Nana came to visit!

A couple of weeks ago, we were very excited to get a visit from Nana and Pops! Pops, aka Russell's dad, had some work to do up in Massachusettes, so he and Nana packed up and headed our way. Unfortunately, Pops could only stay a couple nights because he had to get to Boston, but Nana was able to stay and hang out with us for several days! We had a wonderful time showing Nana all the exciting things going on with us these days! I'm sure she had fun, but was probably ready to get back to a little peace and quiet...because while there is a lot of fun and excitement with Marissa and Allie....peace and quiet are basically non-existant :) (Although I'm sure she didn't mind too much...she and Pops had 3 kids, so they know all about it! :) )

The first thing we did was take advantage of our last day at the pool. We brought Nana along to show her how great the girls are in the pool, especially Marissa...who is swimming by herself these days!!



Allie stays right with Mommy, unless she wears her life jacket...then she will venture off on her own. That day she chose no life jacket, so she held Mommy's hand the whole time!

Marissa found a pink tube that she had lots of fun with, while Allie showed us all how her baby could float in the water!



Every bathing beauty needs a little time to relax by the pool....

Now, every single day we went to the pool this summer, Marissa loved jumping off the diving board, but of course, as soon as there was a camera to prove it...she decided she didn't want to. It took a while and a lot of coaxing from Mommy and Nana....

but she finally did it!

This time she got her pink floatie and decided to jump off the board into the tube....

Preparing for her jump....

She made it!!! Off the board straight into the float!!

Marissa also showed Nana how some princesses like to play baseball...

And how all princesses love to play with their princess sister :) (isn't this just the sweetest picture?!:) )

Like any good grandparent, Pops and Nana didn't arrive empty-handed. The girls loved their lunch boxes, coloring books and crayons!!

Allie and her crazy hair and sweet smile:)

They did good, because coloring is one of Marissa's favorite things to do these days!

Hard at work....don't forget those princess shoes. Can't do anything without our princess heels on. :)

Another favorite to do is to go get donuts!!! As you can see, Allie loooooves her donut!

Marissa has upgraded from the sprinkle to the plain chocolate.

They also showed Nana how good they are at driving their barbie jeep...Marissa is still dressed like a priness. Do you notice a theme? Playing princess is a daily occurance at our house. :)  (By the way, Layne, do you recognize that hoodie? Allie found it in the stack of clothes you gave McCoy and put it on and wore it for the next 2 days...I finally had to hide it from her so she would wear something else... :) )

Off they go....

The girls showed Nana one of their favorite things to do on a Monday when the golf course is closed....we like to take a walk and check on Daddy :) That day was even more fun because they got to get their umbrellas and rain boots, which is always exciting!



It was a good thing we got the pool day in when we could, because the weather turned cold and rainy quick!!

Nana got a great picture of the "5" of us before church. :)

And an even better one of our sweet girls!

And of course, one of Allie being silly!

Our last fun thing to do with Nana was take her to Marissa's first soccer practice! Here she is with her favorite granddaughters! :) (Look Layne...same hoodie, different day:) )

Marissa showing off all her new soccer gear!!

And showing off her soccer skills...

Coach Daddy and his player. I love how they are standing exactly alike in this picture :)

I think she likes having Daddy as her coach:)



Go Marissa!!



Well, that was about all we could fit into one week!! We had a wonderful time with Nana and can't wait to see her and Pops again soon! 

Marissa's First Soccer Game!

Last weekend, our big girl had her very first soccer game!! She was pretty excited about it, but more excited about the fact that her daddy was going to be her coach :) A couple days before her game, she would walk around saying....'I'm gonna play soccer and my daddy's gonna be my coooooach!" It was so sweet!

The game was at 8:30 on Saturday morning...which, for those of you who know us, my girls are not super early risers....I trained them that way :) haha. Seriously though, 8:30 was pushing it for all of us to get ready, but we managed to get there on time and I even made a super yummy, protein packed breakfast to ensure our girl would be ready to play!
Marissa loves to make her very own cinnamon toast, while mommy fixed her some eggs.

Here she is, our 14....uhh, 4 year old. Really, how old does she look right here?!

Of course, Allie had to have her picture taken...and for some reason, she decided she needed a bib that morning.

Marissa and her #1 fan!

That day, we were playing the red team. We are the royal team. They really get creative with the team names :) This was right before they all said a prayer together, it was very sweet.

There are 5 players on our team and the games are 3 on 3 with no goalie. Marissa and her teammate were doing some serious game talking while on the bench...getting ready for their big debut. :)

It was finally her time to play!!

Running after the ball...she looks so cute in her little uniform:)

Throwing in the ball.

As she was playing, Allie would yell, "GO 'Rissa Kate!!"

Time for another water break....this picture cracks me up. I love how the little boy is sitting and how far apart they are...too funny!

Another throw in!

Getting some pointers from Coach Daddy.

Game's over! Time to high-five!

High-fives for Coach Richard.
Such a sweet pictrure of the Coach and his star player:) I'm so proud of them both!!! Go Royal team!!

I have to end with a little story about that day....Russell went on ahead so he could get there a little early since us girls were running behind. So, as the girls and I got out and started walking towards the fields toward Russell, I told Marissa to run on ahead to be with Russell and her teammates. So she had her little bag with water strapped around her, and her little outfit on and she starts running off, then turns around and yells, "Bye Mom, I love You!" Oh.my.goodness. This emotional pregnant momma lost.it. Luckily, I had my sunglasses on so no one else could see what a basketcase I was, but it was just so sweet. It makes me tear up just thinking about watching her running off like that....I know that it won't be the last time, but it was the first time and oh man, I just wanted to grab her and hang on to her forever. My sweet, sweet Marissa...growing up so fast:)

Pregnancy Highlights- 32 weeks!

