April in Review!

 My brother and sister in law welcomed a new baby boy!! His name is Brave Ledger, and he joins his big brother, Roman. I am so happy to have 2 amazing nephews! We had a blast in Charleston getting to visit. 

My two best friends got me out of the house and we went to the movies. I am doing a little better since dad, but last month was still very, very hard. We went to see the new Channing Tatum movie and it was hilarious. 

Caleb went to his military ball! He wore the same uniform he always wears to things, but they wore bow ties that night! He was so handsome! 

There was one evening I went to visit mom for a little while and as I was leaving, there was this beautiful sunset outside. Just about everything makes me think of dad these days. I also saw a red cardinal on the kids' trampoline awhile back. The legend is that if you see one after a loved one dies, it is to bring you peace or something like that. Mom saw one outside her window at home, too. 

We have started the tradition of going over to moms and having lunch with her every sunday. Gives her a chance to see the kids. And she actually has people to cook for, and she loves it!! She loves to spoil everyone with her cooking skills ;) I also like to help her out around the house some when I can. 

Brooke had a band concert, and we all got to go watch. They did amazing this year and sounded great! We are really going to miss band next year, but Brooke will just be too busy to keep up with it anymore! 

Brooke's maw and paw came to see her at the concert 

Arnold took me on a date night for the month of April! We love our monthly dates! Its so important to "date your spouse" so you dont lose that connection! 

We celebrated Easter at moms, like usual. She cooked yummy food for us! Grandpa came over too. Before lunch we went to church and it was a beautiful service. 

I took over the plates and napkins to moms.. and in case youre wondering, YES the napkins are pioneer woman!! :D But the plates weren't.. but they were still cute!! 

We set up Arnold's tripod in moms back yard and took bunches of pictures. And yes I love a good color scheme for holidays so this year we went with pink. I know my dress is more purple. Long story, but at the last minute I found out that my dress I had bought didn't fit right. 

Arnold is in a band with some friends of his and they try to occasionally do shows out in public. A guy in the band wanted to throw a private party for some family members and friends and so the guys played in his backyard and we all got to go out and eat BBQ. It was a fun evening.. we took the kids with us. Turns out the drummer's daughter is Brooke's homeroom teacher! haha.. small world. 

Brooke and I hanging out listening to the music :) 

The last day of Spring break Arnold took off work so we could take the kids to do something fun. We thought we'd go to the mountains and have a picnic. The weather was nice for the first time in forever. We decided to take mom along with us, and had a lot of fun! 

The night before we were at Target buying stuff to take to the picnic and Caleb saw some frisbees and said he had to get one.... it was a choice between a dinosaur or a unicorn and rainbows :D 

We ate sandwiches and fruit at the picnic table. Rachel somehow got Grandma to try Takis for the first time. The kids walked down to the creek. And before we left, Arnold and Caleb and Rachel went on a short hike. 

A town near us had a fair and everyone from the kids' school were going, so of course our kids wanted to go too. We took them, bought their wrist bands, and waited for their friends to get there. After that we realized we had nothing to do! Neither of us like big rides anymore. So what did this old boring married couple do?? We sat in the car in the parking lot and ate greasy fair food together :D On the way back up the hill to get the kids, I accidentally fell into a tiny pothole in the grass and fell. I hit the ground pretty hard!  I caught myself with my hands and I scraped them up, along with my right leg. I had bruises everywhere. Arnold went up to the first aid tent to get an icepack for me. Thank goodness they have those for people like me, haha! I was really hurting that evening, but after some Aleve and rest I felt a lot better. 

We finally convinced Rachel to get her hair cut!!!! She decided to go with bangs also. She instantly looked older and the cut looks so cute on her! She also recently got new glasses, because at her yearly eye checkup we found out she became even MORE near sighted! Poor girl. 

We celebrated Miss Ruby's 1st birthday!! Every occasion is a reason for cake, right?! So I ordered a cake online from the bakery, and I had them write Happy 1st Birthday Ruby on it. I. didn't request anything else with it, but they assumed Ruby was an actual human baby and included a free smash cake!!! :D That was so funny.... I felt bad they had made it!!!!! 

My best friend got married!!!! I was so lucky to get to be there beside her on that day. I am so excited for her, and looking forward to meet baby Ensley too! 

After the wedding we all went out to lunch, and Arnold was able to take a break from work and met us there. 

Charleston Trip 2022!

This past weekend we took a trip down to Charleston to visit my brother and his family.. and meet my newest baby nephew!!! We decided to take mom with us, and since there were 6 of us, she let us use her SUV to go down there. Arnold drove for us! Mom sat in the front, me and Brooke in the middle, and Caleb and Rachel in the back. We had a lot more room than we usually do so I loved it.

Our hotel this time was the same brand Hotel Arnold and I stayed in when we went to Nashville. It was a Hyatt. Our room looked almost identical. But the hotel in Nashville was way nicer than this one. It was OK but there were several things I would have liked to be different. But you can't beat South Carolina and palm trees everywhere. Arnold even parked moms car next to a palm tree :D

The first thing we did was go straight to Alex's place so we could see them and baby Brave. The sidewalk that leads to their apartment is lined with palmtrees, and theres a fountain outside and its just beautiful there. I really am jealous of towns that are gorgeous because I live in a small town with no view! haha. 

