One Last Trip to the Zoo

Ryan and Jake

Walker and Kaitlyn

Bahaha! Walker was not happy that Kaitlyn wanted in his picture.

Yes, we go to the Zoo to play with rocks. Boys.

Well, the time has come to say farewell to the Birmingham Zoo. It's been a good zoo, but at some point, all good things must come to an end. I've been asked if we'll join the zoo in Orlando, and I really can't say at this point. I'm pretty sure the boys are a little over the zoo at this point, though, so I guess we'll have to find something else to do. ;)

So, today, we enjoyed one last trip to the Zoo today with the Madden crew and my mom, who was in town to keep the boys while I worked this weekend and help me pack up the house. The kids had a lot of fun- we rode the train and carousel, they played with rocks, and they ran around like crazy people. Now that I think about it, I don't even think we even checked out any of the animals. Ha! I told you they were over the zoo!

Other than that, we've been dealing with house drama in Orlando. "Our house" that I mentioned before, is not "our house" anymore. The owner got transferred back to Florida and decided to live in the house himself. Ugh! It was super stressful, especially considering the movers will be here February 15 and I don't have the opportunity to go house hunting again in Orlando. I think my amazing husband has found us a house, though, that's an even better fit for our family. Fingers crossed!

I'm Gonna Miss This...

I couldn't have staged this any better...
A visit from the ice cream man + 6 neighbors...

...and they all huddled up and wanted to sit together. :)

(We did rearrange the order of the little ones so that they were sitting in front of their older siblings.) (L to R: the Madden kids, the Summers boys, and the Ghea boys)

In the words of Trace Adkins, "I'm gonna miss this."

First Trip to Orlando!

After the boys got out of school on Friday, we loaded up and headed to my parents' house in Georgia. My mom hired a sitter from their church to watch the kids for the weekend while she and I went house hunting in Orlando. We had a lot on our agenda, but we got it all done and even found a house. Who knew that renting a house would be so tedious, though! I'm convinced it's a lot easier to buy a house than rent! Ha! Anyways, my mind is kind of boggled from the weekend, so I'm gonna hit the highlights in bullets so I don't have to form sentences. :)

• Orlando is HOT! Here it is mid-January and people were walking around in shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops! I definitely have some shopping to do before we move!


• We are planning to move mid-February if all goes as planned.


• We put our house on the market this week, so it is for sale/for rent/for lease...whichever gets it off our hands the fastest. Let me know if you're interested! ;)


• Houses there are so different- almost 75% of the homes we looked at have pools. (The one we are looking at has a pool, and I'm super excited but super scared at the same time.) And the homes are right on top of each other! "Our home" has almost no yard at all. :( I'm highly disappointed about that, but there is a park down the street, though. Man, I hope we have good neighbors! Especially since we'll be right on top of them!


• The people we saw in Orlando are definitely "different" than anywhere I've ever lived...even Atlanta. I'm all of a sudden the one with the "southern accent" again.


• I miss Tyson terribly. He flew out for his interview January 12 and started work immediately. We've gotten to see him twice but for a short period of time both times. He's been busy recruiting all week and weekend long, so that stinks. :(


• Tyson seems to really love his job so far and the people he's working with.


• It costs exactly $8 in tolls from 75 South to our house. Just sayin.


• Disney World is about an hour away from our house. And Sea World is even closer! I can't wait!


• I've already found a good preschool close to our house and Jake will start as soon as we get there. Walker will start in the summer.


• I work my last shift at Children's this weekend, and then I'm taking a little break from nursing to just enjoy being a mom/wife/personal assistant to my husband for a little while.


• We will be almost 4 hours from Tifton (Tyson's mom and my sister) and 6-7 hours from Thomaston (my parents), but 3.5 hours from St. Simon's Island (my parents' beach house).


• I think I've handled this all pretty well, but it still hasn't hit me yet that I'm actually leaving Birmingham in 3 weeks. I love it here. I know I'm gonna be super sad when I have to say goodbye to everyone. :( I've already gotten choked up thinking about how far away I'll be from my grandparents.


• I am so excited, though, about our move and Tyson's new job. I can't wait to get to Orlando and meet the other coaches' wives and kids.

On our way back to Thomaston, we made a quick stop at Amy's and got to see this cutie pie:

I think she has mine and my dad's eyes.

And once we got back to Thomaston, we got a "police escort" to my parents' house. :) I'll spare you the details, but the nice police officer did let Jake sit in his car and turn on the lights and sirens. Jake thought he was hot stuff!

Our New Team

Bright House Networks Stadium at UCF

For those of you who don't know, Tyson has joined the coaching staff at UCF (University of Central Florida) in Orlando, Fl. We are so excited! And Jake is so excited that he has told everyone that he is "moving to Disney World." :) He also says he is cheering for the "Florida Gators of Disney World." Ha! So cute, but oh so confused.

