Barbour Vacation

 Barbour family beach vacation was a success and Will and I will be recovering for weeks.  I'll give those Barbours credit, they burn it at both ends with a vengeance and it was all we could do to stumble along, keeping up in their wake.  The girls loved being with all their cousins, aunts, uncles and Pop and Sherrie.  We brought home a bucketful of seashells (and quite a bit of sand too).  We jumped in the waves, dug in the sand, built sandcastles, found sand crabs, muscles, fish and stingrays.  And really enjoyed spending time together.  Praise be for sweet family!

The Week of Family Vacations, Part 1

First up at bat, the Barbour family vacation. We sojourned in Point Clear, AL this year at the Grand Hotel. The Grand is such a lovely spot, right on the bay, with an amazing pool. Beach, slide, kayak, bike rides, bon fire and more. Our crew is a tad young for many of these things and took a slower pace, but we will be leading the show in a few years. But we love our cousins and enjoyed just tagging along. And we love any excuse to be in Mobile to see Will's Vandy friends who are there. Thanks for a great trip, Pop!

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

To celebrate Charlie's birthday, Aunt Laura and Uncle Charles threw him a Slip and Slide, Spider-Man in the Park Birthday Party. We had a great morning playing, slip and sliding and celebrating Charlie's birthday. Laurie loves playing with all her cousins. She was so excited about the slip and slide, though not so much with the sharing and taking turns. It's ok though, nothing a little cupcake and candy can't fix.

Happy Fifth Birthday, Charlie!!

Easter at the Governor's Mansion

Wow! We had a busy Easter, one final Easter post: We were fortunate enough to attend the Easter party at the Governor's mansion again. Laurie has done nothing but talk about it since. There were so many activities to do, Laurie was quite overwhelmed. She ran from one activity to the next and back again. From the choo-choo train ride to face painting, cupcakes, jumpyland, baby chicks and baby rabbits and splashing in the fountain. I believe she loved the cute animals the best. It was all we could do to keep her from SQUEEZING the life out of the poor dears.

Happy Easter

Our family had a wonderful and busy day. Made better by sharing it with great family and friends.













We attended church in the morning. What an amazing gift we have in Jesus and one we look forward to sharing more and more with our children. Hallelujah! Praise God forever!





























We came home to open our Easter baskets and snack on candy. Then took off to Yazoo City for lunch, egg hunting, and jumpy land with the Barbours.





























We hope you had a happy Easter, too.

Easter Egg Hunt With The Minors

The Minors are so kind to include us in their family's annual Easter egg hunt. Laurie acted like she was an old pro at finding eggs and knocked down a few cousins to make sure she got her fair share (sorry cousin Katherine!). We had a blast eating cupcakes, doing crafts, and loving on Hunny Bunny. Just so you know, we threw Laurie's dress (that I smocked and first time it's been worn!!) in the wash and all stains were successfully removed!

You can just see Anna Fair's leg in that last photo.

Happy Birthday, Meg!

Cousin Meg turned two today, we celebrated with dinner and of course cake with everyone. Meg was so sweet loving on Anna Fair, I think she would have been happy just to sit on the couch and cuddle with her all night. Forget giving her a gift, I'll just invite her over to hug on the baby!

Happy Birthday, Meg, we love you!

Beach Vacation

All the Barbours spent a long weekend at the beach. I especially looked forward to the trip to see how Laurie would enjoy it. You might remember this trip from April when she tolerated the beach or this trip from last August when she didn't like it much at all. But after this weekend, Laurie has definitely given the beach two thumbs up.

I expected her to be tentative at first, but yet again, Laurie showed her true daredevil character and hit the ground running from the second we hit the beach. She had no fear of the waves and ran straight headlong into the water, only to be knocked flat and tumbled to shore. We were so afraid she would hate the beach after that, but she went straight back for more. No fear.

We had so much good help from aunts, uncles and cousins alike, what a fun time! Thanks, Pop and Sherrie for a wonderful trip! In addition to the waves, Laurie enjoyed building and knocking down sand castles, digging sand, throwing sand back in the ocean, playing in the little tidepools on the beach, and running here, there and yonder.

Liddy demonstrated some of her gymnastic abilities, Laurie loved it and tried her best to show off her own talents. They were so cute together.

This video tickles me to no end. I thought I would catch a sweet shot of cousins playing together, but apparently Laurie decided she was ready to call it a day and head to the house. With Meg calling "bye, bye" after her all the way!