July 4th Weekend-McKinney Family Reunion

We spent our 4th of July weekend with lots of family that had not been all together in a very long time! It was wonderful to see everyone...we had family drive all the way from Texas and fly all the way from Nevada. My parents were there along with my dad's two brothers and his sister and most of their extended family. In all, there was about 30 or so people there! The reunion was in Georgia at Eddie and Allison's house. Allison is my dad's niece, so my second cousin?! Anyway, the girls were so excited to see their cousins, Sadie and Holly, again and the 4 girls played great together!! Luckily, my sweet cousin Rachel did a wonderful job as photographer for the weekend, so all the pictures you see are courtesy of Rachel!!

Sweet Allie and her sun-bleached blonde hair :)
They had a slip-n-slide which was definitely the hit of the weekend!! 3 out of the 4 girls LOVED it!! Here is Holly giving it a go! Marissa thought it was hilarious!

Next up was Marissa.....

She loved it!!

The one that didn't slide....I made her go down it once and boy oh boy...that was a BIG mistake. She was so mad at me....I'm pretty sure Russell has made that same exact face at me before....sorry Allie.

A great action shot!!

Luckily, she didn't stay mad for too long....but she still wouldn't slide.

So she just made silly faces for Rachel.

And sweet faces :)

The girls ventured in the house and played in the playroom....

And on Holly's Dora bed...which Marissa abosultely LOVED!!!

While the family was outside chatting and catching up...telling old stories and just enjoying some long overdue time together.

The next day...Eddie said there was a dock within walking distance where they could jump into the lake...so a group of them walked down there. He said it was a pretty long walk, so Allie and I stayed behind. But from the stories and pictures...it looks like they had a blast!! Marissa is our little water baby!

This is the funny part...as they were walking up from the dock, Russell had this wierd look on his face and everyone was saying...Marissa jumped off the dock!!! So, Russell came up to me and said he and Marissa jumped off this 15 foot dock together and that he really didn't want to do it. (Russell's not so big on heights...) He said he would say "1....2....3....are you sure Marissa?!" about 5 times before they finally jumped. He told me, "I couldn't back down in front of my own daughter and look like a wuss." HAHA! Daddy defnitely took one for the team. Marissa ended up jumping 3 times with her daddy and 1 time with Papa! Our little daredevil.

Jump #1....

There they go!!!

Safely to the water with Papa looking on!!

Not sure if Marissa is hanging on to Russell or the other way around....haha. :)

Ready to go again! Such a cool picture!

Having a blast!!

Once everyone was dried off, it was time to play some late night corn hole. By this time...we were already back at the hotel in bed. Between all the playing and no naps...the girls were d.o.n.e. by 8:30. But, the party went on into in the wee hours of the night...

Go Papa!

Marissa found this Dora hat in Sadie's room and wore it pretty much the entire weekend.

All the cousins (minus Holly, she wasn't in the picture-taking mood.)

Our patriotic picture...without Daddy. He had to go back home that morning to check on the golf course..

Silly, silly girls.

To all the McKinney family, it was wonderful to see everyone again!! And to Rachel...thanks for taking such beautiful pictures--you are so talented!! See y'all next time!

Girls' road trip 2011!

It was that time again, time for me and the girls to head out on a little road trip! This time we headed straight down south to Indian Rocks Beach, FL to visit our sweet friends, the Johnson family. The ride down there was great...lots of movies watched, snacks eaten and Marissa only asked me about a million times...."Are we almost there, mommy?"

Well, we made it and immediately hit the beach.

The next morning, Marissa found some seashells and McKane found some sand dollars. They were showing off their finds during lunchtime.

Riese and Allie were there to see all their cool beach treasures!

McKane telling her about the seashells...

which was apparently very funny....I love this picture:)

Allie took a little break after lunch to watch a movie.

After naps, it was back out on the beach for some more fun!

"Mommy, my hands are dooooty!"

Riese was so sweet to play with Marissa and help her dig in the sand. They had so much fun together!

Sweet friends!

Building sandcastles and spraying them with colored water...they loved the squirt bottles and changing the sand different colors!

Another day on the beach....taking a water break! Thank goodness for the wonderful sea breeze because it was HOT.

Allie l.o.v.e.d McKane. She didn't stray far from his side the entire time and he was so sweet to her:)

He showed off his skimboarding skills for us one day...which were very impressive!

Check out those moves!

Marissa took the boat out for a little ride! She was not scared at all of the ocean!

Me with my sweet girls!

