Team Darley

Letter to 7 Year Old Gracie June

2020-07-23T07:22:00.001-04:00

Dear 7 Year Old Gracie June,

Can you PLEEEEEEASE stop growing!!!! You're getting way to big! 6 years old was such a fun year! Although we it was a CRAZY one with the pandemic, having to virtual learning, & quarantine, it was still an awesome year.

You started out the year going into 1st grade with Mrs. Helms. She was such a great teacher!

You were the best little baseball sister ever!!! So many tournaments & you have been such a trooper! Good thing you like snacks!!!

We had a hurricane in the Fall & had to evacuate. So we went to Warner Robins and with to Rigby's Fun park for the first time. We played putt putt & arcade games!

You're always cheering your brother on!!

We went to Disney & did ALL 4 parks + the Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom! You brought a rock for Cinderella & all the characters LOVED you!!!

You also lost your FIRST tooth while we were at Disney at the pool! Tinker Bell got you a gift card for the arcade!

We went to Jacksonville Zoo with a bunch of your friends.

Halloween is always fun in the neighborhood. You went as a cat... surprise surprise.

We went to Asheville for the first time & got to tour the Biltmore & a Chocolate factory.

You were a half year cheerleader for Savannah Sharks. Although Covid hit & you weren't able to compete.

You had your annual Daddy Daughter Dance for Valentine's day at McAllister.

In March, Covid hit & we had to quarantine & do Virtual Learning at home. We rented a water slide for spring break since we couldn't go anywhere and you & Caycen had a blast!

We got a boat & started taking lots of trips to the beach.

You had a My Little Pony Birthday party at the pool with all your friends, then we came back to the house for pizza & cupcakes.

It was an amazing year & I am so so proud of you and the young lady you're becoming. You have the biggest heart & are always thinking about others. I am so grateful to be your Mommy & love you more than you will ever know. Thank you for being my sweet GJ!

Happy 7th birthday princess!!!

Love you MOST,

Mommy

Letter to 9 Year Old Caycen

2020-06-15T09:19:00.000-04:00

Dear 9 Year Old Caycen,

Wow!!!! What an amazing year you've had! We had a year full of fun sports, an amazing teacher, some crazy things going on in the world, and lots and lots of adventure!!!!

This past year you joined the Richmond Hill Tide baseball team and had sun a fun season! We started as 8U in the spring/summer, then went up to 9U kid pitch in the fall. You mainly played 3rd base, left field and pitcher. You've worked your tail off in baseball and have come to love it so much!!! You started taking pitching lessons with coach Chandler in the spring and have grown so much in pitching!

You also played soccer in the Fall and your team was the top team in the rec league. In winter you played basketball for your 2nd year in a row and you grew so much from last season. You got to play point guard a lot this season.

We went on several vacations this past year too. We took our family trip with Nona and Papa Ray to St. Augustine during the summer. After we left St. Augustine, we drove to Valdosta and went to Wild Adventures for Gracie June's birthday. A few weeks later, went for a quick day trip to Jacksonville Zoo. We went to Disney for Fall break for the Halloween party and it was SO MUCH FUN!!! We really want to go back every year once the pandemic is over. We went to Asheville, NC later in the Fall and got to go to The Biltmore for the first time. The Biltmore was decorated with Christmas decorations and it was beautiful! It was a rainy trip to Asheville so we didn't get to do a lot more than that.

We've also had some crazy events this past year. In the fall we had Hurricane Dorian and had to evacuate our town to go to Warner Robins and we stayed with Pop and Cheryl. While we were there we went to Rigby's Park and played some putt putt, rode go-carts, and played arcade games.

In March, we also had to experience the coronavirus (which at the time of this letter, we are STILL dealing with!). We had to go to e-learning and do school at home. It was NOT FUN for us! We had to do a lot of work on the computers. During this time we also had to do social distancing where we couldn't be around friends for weeks. Baseball was canceled, we couldn't go to restaurants, we ordered all of our groceries online, stores shut down, and it was CRAZY! Eventually, things started to open back up and we started going back to restaurants (but the workers had to wear masks) and we had to have tables spread out pretty far. Baseball opened back up, which was great. There's still a lot of craziness going on with the whole Coronavirus thing, but we made it through the toughest part so far.

