Field Trip

A couple of weeks ago, it was all over the news that Nashville was losing one of it’s icons – Elliston Place Soda Shop.  It had been around for over 80 years and was preparing to close due to the struggling economy and rising rent.  This place holds a special place in my heart because it happens to be just across the street from the hospital where all 3 of our kids were born.  Each time we had a baby there, my sweet hubby would go across the street and get me a hamburger, fries and a milkshake.  It was a great meal to celebrate the arrival of each of our bundles of joy! 

I took the kids there for lunch a few days before it was set to close.  While we were waiting for our seat, we heard the great news that just that morning, they had worked out a rent agreement with the landlord and were going to remain open!  Such great news!

   photo by Kyle

What a yummy lunch!

Have a great day!

Angela

Lemonade for Sale!

Each summer the boys’ school presents its students with a Hope for Haiti Challenge in which the kids raise money for a church & school that our parish supports in Gobert, Haiti.  After trying to come up with an idea all summer, the boys and I decided that a lemonade stand would be our best bet to do something fun to raise money for others in need.

Hope for Haiti Lemonade Stand

Open for business

Their first customer!

Don’t you love their artwork?

They raised over $120 through sales and donations thanks to our sweet friends, neighbors and family!    

Thanks for stopping by!

Angela

Her First Set of Wheels!

I know we’ll turn around and this will be a real set of wheels!

Take care,

Angela

Father’s Day (a little late!)

I’ve been going through my pictures and realized I never shared this one and only picture I have from Father’s Day.  Better late than never, right?  We started Father’s Day with a homemade waffles breakfast, went to Mass, and then we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2.  Well, I should say that we all started out at the movie.  Allie lasted through the previews of upcoming movies – which were sooooo long.  Once Kung Fu Panda 2 started, she was done and started to get fussy.  So, she and I spent most of our time in the lobby and outside!  All the boys loved the movie and came out of the theater doing their own version of Kung Fu.  After that we went to Maneo’s for chicken wings (Ty’s choice of course!).

I am so thankful for our kiddos to have such a great Daddy!  He’s the best!

 

Have a great day!

Angela

Destin

We took our summer vacation to Destin a few weeks ago.  It had been a couple of years since we had been, and we were ready to hit the beach!  We went with some of our old neighbors, James & Kim and their girls Angelina and McKenna. They now live in Houston, and it had been about 5 years since we had seen them last.  It was like no time had passed at all since that time…we all had a great time!  It was especially good to see James.  He has been battling cancer for the past 3 years and is such a fighter.  We were so happy that he felt like making the trip down there. 

Here are a few highlights of our week:

Kyle, Angelina and Hayden

This is about as close as Allie got to playing in the sand.  She didn’t love the beach this year!  She’s more of a pool girl.  Better luck next time.

McKenna, Angelina, Hayden and Kyle goofing around

Hayden spent hours trying to ride the waves!

Kyle loved jumping in the waves.

Hanging at the pool

They loved the lazy river!

Trying to get all 5 of them to look at the camera at the same time is impossible!

 

Angelina, Kim and McKenna doing karaoke.  Of course my boys wouldn’t dream of doing that.  I loved how McKenna was up there dancing away while mom and sister sang!

Allie and McKenna practicing surfing.

Family picture on the beach.  Please ignore the fact that you can’t actually see the water behind us.  Our plan was to go down at dusk to get pictures our last night there.  But by the time we got all of us down there, it was too dark.  Oh well!

Our sweet friends!  Please pray for this family.  They need a miracle!

The whole gang! Minus 1/2 of Allie’s face!

We had a great week with great friends! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Angela

Just Like My Big Brother

We’ve discovered that Allie and Kyle have something in common...they both love to play with cars.  We have decided that Kyle’s career will more than likely involve cars – racecar driver, car salesman (I’ve told him that’s fine, but he really should own the car dealership), UPS man…anything dealing with cars or trucks.  Well, Allie loves to join her big brother when he’s rolling his cars.  He is pretty good sharing his wheels with her, until she starts eating them!  He’s not so crazy about the slobber!

Shhhhh!  Don’t tell Kyle I have his car!

So sweet!  I love to see them playing together!

Have a great day!

Angela

Boys of Summer – Part 2

Today I’ll share Hayden’s pictures from this baseball season.  He also had a great season!  He is such a great little athlete, always ready to hustle!

Warming up!

   Swing!

…Rounding 2nd base.

Baseball ready!  He usually played second base, shortstop or right-center.  He made some awesome catches and plays out in the field.

 

 

Getting his trophy from coach.

Love that smile!

His team came in 1st place in the regular season and won the end-of-season tournament!  Great job!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Angela

Boys of Summer – Part 1

Both boys played spring baseball again this year.  I think it is my favorite sport to watch them play.  They both played really well and had fantastic coaches.  It was a great season for everyone!  I want to share Kyle’s pictures today….

Batter up!

Swing!

 

He really found his speed this year!  Such an improvement from last season!

Sliding into home plate! I think their unofficial rule was that you can’t go home if you’re not dirty!

 

He loved playing catcher.  I think he really just liked wearing the cool gear!

He even made the All-Star Team!

We’re so proud of our little slugger!  Last year he cried before just about every practice and game because he didn’t want to play….what a difference a year makes!

Have a great day!

Angela