June and July Festivities

Summer is flying by....I can't believe we are just a week away from August already!  We have had a FULL summer that is for sure but it has been so fun.

Hudson went back to Lipscomb University Soccer Camp again this year and loved it.  Coach Shannon is the best and she had a big time this year b/c her buddy Braxton went with her and b/c everyday ended with the slip n' slide!  Just look at that shooting form!

Soccer Camp...look at that form

We also enjoyed a weekend trip to Bowling Green to spend some time with Grandpa and Moon.  They took us to Kentucky Down Under and the girls had a blast.  We saw all sorts of birds, fed the lorikeets, watched the crazy Lemurs, met a baby kangaroo, petted snakes and watched Australian shepherds herd their sheep (that was my favorite part).  Hudson even got chosen to feed the baby goats...she was in heaven!!

Feeding a baby Goat at Kentucky Down Under

Because of Hudson's love for animals, I surprised her with a big girl date and took her horse-back riding.  Our friends Angela and Ava Grace went with us and we had a blast.  Hudson was so excited to actually be on a horse instead of just looking at them.  We did an hour long trail ride and it was so much fun.

Surprise Big Girl Date - Riding Aster

At the end of June, we headed up to Lake Rabun for our annual Halter vacation and the 4th of July.  It was so much fun.  We had beautiful weather and the cousins had such a good time playing.  You will see all of the pictures of our week there but here are a few highlights:

Hudson AND Sullivan doing the ski-trainer (Hudson even tried the real ski-trainer but couldn't get up)

She is having more fun then she let's on and as you can see below, Sullivan is obsessed

Of course Cousin time is always a highlight.

Reed is in that pool somewhere

BOTH of the girls went off the top of the boathouse!  They will do anything for ice cream from Hall's.

She will do anything for ice cream

Fireworks in the boat are always awesome.

Love this crew and how much they love each other

Playing on the dock and on the water are always super fun.

This kid....

We went blackberry picking and picked 11 lbs!

Farm Life...Blackberry Picking

She will also do anything for a treat from Hall's

We created a new activity called Trespass-Tuesday, which turned into We Don't Live Here - Wednesday, where we attempted to go off every slide we could find on the lake.  I would say we did about 3/4 of them, but had to leave a few for Labor Day.  The highlight was definitely finding this Blob.  This is Tom about to launch Reedo...it was hilarious!

The highlight of Trespass Tuesday

Hudson is a total fish and now swims in the lake without a life jacket (with an adult of course)

This one is a fish...

As always it was amazing to see MamMam again.  I love this sweet picture with all of her Grands.  (Why do they nail the pictures in pajamas, but dress them up cute and not one of them will smile?!?)

MamMam and her crew

Needless to say we had an amazing trip.  I am ready to go back!

We came home late on a Friday night just in time to catch Summer Saturdays at Ellington Ag Center.  Every week is a different theme and this particular day was called "Old MacDonald's Farm".  There were all sorts of animals and mule rides.  We had a great time and the girls were reunited with their boyfriends (Braxton and CarCar) so all were happy!

Mule rides at the Ag Center

A couple weeks ago, and long-overdue, we made the switch to a big girl bed for Sullivan.  To say that she loves it would be an understatement.  She is SOOOOO excited about it.  You can't just ask her about it, if you mention it, she will take you up to her room and show it to you!!!  Next up...potty training...wish us luck!

Look who is in a Big Girl Bed

I couldn't resist this picture b/c of the sheer joy on their faces.  They had such a fun time splashing in puddles one morning after a few days of rain....

The sheer joy in this picture is amazing

That is all for now.  I love how much they love each other and what amazing friends they are becoming.  It is so much fun to watch!

They really do love each other

Next up is Princess Dance Camp and the start of Fall Soccer Season.

Here are the rest of the pictures from our adventures.  I apologize in advance because there are a lot of them...but enjoy:

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Memorial Day and Sobe Turns 2

Just a quick update on our soccer season and Sobe's big birthday!

