Thank You Mrs. Johns

When it comes to teachers Hallie has been blessed with wonderful teachers each year and this year was no exception she simply loves Mrs. Johns.

Poor Mrs. Johns every time I see her it's say cheese!

Mrs. Johns cares about her students and take an interest in their lives so when Hallie & Mady invited her to come watch their dance practice-she took time out of her own life and came. I think that just speaks volumes of what kind of teacher she is. Sadly I didn't have my camera but I am sure she was very grateful :-)  As soon as we left Hallie asked if she could get her a card to thank her.

She picked the card out herself

Hallie takes her cards seriously and had to doctor it up inside and out

When she was finished there was hardly an inch without some type of writing

Here she is excited to deliver it to her

In a few weeks this school year will be over and we thank you Mrs. Johns for making this a wonderful, blessed year!

Lambert's Cafe Throw Me a Roll !?!

No trip to Gulf Shores would be complete without a stop by Lambert's Cafe. Tim and I joke that we make the trip for their fried potatoes and onions alone or as they say it fried taters and onions! We always eat there at least once as much for the food as the atmosphere it is just down home fun.

 They are famous for their throwed rolls look closely you can see the roll in mid-air

They are also famous for their pass arounds which consist of okra, black eyed peas, fried potatoes, macaroni and tomatoes just to name a few and that doesn't even include what you order!

Oh fried taters in all their greasy goodness!!

One of the main courses is it any wonder I gained 5 pounds!!!

Hunter & Hallie love Lambert's but don't love their picture being taken when it's time to eat....their like their Momma that way :-)

Check out this picture of Hunter at Lamberts when he was 5 his expression is almost the same-you don't mess with this kid when he's trying to eat!

Hallie made her first trip when she was 7 months old sorry the picture is so blurry

As you can see a trip to Lamberts is a family tradition so until next year...save some fried taters for us!

Smokem' Mom!!!

I think I may have a little Danica Patrick on my hands.... Hallie & I rode the go carts while at the beach.

She started out a little nervous, notice her expression and how she is gripping the bar

However, it wasn't long until she was waving to the crowd

Then, she was shouting faster Mom and smokem' Momma!

At the finish line she hopped out squealing "Let's do it again!"

I begged Hunter to race us but he was a little unsure of his driving skills but he did cheer us on from the sidelines!

Just one more quarter, please?

Orange Beach has a kid's paradise called the Track. It has go karts, bumper boats, putt putt golf and a huge game room.

It's a really happening place, even Edward, Bella & Jacob were spotted hanging out there :-)

Hunter & Hallie love it and I am not above a little bribery :-) so they were promised a trip there if they could manage not to fight.

Hunter's favorite games were anything basketball-no surprise there!

Hallie played basketball too...

but her favorite was Spacey Racers 

They won tickets for each game and fed the ticket eater to see their earnings

Hunter decided he was too big for the prizes and gave his tickets to Hallie and do you know what she chose?

Meet Fred the Snake!

Good Morning Sunshine

This is how Hallie wakes up most mornings, she peeks through one eye to survey the day

 This is followed by a scowl, a whine and pleas to go back to sleep

 Until she remembers she's at the beach :-)

We jokingly call Hallie Sunshine in the mornings because she is definitely not-except at the beach-she truly was! If only we could bring the beach home for school mornings!!

The Plan for Day 3

My objective for beach pictures our last day was to get one shot that I could use as a new picture over our mantle. I have read that the best beach pictures are at dawn and dusk due to the sun making such harsh shadows. These were at 2:00 so I tried to work around squinty eyes. Here are my faves

Group shots

We could not have asked for more beautiful weather this trip it didn't rain and it was in the 70's with a breeze. The Lord really blessed us! I took 120 shots to get these few I should do a post of the others where Hunter & Hallie are rolling their eyes, smirking and laughing.

I plan on doing the pictures in sepia tone and I am the world's worst at making decisions but so far I am leaning toward one of these. I don't know if I'm doing one large picture or 3 smaller ones...

 If I do 3 pictures I may do one of the above in the middle and one of these on each side...

 Ha! I am such a procrastinator, I always have such plans but that is what they stay-plans. I have years of beach pictures but have not updated the picture on our wall since Hallie was 3! If they make it on the wall I will do a post to show you but I wouldn't hold my breath :-)

Beach Babes

Beach day 2 was another beautiful day that we spent by the pool for the most part. Later in the day in spite of a few "Awww Mom" the kids agreed to a photo shoot. You may notice there are no family pictures of us-even though I remembered our matching outfits-I forgot the tripod!!

The sun was so bright that we had to be creative so believe it or not these first pics are under our condominium in the shaded parking deck!

 I have always wanted to try pictures under the pier so we headed out....I love how some of these turned out. If I could make a living at taking pictures I would be a happy girl :-) I took so many I will try to just show my faves of the day.

My favorite group shot

My favorite of Hunter. I love his smile in this picture it is so....Hunter. Tim had just said a certain girl's name if I remember correctly :-) This was the smile in between the yells of "Dad stop it!"

My fave of Hallie

My fave of Tim-Gosh I'm a lucky girl!

My fave of Hunter & Hallie

Oh how I love this boy & girl!

A look down the pier

Hunter is becoming a regular model for Mom

It's amazing how loving these two can become with promises of game rooms and putt putt golf

This was our first trip to the pier but won't be our last

Stay tuned for the rest of Beach Trip 2010 (sorry I know you feel like you're sitting through torturous home movies) but I want to remember every minute :-)