it's a girl!

Jacqueline Elise Stevens
7 lbs 9 oz
born June 22

Branson & Kristin had a perfect little baby girl this week. The girls are so excited to have a little girl cousin. She is precious!

Getting to hold her for the first time.

Beach 2011 (& a few things before)

We finally broke ground on our fence. We're hoping to finish it up this summer & get a puppy!!! We are missing having a dog around here.

We were completely taken over by cicadas here. They even came up THROUGH our aggregate driveway that has been here for 20+ years. Unbelievable.


Lilly finished Kindergarten. It flew by faster than I ever could have imagined. Mrs. Austin gave them "candy awards" and Lilly got the "Sweet Tart" award for being sweet :) She was so proud and had such a fantastic year. We're going to miss Mrs. Austin!

Lots of lazy afternoons watching cartoons or movies in mommy's bed after being worn out from swimming and playing outside in the heat.

Lost another tooth--#4!

Playing with cousins. I love the way Lilly says his name--sounds like "John Who-ston."



AND finally...THE BEACH!!!!!!!!

Mamie loved playing in the sand

Swimsuit models ;-)

Lilly & Frances played in the waves forever

Mamie loved jumping over the waves

The crew (minus Drew) before Emily and Lowrie came down
Poor Cal was totally outnumbered by the girls, but they all played together and had fun.

We got to meet up with the Gibbs' for dinner one night at Harbor Docks.
I know the server was delighted to hear we had NINE kids.

Checking out the boats & hermit crabs


Waiting for a table at Pompano's

Sweet little girls

Met the Byrds for dinner--VERY hot, but fun.
and 10 kids this night :)

at the Track--Mamie and Grant riding the planes because they were too little to do the bumper cars.

Daddy and Lilly on the bumper cars

with Jason & Cal

hilarious group shot--not sure why Grant was doing this, but it's pretty funny.

Daddy & his girls right before we got rained out on the wood track

Lilly, Olivia & Cal

The Easter Potato

So, I was cooking dinner on the Saturday night before Easter Sunday. I was talking to Jon who was in the den with the girls and telling him to talk to them about the story of Jesus and the resurrection, and about why we celebrate Easter. As I am telling him this, I cut open a potato and found this inside. It blew me away.

ready for spring...

Over spring break we went to visit my parents for a few days. The weather was gorgeous, and we spent lots of time playing outside, going to the park, and going out to eat. My mom took Lilly to get her first major haircut while we were there--she had about 5-6 inches cut off. It looks so much better! My dad and I took the girls to the science museum in Huntsville one afternoon. They loved it.

on the big swing with a magnet underneath

playing with the floating balls

bubbles!

the earthquake simulator--Lilly was very interested in this after seeing all the footage from Japan :(

and the most popular exhibit--the "toot machine"

We (meaning Jon) planted tulips this year for the first time. They are so pretty and we are enjoying watching them bloom. They are one of my favorite flowers.

Lilly finally got "Stripes!" She has been DYING to bring the class tiger home all year and finally got her chance this weekend. We of course had to immediately take him to our favorite place--Krispy Kreme!

...and camp out in the playroom

and make muffins

and play games

Posing by the tulips on a very chilly March morning!!!

Roll Tide

Zach & Kim had an event to go to the other night and several college mascots were there. They took the girls in and let them have their picture made with Big Al. Unfortunately, I think Aubie was a little more entertaining and the girls came home talking about how funny he was. I won't post the pictures Zach took of my ALABAMA girls with that tiger. ;-)

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

When I taught, my favorite children's book author was Kevin Henkes. I used to spend an entire six-weeks doing a unit using all of his books. When we named Lilly, I seriously spelled it the way I did because of "Lilly," the Kevin Henkes character. Lilly had book character day at school a couple of weeks ago, and she decided to be "Lilly" from Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. They are surprisingly similar characters ;-)

DISNEY!!!!!