We wrapped up Spring soccer over Memorial Day and Hudson did awesome.  Such a turn around from last year.  She scored a few goals and was super into it.  She was not afraid to get in the mix of it and was pretty tough I have to admit.

Serious Focus

Of course we all know the Trophy is the most important part of the season so she was super pumped to get this after our last game!

So proud of my big girl

The weekend after Memorial Day was Sullivan's big birthday celebration.  The girls were surprised with a visit from Charlie and Reedo.  My parents were nice enough to bring them up for the weekend to help celebrate.  (Big shout out to PJ who couldn't make the trip b/c he made Buckhead Baseball All-Stars AGAIN and had a baseball tournament...but we missed him so much).

The weekend was full of pool time of course!

Cousins in town

Fun dinners out!

Fun at dinner

And of course, Sullivan's big party.  

Ready for her party

We celebrated at the Cumberland Park Splash Pad in downtown Nashville and it was a blast.  A lot of Sullivan's friends were there and the kids had a big time playing in the fountains, sand boxes, climbing wall and super fast slide.

Splash pad fun with some help from Daddy

These two had a big time

After the party, we had to do some more swimming at home of course and then we had a family cook-out and opened presents!  She was super excited to open her presents and was blessed with so many wonderful gifts!

So blessed

We wrapped up the night with some firefly catching.  Charlie was very sweet and helpful with Sully and Reed and Hudson were experts on their own!

Firefly time

Sullivan's real birthday was a few days later so we had yet another celebration.  She got to pick dinner that night and then open a few more presents - including her very own tricycle - and of course have one more cookie celebration.  I love this picture b/c Hudson was being so sweet and singing to her!

Sweet Sisters

That is all for now....we have a big LONG trip planned to Lake Rabun for July 4th so we can't wait for that!

As always, here are the rest of the pictures from soccer and Sullivan's celebration:

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Busy Busy Spring!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post but we have been crazy busy.  With spring arriving and the end of school and activities, we are always on the go!  

We started Spring with soccer season for Hudson and Gymboree for Sullivan.  Both girls are having so much fun - more on that later.  

We also spent a VERY long week in Atlanta to celebrate Easter and because I had a meeting for work.  We had a great Easter with all the Halter's and were even treated to another one of PJ's awesome egg hunts.  The girls always love being with the boys and the boys are so sweet to them.  Unfortunately, the week after Easter while I was in downtown Atlanta for a work meeting for 4 days - Sullivan got a double ear infection, SueSue (who was our babysitter) got the stomach flu and Maysie spent 2 days at the ER vet and regular vet in Atlanta with some stomach issues also.  Luckily by the time Friday rolled around, everyone was on the mend and we were able to sneak in a trip to the GA Aquarium.  Big shout out to Tom for being super dad all week!

When we got home from Atlanta we were thrown back into our regular routine of Soccer practice, dance class, gymboree and soccer games.  May also tends to be the birthday month and we literally had a birthday party every Saturday!  Of course the girls loved going to a playground party for Carter, Star Wars party for a classmate, Karate party for Caleb (Hudson even broke a board with her karate chop) and coming up a pool party for another classmate...and don't forget Sobes 2nd Birthday is only weeks away!!!

Last weekend SueSue came up for a visit and got to watch Hudson play soccer and do her dance recital.  We also spent some time at Musician's Corner (a free music festival in Nashville) and at our favorite spot - petting the Police horses at Ellington Ag Center.

Here are a few updates on the girls:

Hudson:

• She is loving soccer and has scored several goals this season.  Sadly, we only have two games left.
• She enjoyed Dance as well and after a shaky rehearsal (big tears and refusal to go on stage), she nailed her performance and did so awesome.  Big thanks to Macy for helping with Dance (that place is way out of my comfort zone). We were all so proud.  Here is a video of her final performance (she is on the end in the back row - Thanks Aunt Kelly for the video): 

• She is getting so tall and grown up - Almost 43 inches tall these days
• She is so excited for our pool to be open again and is doing great swimming without a life jacket
• She had a great progress report at The Academy and has mastered almost all her letters but we need a little work on her numbers...
• This summer she will be going to Lipscomb Soccer Camp again and also to Princess Dance Camp with her buddy AB - I can already tell that is going to be a big hit!

