Aubriyah's 5th B-day party & Zayleigh's baby shower

Jason's cousin Jessie is expecting her second daughter Zayleigh Diane in about a month. Helping her with the new baby will be Zayleigh's big sister Aubriyah who recently turned 5. The Freeport bunch all chipped in and had a combination Birthday party and Baby shower and we had a great time at both. B's party started at 10 and it was complete with lunch, a huge inflatable slide, cake and a pinata that wouldn't die! Then we moved the party inside for a co-ed baby shower. Jessie and Issac are a cute team and I know they are going to be good examples to Aubriyah and Zayleigh. After spending an acton packed day at Tinas, we headed over to Terry's house where Wes fired up the grill and we grilled Keith! (Jenny's new beau!) He was put through a rigorous testing which included grill skills, kitchen skills, drinking games and a multitude of personal questions! It's so cool when we all get together because the kids have a great time with each other and the more we all get together, the younger we become! Terry has the nicest place for our happy hours!

Meeting Chloe and Shawn

Debbie's daughter, Chloe and her son Shawn came down from Ohio to visit Debbie and we couldn't resist the opportunity to all get together. It's strange how Debbie's family and ours are so instantly conjoined! Getting together with them feels like getting together with the Hollingtons or Kimbles! They are all just good people-even down to the littlest one, Shawn! Shawn is 18 mos old and just a sweet kid! When you throw them all together there is no need for entertainment, just plenty of floor space! The evening was sweetened a little with Greg's relaxing strumming! Greg, Tara, and Debbie are on a mission to get Chloe to move back down and after hanging out with her, we are also on board! Operation Move Down Chloe!

Struekens on Sunday

After playing with Chloe, we headed over to the Struekens for chili dogs, chips and a lot of lounging in the shade watching naked children play on the gator, bike, swingset and pool. There was one cute little thing sitting up on the blanket-Madeline is getting too adorable and she is just about ready to crawl! Olivia was sweet to share and play so well with Wil and Elsie. This was the best way to spend a spring time afternoon!

Chloe spends the night!

We watched our good friend from school Chloe so her mama and daddy (Christy and Shawn) could go out on a long date! Chloe spend the night and we all went to church in the morning. Christy and Shawn hung out for a while and made Jason and I feel young again! We went to the creek, jumped on the trampoline, played in the pool and ate cottage cheese! Gotta love good friends and naked babies!

35th Birthday and our 8th Anniversary!

God blessed me with another year and on March 22nd I turned 35. I've always thought the bigger celebration should be our anniversary-which is also March 22nd. We seemed to have gotten over the 7 year itch and are starting our 8th year together as man and wife. It's not always easy, but I do feel blessed to have Jason lead the way, walk beside me and even get behind me and push me when I need it! He's a great man and father and I can't wait to get to 10 years so we can break out the wedding cake in the deep freezer!
My man hooked me up! I got a running watch that I have wanted for a while-before the watch I charted 5K courses with the odometer in the Corolla and used my cell phone as a stop watch! I'm sure the watch will make me faster-or at least look cooler! Jason commissioned a Tiramisu cake at Publix (yummy!) because he knows thats my fav and I got 3 bottles of wine! Still working on those!

Sara's Bridal Tea

Elsie and I enjoyed a different type of bridal shower-high tea at the Goodwood Museum in Tallahassee in honor of our future bride, Sara Zuber. It was fun catching up with the Hollington ladies and admiring all the fancy hats. I made a hat called "Cat in the Hat" for me and a hat called "Wild Rose" for Elsie. Sara and Justin will make a fine pair and we will all be there April 9th on the big day!

Melanie is 1!

We were honored to host the Baileys Friday night and we all enjoyed watching Luke parade around the house and eat everyone's food! The kids seemed to enjoy snuggling up together in the bed or on the couch. Nothing like some good cousin time with Camden and Luke! And then it was off early Saturday morning to Tampa for Melanie's 1st Birthday Bash! Katie and Brian threw the best party for her at Lettuce Lake Park-plenty of shade, playground equipment, little people and good food! Grandma Mona even brought Easter eggs for hunting! Wyatt, Wil, Ramona and Elsie really wanted cake badly and were pleased to eat delicious Care Bear cake while we all watched Melanie put on a show! She seemed to enjoy it too! Her Daddy licked the icing off her cheeks for her and then we opened presents! Harry (Brian's dad) made the cutest purple rocking horse for Melanie. We were winding down but decided to take a nature walk over to the boardwalk across the lake. We saw alligators, huge snail and snail eggs and turtles. The drive back was quick and we made tacos and watched Night at the Museum 2 before crashing! The Baileys left us on Sunday and the house got (relatively!) quiet again! Happy Birthday Melanie!!

