Weekend fun!

Our party of six enjoyed another great weekend full of fun!  

Friday, this little beauty and her daddy went to the woods to track a giant bobcat!  Side note.  Braids have become her new favorite thing.  We do them at night after her bath rather than blow dry her hair, and most days she takes them out because she loves how wavy her hair is after it dries, so cute!  

Summer loves loves loves horses, so it made her day to get to pet Peanut on Friday at school.  

Friday night, we got to do one of the neatest things ever.  We attended the USM baseball game as the USM President's guests!  Eeek!  He and his family invited us to the game to sit with them in their press box and everything.  It was so so cool!  Dr. Bennett moved to Hattiesburg where he was on staff at THE University of Georgia, so fun! 

The children had so much fun! 

It was the perfect night for a baseball game, too!  

Here we are with Dr. and Mrs. Bennett.  They were such gracious hosts!  We were just honored to be there.  

Saturday morning, we went to the Krewe of Caerus parade in Hattiesburg.  This is the third year our town has had its own parade, and it was awesome!  I loved that they had it during the day rather than at night this year.  

Story with her special friend, Mallory at the parade.  

The floats were so great, and we got lots of beads, too!  

My favorite part was seeing sweet friends from school.  This is Mrs. Felsher, a Kindergarten teacher at PCS.  She's awesome! 

And this is Mrs. Pope, we work together everyday, and I couldn't love her more if I tried!  On the other side of Mrs. Pope was Miss Audie, who taught Tilly and now teachers Story at PCS preschool.  

We ran into lots of sweet friends at the parade, some from school and church.  

Saturday afternoon, David and Carter went back to watch USM play baseball while I took the girls home to nap.  Such a fun weekend with my people!

Cowboy day at PCS!

Friday was Cowboy Day for all PCS kindergartners, and it was the most fun!

My Tilly girl could not have been more excited about this special day.  

The 5 kindergarten classes rotated around to the different stations.  Mrs. Malone's class went to the barrel racing station first!  It just so happened that Tilly was Mrs. Malone's leader for Cowboy Day, which made this special day even more fun.  

They told stories around the campfire and roasted marshmallows.  

Tilly and one of her sweet friends.  

And then came the moment we have been waiting for all week, getting to ride Peanut.  

Tilly's face just makes my heart smile.  

She told me the night before Cowboy Day:  Momma, I don't think I can even sleep tonight for thinking about Peanut!  

The boys and girls got to take pictures in front of the "Wanted" sign with different props!  I'm loving the moustache! 

I adore this picture of Tilly and Ella, such sweet friends.  

And finally, I will leave you with a video of the barrel race fun!  Yay for Cowboy Day!  Tilly definitely had a root-tootin' good ole time! 

First zoo trip of the new year!

Last Sunday after church, David had lots of meetings, so the children and I headed home alone after a delicious lunch at church with the intent of taking naps.  However, on the way to the car, I made the executive momma decision that it was just way too pretty of a day to spend it indoors.  So, we headed over to the zoo for the day!  The children were so excited!

There's a new baby alligator that wasn't at the zoo the last time we went, can you see him?  So cute!

We arrived at the zoo just in time for an animal exhibit, how fun!

Even Story participated!  I was so proud :)

Can you see how beautiful it was outside? 

The children got to take their picture with the bird of prey.  I didn't do a great job of getting them all in, ha!

After the exhibit, I got a ring pop for each of the children.  The animals were drawn to them!  Look at this little guy!  He came right over to us!

We bought food for the ducks and swans.  

Can you spot the jaguar sunning?  

You cannot tell from this particular picture, but the flamingos were just a squawking at each other!  

The tiger was on the move!  She even came over to get a drink from the water.  Most of the times when we visit, it's in the dead middle of summer, so she's barely moving at all.  

Cuties!  

After walking through part of the zoo, we went for a ride on the carousel.  

I don't know what makes it so special, but my children love it!

Even this handsome boy!

Story was so big and rode right by herself.  

After the carousel, we headed over to Africa and to the petting zoo.  

And we saved the best for last!  A ride on the train! 

I had such a fun day with these cuties!

We loved seeing our church on the train ride.  

When we finished up at the zoo, we headed over to the park to play for a little while.  And then it was time to head home to meet Daddy.  

I also let the children get in the hurricane machine.  I love this video of them!  So much excitement on their little faces.  And please, oh please, notice Summer's awesome dance moves.  She gets her groove from her daddy, ha!

Valentine's Day with my loves.

Valentine's was just so much fun this year.  I'm not sure what made it so special, maybe just the children being older and understanding more or maybe just all of us being together.  At any rate, it was just so much fun! It sure didn't hurt that it fell on the Friday before an LONG weekend! 

Carter made this precious Valentine for us, definitely a keeper. 

All four children had Valentine parties in their classes at school, and they were so excited.  Lucky for me, I was able to pop in and check out the action in the parties of the big 3.  Here's Tilly with some of her sweet friends.  

Summer at her Valentine party.  

And Carter at his party.  They all had so much fun!  As did Story, even though I didn't get to pop in her class, it was so sweet to hear her tell about her fun day! 

My first Valentine definitely spoiled me with some pretties from one of my favorite shops in town.  

Last year for Valentine's Day, David took the girls on a date, and Carter took me on a date.  It was so much fun.  We were hoping to do that again this year, but for several reasons it just didn't work out, 

so. . . We all went out to the RODEO!  

My first and favorite Valentine.  

My little loves.  We are all wearing our cowboy boots, so fun!

This cute little bumble bee greeted us at the door.  Notice Story is missing from the picture.  Still not a fan of the characters!  

We got there plenty early, so we were able to walk around and check out everything before the big show.  

Tilly definitely took a nap halfway through.  

A selfie with Carter.  

This was our first time at the Rodeo, and we loved it!  The children had so much fun.  

Saturday, Summer had a painting party for one of her classmates.  Didn't she do such a great job?  I didn't help her a bit!  I was so proud!

The finished product!

Saturday night, David and I got to go on a Valentine's date.  We ate at our favorite sushi restaurant.  

And then we went shopping for some treats for our little ones.  Isn't the moon amazing?  Sunday after church, I took the children to the zoo for the afternoon (separate post), and Monday we took the children to see the Lego movie, so cute!  Loved our long weekend spent together!