Cousins

Oh my goodness, I couldn't love these babies more if I tried.  NOT. HAPPENING. 

For Father's Day, Dad asked for a canvas of each grandchild to put in his office.  Leah and I talked about it to decide what size and whether to do portrait or landscape, and finally the OCD won out, and we decided to wait until she came up with the boys for Fourth of July to have a matching background.  In classic Leah-Ally fashion, we waited until right before they packed up to leave to snap some shots, but these little kiddos are picture pros, so five minutes later we had some belated Father's Day photos ready to go.  I love these sweet cousins.

 

 

 

 

Memorial Day Weekend 2016

Every year we have a fun, super full weekend at the Lake house over Memorial Day, and every year, I don't get around to posting any of it until a month later.  Haha.  For convenience sake, I'll back date it to May, but I think it is safe to say that our summer may be even busier than our "school" year.  So, I'll just let these pictures filled with people I love a lot do most of the talking. Hint:  there was a boat, a slip-n-slide, snow cones, and sparklers. 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I know some little people who were awfully excited to see MarMar and PapPap. We got there Friday night (the Sweetens came on Saturday), and I think they enjoyed their monopoly on the grandparents. 

Though I got to meet McCoy back in March, my family hadn't seen him yet. It may have been a good thing that he got to bake for another two months before these girls got their hands on him. :)

 

After the Sweetens arrived and we all got our McCoy fix, we spent the rest of Saturday out on the lake. 

Since Sam started call on Monday (boo. reall big BOO!), we did our traditional Memorial Day cookout on Sunday, but first the guys golfed and the girls did some hair. Naturally. 

 

 

Clearly, Harper was very pleased with Leah's not-just-a-boy-mom beauty skills. 

Everyone thought we were out there grilling out and slip-n-slide-ing to celebrate freedom and family, but really it may have been this. The unprecedented. 

After fifteen years of playing Dutch Blitz, Mom pulled out a rare victory. Haha!  We kid, we kid, Mama. 

 

The annual picture is getting harder and harder to take, the older the kids gets an the more babies we add. 

This is what the majority of the 28 pictures I took look like: 

Since we had to be back in Roanoke by Monday morning, but wanted to maximize our time at the Lake House, we left around 10:30 pm on Sunday evening. It made for a miserable (though quiet) ride home after such a big weekend, but it was nice sleep in and be local on the Holiday. We took the opportunity to go to the river with the girls and explain a bit more to them why Memorial Day is set aside as a day of remembrance. 

Even if all they may have heard was, "Don't hurt the ducks!"  :)

Meet McCoy

Are you ready to see the sweetest, chunkiest, most precious little guy?!  Good, because here is

Mr. McCoy Parke Sweeten!

He arrived on March 25 (the day before his mama Leah's birthday), and I have just been dying to get to that little guy.  I could smell that sweet newborn baby smell all the way in Virginia!

After he was born, I decided two things.  One, that I was going to visit him without my girls in tow, and two, that I was getting a hotel so that my sweet, very host-with-the-most-y sister wouldn't feel obligated to worry about getting me some breakfast when she's one week post partum and her baby didn't sleep all night.

And I'm oh so glad I did those two things because that meant I got to soak up sweet little Mac-man without two jealous little girls losing their minds.  Instead, they just lost their minds via FaceTime when I showed them my "new baby."  hahaahha.  Poor Willa was so upset by the thought that she (who has been potty trained for a year) peed her pants.  They're really trying to seal the deal on no baby #3. 

I also loved that I got to love on Win.  He is such a sweet, sweet boy.  Don't let the Iron Man costume fool you!  I also loved that I got to see the Sweetens gorgeous new house that they bought in December.  Leah has it fixed up so, so cute and it's in an adorable Atlanta 'burb called Roswell, which has a subculture in its own right-- a quaint downtown, great restaurants, super cute shops.  It was a little mommy break for me, and I am so thankful for the time with my nephews.   

 

The only downside of my quick trip to Georgia was that every other citizen of the East Coast was clearly on the exact same road as me for the entire 10 hour trip home.  Ugh.  But, you know what?  Those baby cheeks were worth every mile, every chapter of Audible, every reroute from Waze.  He is so perfect!  I'm counting the days until I can next see those boys!