Sullivan:

• She loved Gymboree and is so sad we stopped going (too much travel and pool time this summer)
• She is also getting very big 
• She still LOVES to eat...I would say and she would tell you that her favorite food is cheese...
• She is a talker...she repeats anything and everything that she hears
• She loves riding Hudson's scooter and honestly doing anything Hudson does
• She is hilarious!!!!!  

We have had a great couple months and here are some pictures of our adventures:

Celebrating her first goal!

Not so sure about the Easter Bunny

Loving the Boys!

Aquarium Fun

So tall!

Hi-Yah!

Funny face painting

So brave!

Proud of our little performer

So excited about her flowers

The Star and her stylist

Loving a Popsicle

Cheese!

 Sorry again it has been forever and also sorry for all the pictures but here are even more of what we have been up to:

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Finally Spring

Spring is finally here...

Well spring has finally sprung (kind of), it wouldn't be Nashville without a few 80 degree days followed by highs in the 40s.  But I think we are finally into spring...thank goodness.  We love being outside and since it has warmed up we spend almost all our time there.  Thanks to Grandpa and Moon, we have an awesome bounce house that is worth its weight in gold!!!!  It has already gotten more use than I could have ever imagined!

I also had the chance to take my first getaway without kids.  I had never left Sobes before so it was a little tough at first - I suffer from bad mommy guilt and hate to leave them - I know...I am crazy!  Any way, I sucked it up and took a long weekend trip back to Tally-Town!  My old stomping grounds for our Soccer Alumni weekend.  It was so fun to see so many of my old teammates.  We had a blast and it is amazing how quickly we all picked up right where we left off.  We had an alumni game also so that was interesting...but I have to say...we still got it!

We are still loving our neighborhood and have been taking advantage of being so close to Ellington Ag Center.  It's where they keep the Metro Police horses and we love going to see and pet them.  We also spend time at Radnor Lake and playing with all our awesome neighborhood friends!

We also recently did our first ever Color Run.  Hudson was very excited about and it was going to be Tom's FIRST ever road race and wouldn't you know it, we wake up and it is 40 and rainy.  Well there was no stopping us so we dressed warm, layered the girls, covered them in the stroller with towels and hit the road.  Needless to say...it was freezing and wet but we loved every minute.

Pre Color Run

Post Color Run

A little catch up on the girls...

Sobes is crazy as ever.  She is still doing Gymboree every Friday and loves it.  She is getting very opinionated about what she wears, well really just her shoes.  She is a total parrot and repeats everything she hears.  It is really funny.  She is loving school and has boyfriends in both of her schools...good luck Tom!

She loves her pockets

Hudson is just growing and growing.  She is still taking dance and best I can tell she likes it.  She got her recital outfit and just about lost her mind over it.  Soccer also started a few weeks ago and we had our first game.  As most of you know she played last fall and for 6 weeks, never touched the ball in a game.  We bribed her with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese should she ever score a goal.  We felt pretty good about that bet...until our FIRST game of the season...wouldn't you know it...GOAL!!!  So we spent a lovely Saturday night at Chuck-E-Cheese.

Celebrating her First Goal

I like to think she is rubbing it in our faces here!  Anyway, soccer is going well and she is still loving school also.  She is getting pretty good with her letters, etc so that is fun to watch.

Soccer Season!

We also celebrated Tom's Birthday recently.  He claims we went to the GertHaus for dinner to celebrate but we conveniently ended up at Chuck-E-Cheese on his actual birthday...so you decide!

That is about all for now.  I will keep you posted on how soccer season goes and also our big Dance recital in May.  

We are headed to Atlanta next week for Easter and a work meeting for me so that will mean quality cousin time which the girls love of course!