Finally got to meet baby Brave! Oh I love him so much already! He was making those cute little newborn noises and looking around everywhere. I got to hold him and feed him a bottle. 

Didn't want to forget about my Ro Ro so of course I took him a big brother gift! He seemed to love the Leap Frog camera I got him and sat right down to play with it. Of course I had to slip a new book in there too, Aunt Abby has to build up their libraries! ;) 

I tried to get a picture with Roman and I was so surprised when he jumped right up to my phone with me and smiled real big for a selfie!! :D He has gotten so big and says so many words now. Watching him run around and play was so fun. Rachel loved to entertain him this weekend by sticking her tongue out and making him crack up. 

Needless to say Mom was in heaven getting to meet her newest grandchild! She held Brave while he snoozed. Im so glad she got to go on this trip with us. It was good for all of us, especially after this emotional last 2 months we've been through! 

Around 7 we finally got out to eat some dinner. The babies have an early bed time so they didn't go with us. Mom asked the lady in the hotel lobby for suggestions and they said a seafood place right down the street, so we tried it. I'll be honest.. from the looks of it, it looked kinda run down and chaotic inside and loud but we ended up having a great time! Most of us got shrimp and it was so good! They played some great music and we had fun just hanging out together. 

Arnold takes any opportunity to be silly! There were big fish hanging from the ceiling, a big boat, and a huge aquarium in there. And everything wooden in the restaurant had writing all over it.. everyone who comes to visit there will sign something. 

After dinner Brooke wasn't in the mood to get a picture so I got a few pics of Caleb at the fountain next to the restaurant. The sun was starting to set and it was beautiful :)

When we got back to the hotel, Brooke and Caleb went to the gym to work out awhile. Brooke's getting close to cheer tryouts and is trying to stay consistent! And then they undid all that hard work by eating a ton of candy in bed. LOL

The next morning Arnold and I got ready early and met mom in the lobby for breakfast. We could not get the kids out of bed to come eat with us!!!! I got a pic of Mom, B & C before we left for the day. Arnold and Rachel had gone to get the car to bring to the front. 

We drove to the downtown area and walked around for awhile. We went through the Charleston market and Im surprised I didn't buy a ton of stuff!!!! haha. Everywhere you walked there were carriages pulled by horses. We stopped into a huge candy store and let the kids get some stuff. 

I did find one thing while in the market... a hand painted ornament! I collect ornaments and like to have one from places we visit. I had a hard time deciding between the crab, flamingo and seahorse.. but the seahorse won! 

Caleb showing the HUGE bag of candy bananas we got at the store. It's an inside joke with our family.. we have to get candy bananas every trip we go on. A lb of candy was $17 there!!! We spent too much, lol. 

This crazy kid got candy cigarettes!!! i didn't even know they still made them.

We stopped off at a pier and looked out onto the ocean and got some pics. We had wanted to visit an actual beach while there but there was too much going on and so we decided to just sight see this time. The weather was amazing while we were there!!!! 

Every view there was so beautiful! I loved the big colorful houses. We passed a strip of them called The Rainbow Row. All of the houses go for a couple million dollars each! Could yall see me living in a big purple house?!?!?! :D

Late afternoon after resting a bit at the hotel, we met up with Alex's family at a local crab shack for dinner. I like to get crab legs on every trip we go on.. its one of my favorite foods! 

The prices were OUTRAGEOUS but the food was pretty good. We ordered a few appetizers like fried green tomatoes, stuffed mushrooms, and hushpuppies. We did not get the greatest service that night... I won't go into all of it... but I probably wouldn't go back there again. But I still had fun! 

Tried my best to get a family pic with everyone looking! This was the best one! Roman was so funny.. he would dip his food into Alex's grits. He is such a ham. 

My dinner was snow crab legs and grits!!!! Oh it was so delicious! 

The next morning we packed up all our stuff, got ready, and met Alex's family at a nearby restaurant for lunch. It was called Maple Street Biscuits. None of us had been to one before but they had great food! They served all kinds of HUGE biscuits with things inside, or covered with gravy. This was Arnold's pick. I got a waffle for myself. And the girls got a waffle covered with chocolate chips, strawberries, sugar, and whipped cream. OMG they were on sugar overload this weekend. We need to keep them away from sugar for at least a month!!!!

The kids all sitting together 

The girls all took a pic together before we left. And yes we stuck Brave in there too! :D

I wanted to hold Brave one more time before we went home, so I got to feed him a bottle while we were waiting on our food! Christina tried to get a pic of me, mom, Brave and Roman and it was so cute! 

Yes Im TOTALLY the girl wearing this shirt and I don't even care how "cringe" it is (as brooke would say!) I wanted to get a cute pic with my nephews!!! I love how this turned out.. I need to frame it! They set Roman up in a little booster seat on top of a chair beside me and tried to get his attention. Right after this pic the poor guy leaned forward and fell! Arnold tried his best to catch him but didn't make it in time :( Poor little Roman hit his head and had a huge knot on it. I felt so bad for him! Everyone in the restaurant was staring at us... haha.. we really know how to have an adventure everywhere we go. The lady at the counter was sweet and brought us a bag for ice for him though. And he was ok! He ended up acting very brave actually! 

Anyway.... we had an awesome trip even though it FLEW by!!!! I wish they didn't live so far away from us, but it does give us a good excuse to go visit Charleston! Can't wait til I get to see my sweet nephews again!!!! :)