Karlie's Wedding in Savannah, GA

Karlie's Wedding!!!!

My cousin, Karlie, was married this past weekend in Savannah, GA.  Marlee and I were in the wedding, so our entire family made the trip for her big day!  Being so close to Christmas we knew we could only stay for the weekend, so that meant we wouldn't be able to see and enjoy much of the city.  We got a small taste and can't wait to go back to see and experience more.  It was soooooo cold, especially for us Florida natives.  We stayed busy every minute with wedding preparations, so I didn't take many pictures.  Here are a few I did get, quality not that great, but will have to do.


Our Friday night began with rehearsal at this adorable, old, church.  The church held maybe 100 people, built many many years ago and is now used at a boarding school.  It was picture perfect for her wedding.

Next, was dinner at, Boar's Head Tavern, on the river.  Great place with great food!  We had a good time hanging with our family and Adam's family!

 Thankfully, MeMaw was there to sing our sweet baby to sleep.  It was precious!

And.... when MeMaw's arms were tired, she got to sleep on Papa's shoulder.  

Cousins..... we grew up together, living only 2 houses away.  We played together almost everyday and sometimes spent the night together too.  I love these girls with all my heart!

 It's wedding day!!!  I hope to get more pictures from other people, my time and hands were consumed with this little beauty!

I couldn't leave my handsome little man out, he was a great sport the entire day!

It was a GREAT weekend, I am so thankful that we were able to share in this special day with Karlie and Adam!  Can't wait to visit them again soon!

Christmas Continues in the Goodman house......

Christmas continues in our house.  It is such a fun time of year, although it seems to get busier every year!  Here are a few more pictures of what has been happening in our lives the past week.

Lee came home one evening and took us all to see Christmas lights!  This is the first year that Marlee really enjoyed them!

Zeke went to school!  The Tuesday before school got out for Christmas vacation, lots of elves went to school.  The kids walked in to see their elf somewhere in the classroom, with a name tag on.  Because we all know that the elves all look the same, but the kids don't seem to mind that at all.  

When Zeke went to school, he sat on Santa's lap all day long.  

This mommy is no artist, but I saw these on Pinterest and wanted so badly to give them a try.  The kids and I sat down one evening and mixed the salt dough, by the recipe.  I traced their hands on a piece of paper first and used that to cut out the dough.  They aren't exactly like the picture, but turned pretty well, I thought!  This serves as a great reminder in the years to come of our babies hands in the year 2012!

 I know next year to make them thinner, Trey's hand needed more than one branch to hold it up!  OOOPS.... didn't think about that ahead of time!

Oh my Goodness!!! Zeke is a gator fan too!  Trey go a big kick out of this one!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and the "bouncing" begins for our family.  We have so many people to see and we try our best to make it to everyone's house.  Keeps us very busy, however, what a blessing it is to have such large families on both sides!

Baseball Champions

Trey plays on a "Travel Ball" team, The Whitecaps,  however they have never really traveled that far.  He loves baseball and we enjoy watching.  He participated in his first tournament a couple weekends ago and we were impressed by how the boys played.  Trey is one of the younger players, but we are thankful he is able to play and learn from the older boys.  They made some amazing plays and won the tournament, it was a wonderful weekend!

 Trey playing in the outfield.

 Amazing play by an amazing young man, he chased the boy down.  The other team never tried that again!

 Swing batter, batter, batter, swing.....

 Run fast!

 YEAH!! He made it to first base!

 Good Job Team!

 Thanks to Blair for helping keep Marlee busy so I could take a few pictures!

 Sweet baby girl!  She had a good time at the ball field, ALL WEEKEND!

 I am almost positive she is telling someone what to do here!

Marlee LOVES her cousin, Dylan.  This picture makes me so happy to see him love her and play with her, not matter who was around!

Family Pictures 2012

Cancel, Cancel again, FINALLY.........

Family pictures are almost impossible to get done!  First we cancel due to Lee not being home in time.  Second time we cancelled due to atrocious winds and a grumpy baby girl!  Finally, 3rd times a charm, we were able to get everyone together, in a decent mood and perfect weather.  Woo.... I feared it would not happen and for another year, poor Marlee would again not be on our living room wall.  

Thanks to Angel, being able to come at the last minute, we were got dressed and ready for pictures.  I am sure Angel clicked hundreds of pictures and we ended up with one, one I tell you, one!!!! family picture that everyone is looking and not making a silly face!  Should it be this hard????

She was able to capture our family at our purist and for that I am thankful!  We are blessed beyond measure to have one another.  There are times this mommy wants to lock herself in the bathroom (although you moms know that still doesn't provide much quiet time).  But, we truly love one another and that is what it is all about!

