Rejuvenation!

Thanks to some really, REALLY good friends, Tom and I were able to get away for a few days to beautiful Ft. Myers Beach in the Sunshine State! We determined to not plan a bunch of activities (which is what I normally do) and instead to focus on sleeping, reading and enjoying each other again! Life can get so crazy, we tend to forget each other and let our most important, earthly relationship slip. And that's what we did. We spent every day at the beach and/or pool with snacks, water and books. And we went out every night for delicious dinners! It was a WONDERFUL 4 days and we hated to see it come to an end as we reluctantly boarded the plane this morning, but are SO thankful for the alone time!!!! 

I didn't take my camera so these pictures are from Tom's phone and either it doesn't take great pictures or we don't know how to use it very well but here are what we have:

 Selfie on our before-dinner walk

 View of the pool area

 IF I had taken my camera, I would have been obsessed with the wildlife. There are awesome birds everywhere!

 View of the condo

 Another selfie on the beach

 Camped out on the beach for the day. (Tom did my toenails. You read that right!)

 There were so many shells to sort through!

 View of "our" beach....we pretty much had it to ourselves most of the time. :-)

One last selfie at the Watermark Grille on our last night there. Delicious!!!!

We did branch out yesterday and took a dolphin tour on a jet ski and boy was it AMAZING! We drove 46 mph, fearing for our lives, but attempting to keep up with our guide until we got to the dolphin hot spots and were not disappointed. There were dolphins everywhere, jumping and playing and swimming so close that we could almost reach out and touch them. Awesome experience!

To those of you who made this trip possible for us (and you know who you are), we are forever grateful and so appreciate your sacrifice on our behalf!

4 years old!

4 years ago this evening, Tom and I had a sitter scheduled to stay with Ian so we could have an early anniversary dinner out. We never made it to the restaurant but instead, spent our evening at the hospital, waiting for and meeting Brenna Noelle! It was the best anniversary date ever! The birthday girl is celebrating in Jamaica today but we got to celebrate with her before she left. 

 Ready to party!

 The cute, Pinterest-worthy treats that her clever mommy made

 Getting a little help from Felicia

 A hug for Great Mamma

 The only thing this girl has been asking for (for months) was a jump rope!

 Drew Brees crashed the party.....oh wait! That's Lucas, wearing a ribbon on his head!

 Blowing out the candles

 Princess Anna and Princess Elsa

 Mimi and Pa with the girls

 Great Mamma with the girls

 And we tried to get Langston in a picture. Look at those eyes!

 2 handsome men with their great grandmother

And, 2 more handsome men!

Happy, Happy Birthday sweet Brenna! We love you and are so thankful for you!

Fun!

So......Lindsay had an opportunity to accompany Troy on a quick trip to CO for a conference and thanks to Pops and my parents (helping with our boys), I was able to make the trip to stay with Olivia and Ethan. The trip was made more enjoyable by a fun traveling companion who kept me entertained with amazing stories of her wonderful life!  O, E and Grammy had a blast, despite the cool, rainy weather! So thankful for every minute with our grandchildren....they are all such blessings!

Ethan on the bouncy horse

What to do on a rainy day? Why, stay in your jammies all day and build a tent in the living room, of course!

Olivia's bedroom in the tent house

Olivia and Gus in the tent

We braved the cold and mud to go the park for awhile on Saturday. 

Joe Cool

Sweet girl! She is always so concerned about her brother "falling and cracking his head." She is a protective little "mother."

Thanks, O and E, for letting Grammy come play!

Pops and I love you!

Zoo

We love zoos. Perhaps it's because we live with a zoo. Whatever the reason, we have always loved visiting zoos. So, when the grandchildren started coming along and we adopted the boys, we decided it was a good time to get a  membership to the Indy zoo. (It paid for itself in one trip with the entire family!)  

A few days ago, I took Brenna and Felicia and met up with my mom and dad for a few hours of animal watching.

Mimi and Felicia watching the lions

 Of course, we had to ride the carousel! (You can't see it here but Felicia chose the rhino to ride.)

 and Brenna chose the gorilla.

 Grammy/Felicia selfie

 Brenna in the tram car with Mimi and Pa

 Watching the sea lions do their tricks (behaviors)

Felicia, "in" the ocean 

 a bit blurry but still cute!

These pictures are from a day when they were at my house and Brenna asked if I wanted to take their picture. My grandchildren know me well! Ha!

 These girls love their little brother and he adores them!

Can't wait to go back to the zoo!

Belated Birthday pictures

This post is ridiculously late but since I am enjoying high speed internet in Memphis instead of "internet light" (yes, that really is what they call it) I decided to finally post pictures of Jeremy and Lucas' birthday party. Their birthdays are exactly one month apart so we picked a day in between to celebrate both together.

 They chose the new Planes movie theme so we had a few decorations...

 and a pinata to bash! Everyone got a few turns and here is Jeremy....

 and Brenna...

 and Felicia...

 and Ian...

 and Lucas, striking the final blow that sent the candy flying and the kids scrambling!

 The Birthday Boys (they chose ice cream sundaes for dessert)

 Langston even got a taste of ice cream.

 The 2 oldest brothers and Tom connived to do the birthday spankings! 

 I think Ian might have enjoyed it a bit too much! ;-)

It was a fun time to celebrate Jeremy and Lucas and to thank God for protecting them and bringing them to our family.