Chris's Birthday

Chris is having a long birthday celebration since he is turning the big 3-0 this year. His secretary and one of his friends at work decorated his office in honor of this big birthday. Later that morning Marianne and I came by to bring him so donuts. Here are the pictures...

This was on his door. Aren't the pictures hilarious? They asked me to find some funny ones of Chris and then they blew them up and cut them out

Pictures and balloons everywhere!

All of the chairs in his office were full of confetti.
Chris and his friends who helped with the surprise.

Check out the donuts Marianne and I brought.

The box isn't long enough to fit birthday straight but it is still cool, huh?

Marianne loved all of her daddy's birthday balloons. He let her take one home.

Chris's Birthday Party

To celebrate Chris turning 30 we had tailgate party before a Braves game. It combined all of Chris's favorite things: baseball, tailgating, family and friends. (I just have to say here that we have such great friends! Some of them drove all the way from Columbia, others helped cook and/or brought food and drink. Devin even flew in from China! We are so blessed to have so many friends. We love you all!) To make it easy for everyone to find I decided to tailgate in the Publix Tailgating Area since it is near the stadium and well marked with a sign. Little did I know that Publix looks for a "Tailgate of the Game" in this location. Because we had good food, lots of friends and cute babies in a Pack-and-Play we won! The prize was a $250 Publix gift card and a chance to compete for a $1000 Publix gift card at the last game of the year. I was too busy to remember to take pictures but here is what we have.

Julie wanted to take a picture of us in our "Braves gear" before the game. Good thing she did because this is one of the only pictures to remember the day by.

Campbell's mom, Casey, took this picture of the two dear friends playing together at the tailgate. I am sure this was our secret weapon in winning so if we come back for the last game we will try it again!

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a great time visiting family for Mother's Day. Friday night and Saturday we were with the Tutens. Wes and Zoe were even there on Saturday and seeing them is always a treat! Marianne loved being with Zoe and tried to follow her everywhere but Zoe was a bit too fast. And Zoe still likes to help baby Marianne do things.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday we were with the Ratchfords. Julie is back from Hong Kong so we were super excited to see her. Everyone was so sweet to help me celebrate my first Mother's Day with very nice gifts and sweet cards! It was a wonderful weekend.

Marianne getting her first feel of lake water right before she gets her first taste of sand! She stuck a handful of it in her mouth before I could stop her but I don't think she liked it so hopefully she won't do it again for a while...

Uncle Wes is so fun!

Papi is instructing Zoe on how to feel Marianne. Marianne ate a little too slowly for Zoe's liking so Papi got to finish the job.

I just love this picture!

Marianne is so excited to have Aunt Julie back!

A few recent favorites

For my birthday Chris gave me a gift certificate to take a class to learn how to take better pictures with our camera. One of the first things Kate (the teacher who also happens to be my friend) said is that most of our good pictures have probably been accidents. We get so excited when we get a really good one and we don't know how to do it again. Then she taught us how to make sure all of our pictures turn out good from now on! I just took the class last night so I haven't taken any good picture on purpose yet. I know these aren't super good but I like them...Hopefully we will have some really good ones to share soon.
I know this one is dark of her face but I really like it. Maybe I will try to take it again now that I know what I am doing!


Here is Marianne eating breakfast outside. It was a beautiful morning but a little chilly so we put the sweater on over her pajamas. Chris captured the perfect little smile!

Picnic

Not long ago Marianne and I had a picnic with some friends in Lenox Park. I had never been there before but it was very nice and super quiet! The moms enjoyed sharing stories and talking through mommy glitches while the kids had fun sharing food and toys! I am so fortunate to be surrounded by moms who have children Marianne's age. It is a blessing to be able to get out and do things with them and it is a treat for Marianne too.

It is hard to take a good picture when they are facing the sun...

Marianne and her friend James. She was being friendly but I think he was a little bothered.

California Part 2

Here are few more pictures with family! Enjoy! Stay tuned for some pictures of the fun times we have been having here at home.

Marianne is trying to figure out exactly what Nicki is smiling about...

Cousin Jack is so funny!

Uncle Art finally getting a turn to hold Marianne while Aunt Lisa makes her laugh.

We wish we had a better picture of Marianne with Uncle Rick but we left our camera in the car when we went to lunch!

It was great to be with everyone and hopefully we can do it again soon!