Here are the rest of the pictures from our past month or so:

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January and Valentine's

2014 is off to a great start!  We have had a jam packed first month or so.

My Rock Star

January has been full of lots of outings...indoor outings of course...due to the polar vortex that has had Nashville in the negative temperatures for way too long.  

For the second year in a row, we went to see Ringling Brothers Circus.  The pre-show is great b/c you get to go down on the floor and meet clowns and see some of the acts up close.  The girls especially loved the elephant who could paint and play basketball.  Sobes was just excited to get her very own clown nose! 

Appropriate!

 We typically try to avoid buying ridiculously overpriced food at these events but after the security people threw away the entire lunch I had packed for everyone, the girls were hungry.  Thanks to Sullivan helping herself to a handful of popcorn as she walked by, Tom had to buy the whole bag!  Needless to say, it was gone before the show even started!

Circus fun!

 We have had a few random days of really nice weather (typically followed the next day by negative degrees again) so we have had a few really fun neighborhood play dates.  The new bounce house and Jeep have been a huge hit and we are so thankful to live in a neighborhood surrounded by such awesome friends to play with all the time!

But due to the weather, we have spent most of our time finding indoor activities.  Like the Science Center.  They just opened a new exhibit called the Tinkering Garage and the girls loved it.  It is a giant kid friendly workshop with real tools and supplies.  Luckily, I talked them away from the saws and hammers into the toddler corner where we worked with some cardboard and pipe cleaners!

Tinkering Garage

 After a long cold January, it was hard to believe February was already here for many reasons!  Mostly being that it means Tom and I have been married for FIVE years!  Hard to believe it has been so long b/c the time has flown by!  We typically try not to celebrate on Valentine's day (which is our actual anniversary) so we have postponed until tomorrow night but I do love getting the girls some fun little treats.  Thanks to SueSue sending a big fun package also, they got quite the haul this year!

Valentine's Day

Two weeks ago, Tom was in Atlanta for meetings only to arrive in the middle of SnowJam 2014.  It took him 16 hours to get there and he never actually got there (shout out to Cousin Matt for letting him crash for 2 days).  So this past week he headed back to Atlanta to have those rescheduled meetings, only to arrive a day before IceJam 2014.  At least this time he got there on time but was then stuck with SueSue and BooBoo for three days during the ice storm.  He did get to have his meetings but it meant he was gone for 5 days!  Luckily he made it home on Valentine's day and he came bearing gifts!

A Rose from Daddy

Sobes was not so sure about the rose...I think she thought it was edible!  But Hudson Loved hers! 

So sweet

Today we had what I hope is the first of many Girl's Days.  My wonderful group of friends and I all have girls almost the same age.  So we decided to have a Big Girl Date to Disney Junior Live.  It was the Pirates and Princesses show...need I say more??

Off to see Disney Junior Live

 They were so cute and SOO excited.

All of our Princesses

 I guess that about wraps up our happenings over the past moth or so.  Here is a quick update on the girls:

Hudson:

• She officially started her dance class and loves it.  She goes every Wednesday and really loves the tap part...she calls them her 'tappin' shoes and gets so excited to put them on
• She has been to several big kid birthday parties - bowling, bouncy place, and pottery painting
• She is eating like a teenager, growing like a weed and sleeping like a real person (finally)
• We start Spring Soccer in a few weeks and we can't wait to have some of our old teammates and friends on our team again
• She loves riding her scooter and will finally drive the jeep they got for Christmas
• Tom gave her her very first haircut (it only took 3.5 years to grow long enough)

Sullivan:

• She went to her very first Gymboree class today and loved it
• She is still eating and sleeping like a teenager and I think finally growing some
• She talks up a storm and will repeat anything and everything she hears
• She loves playing with her babies and must at all times have 3 or 4 babies and at least two blankets in her arms

The girls have finally starting playing really well together and it is so fun to watch.  Sobes misses Hudson so much when they are apart it is really cute!

Special Treat!

Click on the link below to see more pictures from our adventures:

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