Memorial Day BBQ

Such a fun day.  I have the most wonderful family and I LOVE to spend time with all of them.  It is always a great day when we can get together!

Time to call it a night!  :)

Giving Thanks...

While this little one was praying...

He thanked Jesus for her...

and his little heart was so sincere...
Isn't it great to be loved?!

With the most sincere heart, I am so grateful for all of those who serve, and have served, our country to protect our freedom!
Happy Memorial Day!

What is your idea of beautiful?

This is what I call beautiful...

I adore these two beautiful little faces!

Uncle Dudes...

On Friday we went to dinner at my brother Michael's house...aka uncle dudes.  We had lots of fun!  I was so bummed to find my camera battery was dead upon arrival but thankfully Grammy got some super shots!  I will have to spread them out over several posts because there were too many to choose from!  ;)

My handsome dude...

My blue eyed beauty...

Madelyn and Gabs (great aunt Barb)

Mads and uncle dude...

Sistas...

Collin and his fav aunt Andi...

Kisses

Mads and uncle Dick...

Papa and his girl...

More kisses...

Four generations...

Some lovin for the fab photog! 

More to come...

Our Jannie Jannie

One of my favorites is here for a visit all the way from New Hampshire, Aunt Jan!!  Collin calls her Jannie, and someday Madelyn will too!  Jannie lives far away and we usually only get to see her once a year but she makes sure we don't forget her.  Jannie always sends us the sweetest gifts and is the best at finding something that suits the kids personality perfectly!  She has a heart the size of Texas!  We haven't seen Jannie since last summer so I wondered if Collin would remember her.  While driving to get our hair cut the other day  we talked about Jannie and how she was coming for a visit.  I asked Collin "Do you remember Jannie?" "Yes" was his reply which was followed by a few seconds of silence.... "I do remember Jannie, mommy, and I love her!"  Awww, we all love our Jannie!  

Girl talk...

Boy talk...

Books...

Mads was admiring Jannie

Thank you daddy for teaching me how to make this face 

because now I do it every time mommy takes her camera out!

But she still manages to catch a few smiles!

Love those blues!

An attempt at a siblings picture...

We are SO glad you came to visit Jannie!!

Can't wait to see you tomorrow!!

Let's go to the beach!

Today daddy had the day off and he decided we should go to the beach!  I thought maybe we should do naps first but daddy talked me into skipping naps (and that is HUGE for me) and off we went to Island Lake!

Collin fell asleep shortly after leaving the house,

Mads held strong and stayed awake the entire drive!

Daddy and Collin in the lake.

They look like they are so far away but they really weren't!

I stayed in the sand with Madsy girl 

and watched her play while I applied layer upon layer of sunscreen on her baby skin!

Filling the bucket...

Finding stones...

She had sand in every one of her little creases, 

and she has lots of creases!

After a very short break,

Collin kept begging daddy to go back in the water...

Of course he got his way!

What better snack to eat at the beach than goldfish?!

This little bathing beauty ran...

and ran...

and ran...

and ran...

which means her momma, 

ran and ran and ran and ran!

And this handsome dude was off with daddy most of the time 

which made it hard for mommy to take pictures of him!

But let me assure you that he did his fair share of running too!

Daddy and his girl...

On our way home...

Sweet baby couldn't keep her little eyes open a minute longer!

What a great day!!  All night Collin kept telling us "I had so much fun at the beach!"  Anywhere with these two is fun...well, almost anywhere!  :)