summer

Since my last post was titled “last day of school” and the girls first day of school is next week, I thought I better do a post about our amazing summer! We had so much fun at the pool and traveling back and forth to the beach and the mountains! Just like most summers, the time flew right on by! I looked through all of the pictures that I took this summer and tried to pick out my 10 favorite shots! I decided on 11 instead, which was hard to do, but I love all of the ones that I chose…Enjoy!

The girls did swim team for the first time this summer. They LOVED swimming for the North Raleigh Gators with lots of their friends. It was so neat to see the girls learn to dive and swim four different strokes!

As always, the girls enjoyed the giant slide in West Jefferson. They even took Molly down it last week when we took her to the mountains for the first time. I love this sweet picture of my girls!

This is my favorite picture and memory of the summer. On our first trip to the mountains this summer the girls, my mom and I learned to square dance. We went to the Mercantile Store in Todd and danced the night away with lots of people and a real square dance caller. It was SO much fun and the girls caught on so quickly. They were the only kids there and all of the other adults were so sweet to them. It was fun to learn all of the moves...now Do-si-do your partner!

We took Christy and her girls to the beach again this summer. Just like last year, we had the best time! We played in the surf and the sand and went shopping at my favorite thrift store in CB. I hope this is a tradition we can keep up for a long time to come!

Jay and I celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss this summer at the end of June! We went to 518 for dinner and sat at the very table that we sat at the night Jay asked me to marry him! I can not believe we have been married for 10 years! I would not trade him for anything, he truly is the man that God prepared for me!

"The Fab Five" had a blast together this summer! From swim team, to summer camp, to sleep overs they were pretty much inseparable. I can not wait to see what teachers they all get for 2nd grade. I am hoping that my girls are at least with one of these sweet girls. They will be together again in their Y princess tribe next year for sure. I am SO thankful that my girls have made such sweet friendships at school and it is a double blessing that I love their mammas so much too!

Our family had a great time at the beach this summer! We went three times and got to take several friends with us this summer. We always do the same things at the beach, which is still fun, but this summer we added walking on the beach to the pavilion and trips to The Fuzzy Peach a new frozen yogurt place at CB. As my mom always says, "Every day is different at the beach!"

I love this picture of my mom and the girls. We were waiting to eat dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in CB and the girls were sporting they new fake Toms! I love that they are all wearing their cool shades!

The girls and I were SO excited to welcome Jay home from his mission trip to Africa. He went with 7 other people from our church including our neighbor Erik. Jay had an amazing time in Uganda and it was definitely a life changing trip for him!

Sweet Molly right before her latest haircut! She had the best time in the mountains. She enjoyed lots of running, hiking, swimming and of course sleeping! We fell more in love with her this summer and are SO excited to have a puppy that is officially potty trained. Now if we can get her to stop barking so much!

I love our family picture on top of Grandfather Mountain. It was amazing being that high up in the clouds and the views were wonderful! We had such a fun time there seeing the animal habitats, visiting the nature museum and walking across the Mile High Bridge.

It was such a fun, busy and memorable summer! I can not believe it is almost over, but we are ready for 2nd grade next week!

last day of school

I am still in denial about how fast 1st grade flew by! The girls both had amazing years! They loved their teachers and made some really great friendships! Claire excelled in writing, her favorite subject, and loves to read chapter books. Ava's favorite subject is reading and she also loves math. Their highlight of first grade was starting the Y princess program with their daddy. All of the girls in their tribe are in first grade at North Ridge except one who is in K at their school. I can not believe how fast they are growing up. You always hear people say things like "it goes by in an instant", but I never believed them until now! Jay and I are so proud of the girls with their academics, behavior, and what sweet girls they are! Look out second grade....

girls weekend

I went to Ocean Isle last weekend with three of my best friends in the world. We were roommates for three years after college, got married within 6 months of each other, were bridesmaids in each others weddings and are now business partners! We have made MANY wonderful memories over the past 13 years! We used to take a roommate trip every year together and they started out pretty big...trips to Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., cruise to the Bahamas, Niagara Falls and Las Vegas baby!!! Over the past few years they have been more like trips to Carolina Beach, Ocean Isle and of course Richmond and other cities when we sell our frames at shows. We are in talks of bumping it up a notch and possibly tackling New York City next year!!! We had so much fun at the beach together and had Maggie's sweet baby girl Amelia with us. She was so good and we all took turns loving on her. We had great time on the beach, delicious food, a trip to the outlets and a late night trip to the grocery store to pick up some Blue Bell ice cream. I love these ladies SO much and hope we have many more roomie trips to come.

madam president

Mary Ann, Aimee, Lynne, me and Liz

My reign as madam president is now over! This year at North Ridge I was the co-president of the PTA. At times it was like a full time job with no pay, but I loved pretty much every minute of it! was president with my sweet friend Aimee who I did not know until late last year when we decided to share this position. It could have been a disaster doing this job with someone you don't know, but it turned out to be wonderful!!! We have become the closest of friends and I could not have gotten through this year without her! We worked so well together because we are different enough. She still laughs at how I have to have everything matching and just so and I love how easy going she is! I also loved working with Mary Ann, Lynne and Liz. Mary Ann has twin girls that are going to be in 6th grade, we are going to miss her at North Ridge. Lynne will take over next year as president and will do a fantastic job! Liz is going to be secretary again. The crazy thing about Liz is that we were in 3rd grade together at North Ridge. Our teacher Ms. Mercer is still a sub at North Ridge and is there all the time, so we will still get hugs from her! Everyone has been asking me if I am excited that my term as co-pres is over, but I feel bittersweet about it. I will still be super involved next year helping with the fall and spring fundraisers and being in the girls classrooms too. I just LOVE our school and love being a part of the PTA family!

beach trip

We had a wonderful family beach trip over Memorial Day weekend. The weather was windy, but beautiful! We had such a relaxing time and got to enjoy many of our favorites...Britt's donuts, Snowballs and the beach carnival. My parents had Molly here in Raleigh, so it was even more relaxing than normal :)

swim girls

We joined our neighborhood pool for the first time this summer and we are already having a blast! The girls just finished their third week of swim team and have their first swim meet next week! They have had so much fun swimming with their best friends from school and their Y princess tribe. Jay and I have also enjoyed hanging out with our friends poolside! I wanted to take a picture of the girls on their first day of swim practice and it turned into a full on photo shoot, directed by them of course. LOVE these girls and LOVE their crazy poses!

block party

I love our street so much!!! I'd better since I have lived here since I was 18 months old!!! We had our second annual block party last month and it was SO much fun. We got a city permit to block off the street so we were able to eat in the street and the kids had a blast riding their bikes and playing basketball in the street too! Jay and our neighbor Erik grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and everyone brought a side or dessert to share. I am so thankful for the awesome neighbors that we have, some of which I have known since I was a toddler! I love that we have older couples, couples with little babies and newlyweds on the street! I also love how many kids are on our street and that the girls are so close with many of them. We will be adding three little boys to the street this summer! Three of my sweet neighbors are due June, July, and August with boys!! My girls asked me the same question this year at the end of the night that they asked me last year..."Can we block off the street every weekend?"

mother's day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year! I am so thankful to be Claire and Ava's mom!!! It is definitely the best job I have ever had. I am also so thankful for my mom and all that she does for me! I also have such a wonderful mother-in-law who loves me and the girls so much, and of course she loves Jay too!