Thank you, Angel, for taking our pictures!  

Our Little Slugger

Our little slugger experienced his first baseball battle wound last night.  Mommy was in the stands socializing while daddy was on the field.  Next thing I know I hear crying and you know how a mother knows her child's cry.  I am proud to say that I didn't completely overreact and let daddy handle it on the field.  But........ of course my baby wanted his mommy and quickly came to receive his dose of mommy compassion and love.  He did survive and got back out there to practice!  He is our tough little man and we know that this is first of many, sport related "battle wounds". Oh, how we love him!!!

Christmas Time is Here!!!!!

I love Christmas for so many reasons!  I love the traditions, decorations and how excited children are about the festivities to come. We always put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving, Trey just can't wait until it is up!  Another tradition we started last year is the Elf on the Shelf (picture courtesy of Angel Bowen).  It is so much fun and the kids LOVE it!  We don't put too much emphasis on Santa, society does that enough for us.  Our elf, Zeke, leaves notes for the kids, makes messes in the house, prays and reminds the kids to pray with an occasional scripture verse to start our day.  We want our kids to enjoy Christmas, but to also understand the TRUE meaning of the holiday.  
This is also the first year I have taken the kids to see Santa, at the mall of course.  I hadn't planned on going this year, then my friend Tammy called and invited us to go. Trey was so determined to go, that I gave in and off we went.  It was on a school night and we are driving to the Lakeland Mall at 6pm  with a six year old, 7 year old and two two year olds (you probably already see what our future holds)!!  We get there, go up to Santa and of course the girls want NOTHING to do with him!  So, as you will see in my picture below, mommy sat on Santa's lap this year too!  

Oh, the things we will do for our babies!  

Praying Parent

Dear Jesus, please keep my babies safe and healthy....... 

This is how I prayed for my kids, well maybe a little more in depth, but not as detailed as I should have been.  I am currently in a study class at church, based on the book, "The Power of a Praying Parent".  I grew up in a healthy, faith based home, where we prayed together and read the bible together.  Heck, my grandma would wake us up each morning singing one of those "old" hymns and send us out the door with a new scripture every day.  I feel like I should be a "professional" prayer, but I AM NOT!  This book by, Stormie Omartian, is phenomenal!!!
I like to read; BUT with 2 little ones, a house to keep clean, dinner to cook, a full time job, baseball practice, etc. it doesn't always fit in the daily schedule.  This book was read in the bathtub at night or after everyone else was in bed, whenever I could find time to read it, I did!  Every chapter is a new reason to pray for your kids with a prayer at the end to walk you through it.  Her stories are amazing and ones that we can relate to with our own children.  
As my life becomes more hetic by the day, so it seems, I see more proof that I need that alone time with God.  Why am I trying to maintain my sanity alone, when God is there waiting to help me. We all know that raising two stem-winders (as my father-in-law calls them) can cause some moments of insanity!!!
I encourage you all to read this book and explore her other books, I have a list of them I want to read myself.  If you read the book, let me know what you thought of it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0736922067/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1M4M6R35B6PH1XDY1W73&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i=507846

It's the Small Things in Life!

Do you remember when all a child wanted were crayons and a piece of paper?  I remember when crayons were all that made me smile.  Not that I was ever very artistic, Cheri got all the "artsy" our family had!  But, it was so much to see the colors transform that piece of white paper.  Trey never was one that liked to sit and color, however Marlee enjoys coloring and that makes me smile!  We spend a lot of our evenings outdoors and the crayons sometimes have to join us on the porch.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that she inherited some of the "artsy" genes from the Bryan family........

Halloween 2012 - A FAMILY HALLOWEEN

This year we celebrated Halloween a little different than we have in the past.  In years past I have rushed to get the kids costumes made and wanted the perfect candy bucket, to only fight off mosquitos and knock on complete strangers doors.  This year we had the idea of staying home and doing Halloween differently than society claims it should be done.  This time of year is a busy time for Lee at work, therefore he is seldom home before bedtime and works 7 days a week, most weeks.  So, it was a HUGE treat for us all for him to be home in time for dinner, as silly as that may sound, it is true!  Daddy came home early, we grilled dinner, carved pumpkins and Gram and Pa even stopped off for a visit.  I put together a Halloween Bucket for Marlee and Trey and we enjoyed each other! Hmmmm, what a concept, I am shameful that I haven't thought of this before.  It turned out amazing, the weather was perfect, the kids had a blast and still got lots of goodies!