Safety City

Madison's Girl Scout had the opportunity to attend a safety day at Safety City. She was so excited. Not all of the girls from her troop came but quite a few did. Madison had a blast showing off her ability to ride a bike without training wheels! She was the only girl from her troop that could ride without training wheels. The girls had a great time taking a safety course, getting their "license" made and having their helmets fitted. A few girls, including Madison, didn't have properly fitting helmets so they were given new helmets. They were really nice helmets too! Listening in the safety class

Helmet fitting...they couldn't get this one to fit right so she got a new one!

The girls riding through the obstacle course!

Sweet girls at the end of the outing!

My Little Archer!

A couple of weekends ago Taylor's Girl Scout troop went to our local Archery Club and from the first arrow Taylor shot she was hooked! And to top it off she was really good. She was able to practice with both a longbow and a compound. She preferred the longbow. In fact she asked for one for Christmas :) My dad used to compete in Archery Competitions and still has his longbows...we are going to see if they are still in good condition and if so just restring them. Taylor also wants to join the Archery Club and shoot weekly so she can get better. And we found out...there are Archery Scholarships :)

Hello, my name is Holly and I'm addicted to Pinterest!

I admit it...I am a pinterest-aholic! I refused to get on there for a long time. I didn't want to see all these cute ideas and yummy recipes that I didn't have time to do. Finally, I broke down and got on. At first I would get on and browse once a week. Then I browsed a couple times a week and before I knew it I was hooked and was on every day, "pinning" away. Now I have numerous boards and not only am following other people but have followers myself :) I have done a few crafts, made a few recipes and gotten many decorating ideas :) I'm pretty proud of myself. Now I just need to limit myself on how long I browse on a daily basis...it is so easy to get sucked in once the kids are in bed and spend hours looking at things. I made these for a birthday lunch at work the first week of school...they were a hit!

I made my own canvas!

Supplies for my menu board

Finished product

We're Back!

Matt and I returned from a wonderful 10 day vacation with no kids. This was our first big trip without them...we have gone away for a weekend before but never this long. We decided to farm out the kids so nobody would have all 3 (this way the caregivers would offer to keep the kids next time we do this). Caleb went to stay with Matt's parents, Madison stayed with my parents and Taylor went to my sister's house. This was the most relaxing vacation. We left at midnight Thursday night and drove to Orlando (driving at night is the best as there was no traffic) where we stayed at Bonnet Creek for 2 nights. Matt's mom had reserved the presidential suite for us. We checked in and slept for a few hours. We ended up walking around Universal Studio's Citywalk that evening and grabbing a bite to eat in a food court. Saturday we slept in and laid by the pool a little. We also enjoyed walking around the resort b/c lots had changed since we had been there last a few years ago. We can't wait to take the kids in March during Spring Break. Sunday morning we got up and drove over to Tampa. Once in Tampa we quickly found the parking garage we had reserved a spot at. They loaded our stuff onto the shuttle and we headed over to the Port Authority. A porter took our luggage and within 10 minutes we were through all the security and had our "sail & sign" cards in our hands and were on The Legend! I couldn't believe how quickly it happened. We enjoyed just sitting and people watching while waiting on our room (we got on the boat at 11:00 but couldn't get into our room until 1:30). We had a wonderful time and made some great memories and are already planning the next one! Because we did so much over the 10 day period I am going to break down the trip into many posts over the next few days.

Excited!

Our suitcases are slowly getting packed! We have been making runs to the store to pick up things for the cruise! We have booked our excursions! We have spent hours reading reviews and forums! We think we have everything finally figured out! We think we know what we want to do and when we want to do it! We can't wait to sit by the pool and relax. We can't wait to see white beaches and the blue ocean of the caribbean :) We can't wait to see new things! We can't wait to celebrate 15 yrs of marriage in Belize cave-tubing! We are only slightly excited to be leaving in 3.5 days! We are excited about spending 2 nights in Orlando in the Presidental Suite at Bonnet Creek thanks to Matt's parents! We are excited about having dinner at Margaritaville in Downtown Disney Saturday night! Again, we are only slightly excited!!!!

Enjoying summer!

I have neglected my blog so much over the past few months. We have been enjoying our summer though I haven't remembered to take many pictures. Matt came home on June 28th (2 days earlier than we expected) and we enjoyed spending 72 hours with him before he had to report to base in Memphis for 2 weeks. We enjoyed surprising our friends with his early arrival. And of course picking him up at the airport was priceless! And now he is home for good or until the next set of orders come. Taylor really enjoyed a week in Savannah, GA with her girl scout troop. She did all kinds of new things....zip-lining, archery, rifle shooting, scuba diving and rock climbing just to name a few. They were also able to drive over to Tybee Island and spend the day playing in the ocean. She was exhausted when she got back and spent the next week sleeping until noon! We enjoyed spending a few days in the mountains with Matt's mom just swimming and enjoying Dollywood. Madison celebrated her 7th birthday. Hard to believe she is that old. I'm looking forward to her 7 yr check-up to see how much she has grown...not much according to our scales. She has grown a few inches b/c she has moved up in band colors at Dollywood and can ride a few new things! She was so excited about this! We spent a few days at the river over the 4th. Taylor enjoyed tubing while Caleb and Madison enjoyed jumping off the dock and swimming in the river (I did not enjoy this part...I like my water crystal clear so I can see what it swimming with me). Matt and I are leaving for a caribbean cruise in less than 2 weeks to celebrate our 15th anniversary (thought it doesn't seem possible we have been married that long) and we couldn't be more excited! We are going to spend 2 days in Orlando before driving over to Tampa and catching the ship.

What we have been up to.....

It is hard to believe how quickly Matt's time in Calafornia has gone (though I don't think he will agree)....only 20 days and he will be home (only for 24 hrs but I will take what I can get). There was the occassional day where I thought the 17 weeks would never be over but for the most part it has really gone by quickly. I give the credit to our very busy schedules. I think we just stayed so busy that the days went quickly and though I really missed Matt I didn't have much time to sit around and mope over him being gone. I thought about him most mornings when I was dragging myself out of bed at 5 AM to get my day started. I know the kids are very excited. They are counting the days until he comes home. They are very excited about meeting him at the airport. We are just waiting to see when he will arrive...we won't know that until a few days before he comes home. I am expecting a late arrival though since he is coming in from CA which puts him 3 hours behind us. It doesn't matter if it is midnight me and the kids will be there. Lots has happened since I posted 3 months ago. We have celebrated Taylor's 12th birthday and Caleb's 9th birthday. Madison will be turning 7 in a few short weeks. Mother's Day came and went. We celebrated our sweet niece Quinn's 1st birthday. School finished with a bang...I now have a 7th grader (that doesn't seem possible) who is anticipating numerous honors classes in the fall based on her TCAP scores (which makes me nervous b/c I had trouble helping her with her honors classes this year), a 4th grader and a 1st grader. My, where has the time gone. We spent Memorial week at Edisto Island with my parents and Matt's parents. It was fabulous. Matt's brother, his wife and their 3 girls also came down. The kids had fun playing with their cousins who we don't get to see much since they live in China. I will have another blog post later though I didn't take as many pictures this time since I was doing everything with all 3 kids. Makes it hard to take pictures if you are the one in the water, sand, etc. We are gearing up for 2 busy weeks of VBS. This week we have a VBS in the morning as well as one in the evenings. Next week we have another morning VBS. Taylor then heads to Savannah for a week to celebrate 100 yrs of girl scouting with her troop. She is supposed to get home the same day as Matt...here's hoping their arrival times aren't the same.