For your 9th birthday we had a birthday party at the house and invited all your baseball friends and a few friends in the neighborhood. We rented a jousting blow up pin, a light up game and a snow cone machine. It started raining during your party and the jousting blow up pin turned into a huge water slide and you all started wrestling, sliding around, and getting soaked! Everyone said it was the best party ever!!!

This past year has been a blast and I'm just so so proud of the young man you're becoming!!! I can't wait to see what happens this next year and all the things that you will accomplish. I love you my sweet buddy!!!!

Love,

Mommy

Favorites:

Fast food - Subway

Sit down restaurant - Jalapenos

Color - Orange

Baseball number - 1

Baseball player - Freddy Freeman

Video game - Fortnite (YOU'RE OBSESSED!!!)

Best friend - Cody

Movie - Home Alone

Pictures from this past year!

$1 Movies with friends in the summer

Church camp fun!

4th of July

Bedroom Makeover

Robert Sapp baseball camp

St. Augustine Vacation

Wild Adventures

Back to school

Baseball tournaments champions

Your favorite books

Hurricane Evacuation

Neighborhood friends!

Pirate day at school

Making solar ovens

Soccer

Field Day

Disney

Halloween

Got hit by a baseball at a tournament

Jacksonville Zoo

Asheville North Carolina

Thanksgiving

Hunting - You shot your first deer

North Pole breakfast

Wildcat football game

Christmas Parade

Santa breakfast

Elves were crazy with the copier

Christmas party at school

High school one day camp

Firefighter dinner

Jumping with baseball friends

New Year's Eve!

Basketball game against your best bud

New hoodies

Valentine's Day

Champions

Start of quarantine... we went on a walk in the neighborhood

E-Learning with our behavior chart

FOOTLONG subs from Subway are your favorite

We got a blow up waterslide for Spring Break... you're showing us your wrinkly fingers!

More virtual learning activities

Easter at home

Glow in the dark egg hunt

Summer on the beach with the new boat

2nd place

And then you turned 9!!!

Family photos

Letter to 6 Year Old Gracie June

2019-07-22T13:09:00.000-04:00

Dear my sweet sweet Gracie June,
I am writing this letter to you for your 6th birthday. How are you ALREADY 6??? Time is going by way too fast and I just wish I could slow it down. Every year, you tell me you aren't going to get bigger and have another birthday so you can stay little and I can hold you. You really know how to make this mama happy.

I am so so proud of the big girl you're becoming. You are the funniest little girl I've ever met. You know how to make anyone smile and make anyone feel so loved. You brighten up a room just by walking in.

I love watching you play with your Beanie Boos, when you make up your sweet little songs, having dance parties, playing at the pool, and cuddling with you on movie nights. You make my heart so full and I am so grateful God made you my daughter. Thank you for showing me how to love BIG sweet girl.

Love you always,
Mommy

Your current favorites:
Color - purple
movie - Rio, Lion King
sport - cheerleading, tumbling
book - Pete The Cat books
TV show - My Little Pony
toys - Beanie Boos, shopkins, My Little Ponies
Best friends - Emma, Mia, Sylvie

Letter to 8 Year Old Caycen

2019-06-15T07:56:00.000-04:00

Dear Caycen,
HOW IN THE WOLRD are you 8 years old already??? I am SO SO proud of you and the young man you're becoming. You always work so hard at everything that you do! You're the best big brother and set such a good example for your sister. I love how you are always so compassionate and make sure that you include all of your friends when you play in a group.

I love our bedtime conversations and how you tell me all about your day, funny stories, and random thoughts. That's the time that I cherish with you the most. I love our cuddles, movie nights, baseball practice in the front yard, trick shot attempts, dinner games, and just spending time with you.

I hope you always know how special you are to me and how grateful I am to be your mama!

I pray God will use you to show others how to love and live for Christ.

I love you so so much Buddy!

Love,
Mommy

Current Favorites:
Color- still orange
Movie- Spider-man in the Spiderverse,
Sport- Soccer
Book- Dogman books, Secret of the Hidden Scrolls
TV Show- lots of Youtube channels
Game- Golf on the Wii
Best Friends- sooo many! Cody, Tate, Logan, Silas, Tristan

Some pictures from the past year:

June 2018

2018-09-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

May 2018

2018-09-10T12:30:00.000-04:00

May recap:

Family game night is always the best!

