Baby Showers

Bryan and I have been blessed with wonderful friends and family! We were given 4 baby showers for Miss Madelyn! My fellow second grade teachers gave me a shower at work (I forgot my camera that day!). Then my family gave us a shower (I took my camera, but mom ended up taking all the pictures on her camera....you can see them here.)

Next our sunday school class gave us a shower at church (finally have pictures!). We are so blessed to have a great church family that loves us like they do!

Cale was putting on a show!!!!

Finally, Bryan's mom and sister gave me a shower. Again we feel so lucky to have such great people in our lives that love and care about us.

Cale ooohhhed and aaahhhed over everything! He was hilarious!

Mallory is due just 2 weeks after me, so we thought we would compare bellies!

4th of July

Every year we load up and head to Mom's for the 4th. This year was fun because the whole family was there. We ate and played in the pool all day. The little kids had a blast, but I think the big kids had just as much fun. They played pool volleyball for 3-4 hours! I, on the other hand did a lot of eating and watching :)

What I did most of the day! I did move into the shade to watch the pool fun :)
Too cute! He didn't last long in them though.

Boys against girls!

My sweet boy. He was fairly timid in the pool until the last hour or two. Then he finally was brave enough to move away from the steps.

He even let Daddy throw him up several times.

After lots of eating and playing, we head over to my Aunt Chris's house on the beach for fireworks. Cale is scared of fireworks so he and Bryan stayed in the condo while we all went down to the beach to watch the fireworks.

First Beach Trip of the Summer

We FINALLY made our first trip to the beach this past week. Yes I know, we live in Florida and most Floridians have been to the beach multiple times by the beginning of July, but I had my reasons. First off, I am 8 1/2 months preggo. Not exactly flattering in a bathing suit! Second, Cale was TERRIFIED of the beach last year. It is way too much work to go to the beach if he isn't going to like it. And in my condition, I cannot pick him up and that is what he would want if he had been scared.

But I finally decided to suck it up and go. My friend Heather was in town staying with us and she was excited to go to the beach too, so I had help! Plus Mom, Daniel, Jessica, and Caleb were all going too.

So we loaded up and headed to the beach. As we got there, he just wanted to slowly take it all in. He was a little anxious as we moved closer to the water, but it was low tide so we were able to stay back from the water a bit and he was ok with that.

He ran and played in the sand for a while.

Caleb, Daniel, and Jessica were playing in the tide pool. After watching them for a little while, he decided he would join them. As soon as he sat down he was so excited!

Laying back to get his hair wet :) Then Daniel, Jessica, and Caleb moved down to the water. Well of course Cale had to check it all out. He certainly didn't want to be left out, but he wasn't too sure about joining in yet either. He and Heather moved closer to the water where they stood and watched for a while.

Then Uncle Daniel came over and talked him into jumping waves. It was all over from there....he was hooked and would have jumped ALL day if someone would hold his hands!

After a bit he even let Uncle Daniel take him out further in the water. All-in-all I would say it was a great first trip to the beach. Now I won't be so hesitant to take him back, but I still won't be going by myself!

Swim Lessons

Cale took his first round of swimming lessons this summer. He did great for the most part. We had a little melt down on the last day, but he still got in the pool and swam. His teacher, Miss Kristin - or Sara Gayle's momma - as Cale calls her, was wonderful! I think that it really helped that he knew her.

He learned to talk to the fish (blow bubbles), listen to the fish (put his ear in the water), scoop candy (use his arms), kick, and put his face in the water. I am very proud of him and what he learned. We will be using Miss Kristin again next year to develop his skills even more!

Tow Mater

Tow Mater has made a trip to Hilliard! He is staying at Seldomridge's in town. Bryan and our friend from Tennessee, Heather, took Cale to visit him last week. I was taking my certification test, so I wasn't able to go, but from what I hear, Cale LOVED it! He told them that he wanted to take Mater home with him :)

If you have little ones, you should definitely take them to visit Mater!

Happy 4th of July!

Wishing everyone and safe and happy 4th! We are celebrating with a pool party at Mom's and fireworks on the beach. Stay tuned for pictures.....

I'm Back!!!!!

I know that I have been MIA for quiet a while! But as summer is here, I am finishing up my masters....can we say WHOOOOHOOOOO!!!!! That has consumed the majority of my life for the past two years, not to mention being a mother of a two year old, a wife, a teacher, and part time cake decorator! No wonder I have had NO time for extras like blogging. And to really add to it all, I am currently 8 months pregnant :) That is one big reason I want to get my blog going again!


In the past month I have been working on creating a photo book for Cale (since I never was able to make his scrapbook!). I got the idea from a sweet friend, Jobeth, to do a book a year. She does a page with pictures and narrative for each month. So I took on the job. Well, Cale is almost 3 now and remembering all of the details of his first and second year were almost near impossible. That's where the blog came in! I was a faithful blogger back then and it really helped me finish Cale's books. I want to be able to do the same thing for our next little one.

So starting today, I am making an honest effort to post to my blog once a week! Here are a few (and I mean a few) belly pics of my pregnancy so far. The old "you never take as many pictures with your second child" is already ringing true for us. I only have a few belly pics this time. Maybe because the second pregnancy doesn't feel as flattering for me as the first!

Miss Madelyn Ruth is expected to arrive August 15th!

15 1/2 weeks

22 weeks

28 1/2 weeks