Breakfast In Bed And A Round Of Golf

This year Tony spent Father's Day the same way he spent it last year. No, not with breakfast in bed and a day on the golf course. Even better. Tony spent Father's Day like most of the dads in my family did...in the car...on the way to vacation!

It actually wasn't a bad way to spend the day...if I do say so myself. There was absolutely no traffic and Tony got to spend 6 hours of completely uninterrupted (except for potty breaks) time with his two favorite girls.

What more could he ask for??? I mean...besides breakfast in bed and a round of golf, of course!



I love that vacation provides Tony and Lily the opportunity to catch up on much needed Daddy-Daughter time and gives Lily's hard-working Daddy a chance to play a little golf without that pesky job and honey-do list getting in the way!

Now, if we could just figure out how to go on vacation more often :+)

Cousin Lovin'

We spent last week in the Outer Banks with most of my family...and enjoyed every second. However, I don't think anyone had more fun than Lily!!

Lily was so excited about going on vacation with her "crazy cousins". Not only are Lily's cousins a little crazy...they're also A LOT loving.

It is incredibly sweet to watch Lily interact with all her "big cousins". She adores them...and they adore her. It is truly beautiful to see!



Speaking of beautiful, one day while we were away...completely unprompted...Lily said to James, "I love you SOOOO much!" James replied, "Yeah? How much?" Lily answered, "There just aren't enough words that I know."

Can you stand it???

A Real Handful

Recently Lily has become quite a handful.

Seriously.

I mean just today it took a whole hand full of fingers to count how old Lily is.



That's right.

Our baby girl is a whole hand full.

5.

Five.



Can you believe it????

How did that happen????

All I know is that it did happen. In fact, we are in the Outer Banks celebrating Lily's 5th birthday during her 5th family vacation!



Time really does fly when you're having fun.

Skipping And Sliding

Two weekends ago Lily and I headed to Virginia because Daddy had to work.

On our way to visit Laura, Rich, and the boys Lily and I stopped off at Kings Dominion.

It was Lily's first time at Kings Dominion and we had a WONDERFUL time!! The weather was beautiful and the park was empty. It was a great combination!

It will probably come as no surprise that our little cutie is NOT a thrill seeker. Nope. No way. The antique cars are Lily's speed. I couldn't possibly tell you how many times we rode them. All I know is I stopped counting at 20. Seriously.

As I mentioned, the park was practically empty. We were literally able to get off the ride and get right back on. By the end of the day the folks working the antique car ride knew Lily by name.

Lily couldn't wait to see what color car we would get and if there would be any other cars behind us "chasing us". Lily said things like, "Hurry Mommy! They're right on our tails!"

Huh? Where'd she pick that up???

We did ride a few other rides, but the antique cars were the hands down favorite of the day.

I wish you could have seen Lily. She was having the time of her life! Lily was so happy and having so much fun she literally skipped everywhere we went!

Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera with me. So, I only have these two pictures I took with my phone.



I didn't forget the camera (as I'm prone to do). I left the camera at home so Tony could take pictures while he was working.

No, I haven't gone crazy (or crazier). It wasn't pictures of accounting work I wanted...it was pictures of Tony's new side job with Tye Dye Construction.

See, while Lily and I were having fun at Kings Dominion and hanging out and relaxing with Laura, Rich, and the boys...Tony and Ed (aka Tye Dye Construction) were hard at work...late into the night...putting together Lily's surprise birthday present.

Rumor has it Ed and Tony had "fun" putting the swingset together. Okay, fun might be stretching it a bit, but they're still speaking...and laughing. I take that as a good sign!

In fact, Ed and Tony worked so well together that the on the second day of "Project Swingset" they even dressed alike!



While I have to admit the initial "reveal" of the swingset fell a little flat...Lily has practically lived on it since we've been home!

Lily's favorite part of the swingset? The slide...head first!

Thanks so much Ed for helping Tony assemble the 9 million different pieces to the swingset I bought because I thought it was "cute"...not because I had given any thought to how hard it would be to build.

Laura and Rich, thanks for giving Lily and I a place to hide out while Tony and Ed assembled the swingset I'm sure they called everything but cute!

Baby It's Hot Outside

It's beastly hot outside. I know. I'm not telling you anything you don't know.

But here's something you might not know...

It was this hot eleven years ago today, too.

Want to know how I know?

Eleven years ago today it was 101° at 6:00 pm. Oh, and I was wearing a wedding dress in an unairconditioned church!

I wasn't the only one melting. Poor Tony and the boys were wearing tuxedos...the girls had on beautiful dresses...and as much as I'm sure they wanted to our family and other guests didn't arrive in shorts and flip-flops!





Little did we know on that steamy hot evening eleven years ago that someday we would be beating the heat with this little cutie.



Isn't it great when life turns out even better than you dreamed it could be!?!

Almost

Last Wednesday our "little" Maggie graduated from high school!! I was lucky enough to be able to attend her graduation ceremony.

This is the first high school graduation ceremony I've attended for any of my nieces or nephews. I was so, so happy to be there to share in such an exciting evening!!

After the graduation we all went out to eat. (Do you notice that in this family we go out to eat a lot?!?) Anyway, it was great to have a chance to catch up with everyone and talk to Maggie about her college plans.



I know the future holds great things for Maggie. She is so bright and motivated...and a tad bit gullible.



During dinner, when Patti was looking at Maggie's diploma, Patti said something along the lines of, "Maggie, what does it mean when your diploma says, 'Margaret Anne has ALMOST completed in a satisfactory manner..."



You should have seen Maggie's face. Priceless!

Congratulations Maggie! We love you and are incredibly proud of you!! Can't wait to see all that life has in store for you!!