Baseball life!

Cinco De Mayo Party

And these kids got to hang out with the babysitter.

Love my little family!

celebrating summer birthdays

Color Vibe Run!

Mother's Day. I am the most blessed mama in the world!

Mother's Day goodies from my babies:

My little Pre-k graduate.

Economics Day at school

Hot tub at Nona's.

Caycen got to go to District Field Day and compete in the Softball throw and the kickball kick.

Last day of school for this first grader and pre-ker

April 2018

2018-08-10T11:55:00.000-04:00

We started out our Spring Break with a trip to St. Augustine with some of our best friends. We ate, we laughed, we went to Ripley's Believe it or Not, payed on the beach, and even ate at a little Taco stand on the side of the road. It was such a blast getting some much needed time away.

I got to go to my first outing with other influencers. There was a blogger meet-up for Savannah bloggers and influencers at 40 Volume and it was a lot of fun to meet the other girls!

First pool day of the year!

This day was busy with birthday parties and baseball games.

School lunch dates are always fun!

Chance and I did a little Q&A on our YouTube channel. We answered lots of viewer questions and had fun just being on camera together.

Chance got a lunch date with his little princess.

Gracie June had her gymnastics performance. She's improving so much!

Another amazing month in the books!

Letter to 5 Year Old Gracie June

2018-07-22T08:47:00.000-04:00

Dear Gracie June,
HAPPY HAPPY 5th birthday! I just can't believe I'm even saying that! How is my sweet baby girl already 5 years old? I am so blessed to be able to say that I've been your mommy for 5 whole years. You are my sunshine and you always know how to make me smile. You are honestly the funniest little girl that I've ever met. Everyone that meets you is instantly drawn to you. God has definitely given you some amazing gifts and I truly feel like you are going to be a blessing to so many people in your lifetime.

This past year has been so much fun. We've done so much and you've had many new firsts.

We moved into our new house the day after your 4th birthday and you went fishing for the first time in our pond.

You had your first dentist appointment and you did so good!

You started Pre-K at a new school!

You went fishing at our new house with Daddy and held a worm.

You played HALF a season of soccer, then Mommy gave up and told you that you didn't have to play.

You had your 2nd year of gymnastics.

You did cheerleading camp for RHHS and got to go on the field at the football game with the cheerleaders.

You became such an artist and LOVE to do anything crafty!

You went on your first field trip with Pre-K to the fire station.

You went hunting for the first time and you did so good!

Mommy and Daddy both got to eat lunch with you at school this year!

You got glasses. Mommy and Daddy are sorry you inherited our eye sight!

You had your first snow!

You went to the father/daughter dance at school.

You went to St. Augustine for the first time on Spring Break.

You went tubing for the first time and you're such a dare devil!

You learned how to swim this summer and you say you're a SHARK!

Things you're loving:
You love reading and you're reading sight words already. We read the Moana books and you always read the sight words throughout the book.
Your favorite color is still pink but you love purple too.
Your favorite dessert is chocolate chip cookies.
You love playing with LOL dolls, Shopkins, My Little Pony, Barbies, and pretty much anything girly.
You also love dressing up and having tea parties.
You have LOTS of best friends! You say they are Sylvie, Morgan, Alex, Maddie, and Emma.

I am so so proud of the sweet girl you have become and how smart you are. You are my favorite girl in the whole world and I couldn't imagine this life without you! I can't wait to see what all you accomplish in this next year. We love you baby girl!

Love,

Mommy

Letter to 7 Year Old Caycen

2018-06-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAYCEN!!!!

Dear Caycen on your 7th birthday,

Wow! I know I say this every year, but time is just flying. I see pictures of you in diapers and it seems like just yesterday that you were brought into this world. I have cherished every single minute of being your Mommy. I want you to know that you make me so so proud!

This last year has brought a lot of changes for you:
We moved into our new house, you started at a new school, and made lots of new friends.

There have been a few firsts for you this year too:
You lost your first tooth on your 6th birthday at the water park (we will never forget that story! haha!) and you've lost 5 teeth total this year!

You rode your first dirt bike and actually got one for Christmas.

