Long Weekend Fun

Good Tuesday morning!  I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.  It was nice to have an extra day to our weekend, but it sure was hard to get up and going for school and work this morning.  I sure do hate that 5:45 a.m. alarm.

 Here are some highlights from our weekend: 



Clemson won!  Go Tigers!!

Isn't family time the best?

Before you go, you have to click over here to Style Me Pretty to see pictures of my adorable cousin, Edward, and his equally adorable fiancee, Caroline.  These were taken this past summer on our farm and dock.  They make me want to go have a tomato fight...go see!

Back to School

The kids started school last Wednesday, so that means that we have been back to reality and routine for a full week now.  We have had time for some of the newness to wear off, and the kids are realizing that we are actually back in school. You know, homework has started.  Mornings are early (really early).  It's not all fun and games.

Summer is so much cooler.

Tyler - 4th Grade

Sanders - 2nd Grade

Gibson - Kindergarten

But!  There is something to be said for being back in school with all your friends -- definitely no boredom around here anymore!  There is something to be said about that old routine that gets everyone up and going in the mornings -- no more laziness!  And we have so much to look forward to with this fall -- football games, trips to Clemson, birthday parties, field trips, lots of holidays, lots to learn, picking back up with our Bible group, a few more waterskiing weekends before it cools off.

Okay, school days aren't so bad...

More Summer...Now That It's Over

The kids went back to school today, and I am not exactly sure where our summer went.  I feel like ours takes a long time to get going with all of the farming that happens at the beginning, and then - BAM! - it's over.

Of course, it is plenty long enough for the kids to get tired of being with one another and start bickering nonstop, so there's that.  School is definitely a welcome break from the constant arguing and meanness that can come out of too much together time.  Or is that just my kids?

But, anyway, let's catch up on the rest of summer...

                                        

I got this picture from a friend who used to work at our packing house.  He was in Philadelphia and happened to see this while walking down the street.  If you will notice, you can see two of our tomato boxes (the Seasides) in the picture!  It is pretty cool to see that your produce reaches so far away!

I don't think I ever introduced you to Mary Beth, our babysitter, or the person who spent the most time with the kids this summer.  Thank God for her, really.  She was such a blessing to us and our babies.  She kept everyone entertained, and it is so nice to know that your children are entertained when you are working ridiculous hours and can't spend any time with them.

I did get a chance to have a movie date with my three favorite little people.  We went to see Madagascar 3 in 3-D.  We went to Five Guys, got frozen yogurt, saw the movie, the whole nine yards. It was a nice little break in our summer routine.

The kids had a blast celebrating the Fourth of July in a little golf cart parade they have every year near my in-laws' beach house.  My kids were on a float with their cousins, and I think they came in third in the parade.  Mary Beth helped them make their patriotic t-shirts.

There were swimming lessons again this summer, and although everyone could swim pretty well beforehand, they are all swimming like little fish now.  I am a huge believer in lessons every year -- they can only get better!

We got in a little visit with our good friends Mark, Jen, and baby Jane.  I hate that they live so far away and we only get to see them in little bits and snatches.  The kids loved meeting Jane, and I loved getting the chance to catch up with some sweet friends.

Do you ever look at your children and wonder how in the world they got to be so old?  I have been wondering that a lot lately, especially when Mary Beth sent me these pictures from their recent hike.  I am telling you, these people look like little grown-ups.  When did that happen?  WHY are they growing so fast?

 I am really enjoying my time with #shereadstruth.  I look forward to my quiet time every day.  We are now on a study of Proverbs.

Brad has finally gotten to a point where he has slowed down.  I have even gotten him to do some reading -- which is amazing, if you know Brad.  He has read the entire Hunger Games trilogy.  I think I am going to move him on to Gone Girl next.

The kids have gotten to spend plenty of time with cousins.

Speaking of growing up, we have had two birthdays in our house.  Sanders turned 7 on August 2.  She and I enjoyed a special Mommy/Daughter day for her birthday -- full of shopping and eating, perfect girl stuff!  This girl is beautiful and fun and loving.  I hope she always stays exactly the way she is.

And Gibson turned 5 on August 13.  Like I said, where did my babies go?  I have had a bit of a hard time that my baby is five-years-old.  I had a hard time when he turned two, and I am having a hard time again now that he turned five.  Five just seems so old, and kindergarten, too?  When I pretend cry and tell Gibson that he is too old, he tells me that he is still my baby and that he always will be -- so then I really do tear up.  He knows how to get his mama, and if he wasn't fifty pounds and too heavy for me, I would still carry him around like he was my baby.  He is a sweet, loving boy, too -- although he definitely has that rough and tumble boyness to him.

I don't know what Brad and I did, but we got some good babies...but talk to me in their teenage years, I may have changed my mind by then.

I went back to blonde, in case you were wondering.  For now.  My plan was/is to be dark in the winter and light in the summer, but with what a pain it was to go back blonde, it may just have to stay blonde.

