A few more beach pics

Casey and I got to go on a date one night to our favorite place, The Red Bar, in Grayton Beach! It was so fun to go out alone and be together and talk. Even though the week was somewhat rainy and Reed had a hard time (it was pretty rough with him all week...he was really whiney) we both agreed that night was all worth it!

Casey's mom, Carolyn, went with us too. I know she enjoyed being with the babies for the week since she lives in Georgia and doesn't get to see them all that often. We took some family pictures on the beach at dusk....Reed had a blast that night on the beach, it was so cute to watch him have so much fun! Since he had a hard week we didn't know how he would do with our picture taking, but he did great and was patient and cooperative!

I love this picture of my boys walking down the beach, it's so sweet!

Nana got the kids Seaside t-shirts, so here they are wearing them when we got home!

Seagrove Beach trip!

This was Reed's (and Emery-Claire's too) first real trip to the beach! We spent the week down in Seagrove, FL......Unfortunately, we did have several rainy days :( But we were still able to go and do some fun things too. We were able to take Reed down to the beach several times. He was really unsure at first, but eventually warmed up to the sand and would play in it. He never really took to the ocean. I think with the rain and storms they had on and off last week (and with the moving tropical storm were to continue this week too) the water was real rough with loud crashing waves. He LOVED the pool.. so that was great compared to earlier this summer! They had big wide steps for him to stand in the water and play in it like a big baby pool. We were at the beach and he would ask "pool, pool".

First ice cream cone at Seaside, which is right down the road! He loved it!

Off to the beach to play in the sand!

Emery-Claire in her pool outfit and hat, though she was inside most of the time to be in the shade!

Photo Contest

I found this website.....5 Minutes for Mom and they are having a Summer Fun photo contest---so thought I'd try finding a picture to enter. The deadline is tommorrow, so those of you who check this today, maybe you can help give me your opinions of which picture I should use. They are giving away $500 to the winner---that would be fun! If I'm a finalist, I'll enlist your help to vote for me. Which pic would you go with.....bike, eating the marshmellow, on the boat dock with pretzel, or funny lake hair? I just can't decide!??

CO Lexington Staff Fellowship

Yesterday we returned from our time in Sandusky, OH, from our 4 day staff fellowship time. This past year we had some very generous supporters who purchased this facility up in Sandusky for CO Lexington to use for summer projects. So after the project ended and the students left on Friday, and all the staff met up at the facility for some training and family fellowship. It is such a great environment, and we all had a great time. Each night after dinner we had a family worship that was very child friendly, so it was so sweet to watch all the children participate and enjoy this time. We have 13 children on our staff team, whoooh! And 10 are girls! Reed had a great time, as there is a big yard with a swingset....he couldn't get enough of being outside! But it was fun to see him enjoy the environment and love watching and being with all the big kids! We took a big team picture, so as soon as we get a copy of it I will post it....it's exciting to see how our team has grown and how the Lord has worked in so many lives through this His people!

Casey and Macey Terrell, she is 3 1/2 years....

Little Hadley Terrell, she is 18 months now.
Leah Hardin with our sweet Emery-Claire! She had soooo many people wanting to hold her this week, and she did great!
Andrew and Reed did well sharing Andrew's toys....here they are in the yard, Reed's favorite place to be these past few days!

Macey loved EC....she was cute trying to get EC to smile and "talk" to her.
Little Addie, now 16 months, she is a cutie!
Reed and Mr. Andy....they are big buds!

Our sweet girl, she's growing so fast! I can't believe she is 11 weeks old this week!

The newly Mr. and Mrs. Rusty Goodsell!

This past weekend was my little baby sis, Sarah's wedding. Can't believe she is a married lady now! But we are so excited for her and Rusty. Above is a picture of her, Jess--our middle sister, and Casey at the reception. Ok, I realized when I got home I was kinda sad that I didn't take very many pictures. And those of you reading this who have known me a long time know I usually am camera nazi! I go crazy taking way too many pictures.....but when you are the bridesmaid, have an almost 2 year-old, a 2-month old who is nursing every 3 hours, and a photographer who took every possible picture and pose you could imagine.....well, how could I fit any time of my own to snap some with my camera! I'm hoping I can buy a few from her if they aren't too outrageously expensive......so here are some of the rest of the good ones I got from the weekend
Jess, our beautiful bride little Sarah (a.k.a. "Nee-Nee" as we call her), me, and Jen (one of my best friends from college, and was my Matron of Honor at our wedding. We said SJ was missing from this picture and we'd have my bridesmaids here!
Dad, this is a cute picture of you and Deb Casey took.....you too look very giddy!
Mr. and Mrs. Goodsell off for their honeymoon......it was a surprise to her, but Rusty told Casey they were going to Cancun! So fun; that is where we went too!

