Margret "Maggie" Allyson

July 21st, Maggie made her grand entrance into this world at 10:07am. She weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. I made it to 37 weeks before the doctor decided that my blood pressure was unstable. We went in for an induction Tuesday morning and 4 hours later, had our newest addition in our arms. Maggie is a sweet baby. She rarely cries and loves being held. Beth, Jacob and Emma couldn't be any happier about their new little sister. They love to hold her and take care of her!!

Free Bowling*

I found this website that was offering free bowling* for kids under 15 (* you pay for the shoe rental about 13 bucks for my kids). I am thinking that it would be cheaper to buy bowling shoe since you get 2 free games a day until August 30th. So I decided to sign up and took the kids. The kids had a great time. Beth and Jacob even had strikes. Emma loved the bowling shoes and insisted that her socks were pulled up as high as possible. I thought she looked adorable.

Emma's 4th Birthday

June 23rd was Emm'a 4th birthday. I wasn't feeling great on her birthday. Lucky for me, Emma wanted to swim 4 times on her birthday, eat pizza and have a pink cake with pink icing and pink candles. All easily done!!! She gave up her blankie on her birthday and has stopped sucking her thumb. Where did my baby go? She seems so grown up to me now.

Funny story: Emma woke me up on her birthday and the first thing out of her mouth. "Mom, I am 4 today just like Lincoln." One of her friends turned 4 in February and she would constantly start conversations with "when I turn 4 like Lincoln...." I didn't realize that a 3 year old could be so concerned that someone was older than her. :) Emma when she came home from the hospital.

Beth had a photo shoot with Emma.

Emma came out of my bathroom with this beautiful face. She loves to have makeup on.

Nashville

Mickey and I wanted to have some sort of family vacation this summer. We decided to go to Nashville since it is only 2 hours away. We were excited to go. We planned on going to a water park, a children's science center, the zoo, the Parthenon replica and to the Hermitage, Pres. Andrew Jackson's home. I did forget my camera so I don't have any pictures to share. The weather was super hot! I think it was around 100 degrees the whole time we were there. We ended up missing the zoo due to the heat and my swollen feet! (We will go back in the fall!) But the kids enjoyed everything we did. The favorite place was the Hermitage. I was surprised that the kids loved it so much but Jacob was asking to return as soon as possible.

It was so nice to get away and enjoy the time with our family.

Baseball Party!

For Jacob's end of season party, the team and families went to the Stars' game. Jacob's team was able to go on the field and when their positions were called, they got to run to the base/field area. They looked so tiny next to those big players. Jacob ran to home base since he played catcher at the end of the season. In all the pictures, Jacob can be picked out since he is the tallest. I think he had a major growth spurt this spring/summer.

We watched the game and had an awards time during the 7th inning. All in all we had a great time. I was getting a nice sinus infection that night and didn't feel up to taking pictures! This has been a bad season for pictures. Hopefully it will get better!

Blueberries and Baseball

Here is some information on the place that I have been blueberry picking. It has been a few years since we have been in town to pick! So I am looking forward to having blueberries in my freezer again. The kids are given their own small buckets to help pick. If anyone wants to go with me and the kids let me know!

Mary Mac Berry Farm - Blueberries, blackberries

2060 Dug Hill Road, Brownsboro, AL 35741. Phone: (256) 534-5328.

Directions: 4.2 miles north of 431. Two miles south of 72 East.

Open: June 15-August 15 Monday to Saturday, 7 am to 7 pm. Be sure to call ahead.

Now on to baseball. Yesterday, Jacob played a double-header and his team did so well. They have lost more games then they have won. Which is fine...it's the experience that counts, right? Jacob was having a great night. His team won the first game and were very happy. For the second game, the coach moved all the kids to different positions. Jacob has played catcher for the last 2 games and has loved the position but he was moved to 3rd base for that game. During the second game, Jacob even got his first home run! I have rarely seen such a happy face on that boy! (Of all games...I didn't bring a single camera!!!) They ended up losing the second game by 2 runs. Turns out that the team we were playing against hadn't had a win all season. I think our coach is a good man who really wanted to make sure everyone had a good experience. It couldn't have been a better night!

Memorial Day Weekend

We were ready for the long weekend! My parents decided to visit for a few days. Unfortunately, Emma had a fever for whole time they were here. Mickey got the pool filled up and the water was freezing. Of course, Beth and Jacob were sure it would be fine. They swam for a few hours and when they got out, they were freezing. But if you ask them, it was fantastic!

After my parents left on Monday, we headed to the movies with the kids. I didn't want to head home. So we decided to go North to Tennessee and explore. We started out at Falls Mill. They use a century old mill/water wheel to grind wheat and corn. The grounds were beautiful. We bought some multi-grain pancake mix to try and I think it is great.

Mickey wanted to drive farther on to Winchester, TN. Once we got there, we saw signs for Tim's Ford Dam. So we decided to see the dam. It wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be and the grounds were overgrown and a little dirty. Not my favorite site of the day.

I was ready to go home and Mickey thought if we kept on the road we would get to Fayetteville, TN. We didn't take a map and I was getting a little nervous. Prayers are answered and the Holy Ghost does brings things to our remembrance. Suddenly, I remembered that I had picked up a pamphlet at the Mill and it had a useful map in it! Mickey was right...as bad as I hate to admit it. We were headed in the right direction.

In our wanderings, we found Lynchburg, TN. We got there about 4:30 and saw signs for the Jack Daniels Distillery..last tour at 4:30. The staffers were very nice and held the tour for us. The kids loved the smell for the very first part since it smelled like bread. But after that, they kept putting their shirts over their noses. The grounds are beautiful and the tour ended with a glass of lemonade. (The kids favorite part!)

By the time we got home, I was ready for bed. All in all, we had a great weekend.