July 7, 2010

Today we celebrated Hannah's special day! It is hard to believe that my little baby is already one year old! Wow, yes, time does fly by when you're having fun! I am so very thankful for my sweet Hannah Joy who came into our lives weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces at 6:51 p.m. Her name truly fits her precious personality.
Our church was doing a week long event called Synergy where the church body works together to bring glory to God through missions. The church body had 15 various mission activities throughout the entire week. Mark took 2 days off of work to build a deck for a widow lady in Tucker, Ga. I took the girls to the Lawrenceville Coop to hand out food, do crafts, and play games with the kids.
I thought it was special that Hannah was able to spend her first birthday serving the Lord, even as a one year old. It was important to me for my girls, especially Sarah being 4 years old, to see what it's like to be a servant for the kingdom. I want her to grow up being able to see a need, see when one is hurting, and be comfortable enough to show God's love to the people around her.
She is helping a little girl make her door hanger craft. My desire for my girls is for them not to be so self-absorbed and think that everyone else lives like we do, but that there are people who are in need and lacking many of our everyday things we take for granted.
When we left the Coop, Sarah said, "That was fun mommy! Can we do it again?" I am going to try not to let this just be a one time thing, and make it become a family mission we do fairly often. Hopefully, I will be consistent about this - I need some accountability!
My sweet friend, Mrs. Marlene, was helping out at the coop as well. So, she entertained Hannah while I helped the children make crafts. She is such a selfless woman - love her dearly!

Hannah and Sarah sitting in the shade enjoying a little break and some cold refreshing H20.
Later that day, we all took Hannah to the pool for her birthday.
Daddy is trying to keep Hannah from crawling out of the pool - it's quite a challenge. She is on the move!
Mommy and her girls - "Quick Mark take the picture before Hannah jumps out of my lap!"

To think that I was in the hospital last year at this time cuddling with my little 7 pound 7 ounce baby girl, and now here we are one year later - not too much cuddling time anymore! We are so thankful for the Lord giving Hannah to us! Happy Birthday sweet Hannah Joy - we love you!!!

July The Fourth Weekend Celebration

One of Sarah's favorite things to do is to go grocery shopping with me, especially when there is a really cool grocery cart. We rarely go to the Kroger in Loganville, but when we do it is a special treat. It is a new Kroger with special "kid-size" grocery carts. So, Sarah loads up her "children" for the trip. On this particular visit, we were going for there special sale ($1.50/box) on "Honey Bunches of Oats" (our favorite cereal).
As a child, I remember having a blast preparing our golf-cart or bikes for the neighborhood Fourth of July parade. One year we put a huge inflatable whale on top of the golf-cart and a sign on it saying, "Have A Whale of A Fourth." Another year, my brother and I rode on the back of my dad's convertible. My mom made me a Statue of Liberty costume and my brother a Flag costume. I have very fond memories of this time of year. So, I wanted Sarah and Hannah to experience just a taste of it. After Mark got home from work on Friday, we loaded up the van and headed to Baba and Papa's house for the Fourth of July Celebration to begin.
We woke up early Saturday morning for the day's events to begin. Papa had already decorated the golf-cart, trailer, and red-flyer wagons. Yes, my father has farm animals in his backyard: bunnies, chickens, a rooster, and doves.
I am shocked that his neighbors have not called the authorities yet about his rooster, because it is an early riser!
The four of us on the back of the golf-cart.
Trey, Sarah, and Morgan ready for the parade to begin. Papa and Baba bought the grandkids matching outfits from Gymboree just for the festivities!!
Hannah wearing her coordinating Gymboree patriotic outfit!
The kids in position before we headed off to the pool for the parade to begin.
Here we are waiting for the parade to begin. We were lucky enough to be the first float. Not hard to do that when there were only 5 floats. The participation has lightened up a great deal since I was a kid. Our float won the "youngest participant" award, since we had Hannah on board.
After all of the parade festivities we all stayed at the pool for a neighborhood grill out. Mark, Sarah, Hannah, and Aunt Heather getting cooled off while waiting on the greased watermelon game.
Uncle Matt participated in the greased watermelon game. The lifeguard used Crisco to grease the watermelon and separated the age groups. Half the participants are on one side of the pool and half on the other side of the pool. Then, the watermelon was dropped in the middle of the deep end, and you have to get the watermelon to the opposite side of the pool. It makes for a great memory!

I am really glad we were able to drive down for the festivities! The girls, well Sarah, had a fabulous weekend of celebrating! Happy Fourth of July!!! I hope your 4th was a special one too!

