Happy Birthday...

to you,
Happy Birthday to my Mommy!
Happy Birthday, God Bless You!
Happy Birthday to you! YAY!!

That was the words from the sweet little voice of my middle child, Georgie, in her version of the classic song! She crawled into bed with me and I told her it was my birthday..she said I will sing you Happy Birthday and then give you a hug! AWWW!

Don't you love it??
I think we should all sing it that way!

Today is in fact my 31st birthday! It has been an amazing and fulfilling year! My parents are watching Emmaline this week and tonight Daniel and I are heading to a yummy new-to-us restaurant (Flemings) using a gift card from Carlo & Lynn. AND..my friend Leslie got us a sitter for the kids!! I feel so blessed! Thank ya'll..it really is so sweet!!

There will be no pictures on this post yet as I am on my NEW laptop and haven't downloaded any!

Off to the mall...

Pool time!

When we weren't on the beach or eating we were in the pool! Emmaline did really well swimming and was too brave. She is growing up before my eyes!This is where HB fell in love with watermelon! G, in true style, ate it over his head and dripped it down his face. He didn't really mind. Speaking of growing up, who is this little BOY who is standing up tall and looking so darn cute with his blonde hair! AHHH, I'm in love! OH and he won the cutest Aggie contest..Toddlers & Tiaras here we come!!..What a Stud!!And well, the girls ate and ate and ate watermelon..for almost every meal and snack they could! I wish we had a pool!

South Beach #2

Our next stop on the beach tour was Biloxi Beach. It is important to us because this is the beach we have first introduced all of our children to. I know it isn't the most beautiful beach but it is special to us!Look at G's mouthful..Chewing gum was the thing on this trip..it is now my go to bribe for the girls. They love the sugar-free and (cross my fingers)haven't gotten it in any hair or carpet yet! Look at my little (or big) family, depending on your way of looking at it! Aren't we just a picture of love and fun! ;) Hayes put Brett's sunglasses on and was just stunned..he didn't move for a while..it was the funniest thing! It was like 'where did the lights go?'
Of course, I don't think it's the prettiest beach but it serves the purpose with 3 young children. We set up shop with a big white tent and spent the whole day there. I loved it! My parents even took the girls for naps and we just kept right on beaching it up! But this little guy took a nap in sand and enjoyed the afternoon with us!E went way out in the ocean, but G wasn't so sure as usual. We walked across the street and entered the huge Gator mouth for souvenir city! We found some shades and some t-shirts!

Who's that angel?

This is a simple song that I sing to the kids randomly..they seem to love it and actually argue over who I sing it to next ("do me next")..this is how it goes most often but sometimes the words vary a bit. I know this is random but I wanted to remember this because I know one day I won't. I also love to hear the girls singing it to eachother or HB!

Who's that angel?Little Hayes Bryant,
Who's that angel boy?

Who's that angel? Little baby Georgia,
Who's that angel girl?

Who's that angel? Little bitty Emmaline,
Who's that angel girl?

South Beach #1

Our first beach we hit up was in Fair Hope, Alabama. Seriously, this town I think I could live in..it seems so quaint and cute..has the small town shops and beach front houses. I really hope I can spend more time there in the future enjoying it. We didn't spend much time there, but what little we did we spent on their child friendly beach. I love that there are tall pine trees and baby swings in their shade just yards away from the water! Can you see all the pine cones??! There was lots of throwing and catching and tossing and dunking. Each baby had their turn..and each baby had the same reaction..a squeal and surprised smile! Emmaline was first! Georgia's turn to get tossed!! She gets a bit nervous with things like this!HB was last but not least! Looks like Daddy went a little easy on his boy, right?Pop just couldn't get enough holding time with this angel boy..not sure if he was trying to give me a break or because Hayes Bryant is just too sweet & snuggly! meet our little fish..she loves the water..and it makes me so happy! Daddy & HB enjoying the ocean waves together! Magic!!Just trying out Southern sand..what else is a boy to do?!?I can't wait to go back..ahh I love a quiet beach!

Crab Fest '11

Another year goes by, another hot summer, another Crab Fest in Bay St. Louis to attend. It is a little community (I don't really know that for a fact but the only part we see is small) across the bridge from my aunt in Gulfport. It has adorable homes located down the beach each different colors with big front porches and yards. I love the feel of it. We head to the local church grounds and park under a Magnolia tree for shade..it is always so hot we wonder why we go but we just can't seem to stay away.
We order crab claws, beer and snowcones. Walk around the tented booths to see all the random homemade things, little to music, ride some cheap carnival rides and drip with sweat. The place we take our picture by had porta potties in front of it this year..bummer! The kids then get cranky and red faced and we head to the car. Of course, we don't head back home for naps until after we stop at Shaggy's for more seafood! We love Shaggy's! The girls like to see the boats come in and we like the cold beer and breeze off the water.Another successful year at Crab Fest! We will be back!!
One of the funniest times of the whole vacation was when we were next to this wild and fast carnival ride and I asked the girls if they wanted to ride it..Emmaline immediately shook her head and said "it was too scary" but Georgia got kindof this look in her eye and nodded "Yes!" What happened next was priceless..Emmaline quickly got in front of G with her arms spread out saying, "NO it's too fast. It's not safe." Georgia was trying to see around her by stepping side to side but Emmaline was not letting her get by....It was the quickest flash forward to the teenage years I have had to date! So if that says anything about our future..I guess we are in for a wild ride..and maybe, just maybe we have Emmaline to hold the reigns..!!

