This was at mom's house. Her neighbor brought these over for Jay and he wore them all week!
Posing for mom after a dip in the kiddie pool
Clowning with Uncle Jerry last week
Eli is skeptical...must be the beard!
Jay is such a cuddler
More pool fun. I love how serious Eli is in every picture!
Small grin to get Mimi to stop taking pictures!
Picking peaches with Mom and Gary...we think this should be in an advertisement!
We have been enjoying these south Ga peaches all week...you can't beat 'em!
Corn on the cob is no match for this little ones' mouthful of teeth!
This was at home a few weeks ago...watching for birds
How many poses does this child have??
One of the last days at the zoo...we will miss this place!
Serious about his big muscles
I was more excited about the koala baby than the boys...isn't it precious!
They got sunglasses at church last week...So funny!
Serious boys
We went to Medieval Times with the seniors this past weekend. It was so fun and we will truly miss this youth group.
This month has flown by as we are preparing to move this weekend. The movers are coming on Friday and will pack up then load our stuff and take it to storage in Tifton. Since we have had a hard time finding a house in Tifton we will be living with our parents until we get everything lined up. I think we have found a house so I will update on that once I know for sure! I have been so thankful for each of our wonderful parents lately. We have gone to south Ga every week this month and they are always waiting and ready to handle the boys while Wes and I (or sometimes just me) go on another house hunt. Mom had them all last week and they had a ball! She and Gary drove them back up for us so we wouldn't have to come get them after our youth trip. I know they have to be as tired as I am of that drive!! The Ross' have had them several times since April and will have them again next week. We basically drive to Tifton, drop them off, and go look for houses. It has been a life saver! And a reminder of why we were ready to get back home. And their jobs are not done...since we will be going back and forth for the next month we will disrupt their lives even more...and have Jake and Kitty with us! Of course they all love it, I know, but it is exhausting taking care of those two...no matter how much you love them! I know a little bit about that. ;)
Mom, thank you for, well I cannot even put it into words. Every time I call in a panic you are there, whether its another long drive up here or just to give me some perspective, you always make it better. I have realized that no matter how old I am, there will never be anyone like my mama. Thank you for dropping everything as quickly as I call, thank you for being there for me always. And please tell Gary I have adored him since forever, he is such a Godsend, and we all cherish him.
Mama Ross, I love knowing that as soon as I walk in the door you will take over with those boys instantly. Thank you for every delicious supper, for all of the special things you do for us when we visit, for understanding my stresses as a mother and doing so much to help me. I always tell Wes how you had to be the best mother in the world and I truly pray that I will be that kind of mother to my boys. I love you.
Papa Tim, I bet you didn't think retirement would mean "on-call babysitter" to your wild grandsons! I have to admit, there aren't many men I'd trust to keep those two alone for several days in a row but you definitely make the cut! You are the greatest role model and I am so grateful that they will get to be with you so much as they grow up. Thank you for making us each feel so loved. Thank you for showing Jay and Eli true faithfulness and love of family.
Here are a few videos of our trip to the zoo. The first on is Eli playing on the slide. And the next one shows off how smart that little boy is...he knew the stroller was locked and was trying to unlock it. I am in trouble!
We have been crazy busy these last few weeks. Our house is under contract and we are busy with making plans for the move now. I would have put about a hundred exclamation points behind that sentence except that we sold it at the very lowest of our range and we still have no idea what we are going to do about a house in Tifton. So we are disappointed but also relieved that we don't have to rent it. And totally overwhelmed as we try to figure out where to live next. We've never had to move anywhere that felt permanent which really kept a lot of the pressure off to make the perfect decision. We've always been able to say, "well it's only for a few years so it will be fine." But we are looking to stay in our next house for longer (at least 10 years, anyway) and that is a long time to think about. And, not to rehash the sadness of the last post, but we don't have our handy "financial expert" with us this time to help....Wes and I have each mentioned at least once a week how much we would love to have Dad around right now. Wes is also on a hard few months so he's working non-stop while I'm trying to get all of our ducks in a row for a smooth closing on this house. Right now, the closing date is June 17th. The family that bought it seems really nice. She is an incoming pediatric resident and he is a pastor. We will be in transition (bouncing back and forth from the Ross' and Mom's) until we can close on a house down there...unless we end up renting which may be what we need to buy some time until we get things rolling. Basically we are not enjoying this time of change nearly as much as I thought! ;) But it will pass and, once we are settled I know it will be worth it.