You had your first snow at home and it lasted for 2 days!

You shot your first turkey (well it was actually your first 3 turkeys in 1 shot!!!).

You got to go to your first district field day and you placed 1st place in the kick ball punt and 6th place in the softball throw!

We took you to St. Augustine for the first time on Spring Break and you got to see Ripley's Believe it Or Not (and you're begging to go to another one!).

You started reading chapter books and you're liking the Magic Tree House series.

You went tubing for the first time.

This past year has been so much fun. I just love watching you grow and seeing how you much you're becoming like your Daddy. You're the best big brother in the world and you're the sweetest snuggler. I'm so happy that God chose me to be your Mommy. Please always stay sweet and keep being the leader that you are. I know that God has amazing plans for your life. I love you more than words could ever say!

Love,
Mommy

March 2018

2018-05-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

March 2018

Dr. Seuss Week:

Mother/Son Baseball game:

Children's Theater field trip

Tybee St. Patrick's Day parade

Caycen lost his 3rd tooth!

Seeing the Budweiser Clydesdales

Picnic with my baby & Cooper

While the boys were hunting! Caycen shot his first 3 turkeys all in one shot!!!

Caycen's Field try to Byrd's Cookie Company

Gracie June's favorite center

Gracie June and Mrs. Cox were matching.

Caycen's Baseball Opening Season Ceremony

Ella Kate's birthday party

Caycen lost his 4th tooth!

Caycen stealing Mommy's cookies!!!

We went to see "I Can Only Imagine" and it was AMAZING!!!

The Grove downtown with my friend Megan! This place was the best new restaurant I've tried in a while! The fries were unbelievable!

Easter fun at school

Easter Bunny 2018

Easter party at the Bowen's

I got wet during the water balloon toss

The guys won the egg toss

So much fun this month!!! Ready for that spring weather. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to spend our lives with! GOD IS GREAT!

February 2018

2018-05-15T09:24:00.000-04:00

February 2018

Day lunch date with the hubby at my favorite place!

Warming up by the fire.

New little projects for the house

Playground fun at school

Father Daughter Dance 2018.

Hair before (just a blow dry-which we never do)

Hair after with a curling iron (first time ever actually curling her hair since her hair has a natural curl already).

Dinner with Nona and Papa Ray

Valentine's Day treats for the class and teachers.

Valentine's Day treats for the kiddos

Gracie June loves Mr. Miller.

Alivia's birthday party.

Henny Penny Cafe

Waiting on an oil change with Mommy

Disney Princess Run 2018 - Half Marathon

Ohana's

Another great month and GOD IS SO GOOD!

January 2018

2018-05-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

January 2018

On snow days we sip hot chocolate with friends.

New wine glass that I made for me and my friends.

Savannah Snow Days 2018 (first snow in like 30 years!!!)

Family pictures by our amazing cousin, Sunny Lee.

Date Night at CO & Cole Swindell

My kids seriously had the best teachers this year!!! Here is my little buddy reading in the classroom.

Gracie June on the 100th day of school

How sweet is this?!?!

lunch dates are my favorite!

GOD IS GREAT!!!!

December Part 2

2018-04-16T12:56:00.002-04:00

Cookie Decorating with our small group.

Finally got Gracie June's bible verse up on her wall.

Grinch Day for Gracie June's class.

Participation day at gymnastics. Caycen loves this day because he gets to do gymnastics with GJ.

Polar Express day for Gracie June's class.

Christmas Parties at school!

The kids got glasses.

Christmas cards from our sweet friends and family!

Christmas church service with the kiddos.

Visit from Pop and Cheryl. They came to stay with us on Christmas Eve this year!

Baby Ray's 1st birthday.

New Year's Eve with our friends.

2017 brought MANY changes for our family and it was such a great year. I know that there are a few changes coming for 2018 as well and we are so excited for what the future has in store for our little family. GOD IS GREAT ALL THE TIME!!!!

December 2017 Part 1

2018-04-16T12:38:00.001-04:00

December is always such a busy month. The first day of December is the day that our Elf Buddy shows up with a North Pole breakfast. We had a surprise this year and there was a 2nd elf that showed up and it was a girl! Gracie June named her Snowflake. They brought donuts, pajamas, and some other little goodies for the kids to enjoy.

