aka: "making bubbles"

You can't really tell much at all from this picture, but this is what it looks like now

Happy girl, excited to "have two hands now!"

Cupcake Birthday

We had a big 1st birthday blow out on Saturday.  All the grandparents were here, lots of neighbors, lots of friends, LOTS of cupcakes and sprinkles and lots of fun to celebrate our little Lindsey Kate.

Lots of cupcakes

This idea came from my friend Mandy.  It was really easy to do, but because it required three different trips to the grocery to get the mini cupcakes, it took alot longer to do than initially thought.  Can you guess how many dozen cupcakes?  7 1/2!  I thought it was only going to take a couple.

Smiley Girl

Still pretty happy

Katie Beth, Raleigh, Riley Katherine

Now, not so happy, not digging the hat...at all!

Still not happy

Ahh...food, that should make her happy.

Well, maybe not...

ok, finally pleasant and enjoying her first cupcake

Lovin' it!

Sprinkles, sprinkles...

and more sprinkles!

Whitney helped Lindsey open her presents

Loving her new puppy

More opening

The dads weren't so impressed with the presents

Pretty birthday girl

Miss Whitney