Of course, our little munchkins are in their own little worlds and tolerate none of our complaints, especially when they interfere with play time. So I have a lot of pictures of our fun...I always take so many! I don't even realize it until I start uploading them. I can only blame my dear Granny June who I never saw without a camera in front of her face. She rubbed off on me!
Heading outside with pacifier and lovey (I had to wash beloved lovey today and Eli had a terrible broken heart when I rudely pried it from his little hands and threw it in the mean machine. It was clean and dry by the time naptime rolled around, thank goodness)
Digging under the house...we are going to miss this giant sandbox so much
I'm not sure what happened here. And honestly, after about the 50th one that day I stopped trying to figure it out.
He is abused and neglected I guess
And a total change of emotion once he saw Jay having fun....gotta love those one year old tantrums
And we are back to the sadness....notice jay is less concerned than I am, even
I think he's tired of being taped during his misery
Oh look, and now totally happy
Eli wanted to play with Jay's airplane, Jay wouldn't give it up, Eli body slammed him, He is not our sweet, laid back one anymore.
Eli has a recent obsession with taking all of the forks outside and digging in the flower beds
helping Daddy change the oil
And look who is coming in for the fun
Pointing at Jay while we are in the carpool line at school...he loves going to get him!
Fun on the slide.
I love how you can see him laughing so hard at Jay!
This was right before he climbed up and pushed Jay down because he wanted to slide
We will need a bigger one soon but it's great for his wobbly feet right now
A playground set is definitely in our plans once we move
Check out that sexy sheriff....he thought up this pose himself, as usual
Mama and Papa Ross sent a surprise for the boys. They love them!
Eli is very excited too!
Jay wears his "fireman suspenders" constantly...haha
Mud pies...this entertained them all afternoon. Totally worth the filth I had to deal with afterwards
Another must in our next yard....good climbing trees!
Truman, Hannah, and Grace came for a visit last week. The boys were in heaven the whole time. Oh how we miss them!
We have no idea what they did all night but there was no way we were separating them so we closed the door and pretended they were sound asleep like good little boys
The four of them watching the fish. We thought Eli and Grace would play together but he just wanted to be with the big boys. Luckily Grace had no worries about being on her own...I guess she can already see that boys aren't worth her time!
The other night Jay and I went to Malayah's viola recital. As we were walking in I said, "hey Jay! We are on a date!" He immediately found some flowers and brought them to me....what a sweetie!
He is impressed with himself as well
jay loves his dear Malayah.....oh my, we will miss her too!
Wes and I went to Seattle last weekend for a work trip. These are the Cascade mountains from our plane
It is pretty rare that you get to see so much of them due to the clouds so we went at a good time
I just thought Wes needed to take a picture with the big eyeballs sign
View of the city...
Mount Ranier
At the water front
Cascades again
Exploring the forests
I thought it was beautiful in here, the pictures don't do it justice
Out on Lake Union
Jim and Katie (old Valdosta friends) live up there and took us out on the boat for the day. Jim owned Sojourners where Wes worked for so many years. We were so excited to spend time with them and their sweet kids!
This is Bill Gates house! It is a lot bigger than it looks, with 2/3 of the house actually in the hillside.
I should have taken a panorama shot but it goes on and on
still his house!
still going! and remember that's just a third of it!
My view of Seattle will always be this now. We didn't have the first cloudy day or raindrop. I could live there if it weren't for the 10 months of constant rain!
Mount Rainer again
Back behind Ranier is Mount St Helens.. we could see it well from the plane but it's very faint in the picture
Mother's day party at school. He made a heart and decided to draw me, Eli, Wes, and himself in it.
making silly faces
We took Jay out to fly his Easter kite, it is a ninja turtle kite, he was so excited
there he goes!
Eli did not enjoy it. He followed me around the whole time whining.
And now for a good fit (because it's just not a normal day without a few)
Ahhh, now he's happy
Jay and I walked right past this table....notice anything!!??
yes, that is a snake....Wes stopped to look at it a while....that is a great idea. "it's just a rat snake, calm down" he tells me as I demand he get my babies away from it immediately!
Mother's Day pics after church
I asked Jay for a kiss, he gives it smack on the lips...I wonder how long it will be before he is totally grossed out by this...haha
