May's Round-Up & Welcome Summer!

Thank goodness for May! The weather has been beautiful. May involved Traders Point Creamery visits, hiking, horseback riding, sprinklers, popsicles, LP Zoo, preschool two's graduation, bonfires, slides and swings, lake days and ended with Disney! Welcome summer! We are so thankful you've arrived :) Here's to the next few months of dirty play clothes, chlorine hair, ice cream sandwiches, late nights and more!

Magical May Vacation



We had our first family vacation of just us. No work. No schedules. No distractions. Just us. It was exactly what we needed. We visited Orlando with not a lot planned. We knew we wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom one day, but besides that...just enjoyed each other. We did spend one day at Sea World (On Memorial Day-notice our patriotic attire. Also side note: Sea World is AWESOME with military families. I know I'm a sap naturally, but the love they showed to Ryan and our family made me tear up several times...thank you Sea World!)

Most of our days were spent at one of the several pools at our resort. Lazy rivers, slides, putt putt, animal balloons- everything our babes love. This was a vacation we will never forget!

God Bless America & God Bless these three. My loves & my life. 

Briggs wanted us to take a pic with the manatees because he knows his Aunt Gaga loves them.

My dolls.


Pool honey

Showing daddy love.

This was just taken with an iphone- but I want a 80X60 canvas of it! One of my all-time favorite photos of them

We took A TON of photos...so here's a video of a lot more. You know Briggs will watch it ;-)

This video's a little shorter. It's a compilation of a few of our favorite videos from the trip. This video starts out with Briggs meeting Mickey (who can talk at the Magic Kingdom, now! Disney really is magic) He was SO nervous but loved every second. He lights up every time we show him this video. 

We are so thankful we had the opportunity to visit Orlando as a family. A little chicken soup for our souls. We hope there are many more to come!

Preschool Grad

Remember the little newborn from this post? Well, he just graduated his first year of preschool. [Insert heavy crying emoji here] He's grown up so much both in size and maturity. The little toddler in the top left of the collage, is now my big, strong, curious, silly, smart & extraordinary boy (although he's always been extraordinary). 

He has gone from a shy and timid boy to still a shy but brave boy. I cannot sing enough praises for his sweet teacher, Mrs. Bernhardt. She knew the magnitude of what a big deal it was for me to send my firstborn into her hands. The thing I love about her and TPCA is that they do not treat this like a day care. We don't need a day care. We prayed for a place that would help develop and challenge his academic skills, encourage him to socialize with his peers and help nurture his love for Jesus. The staff at TPCA takes a loving approach to help raising our babies and prayerfully considers their little hearts on a daily basis. They really got to know our little Briggs. Unfortunately for us, after 26 years, Mrs. Bernhardt will retire after this year but she has such a special place in our heart, that we will continue to stay in touch with her. 

Both my babies will be headed back to TPCA in the fall. I pray that they continue to grow in knowledge but most importantly learn to love Jesus more and more every day. 

Pops, Yaya, Papa, Mommy, Sister & Daddy (taking photo) were all there for his graduation ceremony :)

Papa with Briggy's #1 fan

He came out walking to the commencement song...I balled

So happy to see all of his family there

The best teacher with the shy guy

He won the award "Love for reading" :)

Briggy and his fan club. Nana's got a cheering section in heaven for him too

Our proud family

Sis stole his graduation treat. He's improved on his sharing too :)

Half Birthday Boating

Kerigan is one and a half! This crazy, I mean crazy, intelligent, hilarious, expressive, cuddly, dramatic, creative, observant, loving little doll baby has graced us with her presence for 18 months! Her personality kills me. She is fun-loving, curious & such a social little bug who doesn't know a stranger-but that doesn't mean she's willing to leave mommy to hang out with you yet. ;-)

For her half birthday, we celebrated by kicking off boating season for the summer! My sister's in-laws are always so gracious and welcoming for us to join them at their lake house. I don't think my kids know that Tim and Bev are actually just Kinsie's grandparents because they sure treat my kids like one of their own. We love Aunt Bev-o and Papa Tim! 

Here are some snapshots of memories made this weekend:
Bottom right: Got to fit in some "Ring around the Rosie"

Love this day so much. We treasure our time with our cousin, too!

The three sweet peas.


Captain Briggy was so proud!

And....he's done.

The sweetest cousins


Video evidence of Captain Briggs driving the boat all by himself <3


Happy half birthday to our bubbly, brilliant & free-spirited girl. You make this world a more beautiful place!