Finally...we ended our summer with a nice little family vacay.  We went with my sister and her family to Islamorada.  I want to do a full post on that soon (maybe my one post in September!!), but for now, I will give you the Instagram version of the trip...

We left at 4am Saturday, August 4...obviously not everyone was awake at that point.

We pulled Hunter and Joe's boat down there, and with all of the stops for gas and then once we hit major traffic on US1 when we finally got down to the Keys, it ended up taking us 12 hours to get there.  Brad was really excited about that...especially because he had to drive the entire way.  I do not pull trailers behind cars.  Period.

But, it was worth it:

Oh, and we took Mary Beth, which was an awesome idea.  She was a major help and pretty much just part of the family.

We caught lobster and fish and ate them both:

And we basically had the most relaxing time ever before having to come home and face a new school year and the reality of routine.  I am already trying to plan next year.

So that was our summer...how was yours?

The Usual Catch-Up Post

I never mean to allow three weeks between my posts, but life just seems to go by at warp speed these days -- especially now that it is spring and blueberries are ready and we are getting ready for our season on the tomato farm.  Work has been taking up most of my time lately, and we won't even talk about how much of Brad's time it is taking up already.  You know it's bad when your child (Sanders) says to you "you know how you're always at work, and we are always with Kaitlyn (the babysitter)?"  Talk about a knife through a mommy's heart...and why don't they seem to notice that Daddy is always at work, even longer than Mommy?

Anyway, here's what's been going on, aside from work, since last we spoke.

Tyler got her braces on.  She already had the expander and some sort of contraption in the bottom, but now they have added brackets on her top permanent teeth.  She has been a real trooper through it all, and she has been great about brushing and flossing and all of the fun extra dental hygiene that comes along with a mouth full of metal.  And turning the key in her expander was really no big deal -- I was prepared for the worst, but she was a rock star as far as that went!  I am so proud of her.

I have cooked some good recipes that I wanted to share through some links...

These buffalo chicken rolls were awesome.  And easy.  Two words I love when describing a recipe.  

This Roasted Tomatoes with Shrimp and Feta makes my mouth water when I think about it.  It is easy, too, if you can get past peeling the shrimp.  I am the world's worst shrimp peeler, so it takes me forever.  I try to always have shrimp when Brad will be home to peel them, but I have done it twice for this recipe...it's that good that I will go through the effort! 

This pasta is an old standby, and I love, love, love it.  I could eat it once a week, I think.  

This past weekend I went to the wedding of one of my best guy friends from high school.  If you count the fact that our mothers went to lamaze classes together, I have known Justin since we were in utero, so he is really one of my oldest friends.  Justin married one of my brother's old girlfriends, so it was all of my old friends and Graham's old friends in one place.  It was great to see so many people from high school and to catch up on everyone's lives.  Most of us keep in touch pretty often, and we all know how Facebook makes the world so small, but I hadn't seen some of my friends since college!

Most of the weekend you could find the kids and me here...

We finally got to spend some time at the beach when it was actually warm (last time we went for the afternoon, it was freezing!) -- in fact, it was pretty perfect.  The kids are at an age where I can pretty much sit in a chair, look at a magazine, and relax.  (Of course, I keep my eyes on them, but I don't have to be quite as crazy about it as I was even last year; they just are growing up too fast.)

We also enjoyed our first watermelon of the year, but what do you know, I grabbed a seeded one from Brad's packing house.  But, at least the kids got to practice their seed-spitting skills.

Spring Break 2012!!

It's Spring Break around here, but sadly we don't get to do anything like this:

or this:

this year (or any year for that matter).  Instead, this is proving to be my busiest work week yet this year, Brad is gearing up to pick blueberries early, and the weather isn't quite as warm as the summer-like temperatures we have been having recently.  

But, I do hope to work like crazy for the first half of the week to try to get at least a little bit of time to enjoy with the chickens before they go back to school.  I'd love to try out this new fro-yo place in a nearby town and take the kids to a movie...I'd love to get to the beach one day (if it's warm enough!)...I'd love to get Gibson some summer clothes since he has grown like a weed over the winter...I would love to spend some time reading books, watching movies, and playing outside with the kids at our house before I get too busy and can't...I'd like to enjoy spring break!

One thing I am enjoying, though, even if I am having to work like crazy?  Sleeping past 5:45 am!  That early alarm is going to be a tough pill to swallow next Monday morning...

Recognize These People?

On January 1, I told myself that I was going to be so much better about taking pictures of my kids this year.  For the past couple of years -- really since Gibson has gotten to be older than a toddler -- I have kind of fallen off the picture taking wagon.  I will do really well for a couple of weeks or so, then I won't take any.

But, I've done worse...much, much worse.

I have hardly taken any pictures since my commitment to take pictures.  So, I got out my camera while we were playing in the yard the other day and took some quick pics of the kids being silly -- and I re-committed myself to taking more pictures...let's see how long it lasts!