More Mama

My little mama was wrapping and rocking her baby again last night, but this time she was wearing my shoes. I just LOVE seeing her take care of her babies.

Christmas in July?

We saw Santa going into Chic-Fil-A today as we were coming out! No kidding!! He stopped and talked to the kids, gave them stickers, and even posed for this picture. How cool is that?!?!?

7 Moms + 11 Kids =

One FUN lunch at Chic-Fil-A! Meredith and Sam

Jackson, Janelle, and Darbi

Braden and Sam

Khirstin, Alicia, and Jake

Gabriel, Grace, Jaime, and Cooper

Somehow I missed getting pictures of Amy, Lucas, and Kate. What a fun morning and afternoon! It's so great to have good friends to spend time with, AND it's wonderful to have the time this summer to enjoy our friends.

Bounce Time at SIGS, Part II

We met friends this morning at SIGS Sportsplex for Bounce Time. The kids have such a good time playing there, and it is such good exercise. Grace loves the trampoline.

Gabriel enjoyed jumping in the cheese pit even more this time than last.

A bunch of crazy boys jumped on the trampoline.

I love these two pictures of them.

Darbi and Grace played with the toy together.

Gabriel was much more brave this time. He climbed up the playset and went down the slide that ended at the cheese pit. The last time we came, he was too scared to go down the slide because it is dark.

Grace and Sam P. jumped on the trampoline.

Gabriel ran around inside an inflatable toy.

I couldn't keep Grace inside the inflatables.

Little Mama

Grace was playing with her baby doll tonight and acting like such a little mama. I just love to watch how nurturing she can be. First, she gave that baby a bottle. Gabriel's lion got some milk too.

Then, she walked around with her baby under her arm singing, "Rock a baby . . . tree top."

She laid the baby down and fed the baby with a fork. (I hope that burner she laid that baby on wasn't hot. Haha!)

She made a bed for the baby on the couch.

Before putting the baby to bed, she diapered the baby. She had out the bottom creams, wipes, and a diaper for her baby.

Stickers

The kids spent 20 minutes or more this morning totally engrossed in putting stickers on construction paper. Gabriel was drawing circles around his stickers and calling them "picture frames."

Considering his delays with fine motor skills, I think that his circles look amazing. His pencil grip has matured too.

Don't think that Gabriel could be doing this activity without his sister joining. She enjoyed it just as much as he did.

Recent Quotes from Gabriel

While walking through a parking lot, Gabriel says to me, "Mommy, I like that girl Kaylee in my swim class."
"Oh, really? Is she nice?"
"Yea, she's nice . . . and she's pretty."



Uncle Eddie to Gabriel: "So, you gotta girlfriend yet?"
Gabriel replied: "No, but I have a Mommy."



Gabriel: "Mommy, you can't sit on that stool."
Me: "Why not?"
Gabriel: "Your butt's too big. You know it's growing."


While hugging Grandma, Gabriel asks, "Is there any milk in those?" (Points to her chest.)
**More conversation followed, but I won't post the rest.**

Clarksville Aquatic Center

We had lunch this afternoon at Colgate Park with the McAfee's before going to swim at the Clarksville Aquatic Center. Here comes Sam!

Grace liked swinging high.

Her favorite thing is sliding though.

Sam did some swinging too.

Next, we hit the pool. Jake had fun playing with the water toys and crawling around in the water.

Gabriel and Grace enjoyed the sprinklers.

Sam and Jake

A silly Grace

Ahh . . . summer fun!

Crazy Gabe!

Playdate at the Bower's

We went to the Bower's house this morning for a playdate.Landon's 2nd birthday party was this weekend, and we weren't able to attend because we were out of town. Grace helped Landon open his birthday gifts. Isn't she sweet?

Wow! A beach ball sprinkler!

Gabriel LOVED this firetruck!

Cuties --- Landon and Grace

The kids enjoyed the bounce house, but it was a little hot on their bare feet.

Action shot

The kids enjoyed sliding out of the bounce house as much as bouncing in it.

Holdaway Reunion --- Saturday

Saturday morning we had some thunderstorms beginning at about 5 AM. There was a nice break in the rain at about breakfast time, but thunderstorms resumed later in the morning and lasted for several hours. Softball was rained out. Swimming was rained out. But rain won't keep our family from having fun! Cousin Julie had the genius idea of getting sidewalk chalk out for the kids right before the rain began again. Easy clean-up for us and great fun for the kids!

Denni, Gabriel, Matthew, Grace and Bella draw outside the dining hall.

Can you tell that Andrew and Anthony have posed for pictures together before?

The older kids got a game of 4-Square started. What smart kids! Pictured, in totally random order, are Blake, Michael, Noah, Preston, Lydia, Denni, Jeffrey, and Joe.

The adults played some Euchre: Stacey, Erin, Isaac, Brian, Dad, and Eddie.

Yummy spaghetti and salads were served for Saturday dinner. Grace won the prize for messiest eater in the family.

We celebrated David's 75th birthday after dinner.

MaryJo and Katie enjoy some time outside after dinner.

Dan lost his Masonic ring near this dead tree on Thursday night. After Saturday's dinner we got the kids involved in searching for the ring.

While looking for the ring, Dan found a little toad and decided to show it to all of the kids.

Scott decided to look from the atop the dead tree. Any luck, Scott?

Look at all of the kids! Claire, Anabelle, Daniel, Mikey, Blake, Noah, Matthew, Andrew, Maria, Grace

In the evening, Mike and Joe Gallagher entertained us with some awesome music. They really are talented musicians. It was easily one of the most entertaining evenings EVER. My pictures were too dark to post on the blog.