February in Review

Our February consisted of...

Griffin continuing to be a ham! This would be him on the carousal at our mall... he realized he could see himself in the mirror and posed the whole ride! Haha


Grady held on all by himself... growing so fast!


Mr.Pate and I celebrated 11 years of marriage! We went shopping and to eat at the White Squirrel, and his food wasn't great but mine was delicious and enough for both of us!


It might have took way too many tries to capture a decent picture of us on our date that night, hahaha! 11 years with this man, and I still love him so. He may drive me up the wall and make my blood boil more than any other human, but he also makes me laugh harder and smile brighter!


I just love when my boys match :-)


Grady's little class :-)


Oh we got Clue Jr this month! Clue is my all time favorite game, so to be able to teach Griffin how to play was soooo cool! He did great too!


My boys continue their love for baby "quarter" as Grady calls her, haha!


We did a marriage sermon series at church:





Gammy gave us some valentines books!














This one has started this hands over the face drama look when he is upset...


Griffin and I did a puzzle that he got me for Valentine's Day! I love puzzles!





Donuts with mom!





Our new church building is coming along and we are super hopeful to be in by Easter!





Mornings are rough for this kid, can't you tell?! Haha


Bristow had a Reading Night at school. The Cat in the Hat and Clifford were there!


There was also a book walk where you won books instead of cake!








And then athletes came in and read different stories and led activities about that book in different classrooms. I was in the S'mores classroom :-)


One of the books we won! I also volunteered at the book fair all week.


And that's February in picture form....

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A Valentines to Remember

I am not a huge Valentine's person one way or the other- I don't make it a huge deal and I also don't make a huge deal about not liking it either. But this years Valentines was pretty great!



I took the day off to volunteer at Bristow. I wanted to help with their party anyhow, so I just decided to make a day of it! Haha! I LOVE volunteering and getting to see what Griffin's world there is like. I copied a bunch, cut a bunch of stuff out, laminated things like a pro, and then just did whatever I could find to do. Haha!



Then it was time to party! Griffin decorated his box with a Star Wars theme. It was pretty cute, if I do say so.



Oh and Griffin got his brother a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal for Valentines! He loved it!


After Bristow, I went to get a pedicure- which I had said was the only thing I wanted for Valentines. It was glorious. I picked up Grady and we headed home for a normal family dinner at home... but when I pulled up to our house I see the Bostick's and Staggs' cars at my house?! People come by all the time, so I really wasn't sure if they were just stopping to get something or what. But when I made it in, the ladies (and babies) were sitting on the couch and the men were hard at work in my kitchen.... it was a surprise dinner for us!


Griffin even helped make place cards :-)





The men even dressed in similar clothes- not sure if that was on purpose?!


So a week or two before, Jason had shared a recipe on Facebook. I commented on it that he and my hubby needed to make it for their wives. At the same time, Justin was watching it in another room and commented too, haha! So, they surprised us with that recipe...


Delicious huge steaks, garlic shrimp that was amazing, fancy hasselbacked potatoes, and asparagus. It was so so so delicious.


They let us ladies sit and eat while they watched kiddos/fed little baby kiddos etc, and then they came and ate after the kids were settled.


And they even did the dishes and left my kitchen looking better than before!!


We were some lucky ladies and felt very loved, taken care of, and surprised. Good job guys!


It was one of the best meals I have had in a long time, some of the best company, and we got to be in my home where the kids could be loud and crazy and it was ok. Like a dream come true for this momma :-)

Happy Valentines Day!

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RIP Ricky!!

So in Secret Life of Pets, the bunny randomly says "RIP Ricky" one time about "his boy Ricky" how happens to be a duck. For some reason we started quoting this in our family, and the boys have morphed it into their own thing, and it's hilarious.

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Sweatshirts n S'mores 2017

Once again, our tribe descended upon the lake house in matching sweatshirts and full of laughter! Words never describe how much these ladies mean to me. To have a group who love the Lord fiercely, remind me of His faithfulness right when I need it most, and make me laugh until my face literally aches is a gift from the Lord that I do not take for granted. This group has worked hard to stay in touch though miles apart and really practically love on each other in so many tangible and intangible ways. And I am so thankful.


Elizabeth got us all Luke's Diner mugs!! Did I mention we may all be majorly obsessed with Gilmore Girls?! Haha! Although we have to love each other in spite of being on different teams (#teamloganalways #teamjessareweirdos #wecanallagreeonteamlukethough)! !


I won't tell you just how many pictures were taken to get these keepers... but I will say it involved some FUNNY moments with a selfie stick... enough said :-)


And of course, what happens at the lake house, stays at the lake house! Ahhh


The food was on point as always. Everything was delicious as always, but I snapped a picture of this beautiful panna cotta Amanda just whipped up... how fancy!

Have I mentioned we literally eat, then sit in the living room and talk for hours and hours on these trips. That's all. And yet the time flies by and before we know it we have been sitting there for seven or eight hours straight! No TV, no media, just us talking- about literally everything under the sun.


And we realized we were in the same spots to recreate a picture of our squad all the way back in 2006, at Mel's bachelorette party! But I am pretty sure that picture didn't take nearly as many tries as this years! Haha


This group is the definition of #squadgoals and I pray all of you find a group that loves you, supports you, and entertains you as much as they do me.

#sotms

And ps, how cute are our sweatshirts this year?! Love them!

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