We enjoyed the Christmas parade with a bunch of friends. There were a lot more floats this year and a lot of them had Christmas book themes. It was so much fun!

Our elves were up to lots of mischief throughout the month :)

We did lots of Random Acts of Kindness during the whole month.

Gracie June with her friend from school.

My family came to visit for a weekend full of Christmas fun!

Santa came through our neighborhood so we stayed up late and waited on his arrival.

Lunch dates are always a blast!

Working on those splits!

We went to visit Santa at Bass Pro and then rode the train after.

Our elves brought us a Gingerbread house kit.

Gracie June went to a birthday tea party for her friend Alex.

We went to a Christmas dinner with friends at The Ford Plantation hosted by Summer and Travis.

We are truly blessed to have such amazing people in our lives to celebrate this time of the year with.

November 2017

2017-12-27T21:38:00.000-05:00

November 2017

Celebrated Daddy's 33rd birthday and went to Marker 107 for dinner with a view.

Then we spent the weekend up at Cabin Ridge. Gracie June got to go hunting for the first time and did so good!

Chance got to eat lunch with the kids for the first time this school year.

GJ and her love of other kids' toys! haha!

Playdate at the park with small group after church.

Gracie June's disguised turkey for school

Little cuties!

Gracie June's Thanksgiving Turkey Trot at school

Gracie June and her millions of sticker pages!

Friendsgiving with some fun kiddos! They got to watch the Trolls Holiday Special before it was even on DVD!

And of course the Real Housewives of Richmond Hill - minus one.

Dropped off our Christmas shoe boxes at church for operation christmas child.

Fun with friends in truck!

My sweet peas early in the morning.

GJ insisted on wearing her jammies that were a 2t from 2 years ago!

Directed drawings are SO.MUCH.FUN!!!

Look what Daddy brought home from work!

Thanksgiving fun in Warner Robins.

Little cat lover! I don't think she will like them when she gets older... but maybe that's hoping.

And we decorated for Christmas a few days before the 1st.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and fun-filled November like we did! We are so grateful for the time we get to spend with our families.

October 2017

2017-12-27T21:17:00.000-05:00

We had a VERY busy October and had SO much fun!!! Halloween is one of our favorite holidays to celebrate, mostly because of the candy, but also because the kids like scary things.

We started out the month by doing a little black cat crafting. Gracie June had a blast!

Then Gracie June decided to paint her nails with purple, green, and orange paint. She did pretty good!

Dr. Gracie June at school.

More school fun

lunch with my sweeties

Gracie June's first field trip to the fire station.

I finally got to watch one of Caycen's games.

Pumpkin painting with our small group and some neighbors!

The new donut shop before church and it's SO yummy!

Nona's 60th birthday!

Our Jack-o-lanterns

Gracie June's first time eating school lunch

This silly girl and her lunch shenanigans!

Caycen's first field trip of the year to the farm.

Little diva

Superhero day

10K run for myself. This was my first 10K in a WHILE!!!!

50th day of school for these nuggets!

I've been doing a lot of running lately! Training for the Disney Princess Half in February and I can't wait!!!

Day at Tanger outlet. The kids got to pick out clothes for our family photos and then play on the playground. Then they got to go to the Candy Kitchen and get cotton candy!

We went to the Seafood Festival and it was so great! We got there right when it opened on Saturday morning and there was hardly anyone there! The kids got to jump from ride to ride without any waiting and they even rode rides a few times in a row because there was no line. Definitely doing that again next year!!!

Gracie June won the water shooting game and got to get a unicorn!

My little mini-me!

Nona went to lunch with Caycen

Caycen's last soccer game

Gracie June made a new friend! Her and Caitlyn are two peas in a pod!

5K at Warriors for William I came in 5th place overall for the women

On Halloween, Gracie June had character dress-up day. She went as Pinkalicious

They had a fun little read and treat

Halloween night, we got to join two hayrides through the neighborhood. We had a blast!!!

Another wonderful month in the books for our little family! We are so blessed!

Ready to RACK!

2017-11-30T09:43:00.000-05:00

We are ready to start RACKing this Christmas season! In case your family is interested in RACKing too, I've uploaded our calendar for some ideas and even some fun pages you can use to help you throughout the month as you RACK. I hope you find this helpful! GOD BLESS!!!

