Summertime Sisters

These two. They are best friends and either spend hours playing and creating peacefully, or 

they scream at each other every five minutes. Either way, they love each other fiercely, 

and I love watching them grow together in grace and beauty. 

Jump!

Found this on my phone

My sweet girls

Just playing at the fountain with their dolls

Hat time!

Puzzles for days

Summer reading is better when your sister has to do it too. 

Not a sister picture, but Lucy loves her new otter, Joan.

Two Tiny Dots

Lucy has been begging to get her ears pierced for awhile now. She asked me if she could for her birthday, and I deflected  to Matthew, hoping he would say that she had to wait. He did not, and just like that my baby looks grown up. We put on our masks and headed to the piercing pagoda. Lucy chose her studs, tiny little diamonds, and bravely sat in the chair. She was so confident until the ladies came at her ears with dart guns. Then she started to cry and I stepped in and calmed her down. In a few short seconds and one big scream later, it was all over. Lucy has beautiful little earrings and is looking far too grown up for this mom's liking. On the way home she kept looking at her reflection in my rear view mirror and it was precious. 

Her she is bravely waiting. They pierced both ears at the same time and that as
definitely essential to her piercing success.

One tiny tear is all that remained from the piercing drama. She was so happy and glad she went through with it. She even said, "I can't even remember how much it hurt anymore".

Looking good Goose! We love you and your new look!

TobyMac Time

We were so excited o go to see TobyMac at his drive-in concert. The girls LOVE his music and know every single word by heart. Nothing makes my mom heart quite as happy as watching them dance and sing their hearts out to Jesus. When all is said and done, nothing else matters. 

Waiting to be let in to the drive in. They were so excited. It was such a great first concert. I may have been just a smidgen excited too.

I made Matthew get there early so we had a shot at getting into the front row, and we were smack in the middle of the front row. It was awesome! 

Waitng for the music to begin. I was a little worried that they would be bored and hard to entertain, but the time flew. Before you knew it the opening act came out and Vera was in heaven. Lucy thought it was too loud, but she still had a great time. 

Just me and my girls at a drive-in waiting to hear the best Christian singer ever.

Vera danced the entire time. She had a blast!

Lucy made friends with the stage crew and after the show they gave her the set list. Not too shabby for a first concert! So thankful that we get to share this with our girls. God is most certainly good!

Cousin Time

We packed up the car and headed to Ruthie's this past weekend for some much needed family time. The girls love spending time with their cousins; it was solid giggles all around. 

 

Three awesome girls

We even got to spend some time together at the beach. It was a lovely day. 

Just me and my gals

Sweet cousins making a heart with their hands

May they always walk through life together

Ruthie with her girls

Kamdyn and Lucy found a crab claw on the beach. If you look closely you can see it peaking out from behind my head.

And there it is again coming out of Lucy's swimsuit! 

Matthew and Goose by some old tree. It was a great getaway and time with family. 

Lucy Turns 7!

How wonderful it is to get to do life with this little lady. She is kind, powerful, smart, sassy, and Jesus filled. She makes our lives brighter and better ever day. Happy 7th birthday Goose!

Waking up to find Elf the Elf had decorated her room and left her a little surprise. Lucy was so excited and said, "he really knows what I like!" Indeed he does sweet girl. 

She came downstairs to open her presents and have a special breakfast of cinnamon rolls with extra icing. 

She has been begging for the LOL Glam Car for weeks! She was overjoyed 

"It has that new LOL smell" screamed Goose. 

Turning 7 during a pandemic is not for the faint of heart, but Lucy did great. We met a few of her buddies at the pool for a swim party and time together. It was just what Goose needed. 

Lucy requested a otter cake and Publix came through with the cutest mini-cake I have ever seen. 

Lucy requested steak for dinner on her big day, so off to Manny's Chophouse we went. Thanks to a great happy hour special, Lucy got the steak of her birthday dreams. 

Goose, 

Happy 7th birthday! I love how you have a heart for animals and want to learned about and help them all. You are fiercely loyal to your sister and friends. You love learning, but would prefer to stay at home and snuggle all day if you could. You love playing with Vera and using your imagination. During this quarantine you discovered stop motion videos and love making them.  You despise brushing your teeth and attempt to avoid it at all costs, but wee always catch you. You always request books and snuggles at bedtime, followed by your favorite nighttime song , "Sent forth by God's Blessing". Lucy you are my pride and joy. You bring light and life to everyone who meets you. I love you so much and am so proud to be your mom. Happy birthday my sweet Goose 

Love, Mom

Uncle Dan and Vera Whistle

I think this may be turning into a beach tradition. 

Beach Gang 2020

Our time at the beach with family is always such a great time. I hope that when the kids are older they always stay close and meet at the beach. They girls sure do love their cousins and hanging out with them, going to all our favorite beach restaurants and stores. They look forward to all our beach traditions every year and it makes me so happy. 

Veve and Chubs

Cousins 2020

Vera and Chubby laugh at your social distancing rules!

Good times on the boardwalk

John's Pass Boardwalk

Goose and Linny before they ran into the ocean

A quick break before the sand castle building statrted

They yearly picture outside of Dockside Dave's. Best grouper sandwiches ever. 

The Cheetah Girls

You gotta love the matching outfits from Guga. She couldn't be there this year due to COVID-19 

The kids put on a talent show complete with feats of strength

Bowing after their performances

Sunsets and sassiness

Light-sabers for all

Jackson is all grown up and totally awesome

My sweet Vera

Cousin sleepovers where the little sisters stayed up past the bigger kids

Lucy and Linny were connected at the hip. They even ordered the same lunches

Lucy learned to put her goggles on and dive down to the bottom of the ocean. She had a blast collecting seashells. This was also the time we swam out to the sandbar and collected tons of sells. After hours of searching and collecting shells I dropped the bag and it promptly sank to the bottom of the ocean. 

Sweet as lemonade

Most of the beach gang 

Pirate T

Cousins are the best

Cousins with a summer storm rolling in 

My two favorite girls

My girls. How blessed am I to be their mom. They are just the best thing ever. 

Vera and Chubby dancing to the live music. 

Such precious memories together. I hope they always look back at their childhood and smile. Heaven knows I will.