Our May Flowers

Here is our May.  Most spent visiting with family since Josh was gone most of the month to Asia.  He had an amazing trip and I plan to share later.  We spent a little less than a week in Gainesville after Josh left.  We finished up our last MOPS meeting of the year. I worked at Corks.  Then we headed to stay with family.  We stayed for a little over a 1.5 weeks in the panhandle splitting our time between the Gorman's and Williams' house.  

CORKS and art project fun

Fun party I taught

Twilight 

Moon, Sun and Stars

My own art project- chore magnets for the kids

Love these two!

Arabella dancing and singing to her Daddy's jams

This is how little boys entertain themselves in the car: Landon and his silly faces

Noah's Pirate Party

Landon's homemade card for Noah

MOPS Splash Day

Mommy and Her Little Loves

Box fun

Once we got to the panhandle it was a little easier for all of us dealing with Josh being gone.  Lots of fun, laughter and smiles being surrounded by friends and family.   We were home to celebrate Jamiie Jo's birthday.  Grandpa and Grandma Williams watched the kids one night so I could go out with Jamiie and celebrate.  We had fun!  I ordered Jamiie and myself special drinks so we would have a souvenir cup to remember the occasion.  :)

And if you are wondering if that is Carter with a pirate eye patch on, the anwser is yes.  I was going with all the young ones, since I was almost 10 years older than most of our birthday celebrating crew, that when you get to be old and a mom you have a bit of everything in your bag.  Well I had a pirate eye patch among other things.  ;)

Happy Birthday Jamiie!

Grandpa and Grandma Williams, the kiddos and I surprised Jamiie at work :)





 I was able to spend Mother's Day with both my mothers and the two reasons why I am a mom.  It was a lovely day!  I did miss Josh a lot this day.  It helped when I received a surprise delivery though.  A beautiful bouquet of flowers.  Even being on the other side of the world 12 hours ahead, he managed to make my day.  

Happy Mother's Day

Beautiful bouquet from Josh

We got a chance to meet up with Jermiah and Sally, who were in town for the day, Mom W. and Jamiie at the beach.  We also ended up by seeing Carter and Kaili there.  We had lots of fun!

Beach Day

Lots and lots of pool time at Grandpa and Grandma's Gormans plus smiles, laughs, story time, and silly antics.  

Grandpa and Grandma Gorman's House

Jamiie took Landon, Arabella and I out on her kayak.  We just went for about an hour because it was the kids first time out and we were sure how they would do.  I think Landon would have been happy out there all day.  Bella enjoyed it but was very ready when we were headed back.  They both did great.  No flipped boats!  We stopped on a little beach cove to eat a snack and check out some gulf animal life.  

Kayaking with Aunt Jamiie

Aunt Jamiie came back to Gainesville after our visit to the panhandle.  She stayed for a day or two less than a week.  It was so nice to have her around to help out and play with the kids.  The first day she was here I drove Sally and Jeremiah to the Orlando airport for their flight to Greece.  They finally got to go on their honeymoon! Jamiie, the little ones and I played outside a lot.  We were all pretty sad when she left.  Landon asked me to take the toys and books that him and Aunt Jamiie played with away because every time he saw them he said it made him too sad.  It was so sweet and so sad.

Morningside Nature Center

Fun with Bendaroos- Gary from Sponge Bob

Arabella creation- I think it was some animal  

Colorful mini pot pies

We did a Corks pottery morning while Jamiie visited.  Landon painted a crab, Jamiie painted measuring spoons and Bella and I did a purple duck(I guess I forgot to take a picture of her duck, but you can check it out in our bathroom any time ;)

Landon's crab- 100% by himself

Jamiie's measuring spoons

Love this picture of my little loves- watching the clouds

Fun outside Corks


Fun with the sprinkler

American Flag by the Williams children

Memorial Day- we missed Daddy a lot this day

We had a week and half after Jamiie left before Josh came home.  It was a big rough but well worth all the amazing things that happened in Asia.  The last day or two of May Josh was home and was mostly spent keeping the kids quiet so Josh could sleep  before needed to go back to work.  The day Josh did go back to work, he took a lunch break and came with us to the dentist.  It was little ones first time and they were champions!!

Jessica's Wedding

Jessica and her groom, Cody were married on Sunday April 14th.  We were there Friday to Monday.

It was a whirlwind trip.  Merry and Owen flew in a couple of days before we got there.Josh's parents, Jamiie, Jeremiah, Sally, and our family caravanned up to Missouri in 2 days.  We got there late Friday afternoon.  We basically went to work right away.  Picking up the wedding dress, running errands, and very late night craft projects.  I think we went to bed between Friday and Saturday night.  Sunday night was a little better but it was still about 1am because there was so much to clean up and pack.  

We all had lots of projects to do.  My main projects were #1 making Jessica a Chief's garter.  I think I spent less than $10 on supplies.  It had 2 little charms on it too ;)

Late night crafts and projects

And #2 making a cake topper.  They had a cheesecake and cookies for their "cake" instead of the traditional cake.  Since it was a cheese cake the topper had to be supper light.  Jessica had a garden/bird-ish theme to her wedding.