Printables to use (you can also click HERE to get the PDF version for easy printing)

September 2017

2017-11-03T09:53:00.001-04:00

September in Pictures:

Spirit Day (picture sent to me by Mrs. Bocook)

First ride on the new golf cart!

My sweetness!

Getting ready to evacuate for Hurrican Irma and Cooper does NOT want to be left behind! haha!

Irmacation at Pop and Cheryl's

Gracie June and Emma have become such great friends!!! Emma lives across the street and they are the same age.

Aftermath of Irma on Belfast Keller on the way to our neighborhood :(

All the kiddos on the culdesac playing and eating together.

Enjoying the weather and a stroll around the neighborhood.

Bowling in Pooler (these kids are crazy)

Gracie June and Caycen started soccer. Gracie June made it through the first few games (she was pretty good when she went after the ball) and then decided she didn't really want to do soccer anymore. She even scored a goal during the 2nd game.

So we will just stick with gymnastics for now. Maybe next year.

Our DIY Dining room sign! I love how it turned out!!!

Dress up center

yoga before naptime at school

Computer lab

We got a visit from Ray Ray

GJ and all her princesses

Gracie June got to bring home Knuffle Bunny from her class. She LOVED having him for the weekend!

First lunch date with my kiddos for the year!

Gracie June and Caycen's first soccer games

Spirit night for the cheerleaders at the football game.

When I try to workout while Gracie June is around.

More soccer

Caycen's first time buying icecream at school

Transportation weekend

Another fun month for the Darley's!

August 2017

2017-11-03T09:13:00.001-04:00

August in Pictures:

Gracie June had her first dentist appointment. Her teeth look great, but she has a slight underbite.

Playing at our new neighborhood pool

Mommy and Daddy date night, so we go get plants LOL! What we do when we're old!

Caycen and Gracie June got to hang with Nona and Papa Ray.

Neighborhood Back to School Bash

And it's time for back to school! Caycen started 1st grade and Gracie June started Pre-k at McAllister.

Gracie June has Ms. Bocook and Mrs. Cox (Mrs. Cox is below)

Caycen has Mrs. Pickett

Ms. Bocook sent me Gracie June's picture on the first day of school!

And Mrs. Pickett sent me this picture of Caycen from the first day of school!

Gracie June's bookbag is about as big as her!

Mommy and Daddy day lunch date! We ate at Charlie Graingers and it's DANG GOOD!!!

Caycen got to share his "All About Me" bag at school.

Tired little mama!

Gracie June and her many outfits!

Gracie June and Caycen had their yearly check-ups. Poor Gracie June had to get several shots and a finger prick. Caycen only had a finger prick, but he cried as much as she did! We told GJ that she doesn't have to have shots again until she's 11 and now she says she doesn't want anymore birthdays.

More outfits for GJ

Fishing with Daddy in the pond

Pete the Cat week at school

Sassy pants!

Moon phases

Centers

Their first spirit day at McAllister

My little shop model

Caycen did Taikwando (however you spell it) for the first month of school. But then he decided he didn't like it that much, so he's not doing it anymore.

August was a busy month starting the school year and getting into a new routine. It was also my first time not going to work as a teacher in 9 years! I'm not gonna lie, I LOVE being able to be so involved with my kiddos at school! I LOVE their teachers and we are just SO blessed this year!!!!

July - Part 3

2017-09-12T22:19:00.002-04:00

We celebrated Gracie June's birthday with our traditional donuts, she had balloons all in her room, she popped them all to find $4, then we spent the day at the pool. Gracie June also ended up having Grandma and Capri come stay at our house for her birthday! It was so much fun celebrating my sweet girl's 4th birthday! You can watch the video of our day here.

We FINALLY moved into our new house the day after Gracie June's birthday. My mom came down to help us move and she stayed the whole week! We had so much fun having my mom here for so long. She was such a BLESSING to us during the move! That woman has way more energy that my 31 year old self!!! I don't know how she does it!

We celebrated Capri's birthday with donuts for her birthday and then we even made some chocolate chip cookies that night. I was so glad that we got to spend her special day with her!!!

Before Grandma and Capri went home, we took Capri shopping and to get a pedicure. It was some much needed girl time.

