This Guy...

(the big one), is so amazing. The little one is, too, but this post is for the hubs. He sent my sister and I on a surprise get-away to Destin for a few days. I had no clue it was coming, and I was so excited when I found out! A few weeks ago, Lee had a conference in Destin and we stayed in Bay Towne. It was incredible and so kid friendly. I kept telling him that I would love to be able to come back with him - kid free - and be able to go an do, shop, be lazy by the pool with him, etc. He was so sweet to send me because I know he would have loved to be the one in Robyn's spot (sorry, sister :)), but getting someone to watch 2 small kids last minute isn't really doable when my parents both work. So he sucked it up and sent me with the next best option...Robyn! 

The past few days have been filled with loud music/singing in the car, windows rolled down, trying on clothes and laughing in the fitting rooms, sharing a bed, perhaps a fruity drink :), a LITTLE bit of serious talk, watching Alabama football, dinners on the water watching the sun set, live music, sharing lip gloss, discussing future haircuts, laughing about old boyfriends, delicious food, picking out houses that we would own in Seaside one day (yea, right!), and enjoying the gorgeous weather. It was awesome, and so very welcomed. 

I am so thankful for such a thoughtful husband. I love him so much. 

I will confess that I was sad when I pulled out of the driveway. I don't like being without Lee and I'm definitely not use to being without the kids, but it was such a nice refresher for me. And are you ready for this???

A LITTLE OVER 3 WEEKS, AND MY HUSBAND AND I WILL BE ALONE IN THE BAHAMAS TOGETHER CELEBRATING OUR 5TH ANNIVERSARY.

It's true. You read correctly. We are traveling together, alone, not work related, to celebrate our marriage. Holy COW. I still won't believe it until we are sitting on that plane together about to take off. We celebrated our first anniversary in Charleston, 2nd anniversary I was pregnant with Knox, 3rd anniversary we had a 4 month old and I had the baby blues with acid reflux and colic to deal with, 4th anniversary I was pregnant with Greer, so we are living it UP for the big 5!

The countdown is ON, my friends!

8.5 Months

Geesh. I am SLACKIN' on these monthly updates. I honestly am not even prepared to do this one because I haven't gotten any good 8 month pics, but I am just going to have to slap it down real quick seeing as how 9 months is right around the corner.
Baby girl has MORPHED into a woman of independence! Holy cow. Let's see, here. Crawling is for the birds, and she is now climbing on everything and standing with minimal assistance. She gets fired UP when she sees Knox running around and she realizes she can't run herself. She literally lunges out of your arms onto the floor and speed crawls towards him. On Saturday she TOOK 2 STEPS before she realized that she is only 8 months and cannot walk. She face planted into a toy and had a nice little mark on her face all day. All she wants is Knox. She is a sleeper-big time-and usually doesn't wake until 8. Knox goes in her room with me every morning to get her, and they both light up when they make eye contact. She can bend her body in ways that I have never seen, and if he moves from her sight while getting her diaper changed, she will practically break her neck to find him. I ask him all the time to sing or dance for her while I change her diaper, and the things that he does to entertain her are hilarious. I think I need to start paying him some allowance for his hard work!

This might be the ONLY picture I have of her looking at the camera.

"Baby toys are O.K...."

" But..."

" I'd rather play trucks with brother in the hallway."

"All of his toys are louder and better"

"Especially when he shows me how to play with them!"

 

 Storing up food for the winter...

 And...teething like crazy! But I do have some big news. She FINALLY got a visit from the tooth fairy and got her first tooth last week. Bottom right :)

And sometimes...

 She likes to beat up her brother just to keep him in check :)

Love this sweet baby girl, and I especially love watching the relationship that's developing between these 2. So thankful for my days with them, even the hard ones. There have been a lot of days here lately where I have just stepped back and watched the 2 of them playing with Lee, and I've asked myself..."Is this really my life?"

God is good!

Game Day!

Praise Jesus, football season has finally arrived! To kick off the season, we decided to load the kids up and head to T-town to watch the game, as well as stay with/visit my brother and his family in Tuscaloosa.

We originally had tickets for the entire family to go, but Greer came down with a nasty cold so Lee took her home after we hung out on campus for a bit and Knox and I went to the game. Can you believe how amazing Lee is? I was more than ready to take little girl back to the house, and that was the original plan, but as we were all walking to the stadium, Lee took my hand and gave me the tickets and told me that I deserved to go enjoy the game with Knox. I know, ridiculous. I am pretty sure that no matter how hard I try, I will never be as sweet as he is.

So, we all know that Knox loves to throw balls, swing clubs and bats, and watch sports in general. Well, holy MOLY he did incredible at the game! I mean, he sat in that chair and stared at the field the entire time. It was as if he knew exactly what was going on. I couldn't believe it. We took a break and went down to the concession for lunch, but other than that he sat and stared (and talked to his cousins) the entire time. I was SO proud of him. It made the game that much more enjoyable. I will never forget the way his face lit up when we walked into that stadium. The atmosphere was amazing and he loved every second of it. Making memories like that with the kids is just priceless to me. Can't wait until he's old enough to understand everything and talk about it!

I only took a few pics from my phone (surprise surprise). In my defense, it is SO much easier to tote around your cell phone than it is to carry that huge camera around! Especially when you have 50 children like I do and you can barely remember if you put deodorant on or brushed your teeth that morning.

Woke up playing the Alabama Fight song on his cool older cousin's, Braden, drums...

Bama Boys

 G-girl hanging in there even though she felt horrible :(

 Making friends

Getting carried in to the game by Uncle Russ

Cousins! Darby, Knox, Braden

 Future players? Seriously, Braden is the coolest kid ever. So so so sweet to Knox and is an incredible athlete. He's also smart as all get out. Renaissance Man.

 This was his face the majority of the time. Intense!

Cheese!

 On a side note, you would NOT believe the people that wanted to talk to Knox or high five him because of his hair color. It was more insane than usual. Lots of them just yelled "Roll Tide!" and petted his head. Hilarious.

It was a great way to start the season! Looking forward to hopefully putting up many more W's in the future. Roll Tide!