Collier's Fishin' Party

We celebrated Collier's birthday today with a fun Fishin' Party at Aldridge Gardens.  It was a great location, great weather (thank the Lord for the answered prayer of no rain!!), really special friends and just a fun celebration! Collier has some really precious and sweet friends and it was great fun to see them all together -outside of school.  Plus, a bunch of 4 year olds fishing is just plain precious!

 This is the fishing Pro, Chris, who handled the party and the fishing part.  He was awesome and even had some magic tricks to share with Collier.  He was so very nice and did a great job with the kids.

 Mella and Buzz!

 The kids were so patient as they waited for Chris to hand bait and hand out the poles one at a time.  They were so cute all lines up along the shore line.  We were sad that there weren't many fish caught, I think that a total of 4 fish and 1 turtle were caught.  It was still fun!

This is Colin, he caught the first fish.  Way to go Colin!

And then it was Mary Martin who caught the next one!!  Sweet girl showing these boy how to do it :)

Thanks to Papoo's clever thinking, Collier did finally catch a fish!!  It is good to have grandparent's who know the tricks of fishing!  this is one lucky little boy when it comes to fishing because he has some awesome fishing grand-daddies!

 We then moved into the boat house for lunch and cake!  I served sac lunch to the children with PB&J sandwich, grapes and goldfish.  I had chicken salad and pimento cheese sandwiches and grapes for the adults.  And of all things...I.FORGOT.CANDLES!  Justin had to run to the store and get candles for us to do cake.  The kids just had a blast running around playing chase, so I don't think that they noticed.  I still can't believe I forgot candles...how do you forget candles for a BIRTHDAY party?  Daddy to the rescue!

And then we packed up and headed home to open gifts!  Collier could not have had a better day.  This was his first really big birthday party.  We are a big fan of family birthday parties, but I think that 4 was a good year to have a real party with his friends.  He loved it and Justin and I even enjoyed the day!  I asked him what his favorite part of the party was and he said playing tag!  But tonight when I put him down he talked about catching big fish.  It was so much fun and yet we still have more celebrating.  Tuesday is his actual birthday!  Lots to look forward to this week.

And just for the record...this baby girl had a rough time.  She fell down on the side walk before the party face first and banged up her face pretty bad.  Thanks to really awesome grandparents who strolled her all over the gardens and she was able to get in her morning nap, kicked back and comfy!

Thank you to all of our sweet friends who came today to make Collier's 4th Birthday Party so special and so fun.  We are greatly blessed to have you in our life and are thankful for your friendships!

Dothan Cook-Off

This past weekend was the Annual Tri-State BBQ cook off that most of the men in my life participate in. It is always a fun and eventful weekend full of trash talking, BBQ smoke'n, bag-o throwing, and trophy winning [we'll that is at least what they all hope for].  You can get a little more history of the event here, here and here.

This year was a very successful year.  The guys work so stink'n hard and we all just hold our breath when it comes to to the award ceremony, hoping that their efforts will be rewarded.  Here is how they ranked: 1st in Boston Butt, 3rd in Chicken, 6th in Brisket and Ribs.  4th overall winners!  I am so proud of them and glad that they walked away with some hardware to brag about for the next year...especially to their biggest opponents, who finished 5th over all.  They didn't care as long as they beat Team USP, that is all that mattered.

 please note how many grills it takes between the two teams: 8!  Thankfully there is no limit on the number of grills it take to get to a victory!

 Dad is missing from this picture, but look close to see that the 5th team member (who backed out this year) is represented! I think he has been fired, since they won the two times he has not been there!

 AWARDS!  Celebrating!

The other fantastic part of this weekend is that we get to be with all of our cousins.  It is a blast to play and make these fun memories with our family!!  Plus the event has fun activities for the children.  The kids look forward to it every year and it is a great balance between being there to support Daddy but also being able to drain some energy.  Collier has had a love-hate relationship with the Ponies and this is the first year that he actually rode them and loved it...matter of fact, rode it twice!  He also did the trampoline bouncy and spent lots of time in the bouncy house and slide as well!

 I love this precious picture...All of the girl cousins gathered around Kenley.  They sweet girls are loads of fun and so sweet and loving to baby Kenley!

 Aunt Amanda wins the award...they rode the train with the kiddo's!

 This sword is all that he talked about all weekend...he finally got it!

 Getting strapped into the jumpy...he calls it the monkey jumpy

lots of time was also spend in the bouncy castle...Kenley even got a turn in it [with me]

 This is our set up while awaiting the awards

 And then we wrap it all up, pack it all up, clean it all up.  We are always glad to get showered and in the bed!

And once again, I woke up Sunday morning being asked 'how did it feel to sleep with a champion?' Oh boy, here it goes again!