Mark and I left the girls with my parents overnight, so we could go back to Atlanta to run the Peachtree Road Race on Sunday morning. We left home at 5:15 a.m., rode Marta to Buckhead for the race to begin. Mark started in wave C, and I started in wave F. We ran all the way to Piedmont Park 6.2 miles. I had an awesome experience and loved every minute of it - sounds bizarre I know. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the music along the way, the people lining the streets, and the water sprinklers. It was great fun experiencing the whole event with Mark. I found him afterward, and we walked around talking about how much we want to do it again next year while we were eating ice cream of course.

Happy Father's Day

We spent Father's Day at Grammy and Grandpa's house (Mark's parents). The girls always enjoy going to visit their grandparents. Sarah and Grammy have started playing the game "Trouble" together when we visit. Sarah has won both times they have played. I think Grammy is ready for another round so she can beat Sarah. Hannah, of course, is getting into everything! She was unloading Grammy's magazine rack and kitchen cabinets. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, yummy cake, and ice cream.

Thank you Mark for all you do to make our family happy! You are amazing, selfless, and devoted to the well-being of your girls! We love you and appreciate you greatly!!!

Happy Father's Day Mark, Grandpa, and Papa!!!

Beach 2010

We had our annual family beach vacation last week to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It was an amazing week filled with lots of great quality family time. The six hour drive was actually very enjoyable. Baba and Papa stayed several days with us and were a huge help with the girls.
Hannah was a free spirit on the beach - completely crawling anywhere she wanted - including into the waves.
We had fabulous day celebrating Mark's 34th birthday! We woke up took the girls for a 5 mile run, enjoyed a few hours on the beach and the pool, had french toast for lunch, and then indulged ourselves in pizza for dinner! To celebrate even more we took Sarah out to play putt-putt. We all had a wonderful time. Sarah made 2 hole-in-ones! Go Sarah!

Sarah turned to her daddy during the game, put her arms around him, and said, "Daddy, I love you! Thank you for bringing me to play putt-putt." So sweet and such a perfect birthday present! Sarah and I decorated a key lime pie for Mark's birthday cake, which is his favorite pie and super easy to buy while at the beach! ;)
We took the girls to see the performer "Shannon Tanner" at Shelter Cove one night. Sarah was not feeling up to participating with the other kids, so she sat with us. Maybe she'll be more excited about it next time.
Mark and his girls enjoying the pool at the condo. The pool was by far Sarah's favorite thing to do at the beach.
Mark was out playing golf, so Baba and I took the girls for a bike ride to the general store for an ice cream treat.
Sarah had a lemon icy, Baba had a Klondike bar, I had an Oreo Ice Cream Bar (delicious), and Hannah had a Baby Mum-Mum!
I was so proud of Baba and Sarah for riding their bikes - good job ladies!
Daddy and his girls coated in Baby Banana Boat 60+ Sunblock.
Hunting for shells for Sarah's "nature collections" as she calls it.
The Farley Family of Four!
Farley Family Feet!!!
Love this picture of Hannah holding on and watching her Daddy as she is taken away.

We took the girls on family bike ride around the resort, and Sarah made it a whole mile! Good job sweet-pea!
Hannah is wearing her precious little pink tu-tu!!!
Yes, Hannah has a mouth of full of sand and is covered - literally - from head to toe in sand.


Thanks for all of the sand in my lap Hannah!
We took the girls to "The Sandbox" play place on Friday night for a free family night. Sarah had a great time playing with everything inside.
A future Little Miss Pilot in the making.
I think Sarah enjoyed the kitchen area the best!
Hannah enjoyed the baby section as well.
We took our tripod so we could take some "non-professional" photos of the family. This was the best one of this pose.
Yes, those are trash cans in the upper right background - oops!!! A professional would not have let that happen.
A photo from the deck at the resort.
This is probably my favorite - me and my girls! Their Great-Aunt Nanci (Mark's aunt) made their dresses for them. They look adorable on them. Thank you Aunt Nanci! Sarah said, "I like Aunt Nanci. When are we going to see her again?" Hopefully, sooner than later!
This was the best one I could get of the girls alone. It was the last pose we were doing, so they were tuckered out.

We had a fabulous eight days in Hilton Head and are very appreciative of Papa and Baba who shared their week with us. I just love having Mark with us 24/7 on vacation, because when we return to reality we don't get to see him as much. He is a dedicated father and husband! The girls and I miss him so much when he is at work, and he works really hard to provide for his family. We are so very appreciative of everything he does for us and the time we have with him. We love you Daddy!!!