We decided to take our first trip to Disney in January to celebrate the girls' birthdays--Lilly turned 6 while we were there and Mamie will be 4 in February. I had not been since I was 5 years old, so I was almost as excited as they were. We drove, and barely beat the snow going through Atlanta. We were planning on leaving on a Monday, but the snow was predicted for Sunday evening, so we left Sunday around lunchtime as soon as Jon could get home from work. About an hour past Atlanta, we heard that the ice had hit Atlanta and the airport was already closed. It was the craziest timing--we thought Lilly was going to miss a whole week of school, and she ended up without a single absence! It was VERY COLD at Disney for the first two days, but it was great. There were no long lines for anything, and we could not have picked a better time to go. We walked right onto rides like Dumbo and Peter Pan, that usually have a long wait. We all loved it and couldn't get over how sweet all of the princesses and characters are. I think we're all ready to go again. It was even better than I had anticipated. We went to Tampa first to visit my sister and her family for a couple of days, and then drove to Orlando. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had a great time.

Almost as much fun as Disney World--IKEA!!!!! I was so excited and took pictures of everything. You can spend all day in that place. I LOVED it.

Had to take a picture of the adorable little eating area they have for kids in the restaurant inside Ikea. They even had games for them to play, movies to watch while they ate, bibs, bottle warmers, kid dishes and silverware...it's like a dream store :) OH, and did I mention the FREE 45 minutes of childcare? I'll be going to Atlanta soon...

The sweetest 14 year old nephew on earth. He had his friends playing duck-duck-goose and hide & seek with the girls. They adore him.

Holding his sheet music while he practiced his trumpet :)

EPCOT--Day 1

Outside the Nemo ride

Our first Character happened to be Mickey Mouse

And Mamie's favorite was next...PLUTO! She calls him "ploodle."

I look like I have a spaceship coming out of my head, but at least we got one family shot :)

You'll notice that all throughout the trip, Lilly has her birthday button on that they gave her when we checked into the hotel. EVERYONE told her happy birthday and called her by name, from the attendants on every ride, to the people cleaning the bathrooms. She loved it. Every time she took her jacket off or put it on, she would move her button. She was serious about it.

Lilly is sulking in the stroller with her arms crossed after riding "test track." It was a great ride--I screamed like a little girl the entire time on the track and in the picture of us at the end, I had both of my feet up on the dashboard like we were going to die. Lilly HATED it, but Mamie loved it. She was tall enough to ride everything at the parks except space mountain.

Mulan

Viking Carmans

With Sleeping Beauty at Akershus for dinner in Norway. It was awesome.

All the little girls paraded around the restaurant with the Princesses.

Jasmine

Snow White--she saw it was Lilly's birthday and had Dopey make a cupcake for her ;-)
Lilly is still talking about what a good baker Dopey is.

Ariel. She was so pretty and sweet.

With her cupcake from Dopey

Leaving after a long day...



MAGIC KINGDOM--Day 2

One of the highlights of the trip--the characters from Tangled! Rapunzel & Flynn Rider. Lilly can't stop looking at his pictures. I couldn't get over how much he looked like Flynn from the movie.

Flynn is holding Lilly's hand in this picture (swoon).

Daddy and Mamie on the Pooh ride.

Daddy on the teacups--If I had gone on that ride, we would have had to leave the park for the day. Makes me sick thinking about it...

Sitting on Minnie's couch

the people mover...which stopped twice while we were on it and was more like the "people stopper."

The girls' first roller coaster--Lilly wanted a picture of it. Goofy's Barnstormer. That's about the scariest ride I ever want to go on. I do not mind holding purses and sitting on benches :) I screamed a little too much on this one.

Princess Tiana and Naveen

Leaving the Park to go to Dinner

1900 Park Fare--We LOVED this character meal. The stepmother and stepsisters were hilarious.

Anastasia...

The "royal" couple dancing :)

Prince Charming was so sweet to the girls.

Drizella

Mamie told her she shouldn't have torn up Cinderella's dress. She said it just "Fell apart when she touched it because it was made by mice." She asked the girls if any of their clothes were made by rodents.

Sweet Cinderella

MAGIC KINGDOM--Day 3

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I decided we "needed" some pictures of them ON the ride so I could get out of having to ride this one. Yes, my 3 year-old is on it.

I need a zoom lens so bad...

Lilly came out saying "that was AWESOME!"

Mamie, not so much.

On Tom Sawyer's Island

At Chef Mickey's on our last night. Mamie showing off "Ploodle."

If you are thinking of planning a trip to Disney any time soon, I highly recommend Liana Blackburn. She planned our whole trip for us and we could not have been happier!