Naps at school and round the house

Here are a few cute ones of the kids! Becky, Camden and Luke were caught in a few when the Baileys came to see us for Melanie's party!

SEC CHAMPS!

By beating Alabama at home, we clenched the SEC season title! Making it to the Elite 8 turned out to be the highlight of our season and we were proud of our mighty Gators!

Valentines Day and a 5K

The older I get the more I agree with Jason that Valentines Day is really a Hallmark holiday although he always seems to go above and beyond for me and I usually just end up feeling bad for not getting him much! Jason got me a really nice pewter heart shaped plate and my Valentine bouquet! I was going through a career change leaving Park Dental (the office I worked at since 2003) for a much better offer at Ocala Dental Care. It took a lot of praying and meditation on scripture and along the way a good Valentines verse kept popping up-This is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. I think this commandment should make every believer feel a little more loving on Valentines Day and I tried to put it into practice!
February 19th I ran the best I have done since starting this running thing. My goal was "25 before 35" and I made it in 24:25! I'm starting to enjoy the thrill of meeting goals and getting faster. I've never been an athlete, so I think I am enjoying feeling athletic! Running has made me happier in general and I think I can finally say that I have achieved "runner's high!" Its a great time to think and when the kids come along it really gives me a good workout! The toning has helped the old self confidence and I think I may be ready to keep up with Jason and the yard work over the summer! I think he'll appreciate me being stronger when it comes to raking the grass again!

Sea World tip #2

Trying to get our money's worth of our Sea World season passes, we took another hike to Orlando! We are slowly covering the whole park, but we are finding out that Wil prefers the Dolphin show to any other! Of course, we have to catch the Shamu show, but we also took in a Pets Ahoy (pet talent) show. The kids laughed and laughed-especially when a cat crossed a tightrope right above their heads! I rode the Mantra when Jason took the napping babies to the gift shop and we completed another fun day with the animals of the sea!

Debbie's Birthday!

For Debbie's birthday we all met at Outback and had dinner and cake with our favorite girl! Debbie worked with me at Park Dental and she has been a faithful Grandma/ba

bysitter for the kids! Everybody loves Debbie-especially on her birthday!

Medievil Fest with Katie!

Katie and Melanie came to see us for the weekend and we showed them a good time at the Hoggtowne Medievil Festival again! Jason had work to do at home while we shopped and ate at the festival. We strolled the babies around and became royal! Afterwards, Jason took Wil to the UF/UK game. Beating Kentucky is always exciting and Wil even got to meet Chaz Henry! Katie and I battled it out over the Scrabble board after the girls hit the hey. Katie and Mel had to leave around noon on Sunday and shortly afterward we took the kids to the park so they could have some good outside time. The Super Bowl had us come in early and settle down to unwind from a fun and exciting weekend!

The First Knight! (Medievil fest weekend #1 with the Hollingtons

We had the best time with Jason's family. Originally we planned on Ralph, Terry, Wes's fam, Jake's fam and Jenny's fam to be here but Terry and Ralph got sick last minute so they weren't able to make it. Kind of a bummer because we all planned behind Terry's back to take professional pictures for her as a b-day gift. We thought long and hard and decided to go ahead and have a brothers/sister weekend. We went to the Gator gymnastics meet Friday night and then went to the Hoggetowne Medievil Festival Saturday. After a fun day of pretending we were princesses and knights we took our professional pictures by Lake Alice and cooked up a feast at home complete with birthday cake for Jason! The next day was Sunday and we all decided a trip down to the park would be just what the kids needed for burning off some energy before the trip back to Crawfordville and Freeport. Jake stayed at the house to burn a few cds! The Hollington Running Club convened for the first time and we welcomed a new member, Hester. We small-talked and played a little more and then it was time to say goodbye. We need more weekends like this!

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