Summertime is here

 The dogs (holding paws!!!) are ready to start summer off with a relaxing nap.

We were so excited when our friends and neighbors Josh and Anna Plotner were able to bring their twin boys, Eldridge and Allen, home from the hospital! They had been born early and were living at the hospital for a couple months. We were happy to welcome them with a few balloons.

We had some fun going to a paint your own pottery place called Just Kiln Time over the Square. Ryan made a cell phone holder, Mia painted a mug for UT, Lily painted a bowl to hold her lip balms, and I painted a pretty red, white, and blue American bowl. This was a fun and creative way to spend some a few hours one afternoon.

Believe it or not, the girls finally got to use on of their Christmas gifts (only 6 months later!). We took a daytrip over to Greenville, SC to see The Notebook at the Peace Center. This was a fun adventure.

I really enjoyed this show. I loved the book and the movie when they came out years ago, so I was really excited to see this as a musical production. One really cool thing is there were two actors on the far righthand side who signed the whole show. Mia really enjoyed getting to watch this.

We enjoyed walking around the city a bit. It was a beautiful day, and because there was a jazz festival going on, there were lots of people walking around which was fun.

The girls and I took Mom to the Swan House to celebrate her 80th birthday. I always love eating here and then shopping!

Of course, Dad's 80th birthday was the week after Mom's. Wayne and I talked for awhile about how we could celebrate. We realized that what we think they would like best is to have the whole family come together and just spend time together. We found that the weekend of Dad's birthday worked great for all of us. Wayne rented a big, beautiful house on Lake Oconee. Our family was able to spend two nights there with everyone. One evening we went to Italian Chophouse for dinner which was delicious; the next night Ryan and Wayne grilled steaks at the house for us. We had big breakfasts and lunches too. Our family is never lacking for yummy food!

We had a gorgeous day to be out on Wayne's pontoon boat for awhile which was a lot of fun. It wasn't too crowded on the lake, so that was really nice. We listened to music and trolled around for awhile. We were out at sunset which was really lovely until it started to thunder and lightening. We hightailed it on back then!

We had a great time playing games together in the evenings! I'm so thankful we had all this time together; I truly love my family.

What a wonderful way to kick off summer!