32 weeks down...only 8 to go!

Pregnancy Highlights...we are in single digits with how many weeks left! I am getting so excited to meet my little guy!

McCoy is about 4 pounds and 12 ounces. I had a checkup on Tuesday and got to have an ultrasound and it was so, so sweet! She took about 15 minutes and went over all his little parts and showed me his heart beating, his "chubby" cheeks (as she called them), his boy parts ("his daddy would be proud" were her words! haha!), his arm was hiding his face, and he is doing everything he should be doing at this point. Moving, practicing breathing, and growing. According to BabyCenter.com, he now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth.

Symptoms: So remember how last update I said I wasn't quite to the uncomfortable stage yet....well, I'm there. Standing isn't comfortable, sitting isn't much better and if I lay down I'm afraid I might fall asleep and never want to wake up! I have some heartburn, which I had with the girls but Tums will usually knock that out pretty quickly. Other than the tiredness, I am doing great and my doctor said everything looks good :)

Baby-Related Purchases: I finally started work on his nursery, so I bought the fabric for his bumper cover and valances from hobby lobby and I took the glider to get recovered. (I will post nursery pics as soon as we are finished!) I also bought some sweet boy clothes from a friend of mine at church who was selling all of her son's clothes.

Maternity Clothes: I really think I can take this category out...pretty much everything is maternity these days. I can still wear a few pairs of jeans as long as they are unbuttoned and unzipped. Haha. Dresses are still my go-to outfit choice.

Sleep: Cannot.Get.Enough!!!! I am a terrible nap taker, but the past several days I have caught myself dozing off on the couch when the girls are sleeping...which is very rare for me. But I just cannot seem to keep my eyes open.... Once bedtime rolls around, I am pretty much in bed within minutes off putting the girls to bed and fast asleep about 2 minutes later.

Fun moment this past week: The ultrasound was definitely a highlight! Being able to hear that sweet heartbeat and see him moving is just so precious! It makes me so, so ready to see him and hold him!

Food Cravings: Still nothing in particular....sorry, I'm not very exciting with this one. I mainly just eat whatever is quick and easy and drink lots of cold, cold water!

Gender: The ultrasound confirmed, definitely a boy!!

What I miss: I am definitely ready to get back into my old clothes. I miss being able to wear whatever is in my closet...we are going to a wedding this weekend, and I have lots of fun dresses...but none of them fit. Blah. Not to mention, the selection of maternity clothes these days is terrible. They all look the same, are way overpriced and well...just no fun. Ok, I will stop whining now.....but, hey, you asked. :)

Weight Gained: 29lbs...don't think I am going to miss that 3olb mark with this one like I did with the other two.

What I am looking forward to: Finishing his room!!!

Moments to Remember: This has nothing to do with McCoy, but my dad was watching the girls for me yesterday morning and he said Allie was doing something silly....as usual :) And Marissa looked at him and said, "She just makes me laugh all day long!" This was so funny and sweet to me! Marissa and Allie are really two peas in a pod these days....they play together so well and (most of time) are so sweet with each other. They played up in their room together for about an hour while I was cleaning house yesterday...it's so nice to see them getting so close and having so much fun with each other! I pray it will forever be that way!

That's all for now! I will have another check up in about 2 weeks, so I will keep you posted! :)

Weekend at the Lake

Several weekends ago, the 4 of us along with Papa and NeeNee packed up our stuff and headed for a fun couple of days on the lake! A friend of Russell's was kind enough to let us use their lake house and boat for a wonderful, relaxing weekend! I'll let the pics do most of the talking...
Russell was excited to get his fishing gear out...it's been a while. And the angel (aka Marissa) was by his side the whole time! She loves fishing with her daddy. (On a different note...the angel wings were found in a closet and she wore the pretty much the entire weekend. :) )

Our little angel diggin' for worms.

This was the very cool zip line that Russell and Papa tried out several times! (videos of that to come later!!)

Allie loved diggin' for worms too...my girls showed their true tomboy spirits this weekend!

Just after lunch...we headed out for a little boat ride. I knew it was getting close to nap time so I was hoping Allie would fall asleep just like I used to when I was little! My parents had a boat that had a special little cubby hole and I remember crawling in there and falling asleep almost every time I got on the boat :)

Me with my little water-dog, Marissa. She had so much fun in the water that morning with Papa! She was very excited about the boat ride...

...So were the guys!!

This was the position she was in the entire time! She was loving it!!

It didn't take long for Allie to fall asleep...she had silky, NeeNee and the boat rocking her...what else could a girl ask for? :)

There were, however, no naps in this girls future! She was too excited to sleep:)

We made a little pit stop to do some swimming!

After dinner, it was time for a little "fishin' in the dark". (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, anyone?) :)

Allie was more into fishin' for worms, than fishin' for fish.
Marissa was doing a great job fishing and having lots of fun!

The next morning, I walked outside to this precious sight. Daddy and his girls doing some early morning fishing. This picture of Allie's belly cracks me up:) I love that little belly.

Sweet daddy and daughter time!

Reeling it in!!

Getting her worm to bait the hook...her favorite part!

A girl and her worm. Pure bliss:)
Marissa perfected her cast.

NeeNee joined in on the fishing fun!
One of my favorite pictures of the weekend. So, so sweet:) I don't think there is any place these two would rather be.

And she got one!!!!

Little sister came over to check it out...

Nothing like a little swim in the lake to work up a little appetite for a snack :)

Best swimming buddies!

These 3 were worn out....trying to get a little shut-eye on the dock to bring an end to a wonderful weekend on the lake!