Attempts at getting the perfect beach picture!

Yesterday evening, we decided that we wanted to get the "perfect" beach picture of all of us. We never accomplished that shot but we did have a lot of fun and entertained many people on the beach as we got these shots.

The cousin shot, Graeme, Lily Wen, John Christopher and Luke

John loving on his Mom's belly and his soon to be baby brother!

Just me and my wee ones~

The Cain Women, Jodi, Mom and me

Miss Sassy Pants

I don't think I could love anyone more than them!

The bow is bigger than her head. It's a Southern thing!

He is smiling so big that he could hurt himself!

My nephew, Luke. Ahhhh, those eyes!

John

Mom and three of the grandkids. We couldn't catch Luke to get him in the shot!

The wind blown look!

Luke and Granny Mary

A bowless Lily Wen

Running for the ocean!

Tonight is our last night in paradise. We had a great day today that included a dolphin cruise. I think I got some great pics but won't download until tomorrow. We leave early in the morning to head to Baton Rouge. I can't wait to see our family and friends!

More beach pictures

Lily Wen loves to play on the beach.

Lily Wen and Me enjoying the ocean!

Graeme and Granny Mary

A boy and his shades!

Lily and those sunglasses. Excellent combination!

First time buried in the sand!

The gang (minus the photographer, me)

Graeme and Lily Wen and their sand castle

So COOL!

Full of Sand!

The BEACH!!!!

We arrived at the beach yesterday afternoon and are having such a good time. We are at Orange Beach, Alabama with my Mom and my sis and her family. Life is good and we will let the pics tell the story.

Graeme LOVES the beach!

Lily Wen was excited and told Graeme all about what to expect on the long drive here.

My nephew, John Christopher

Lily Wen is the only girl and quite the cutie!

Graeme loves his Granny Mary!

Me and the Wee Ones...don't know what is up with Graeme

My nephew, Luke, is the youngest and was falling asleep sand and all!

So he snuggled up to my sis, Jodi's belly, and huged on the soon to be newest member of the family. We will welcome a new nephew in November!

Graeme has been all smiles since we got here. Would you expect any different?

The wee ones...I may be biased but aren't they just the cutest kids?

A rare pic of John Christopher. He is running from his Aunt Margaret and her obsessive picture taking. I had to bribe him to get this shot.

Luke loving the view!

Luke, Uncle Rodney and Lily Wen

Lily Wen playing on the beach after the rain!

So pretty!!

Graeme is having the best time.

Showing me more sand!

Graeme

Lily Wen

Lukie

So we are having lots of fun and can't wait to see what the next few days will bring. I love watching the wee ones discover new things and this is a world of discovery!

Geaux Tigers

VICTORY!!!

This is why I have not been on the blog much this week. The wee ones and I have been watching baseball. Not just any baseball but the college world series. Our Tigers beat the Texas Longhorns in 2 out of 3 games to win the CWS. It was Beautiful! Graeme is going through the house and swinging anything that remotely resembles a bat! We are so proud of our Tigers and so excited about heading south this weekend for vacation!

Feeling SOOOOOO much Better!

Thanks for all the prayers and support. Wee One #2 is doing just fine today. You can't even tell he had surgery yesterday morning. Our day in pictures....

Graeme had surgery to fix this fistula (dark hole in his palate).

The morning of his surgery he was his typical silly self!
Then, they gave him the medicine and he was silly while lying down!

In recovery, bless his little heart!

Graeme with Becky and loving all of the attention!

Later that evening, Graeme is back to his silly, happy self!

Surgery #3

Graeme and I traveled to Lexington and got to spend the day with both sets of his Godparents.  We shopped some with Brian and Mel and as usual, they spoiled him! Tonight we are in staying with my friends and his other Godparents, Becky and Mark David.  We have had a wonderful evening and shared a meal outside.  It was so cool and peaceful.  Wonderful conversation and oh so relaxing.  This is just what I needed on the eve of Graeme's 3rd surgery since coming home.  Becky and I will take him to Louisville early in the morning to prep for his surgery at 7:45.  He has a small fistula that never closed after his cleft palate repair last October.  It is an outpatient surgery to repair the cleft palate.  Any surgery is scary for a wee one and a Mom so keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  As for Lily Wen, she is enjoying "girl time" with her best friend Lily and Lily's wonderful, saintly parents, Jon and Heather.  We are so blessed to have friends who are family!

Home is where the Dad fixes the Stuff!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and for all the Dads to be!

As for me, "Home is where the Dad fixes the Stuff" ~Tim "the toolman" Taylor, Home Improvement.

I once bought my Dad a shirt with this quote on it and he wore it proudly. The joke was that my Dad was great at fixing things but he often broke other things while fixing the first thing! I remember he was changing the oil on my sister's car once and he had driven her car up on these metal lifts but didn't set the brake. The car rolled down and hit a brick wall and became a much more significant repair. These are the things that I think about on Father's Day when I find it hard to breathe because I am missing him so much.

I think I got my deep (obsessive) love of reading from him. He could lose himself in a book and not know that anything was going on around him. I can do the same thing. For Christmas, I would get him a stack of books and he would ask which one was the best as he knew that I read them all before they became his gift!

My Dad was an excellent dancer. I loved watching him dance in a graceful ballroom style with my mother. They looked magical when they danced together. I loved dancing with him too although I never really felt like I kept up. Dancing with him is a blessed memory.

I would say that I did win the "parent lottery" and I was so blessed to have my Dad. I don't think I could have said that always. I don't think I really appreciated him until I was an adult.

So today, I'll look up at the clouds as I think of and remember my Dad. He is with me still when I accomplish a new task, when I read a thrilling book, when I hear Irish music, when I drink a margarita, when I swim with my kids, and when I laugh from deep within.

"Are we not like two volumes of one book?" ~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore