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!"  :)

Thanksgiving 2015 at the Lake House

Another weekend, another weekend trip for the road warrior Fertitta fam!  This time, we're off to Tennessee to continue our tradition of Thanksgiving at Mom & Butch's house.


At the end of our weekend in Asheville, Mom drove over to meet us and pick up Willa Kate to keep for a few days.  Mom has kept Harper and Win on their own several times, but WK hadn't had her "special week" with MarMar yet, so we thought maybe the three days in between Asheville and Thanksgiving at Mom's may be a good fit. Sweet pea has been so excited!  And we were so excited to drive the 4.5 hours home from Asheville (and then 3.5 hour trip to Dandridge three days later) sans Willa the Car Whiner.

And it was a good thing we didn't have her, since our Thanksgiving pilgrimage got off to a slow start.  As we were gassing up the Yukon on the way out of Roanoke, I hopped out of the driver's seat to run inside while Sam was pumping gas.  A few minutes later, Sam came in to grab a drink, and then I saw him run back outside.  He had seen the lights on to the Yukon and realized I had left the keys in the ignition.  So... our needed-to-be-replaced-and-since-has battery had died.  Sweet!  Fifteen minutes from home, and already having to ask the gas station attendant to jump the battery.  Oops!  And since we were joining every. other. person in Roanoke leaving after work on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we got to sit through three wrecks in between Roanoke and Christiansburg, which is usually about a 30 minute drive on I-81.  Despite all that, it didn't feel as stressful because we only had Harp in the car.  And she was worn out from school and slept for most of the trip. Redemption.

Helping MarMar stuff the turkey

 To kick off Thanksgiving, Marmar helped the grandkids assemble blessing bags for the first responders that are often times away from their families on holidays because they are serving the community.  She took the time to explain what police, firefighters, and paramedics do as they filled the bags up with a Chex Mix-esque recipe.

Each of the ladies made a few dishes for the Thanksgiving meal, so lunch was on the table by 1 p.m. with zero stress.  Yay!  We ate, and ate, and ate, and watched football, and ate, and then watched football.  And played games, and ate, and watched a movie, then ate.  Hello, stretchy pants!  I did some online shopping, but Leah and I didn't attempt the outlets again this year.  Neither of us had Christmas lists yet (or had drawn names with our in laws to even know our gift recipients), so we decided to just stay in. 

The highlight of the weekend for the kids were PapPap's hayrides.  Mom & Butch have a four wheeler with a trailer, so they hooked it up and took the kids on rides around their property and the neighborhood.  And I don't mean little five minute loops around the yard.  I mean the gone on an hour long adventure kind.  When I stop and think about how much these children are loved, it is truly overwhelming.  I am so grateful that they have so many people in their lives that love them, invest in them, speak Truth into their lives, and constantly think of new ways to bring a smile to their faces.  Not many kids can say that they have six grandparents that would do anything and everything for them.

On Friday, we took the kids over to the Dandridge Fire Department to deliver the Blessings Baskets.  Those folks were so sweet to our little ones.  They let them try on equipment and climb inside the vehicles.  It was 65 degrees, so the kids also enjoyed a little fun rolling down their big hill in between talks.  MarMar and PapPap are all about community service, and it's one of their goals to help instill this in their grandchildren.  It will certainly part of their legacy, as my girls get to think back on memories like these.

It has been such a busy four weeks, so it was so, so nice that once we got to the Lake House, we didn't have any agenda.  We just got to unwind for four full days.  Hallelujah.