What a week!!

We have been so busy!! So much has gone on in the past week and I have lots of pictures to share! I'll go back to June and catch you up :)


Noah had his first play date with his little friend, Ethan. They are 3 weeks apart and Ethan's mom Ashley and I have been going to Bible study together since Ella was a baby. It was fun to have the boys finally meet since we saw each other almost weekly during our pregnancy.

As you can see, Noah was really playing hard!! J/K

But he DID wake up to say hello!

On the 30th of June, I celebrated my Birthday with Randy, Ella, Noah, and my sister Lynsey. I only took a couple of pics, but we had a great time! Randy and Ella baked strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing- my favorite! Randy also grilled chicken and cooked dinner for us!

I spent the rest of the week packing and preparing for our trip to Tennessee and Missouri. We left on Thursday night/Friday morning so that the little ones would sleep most of the trip. It took us about 13 hours to make the drive to the western side of TN where my parents live. We spent the rest of the day and night there with my mom and dad.

My sister Lynsey with our Dad, Eric

Dolly giving Ella a bath in the sink..It's a really deep sink, but I think this may have been the last time she will fit!


The next morning, we drove 3 hours into Missouri following my Dad and brother to meet up with my step dad's side of the family. They camp every other year at Current River in Missouri and usually stop to celebrate the fourth at my Dad's Aunt's house near St. Louis. So..we drove the 3 hours and met in Sikeston, MO to eat at Lambert's Cafe- Home of the "Thrown Rolls". It was so yummy and the atmosphere is great!! If you want another roll, you just raise your hands in the air and a waiter will throw one to you from where ever he is in the restaurant! You have to watch your head in case someone misses! I was so excited to see my family, I forgot to take pictures in the restaurant, but as soon as I get some copies from everyone else, I'll post them!

I did find this little video..


After lunch, we had to drive another 3 hours to Aunt Becky's house where we planned to celebrate the 4th of July. Ella had a great time playing with cousins she hadn't seen since she was an infant. She was so excited to meet her cousin Emma and was singing the "I love you" song from Barney within minutes of meeting her! lol!

Ella with cousins Emma, Brysten, and Connor

Me with Austin..I used to watch both Austin and Connor since they were so small. I learned how to care for a baby by watching them. I can't believe how much they've grown. I really miss them SO much.

Here we are with my Grandma and Grandpa Brown :)There were so many other people who I didn't get pics with. It just went by too fast.

Next morning, we were on the road AGAIN! Back the 6 hours to my moms where we spent the remainder of our trip. Since we spent somewhere around 41 hours in the car over a 5 day period, we were pretty worn out. Thankfully, the kiddos did great in the car!


I thought this picture was really cute. Since my sister and I were somewhere around 6 and 8 when my mom met my step dad, he isn't quite accustomed to baby car seats. He did a great job getting Noah all swaddled and cozy and was going to buckle him in like this. I had to take over and get Noah's arms and legs situated and through the straps. Wish I could buckle him in like this! He looked so comfy!!


Noah got to also meet my Meemaw (my grandmother) and Nanny (my great grandma), and Danielle (my cousin who is about to give Noah a little boy cousin sometime in the next 2 weeks!). I forgot my camera for this visit!! I was so bummed!!!

Ella also got to fufill her recent dream of "riding" a motorcycle. She loved to wear the helmet and sit on it while it was running to hear the "vroom vroom". In fact, she loved the helmet so much, she wore it around the house a couple of hours and insisted that Dolly wear one, too. Silly girl!

We definitely have been enjoying the summer! It has been great to get out and do some stuff after such a COLD winter!!

Our movie theater has been doing free movies for kids over the summer. They play older movies, but it still makes for a fun trip to the movies. Last week we saw Horton Hears a Who and Ella did great. I couldn't believe she sat through the whole thing. Today, we went to see Space Chimps and it wasn't as successful lol About 25 minutes in she said, "Mommy can we go home??" and started crying. She is just so worn out from being so busy. Our plans for the next few days are do nothing and stay out of the car lol.