Cake topper

AmberDee and I made appointments for all the bridesmaids, mother of the bride, and AmberDee (the super helper) to get manicures per Jessica's request (although we didn't mind).  AmberDee wasn't able to get a mani because she is in school for nursing.  AmberDee and Jessica got Pedis.  Getting appointments on Friday for Saturday was no easy task.  It was homecoming weekend and we had to call over 10 places I think to find one that could take all of us.  And even when we found a place, 2 girls had to go else where because we ran out of time.  The rehearsal and dinner was that evening.  I still think we were 30-45 minutes late.  Ops! Well we were with the bride and nothing happens until she gets there anyways.  Lol!

Mani and Pedi time!! 

 Sunday was not different then every other day we were there. Super busy!  A lovely bride/bridesmaid breakfast at a local breakfast place.  Then Jessica was off with Jamiie to the hair dresser.  We all headed back to the house we were staying at to get us ready.  Hair products, bobby pins and make-up were flying everywhere!!  It was quite the girly morning :)

Getting ready for the BIG DAY!

 The beautiful bride getting her dress, veil and shoes on.  Jessica's veil was her mothers.  Plus it has the same ribbon border as my veil.  I love that we seem to love the same things :)

Bride getting ready

 It was a very, very windy cold day.  It was a little wet at times too.  But we all survived, the lake looked like an ocean (just Jessica was very happy about since it reminder her of home), and Jessica and Cody got Hitched!!!  Despite the weather, the pictures turned out great.  The photographer did a great job making our windy hair look good.

Waiting for it to be our turn to walk down the aisle

 Party time!!  After lots of pictures with the bridal party, we headed over to the reception site.  We eat, watch Jessica and Cody paint a unity cross picture and danced.  During the reception the sister snuck off to decorate the honeymoon hotel suite with flowers and candles.  It was a lot of fun :)

Reception Party Time!

March

March

March was a strange month for weather.  It was hot and it was cold.  I even woke up one morning to a thick layer of frost on my windshield.  I had to scrap it off before I could drive.

Dr. Seuss' Birthday
We started off the month by celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday.  Growing up I never really cared for his books but now I love them and so does the rest of my family.  The week leading up to his birthday, we read lots of Dr. Seuss books, we watched the Lorax (on Netflix)and Horton Hears a Who (which was one of the shared gifts from us to the kids).  On his birthday, we had Carter over for a Dr. Seuss dinner of green eggs and ham (an mashed potatoes).  The kids loved it. I think both, Josh and Carter, thought I was a bit strange. But they both said they enjoyed it by the end of the night.  We finished up by reading all the our Dr. Seuss books (5) plus the 2 we borrowed from the library.

Lego Class
Our Lego class is still going strong.  Landon looks forward to it every week, as well as many of the other kids.  I love teaching it, every week :)

Lego Class

 Everyday life

Fun around the house

 Red Robin
Gainesville now has a Red Robin.  I had never been to one but people around here seemed pretty excited.  Josh and I didn't really have any opinion about it one way or another... Until our friend Michelle told me that they were allowing you to sign up for a free meal.  So... I signed up our family.  Josh met us at the mall for lunch.  We had a lovely, yummy meal that was a little over $55 for free!!  How awesome is that?  The food was really good too!  So now I think I get why everyone was excited about Red Robin.  They have great service and awesome food! Plus they gave us some free food and I am always up for that!

Red Robin Lunch

St Patrick's Day
 I love St Patrick's Day.  I always have.  I am Irish. I had an Irish maiden name.  I always get pretty into St Patrick's Day, well I wear green and since Josh and I have been married we almost always have corned beef and cabbage at least once in March.  I LOVE corned beef and cabbage.  Which is kind of funny because I remember it being a big family tradition things growing up and I hated it!  Oh well, I guess that is why it is always good to keep trying things, because you never know when you will start liking them.

St Patrick's Day fun and crafts

Painting
We have been working on the play area in the back yard.  Arabella and I painted the inside of the playhouse/fort.  We used left over paint that we have collected.  So one great part was the project was free :)
There is now a green, red, blue, and purple wall.  While I was painting, a little bird came to keep me company and sing me a song.  It was such a treat!

More Corks & Colors painting fun :)

Family Fun Day
We had to do some work in Niceville.  It was only going to take an hour or so but we could stay.  So instead of dreading a 8 hour drive to and from Niceville, Josh thought we should just make a family fun day out of it.  We went to the Florida Caverns.  Unfortunately, it was spring break so the tickets for the caverns (which you can not buy in advanced) were sold out by the time we got there.  We still had a lot of fun.  We walked on the nature trails and found caves to explore ourselves.  We will be planning another trip there so we can go in the caverns but for a family fun day it was a perfect outing!

Florida Caverns

Easter
The Saturday before Easter/Resurrection Sunday, we joined many other friends at Mrs Jean's house for a pot luck lunch, games and egg hunt.  She host this every year and it is always a blast.  This year was no different.

Lunch, Dancing with Daddy, and Games at Mrs Jean's

Eggs!!!

Enjoying wide open spaces and the goats.  Especially the mommy with her baby.

Anyone interested in a "Apple" that tastes a lot like a potato?!?

 Sally and Jeremiah came to visit for Easter weekend.  We were glad to have them visit although it was much too short of a visit.  Thank Sally for taking our pictures! :)

Resurection Sunday family pictures :)