Well, I have my work cut out for me the next few weeks as we prepare for a move in the near future, so I apologize in advance for a decrease of blogging. I still plan on making the blog private (especially now since we'll be back and forth to Orlando), but I still have to help my Granddaddy set up an email. :) Either way, bare with me. This is definitely going to be an exciting ride!

Thank you all for the prayers, texts, phone calls, emails, etc during these past 5 weeks! It was definitely a roller coaster, for sure, but it honestly could not have worked out any better. God is so good! Thank you, Lord, for opening this door for us!

I Laugh With My Mouth Wide Open

Happiest. Kid. Ever.

January 4, 2012

Birthday pancakes!

Mama and her 4 year old!

Walker shocked us by being able to say, "Happy birthday, Jake!" So cute!
Pizza!!!

Ryan Madden on the big screen.

Love how the boys are holding hands. :)

Jake was gettin' down on camera!
My movie star!

Waving to "Mr. Cheese" (according to Ryan)

Happy Birthday, Jake!

This past Wednesday was Jake's actual birthday, so we celebrated his birthday again! First, we started the day off with some monkey pancakes. We sang "happy birthday" and lit a candle, of course. Next, we all got dressed and headed for Chuck E. Cheese's with Jake's best friend, Ryan Madden, in tow. We were like the only people there, so it was so much fun! After we got home, Ryan stayed and played for a while while Walker napped. We spent the rest of the day playing with our neighbors (like we usually do), but we ended the day with Jake's favorite meal and another birthday cake. By the end of his birthday, Jake definitely had the "making a wish and blowing out the candle" thing down. :) What a fun day! Happy 4th birthday, Jake! We love you!

New Year's Eve

Drennon, Jake, and "little Ryan"
Yes, Jake is in his PJ's and fireman rain boots.

Drennon in night vision.

Sydney in night vision.

I'm pretty sure night vision might be my favorite effect. Can you tell?

I even caught a picture of Tyson...in night vision, of course.

I think this is called "color sketch." Weird.

I shot this in "manual." Cool huh?

This was right before Drennon set the Madden's grass on fire. For real.

Where are the women? Oh yeah, putting the children to sleep.

Pretty nice set-up...especially when the power went out for about an hour!

Ok, so I went a little camera crazy with Jake and the sparklers- I was trying out some different effects on my camera. What do you think?

We had such a fun New Year's Eve. Jake's party was earlier that morning, and we basically continued to party all day. We got together with the neighbors and played on our inflatables, rode our new Power Wheels, ate pizza, and played with sparklers. Is it sad that that is what I consider "partying" these days? Ha! After the kids went to bed, the adults met outside and enjoyed a fire while watching the Auburn game on TV. So much fun! And for the first time in a few years (other than when I was working), I actually made it up til midnight!

Happy New Year! Up next, Jake's actual birthday post. :)

Jake's 4th Birthday Party

The birthday boy!!

The massive cake.

The party favors and the masks I made thanks to pinterest.

Jake sporting his mask.

Jake LOVES Power rangers, and he thought this was the coolest thing ever.

More fake smiles even though he was having the time of his life.

A little pre-party fun just us.

Walker was mesmerized by the big slide...from afar.

Kaitlyn!

Poor Walker begging me (or anyone) to save him! Ha!

Macy and her little dare-devil self.

We couldn't keep Dr. Huner off the slides.

Sweet sisters, Emma and Ellie.

Coach Bowens and Walker's buddy, Tanner.

Rick Allen

Tyson and the Bowens' big boys.

G-Mama came! Thanks for your help, Mary Ann!

Macy

Hannah Kate

Allie

Braden

Tanner. I could just eat him up.

Jake and Thomas...best buds and the two troublemakers of their class.

Thomas shares Jake's love of superheroes and camo.

Drennon

James Kellen might have an athletic bone or two in his body.

Ella (Thomas' twin)

Bryce

Sara and Mariah

This is when everyone was singing "Happy Birthday" to Jake. He was only slightly embarrassed.

Poor thing...the mask kept getting in his way, so it took him 3 or 4 times to blow out the candle.

Waiting on cake.

Eat cake or look at the camera? Hmm...

I love how Walker looks like a big boy here.

Yes, I gave cake to my child who is allergic to eggs...

...and he enjoyed every lick of it. ;) Love Tanner in the background.

Silly Hannah Kate.

Can you tell that the masks were a hit?...

...except for with "Big Ryan." Ha!

Some of the neighborhood crew.

The neighborhood crew again...with some stragglers.

PRESENTS!!

Besties.

Ashley and Kaitlyn

Sorry for the massive overload of pictures! I just wanted to make sure we got lots of pictures just in case this is our last birthday party in Birmingham. There were like 26 kids there, so not everyone got photographed, but I got pretty close.

I can't believe Jake is already 4 (well, on Wednesday)...time has just flown by! Happy birthday to our little man! We love you!