4th of July

This was the first year since we've lived in TN that we stayed home for the 4th of July. It was not recommended by my Dr. that we make the long trip up to MI like we normally do, due to me being 34/35 weeks. I guess she had a point :) We missed the lake, family and festivities that go on up there over the 4th. But we had a wonderful relaxing weekend at home spent with friends. Thursday, July 2nd was the fireworks display in the town we live in. And we were able to view them from our backyard-how nice is that...no traffic to deal with. We had our friends the Hockings and Lemons join us for the night. The kids had a blast swimming first, then we did our own fireworks and sparklers while we waited for the BIG ones!! All in all a great time!

The Hockings

The Lemons

Preggos: Jenny Sue, Jess, Jenny

Our little Swimmer!!

Michael has always LOVED the water. I think he gets it from his dad who is also part fish. The past two weeks we put him in his first official swim lessons. They met M-F, 9:30-10:20. And he absolutely loved every second of it. Not only did it help him intentionally put his face in the water, he is now diving for rings and swimming exclusively on his own. He's so proud of himself and so are we!!!

We predict it won't be long until Andrew follows suit. He tries to copy everything Michael does and is putting his face in the water and mimicking the arm motions and kicking up a storm. He also has NO FEAR of the water-which makes mommy very fearful at times :-D

Diving for rings

Face in water :-D

3-D pics of Baby #3

My very generous friend Amy, offered to scan me again just for fun. And was able to get a few cute 3-D shots too. He appears to have chubby cheeks and a little button nose-just like his big brothers had. I think there are a lot of similarities to his brothers. It makes me even more excited to meet this little guy. I can't wait!! She gave me an estimated weight for him of 3lbs 12 oz. He's a keeper!!

Baby Abbott is here!!!

A big huge congratulations to Big Ben, Greg and Sarah Abbott. They were greeted by their newest addition this morning...Gabriel Fredrick. Mom and baby are doing good. Can't wait to meet Gabe in person, but pics will have to do for now.

Happy Mother's Day & Lake Winnie

This year for Mother's Day Jeff asked me what I wanted to do. And I didn't care so much about it being all about "ME", I just wanted to be with my boys and do something as a family. So we decided to take them to Lake Winnie (a local amusement park-mostly geared towards kids). To start the day off though, we took Jeff's mom out for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. The kids always love to eat there, and us adults do too. It was actually a little overcast and cooler that day, but it was perfect for riding rides. The kids had so much fun!! We were there for about 6 hours. And they were pooped at the end of the day. Andrew fell asleep on the way home, and we just put him right to bed. And I wasn't far behind. I had a fabulous day being with the ones I love!! :)

Getting ready for Baby Brother

Two weekends ago, I was cleaning out closets and getting baby clothes out attempting to get things ready for our newest addition. And I came across some newborn diapers. The boys thought they were so cute and tiny and wanted to learn how to put a diaper on. So we found some of their stuffed animals and they tried to figure it out. Hey, I'll need all the help I can get in a few months :)

Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head-April 2009

This year we made another trip to Hilton Head Island. We went in 2006 with the Abbotts (Greg, Sarah, and Ben), and had such a good time, we decided to try it again. And we had a blast!! The boys had so much fun playing together at the beach-and all day long for that matter. Last time Ben and Andrew were only 8 and 5 months old. So it was dramatically different at the beach this year. We had slightly cooler weather than 2 years before, but we also went a month earlier due to pending due dates. In case you couldn't tell from the pics, Sarah is pregnant too. She is due two months before me. All in all we had a great week and we didn't want to come home. On our way home we stopped at Jeff's brothers home in Columbia, SC. It was about 2 1/2 hours from HH. It was a quick visit, but it was great to see everyone. And the cousins always have so much fun together. We look forward to our next rendezvous with the Abbotts wherever it may be. And next time we'll go from having 3 boys to 5!!! Craziness :)