Hayes Bryant is 10 months!!

What a sweet boy!!
*He had a big month. He visited the beach, saw fireworks, ate fistfuls of sand and lots of watermelon.
*He said his first official word 'ball'..and tries to repeat what we say.
*He learned to pull up on things and can climb stairs. Not that we want him to climb stairs but the highest we saw him get was 3 stairs.
*HB wears 12-18 month clothes and size 3 diapers.
*He still loves his paci and sleeps well in his carseat too.
*He goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 8 (or at least that is when I get him out of his crib). He naps on average 2 times/day and his afternoon nap is his long one.*He still nurses about 2-3 times/day but not for very long. I am hoping to transition him to whole milk soon, no bottle just sippy cup.
*He waves his arms and bounces when music comes on and he waves his hand facing himself. He still likes to clap a lot too!
*Hayes' hair is very blonde/white and is getting longer..it has a small curl at the bottom that I love.
*He has started squealing loudly when he doesn't get his way or get something fast enough (like food).
*He is eating just about anything we give him and does well. He still has no teeth but I can see the outline of the 2 bottom ones. This month he has started eating meat and a little cheese. Hayesman, we love you very much and are enjoying all the fun things you are learning to do. You love your sissies and they can't keep their hands off you! I love the hugs you give, the open mouth kisses and your smiles hidden by your paci. I can't wait to see what God has in store for your future!!

Made in America

We had a wonderful 4th of July on the beach in Biloxi. Our condo was attached to a casino and was lots of fun with 2 great pools. The girls loved spending time at the beach then heading to the pool for hours. Emmaline is doing really well with swimming. Georgia is still pretty unsure of herself but likes it one on one. We had water races, watermelon eating contests and stayed up really late most nights. We even played Family Feud DVD which was fun! My team won, of course!!
Ok, so back to our 4th. It's sort of our tradition while in MS to watch on the beach. It becomes likened to a war zone out there..seriously..they have NO restrictions on fireworks so people just show up with coolers and loads of sparklers, black cats, roman candles and other dangerous explosives. This year we chose a pretty safe spot by our vehicle that shielded us from the chaos. G was gripped so tight to me for the most part and wore a hooded sweatshirt to protect herself. She was scared but eventually held a sparkler and announced her favorite firework to be the orange one.
Emmaline was a little pyro! I have no idea where she gets it except that there are a few stories floating around my and Daniel's family of us loving all things that burn! She wanted to do the big ones and couldn't get enough. She had no fear and wasn't ready to leave when it was over. This was HB's 1st fireworks. He loved them! He was so cute he actually started to clap..noone else around him did this, it was like it was instinctive when he got excited! He also would squeal 'oooh' and wave his arms. It was pretty adorable and fun to see. Daniel almost blew up one firework in these people's faces..luckily they were crazier than we were and their 4 year old was lighting his own so they didn't care. Fun times! The spot we got on the beach was between the fireworks shows, so not only did we do our own and watch the other crazy families out there exploding things into the ocean but we got to see 2 cities' firework extravaganza! It was a fun and wild experience as usual! I'm just so glad I got to see fireworks and not just a light show..it just isn't the same for me.God Bless America!

Fishing at Jerry's pond

This place holds lots of memories for me..I grew up fishing on this pond. I loved spending time here with my family. We would go to Opals around the corner, pick up some Yohoos and worms and head to the pond. We would fish and fish, throw some back and keep some. It was always fun! Luckily, Daniel loves our place in Mississippi and loves using his vacation days to go there. After he flew in from Chicago, he stopped at Bass Pro and picked up 2 new Barbie backpacks with mini fishing poles, a tackle box and lures in them. Saying the girls were thrilled is an understatement!
We headed to Jerry's with some worms and got busy.Daniel was busy reeling them in, but I wasn't having much luck. Emmaline finally caught her 1st fish.She was so cute and so excited about it! She had to put it in the bucket..we had 3 fish..who were named Emmaline, Georgia & Hayes. We ate them that night! They were yummy!Eventhough things look different around Jerry's pond then it did when I was little, it still makes me happy to share that with my kids and hope they love it like I do!We also rode the 6 wheeler and surveyed the damage done by the tornado a month ago..it took out almost 90 acres of grown pine trees on our land..it was sad. At least noone was hurt. We didn't go out on Lake Jennie but did get on the pontoon boat for fun.

Country time

Our vacation has begun and we have been on the road..the girls are doing well and HB is doing great. Mississippi weather is just different..it's hot, but a different hot. More muggy and sticky but less heat overall. The girls loved driving the 6-wheeler and fishing. the 6-wheeler does it everytime..babies just can't stay awake while driving around in it..Hayesman couldn't hang on and passed out on the back roads.my 3 sweeties. They are loving HB's new found skills at maneuvering around..what fun!my guys..love them and those smiles..HB loves his daddy and says Dada all the time...where is all the Mama love??Pop & Emmaline have been having fun together..she has been snuggling with him lots and he takes her up on it every chance he gets!Georgia is a sprinkler feign..she doesn't really want to play in the water otherwise..she has to have the power!!

Mississippi has been fun..but let's not talk about the baby feeder ticks I came upon..meaning I was covered in and now have bites all over me..itchy little boogers! What a way to end a stay in the middle of nowhere..pine tar soap to the rescue!!!