We had a bridesmaid luncheon Friday afternoon at the Apple Cake Tea Room in Knoxville. Mine was there too, and it is a yummy place!
Emery-Claire and Aunt "Nee-Nee"---such two pretty girls!
Isn't she lovely??!!!! She was such a beautiful bride!
My sweet husband who looked so handsome in his new suit!
Rusty and Sarah eating their cake....aren't they sooooo adorable! Congrats guys, we love you!!

My sweet boy!

Well, since below EC got her 2 month post, I thought I'd share some of Reed! Here he is in Casey's office....I think a while back I posted how he loves to sit with his Daddy and listen to Mac Powell (Third Day); well he still loves it! He will just sit so still and listen to the music, not moving an inch, which is rare for this active little guy! Casey's taught him to be a little charismatic :) ha, ha, as he raises his hands up when Casey says "let's praise the Lord!"

Reed is loving to dance whenever he hears music....in this picture above he is trying to "snap" his fingers..it's so cute! And I have to brag about his communication.....he is really trying to say so many 2-words lately, yeah! I've heard things over the past week such as: "Mama juice, hot" (for my coffee), "Mama truck!", "bye truck", "big truck", "uh-oh baby", "more straus" (for strawberry)....and truck is really funny....it's still a very hard /k/ sound as she draws out "keruck!"--something like that. But I'm so pleased to see him trying to put more words together.....since he will be 2 years old in 2 months!

Sweet kisses from my favorite boy!

First face plant on the concrete today; yes we were getting out of the car from an errand and of course I told him to wait and what does he do....the opposite (shocking for a toddler, right?!) Falls head down on the concrete sidewalk, ouch! He does have a little raised bump and a scuffed up knee too....he cried but calmed quickly when he got his lunch. I told you the boy loves to eat!

2 Months Old!

Yesterday, July 20th, our sweet girl turned 2 months old! I know I probably say this over and over, but my how it flies by the second time around! Every time she seems to do something new I think, is she just doing this really fast....did Reed do it that soon?! I think having #2 the days do go by so much quicker, you are in the ongoing fast pace of life, so when you waited forever for #1 to the new skill, before you realize it #2 is doing it, and you want to say "wait.....it's not time for that already!" Everything she seems to do creeps up on us....I guess because we don't have time to just sit and gaze all day long at her waiting for that new skill to emerge!

So many new things we have seen Emery Claire do in the past month: smile, coo, she loves to talk and smile with us; it's so fun! She is so observant to her environment, looking around and taking it all in!

She also loves watching this colorful mobile! It's funny how I seemed to have forgotten several baby things....mobile, play gym, etc. And read some sort of article online and realized...oh yeah she'd probably enjoy those things, how could I forget to pull them out?! I'm sure b/c I knew initially she was just sleeping, but now in her awake and alert times, she definitely loves those things to look at and watch.

Friday was EC 2 month checkup....Dr. Simon said she looks great and is growing healthy and strong! I was sure she was over 10 lbs. by now, since at 2 months Reed weighed 12 lbs.,7 oz. (75th percentile) and 23 1/2 inches long (75th percentile).....well, she surprised me by only being 9lbs., 14 oz (25th percentile) and 23 inches long (75th percentile)! He said she was just a long and lean girl; no concerns by her slightly smaller size than brother! I definitely think she has longer legs and arms than Reed did; or either they may just seem that way b/c she is leaner than he was. But she is not as an aggressive eater as him--he was on the dot, to the hour had to eat! She can go 3 1/2-4 hours sometimes in the day, and will go between 5-7 hours at night.....so she gets her fill, but I know she is satisfied even though it may seem less than him, and I guess that is the important thing!