Mr. Cooper...who has grown up so fast!!

So, Allie got a little embarassed when I told her to take a picture with McKane, so instead, she put a plastic fish in her mouth and made a silly face. McKane thought it was funny:) Silly, silly girl.

The girls. :)

My girls.

Surfer chick. She did this for about an hour one day. She had the surfer pose perfected!

Riding the waves ;)

jumping on her board.....

which didn't always turn out the way she hoped.....

But she always came up smiling:)

This was probably her favorite thing to do...

Posing with her "surfboard"

Digging in the sand was just fine with Allie...she had a blast!

After our baths one night, we went out on the porch to eat a popsicle and watch the sunset...which was the perfect end to a perfect day:)

Sisters watching the sunset together.

Not sure what's going on here...but they look so sweet together:)

The sunsets are gorgeous:)

After a few days with the Johnson family, we headed across Florida to Jacksonville to visit The Martin family, some of my most favorite people in the world! They have two sweet blonde-headed babies, JP who is 5 1/2 and Reagan who is 1 1/2. The kids played so well together and we had a great time! We went to Ponte Vedra beach one day...here are the 3 older kiddos.

Marissa loved to jump the waves!

Headed out to the beach:)

Little sisters were more interested in playing in the sand!

Still running...she looks so old to me in this picture! My baby is getting so big.....

Action shot!

Allie being silly, what a surprise:)

JP and Marissa chasing each other...they were the best of buds by the end of this trip :)

There was also a pool nearby that had a very cool water slide that the bigger kids got to try out...Marissa would have done this all day long if she could....and she did so great!! She slid into the deep end and swam all the way to the shallow! I'm so proud of her swimming skills these days! If you look to the right of the picture, you can see that JP was waiting for her just to make sure she made it out ok :)

Swimming!!!

and still sliding!

Unfortunately, Allie was too little to slide...so she had to watch from the sidelines...
but she didn't seem to mind to much:)
After a long, fun day at the beach, everyone was pooped. Time to relax and watch a movie:)

Then it was time to head back home...which is always the best part of our girls trip, because no matter how much fun we have...we miss daddy!! Many thanks to the Johnson's and Martin's for a wonderful trip!! Can't wait to do it again!! :)

Pregnancy Highlights-halfway there!!

Ok...so this would be way better if I had started this from the beginning, but I just found it on another blog and thought it was a cute idea! Better late than never!!

Pregnancy Highlights: Halfway there!! (actually about 22 weeks...)

Baby is the size of: a spaghetti squash. he's about 11 inches long and somewhere between 1-2 lbs. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. (info from babycenter.com)

Symptoms: first trimester...very,very tired. not much sickness, thankfully. now...not many symptoms. just a growing belly :)

Baby-related purchases? a picture to hang in his nursery and 2 little outfits that were marked waaaay down at wal-mart.

Maternity clothes? oh yea. definitely. mainly a lot of sundresses. easy and comfortable in this hot, hot weather!

Sleep: i have taken a couple naps since i got pregnant, but unfortunately, i'm a terrible nap taker...so mainly just going to bed earlier. i am definitely falling asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. and i now have to sleep on my side...with lots of pillows.

Fun moment this past week: finally deciding on a name......(you have to wait to the end to find out.)

Movement: A LOT!! he's a wiggly little guy...this morning after my boot camp class...he was going wild! it was the first time i felt his arm or leg go across my belly...marissa and russell have also got to feel him kick! marissa loves to put her hand on my belly to see if she can feel him move. :)

Food cravings: eh...nothing in particular. just enjoying a less strict diet since i don't have to worry about my "bikini body" haha.

Gender: BOY!

What I miss: a yummy margarita!

Weight gained: at my last appt. which was 2 weeks ago, I had gained 15 lbs.

What I am looking forward to: getting his nursery decorated!!

Moments to remember: the past few nights, when i put marissa to bed, she points to my belly so i will show it to her. then she will give it a kiss, a hug and say, "i love you, mccoy." oh...it's so sweet. she is going to be such a wonderful big sister to him! :)

I will post a picture next month...I don't have anyone here to take one...plus I should have some good ones to post soon since the girls and I are headed down to the beach next week!! I am determined to take lots of pictures while we are there!

OK...and baby boy's name is...
MCCOY SNIDER NICHOLS. (Snider is Russell's grandpa's last name (his mom's dad)...they were very close and Russell has many wonderful memories w/Bawbaw so we thought this would be a wonderful way to honor him. :) )