We have been fishing in our pond behind the house. I was the first to catch a fish LOL!

We got a welcome basket from our neighborhood social committee. We are absolutely loving it in the neighborhood already!

Summer has come to an end, but we are so excited for what's in store for our little family. Life is so busy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. God has blessed us in so many ways and we are so excited to be able to share our blessings with others! I am so grateful for my wonderful husband, my two precious kids, my family, my friends, and our community.

July- Part 2

2017-09-12T22:06:00.001-04:00

We went shopping several different times throughout the month of July to spend our birthday money. It was a lot of fun to let the kids pick out toys that they wanted (mostly from TARGET and one trip to Toys R Us)

We had our annual family vacation at Amelia Island. I absolutely LOVE this time of year because we get to spend time together away from work and the hustle and bustle. We get to just enjoy each other! This year was the best so far! My kiddos didn't have to take naps, so they got to enjoy every minute of playing and fun in the sun. It was a blast!!!

I ran ONE day on the beach and I didn't have my headphones. The view was beautiful but it was SO hard without anything to listen to.

Baby Ray also made our trip so much fun! He is definitely THE MOST CHILL baby ever!!!!

Largest drip castle in the world!!!

Snacks were great!

We played Bean Boozled altogether and it was a blast! You can watch the video here!

Gracie June was a mermaid again this year! haha!

We did the Sour Candy Challenge in our hotel room. Gracie June was hilarious! You can watch our video of it here.

The trip was a blast and we are always sad to leave!

We got a new game called The Wet Head Challenge and it is a lot of fun! I prefer using just water, but Chance and Caycen like to do crazy liquids to mix it up. You can watch us play it here.

Dollar Tree shopping as a reward!

We celebrated Ava's 4th birthday at the Tree House in the mall.

More toys!

Gigantic ice cream cookie sandwiches at the pool

Caycen and Gracie June were getting so excited about the new house!!!

Gracie June went to her first cheerleading camp at Richmond Hill High School. She had a blast!

Day 1 of camp was Neon Day:

Day 2 was Wacky Tacky Day

Day 3 was Disney Day

Day 4 was Pajama Day

Day 5 was their performance day

One of Gracie June's afternoon teachers, Kaylie, is a cheerleader so she had to get a picture with her favorite high school cheerleader!

Gracie June loved cheer camp and I'm sure we will do it again next year! I created a little video for her week of cheer camp here.

We made glow in the dark slime! You can watch our video here.

Chickfila cookies are the best!

We also made EDIBLE slime! You can watch that video here.

I got to have a one-on-one date with my sweet boy while Gracie June did cheerleading one morning. We sat and ate breakfast together and just talked about life. I absolutely LOVE this boy to pieces!!!!

Spending time with my family during the summer is what I love most. We get to have so much quality time together (some days so much that we end up getting on each others' nerves some days haha) and I will cherish these days forever!

July 2017-Part 1

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The summer is so busy for our family! Both of the kids have birthdays during the summer, we celebrate 4th of July and we do family trips! So I decided to do a few posts about the month of July.

First we celebrated the kids' birthdays by doing another combined birthday party at the pool this year. We just went with a pool party theme and it was a blast! The kids invited their cousins and then they each invited 3 friends. It was so much fun!

We got to spend some time with Grandma and Skyler after the party for a few days. We learned how to play Monopoly Jr. and the kids loved it!

Then we celebrated 4th of July with Nona, Papa Ray, and Aunt Sissy. The kids had so much fun going out on the boat, playing on the beach and doing fireworks.

We really do have so much to be thankful for. I am so blessed to have a family that loves my kids so much! They are spoiled rotten and surrounded by such amazing friends and family!!!

June 2017

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June 2017 in pictures:

We spent A LOT of time at the pool during the summer and it was so great! This is definitely our happy place!!!

Gracie June loves helping to take Cooper for walks.

Caycen had his baseball end of the season party.

Pool, Pool, Pool

Baby Ray lovin'

Mommy lovin'

We celebrated Caycen's 6th birthday. You can see the video of his birthday here.

We started out with balloons in his room (we were getting ready to move, which is why he has no furniture in his room! LOL!)

He got to pop the balloons and find money ($6 total).

