House is empty!

I thought since my house is empty, I should update the blog before everyone gets home. My parents took all 3 kids for 6 days while Brad is in southern California with a group of kids from his school for FBLA nationals. In between enjoying the peace and quiet and regrouping myself for the second half of the summer, I have completed many small projects that needed to be finished. Although, I have done a bit of self pampering, ie. shopping, chick-flicks, pedicure...etc.

Here is what we have been up to the last couple weeks. It has been a busy couple....

We try to always spend time at the pool every afternoon. However, the last week has been so unbearably hot, we are spending a bit more time inside.

Carsyn loves the pool and loves her swim goggles even more....

My parents and Drew were in town last weekend for a big swim meet in Gainesville. There we 12 teams from all over the Atlanta area. We are so proud of how much he has improved over the last month. We didn't have to battle the 100 degree temps outside, because thankfully, Gainesville's pool is inside!

Watching all the swimmers.

Ready....

Set....
GO!
On Tuesday we took the kids to the Atlanta Braves vs NY Yankees baseball games. We try to get to a couple games a summer and this one happens to be one of the biggest games of the summer with the largest crowd, with the hottest temps outside. It was 94 degrees when the game started at 7pm. You can see the kids faces are all hot and sweaty. We did have so much fun! Atlanta won 4-0! GO BRAVES! After the game we stayed at a hotel closer to downtown, because Brad flew out early the next morning and it was easier for the kids. I met mom in Clemson to drop the kids off on Wednesday afternoon. After I pick Brad up on Monday, we will head over to SC for a few days for some family time.

(Brenna looks miserable in these pics..she really was having fun...just not into taking pics)
Enjoying some "ice cold coke." Now you know I wouldn't give my kids soda!
Sitting on the big red chairs on the top of Turner Field overlooking downtown.

Now back to some R & R!

Rain

We have had a decent amount of rain this year. It has actually been somewhat normal year for rain fall. The past few years we have been in a major drought, resulting in extremely low lake levels, water bans, etc. It is nice to see the result of good rain...here are a couple examples...

1. Our beautiful gardens that Brad has been working on over the last 2 years are filling in. We have these amazing lily's of many different colors. Here is one if them...

2. Lots of strawberries. This particular one is about 15 minutes from our house. We pick 2 gallons on Saturday and I was able to make some delicious freezer jam. Yummy!

Can you see Carsyn? She loved to sit and eat.

These are some good picking hands!

As a result of sitting and eating..you get this....

This is her new funny face...

Have a wonderful week and enjoy these afternoon summer thunderstorms!

My first baby is a big boy now!

This past weekend Aidan went skiing on Lake Lanier. We have been talking about it for while now and Sunday we went and purchased some junior water skiis and headed to the lake. He did awesome! We are so proud of him. We knew he had the ability to be able to get up, we just didn't realize that it was going to be so fast. Here is our friend Scott helping Aidan in the water. His wife was driving the boat and we were doing a double rope system, were there is a rope attached to Aidan's skiis and Brad is holding another rope in the boat. This way if he falls he doesn't have to worry about letting go of the rope, Brad just has to do that. Anyways, I was in charge of video taping, taking pictures and watching the girls. I was not able to get any pictures of him up on skiis, only a crazy video (yes, I was a proud, excited mom). (see below)

TRY NUMBER 1:



TRY NUMBER 3:

The other huge thing for Aidan this week was that he had his first swim meet. As you watch the video below, remember that they only had 4 days to practice!! We are so proud of him!

GO AIDAN!!!