Celebrate Good Times!

Grandpa's back...

This time for a very awesome reason.  Here we are toasting to Grandpa closing on his house in Ocean Springs!  Woo Hoo!!!!  We are thrilled he is moving only minutes away from us.  Luke is doing "the sprinkler" his new trademark move.

The awesome view from the restaurant, had to get a little beach time in after school :)

Here it is...Grandpa's new house!  And look palm trees!  He has three in all.  The house is perfect, the kids can't wait for Grandpa to move in.  They have already played hide and seek in all the closets and bathtubs so Grandpa already has dirty little kid feet prints in his new tubs.  We are thrilled to have Grandpa moving here and look forward to all the memories we will make with him here...oh and the meatballs, and orange dreamsicle jello and the fried cookies.  I gotta go, I just got hungry.  

Tunes and Tubes

The kids at The Shed, an Ocean Springs original.  We were there to attend a concert and enjoy some BBQ!

We listened to a bunch of our friends perform in their respective bands but my kids could barely control their excitement for Jade Sanders;)

Here she is!  Mark my words, she is the next Taylor Swift.  She is a sweet young girl from Ocean Springs, she writes all of her own songs and music.  The kids adore her and know all of her songs by heart.  Actually, Steve and I sing along too, she's great.  Check her out on youtube.  Her first album comes out soon!  

The next day it was tubing time with the Patinos.  Woo hoo!  The kids have gotten a lot braver since last year and were begging to go outside the wake so they could catch some big bouncy waves.  It was a beautiful day out on the boat.  

Alex and Addison, best buddies.  

Look who went tubing!  Although Andrea almost flipped out the back of the tube when the boat started up cuz I told her we wouldn't really have to hold on.  Whoops.  

Love these two, buddies since 2 years old.  Luke and Isabella:)

What's not to love about a cannonball on a spring day?

These Irish Eyes are Smiling..Albeit a little blurry

We had a great St. Patricks day.  We headed out to Horn Island with our friends the Kahles.  After all that swimming, dolphin viewing and beach play, Addison once again konked out on the boat ride home.  We've almost had the boat three years now and Addison has logged many naps on our little boat.  Although this year she has added the diva sunglasses.

Oh boy, then it was on to the St. Paddy's day pub crawl.  Annual tradition for our supper club now.  Here we are doing green jello shots.  Thankfully we live so close to downtown that we can walk home from pub crawls...and we did ;)

Here I am in line for the bathroom, all that green beer has to go somewhere.  Thanks hubby.  Lovely.  

The boys.

The ladies.

The Boskos :)

Baby chicks

The chicken craze has gotten out of hand in Ocean Springs...it seems more of my friends are buying chickens everyday.  Although I DO NOT want chickens myself, unless of course they are fried and crispy on my table, I couldn't pass up the kids playing with them.  Apologies for the Iphone pictures again, blech.  Luke was a little timid about holding the chicks but he gave it a shot.

Addison of course loved the baby chicks and proved it by trying to hug the chick to the point of squashing the life out of the poor little thing.

And then there is Amelia who would probably love to grow her own chickens and pigs and cows and be an artist/farmer and live off the land.  

Really adorable but see the roll of paper towels?  Chicken poop, lots of chicken poop.  

Yup, she's mine

My 2nd grade class picture.  

Amelia's 3rd grade picture day.  Continuing the tradition of sleeping in pink sponge rollers, just like her mommy.  Also continuing the tradition of needing major orthodontia work.

First Tooth

Luke lost his first tooth!! 

Handyman and the Readers

Hours.  Seriously, hours spent reading these two.  

How are you three, my sweet Addison?

Luke helping Daddy change out a light fixture upstairs.  "Mommy, mommy come see how we are changing the light.  Mommy, hurry, hurry!"  I ran up the stairs with the camera and right after I took the picture, CRASH.  Luke dropped the sconce and it smashed into a gazillion pieces on the bathroom tile.  On the upside, it was the old light fixture and not the new one and the upstairs hallway really did need to be vacuumed anyhow.

Swimming and bird watching

We recently joined a new gym called the Kroc center and it has been awesome.  The complex has a fun pool complete with water slides, lazy river, water guns, lap pool and zero entry pool for Addison.   This is the kicker, it is $41 a month for a FAMILY membership!!!  That is for the pool/fitness center/child watch/outdoor track/volleyball/basketball/ you name it.  I remember when we were newlyweds in Chicago and my single gym membership was $180.  Crazy.

Amelia and Lizzie, church buddies.

Luke with kindergarten pals, Isabella and Phoebe.

A view of some of the complex.  Crabby kid solution: just add water.  Happy kids x 3.

Addison outfitted in her favorite bird watching outfit.  I love this girl.  I know for a fact she will be the death of me but man, she is hilarious.  

Grandpa Steve visit

Grandpa Steve came to visit for awhile and we loved having him here.  Father and son got lots of bonding time playing catch, fishing, going on bike rides and cooking together.  

Grandpa got lots of hugs and kisses.

Addison showing Grandpa that she is a pretty, pretty princess.  Sometimes Addison takes to calling Grandpa nicknames such as Grammpy, Grandpa Stevie, Dude, Stinky pants.  Such respect she has for her elders!  

Odds and Ends

Addison has decided to start dressing as a princess since she already has the diva attitude down pat.  I am just waiting for her to make me call her, "your majesty."

Addison acquired a sweet little playhouse from our friends the Neffs.  She loves it!

Fishing after school...still waiting for them to bring us home some dinner.

Girl scout cookie delivery time!  Lucky Amelia had two little helpers eager to assist.  I just want to deliver the cookies to our neighbors pronto before I eat my way through 7 cases of cookies.  I have no doubt I could do it; I never back away from a challenge.