We had donuts for breakfast (our birthday tradition)

We went to the water park at Jekyll with Ella Kate and Palmer

Caycen lost his first tooth at the water park on his birthday! It wasn't even loose! He was chewing on his bathing suit string (geeze) and it got caught between his teeth and when he tried to pull the string out it popped his tooth loose! After about 30 minutes (maybe longer) of crying, I finally pulled the tooth out! He was devestated!!!!

But we got dippin' dots and it was all bettter

We went to Dairy Queen for dinner (his choice)

Caycen got the game Pie Face Showdown for his birthday and it's hilarious! You can watch the video of them playing the game here.

The kids helped me paint our furniture

Gracie June became my new workout partner!

Gracie June decided to draw all over our walls in the rental for the 2nd time since we lived there!

My best friend!

Date night for our 9th anniversary! We went to The Vault and it was delicious!!!

After dinner we went to LuLu's Chocolate bar for dessert

We played the game "Eat it or Wear it" that we'd seen on Youtube and it was not so much fun for them! I however had a blast!!!!! You can watch them playing it here.

My little sweetheart!

Real life, these kids really do love each other!!!

We went to see the movie Cars 3 and it was so good! The kids were horrible during the movie, but Chance and I loved it!

The kids LOVE to dress up and play in their costumes!

One last ice cream at the pool for the month of June

God is great and we are truly blessed!!!! I absolutely love my family!!!

May 2017

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Here is our May in pictures:

Caycen's class did a butterly release

Gracie June is repping her Mama's business :)

We celebrated Mother's Day with brunch and then a little time on River Street.

I got the sweetest cards from my babies!

Caycen had Economics Day at school

We celebrated the end of the school year with Caycen's class

Gracie June playing with her new friends at the ball field.

Lunch at Plum's, one of our new favorites in Richmond Hill.

Caycen's baseball picture

Caycen had field day

Caycen's last day of school (can't believe how much he grew this year!)

Gracie June's last day of school

We went to visit Nanny for her birthday

Gracie June got her 2nd hair cut EVER

We went to a Magic Show hosted by the library

May was fun and summer started! We were so excited for school to be out and to start our vacation. What another fun month!

Goodbye to Teaching (for now)

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If you are close to me, then you probably know that since having my first child I wanted to stay at home and just be a mom. With my husband's job, that was never really an option because he wasn't offered health insurance through his job. Chance started working for a different company a little over a year ago, and now we have the option of health insurance through his current company. I also started my little etsy shop, Magically Made Tees, last July for some extra income. With all of this, I have decided that even though my babies will both be in school, I am going to be taking some time off from teaching to work from home and focus on my kids.

I absolutely LOVE teaching and I know I'll go back to it in the future. However, right now I want to devote my time to my own kids and make sure that I give them my full attention. When I chose the career of teaching, I did it with my future kids in mind. I thought that teaching would be the BEST job to have when raising my kids because I'd have the summers off with them and the same schedule. Don't get me wrong, it's been great, but it's not fully what I WANT. I do get LOTS of time with my kids during the summers and it's been so wonderful. BUT, my heart aches during the school year when my kids have fun events and I'm not able to attend them. Most teachers know how much work goes into planning for a sub or even getting another teacher to cover your class. Most school systems give you 3 personal days a school year, which also goes against your sick leave.

This past year, my oldest was in kindergarten, and it was definitely the toughest year for me. I did get to take a personal day and go on a field trip with Caycen. I had a wonderful team teacher who covered my class so that I could attend his Christmas party and his end of the year party, but I still missed so much. I never once got to eat lunch with him or help out in his classroom. I couldn't imagine my heart ache with having two kids in school and their programs and all. There's no way I'd be able to balance it all. Props to the moms who can!

So, I've decided that now is the time for me to run my new business from home and say goodbye to teaching for now. I want to be able to be the room mom for my kids' classrooms, make it to every single event that they have, and for them to know that I'm there for them no matter what.

I am so stinkin' excited about this new chapter in our lives and what it will bring. I'm excited about the amount of time I'll have to just be a mom and let all the other stuff go for now.

Thank you to everyone who has supported my decision to FINALLY stay at home and raise my babies. I pray that my kids will always know how much I love them and how honored I feel to be their mom.