Evan's Baptism

Today we celebrated because Evan was baptized!

Praise God! It was such a beautiful sight to witness. We are so excited that Evan took his next step in faith. We hope that he continues to grow in his faith and let his light shine.

After the baptism, we hosted a lunch at our house for the family members that attended. The only thing missing from our table were the lumpia/spring rolls that my mom was frying in kitchen.

I love searching for party ideas online, so I thought I'd share a few detail shots.

Can you believe that Fresh Market had hydrangeas in the fall?! They were the perfect flowers for our party décor!

And of course, we took a few family pictures. (Please ignore, as my husband so lovingly put it, my last of the Mohicans look created by the light coming through the windows of our front door.)

Thank you to the family members that came out to witness this blessed event. We love you and appreciate your support. 

Evan, I hope the Lord continues to guide you as you go out into the world. I pray that you continue to grow in faith and become a mighty warrior for God. After all, when Daddy searched the meaning of the name "Evan" before you were born, and found that it meant "warrior", he knew what the name of his son would be. You are also the son of the most mighty and righteous King. God bless you, Evan.

Girls' Day! {Chloe's 10th Birthday}

Chloe turned the big 1-0 this past Wednesday! Her birthday fell on a school day, so we celebrated with a special pancake breakfast that morning.

I put up some decorations the night before, so that Chloe would wake up to a festive surprise.

Evan was so thoughtful. He worked on a special painting as a gift for his sister He hid his wrapped gift in the closet and asked me to set it out after they went to bed the night before her birthday. He really does love his sister!

Nana stopped by that morning, but I forgot to take a picture. I'll blame it on the fact that I wasn't feeling well. The changes in seasons always hit me hard.

We had a few extra minutes that morning, so I had Chloe take a few more pictures outside with her balloons.

After dinner that night, we sang "Happy Birthday" and ate cake!

Instead of a birthday party, Chloe opted to have a girls' day with her bestie Carly on the following Saturday. Chloe thought of all the activities and I made them happen.

First on the schedule was Launch Trampoline Park.

We even played a game of laser tag while we were there.

Afterwards, we headed to Sweet Frog because when it's your birthday anything goes, even froyo for lunch!

Then, we watched The House with the Clock in Its Walls.

And finally, what girls' day would be complete without a trip to the nail salon for mani-pedi's! I must have grown tired of taking pictures at this point because I realized later that I only took a few pictures, and none of our painted nails...because I know that you were really interested in seeing those.😉

I know that Chloe enjoyed her day and especially enjoyed sharing it with Carly. It's hard to believe that my baby girl is now in the double digits. Time slow down! I am constantly amazed at this self-motivated, beautiful, and brilliant girl! Happy Birthday, Chloe!!!

Beach Vacay...Again {Gulf Shores 2018}

The family thoroughly enjoyed our beach vacation and spending time with the cousins back in June, but after the summer we've had, we felt like one more beach vacay was in order. And, despite the early school year, we weren't ready to say goodbye to summer just yet.

We picked the kids up from school on Friday afternoon and drove straight to Gulf Shores Beach. (Every kids dream, right!) We arrived at our condo that evening and we decided to take a quick dip in the condo's pool before heading out to dinner.

We snapped these pictures on the condo's balcony before dinner. That view, though!

The Original Oyster House is one of our family's favorite places to eat when we visit Gulf Shores. The food is great and we like window shopping while we wait.

The next morning, we woke up early for a JBQ competition in Mobile, about a one-hour drive from Gulf Shores. (Remember JBQ?) This was the reason for our random, weekend beach vacation. Our Achiever (Advanced) team was competing that day. Although Evan has recently joined the team, he sat at the table a few times during the rounds. The kids did great! Evangel placed 2nd in our division. We had three top quizzers and Chloe was top quizzer. We are excited about the great start to the competition season.

That afternoon, we drove back to the beach to resume our vacation.

That night, we ate dinner at Lulu's. This was our first time eating at Lulu's. I had read reviews that it was similar to The Hangout with fun activities and mediocre food. I thought the kids would enjoy it, and boy, did they. I wasn't too impressed with the food, but Chris said that his burger was delicious. He may have been extra hungry, though, since we didn't get seated until 8pm. 

We've never really taken advantage of any attractions at the beach. Usually, we're beachin' it and looking for good spots to eat. I thought it might be a nice change of pace to let the kids drive go-karts, so we headed to The Track after dinner. My dare devil Chloe was super pumped, but my Evan was apprehensive. Chris and Chloe rode the Wild Woody!

Eventually, Chloe was able to convince Evan to ride on a tamer course. Chloe wanted to drive her own go-kart, so Chris drove Evan on a separate go-kart. I watched and attempted to take pictures. Here were a couple of decent shots that I got.

We called it a night and headed back to our condo. I was not looking forward to the early check-out the following morning.

After the car was loaded and we checked out, we headed to the public beach. Since it was a short vacation, we were determined to make the most of our time. I promised the kids that we could pick out a souvenir before leaving Gulf Shores, so we stopped by a souvenir store on the way. Would you believe that they chose hermit crabs? Hmmm:/

We brought the crabs to the beach because we didn't want them to bake in the car.

We enjoyed our last bit of beach time.

Remember this picture from a few years back?

We ate lunch at Hangout since we got a prime parking spot.

Who goes on a 2 hour dolphin tour and doesn't see a single solitary dolphin? My crew! 

Yep! According to the captain, in the 5,000 dolphin tours he's given, he's only been unsuccessful in finding dolphins once or twice before. We still enjoyed the "bay" tour, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

It was a hot afternoon, so on our way out of town, we stopped by The Yard for milkshakes. They didn't disappoint!

There you have it, our short and fun-packed beach vacay! Until we meet again, beach!