My Juliette

This little girl is now 8 1/2 years old! She is full of zest, bubbly, extremely social and LOVES to play! Working at anything is not quite her specialty you could say unless majorly encouraged. I tell Don she is lucky that so far she is pretty naturally bright or we could have problems. 

She has her chore list that she completes every day and that assures me that the work to assure a sense of responsibility is getting done every day without nagging. 

With that sweetness comes a VERY strong hard head! It is about this age that they begin to think they have all the answers and what does mommy and daddy really know.

She LOVES her siblings and family as well her dogs. Gypsy is still like a puppy although technically being 13 years old. She was thrilled this past weekend when we decided to go to the Wildlife Expo downtown. It is more of a dog show of sorts with everyone bringing their dogs. She was the definite caretaker and loved prancing her around with everyone asking if they could pet her. We decided with the SC state dog in hand, Juliette could be the poster girl for the expo next year 🐶!

Juliette thought that Gypsy was interested in the dog training show..... Her interest was close to zero until a gun went off for the training.... before I know it she has jumped into my arms. I have said it several times but truly that puppy is lucky she landed with us or she would long ago been given away by a hunter 😝!

Gypsy was about as interested in the show as she was visiting with the thousands of people passing her by.... I mean she literally closed her eyes to take a nap as the people walked over and by her. 

The ride home was quite quiet as all three were sound asleep!

Juliette still loves creativity and the arts! Here she has sketched an outfit for her American girl and and then took the mannequin and created a bathing suit wrap that she had envisioned... she loves to play the piano and still loves to dance!

She is our only little girl and a very special gift to us!

The cutest George you have ever seen...

In honor of President's Day.... the cutest George Washington you have ever seen from yours truly Tripp!

And just like that my "Minky" turns one hand old

I LOVE this little boy! He is the sweetest. happiest and gentlest soul you could ever meet. His teacher let me know that he is kind to everyone and such a nice friend. He enjoys all of his classmates both boys and girls!

He LOVES the little things in life I have noticed with him. He is happy to play with the tiniest smurf, a lego character or any super hero.

He wanted the same party as last year - a Super Hero birthday party outside! This year he was Captain America! He was SO excited to say the least!

After I picked him up from school all he wanted to do was go to Dunkin Donuts for a birthday donut. The sweet lady gave him an extra one for later and three others for his sister and brothers. Mrs. Sellers told me it was the cutest thing - this morning they had to tell Tripp that they were wishing Tripp a very happy birthday

Intercom: "We would like to wish Don Stovall a very happy birthday..."

Mrs. Sellers: "Now Tripp you know they are talking about you."

Tripp: "Who's Don Stovall? Dat's not me, I'm Tripp..."

Sweet little guy - being a third, I am sure this is not the only time that will pop up!

The boys were super heroes too! They were precious.... it was the cutest thing watching them run around the party. They loved the interaction and were completely a part of the party.

And in good form all super heroes need to call their agent!

All of Tripp's sweet friends! They were just the cutest!

Cute Mary who wants to marry Tripp!

Tripp and his best friend John Robert! They are two peas in a pod these two!

All of his little boy classmates and Jaylin who is also interested in marrying Tripp!

Another beautiful year to celebrate with you sweet Trippy boy! Mommy LOVES you more than you will ever know!

As he went to bed tonight he looked at me and said... "Dere's nothing like Mommy's arms!"

The things we do for LOVE...

Don't you love when you get "the BEST" ideas?!

Well this Mama got one... let's make cake-pops for our sweet classmates! It's one of those things that you forget the work involved until you go to make them the next time. Baking began Sunday afternoon and ended that evening around 9:30 that night.... then picked back up after school and Juliette was still working with me at 10:00 last night. 

Sunday we had the whole team involved!

We finally found a solution to holding them in place to dry - cut holes in the cantaloupe...

Juliette and I worked and I mean we worked.... we called the kitchen our "sweat shop" as the full assembly line was going for each of her classmates! She was so excited! She had the shell of a keyboard on the table pretending that she was typing each name into a computer.

AND the finished product! 

Worth all the melted chocolate dribbled and splattered across the floor, sprinkles being sprayed through the kitchen and iddy biddy sparkly sugar crystals drizzled all over the floor rubbing against our toes....

Happy Valentine's Day to all! May your day be filled with happiness and love!

Future Professions?

"Mommy, we want to be painters when we grow up..."

Looks like Mommy and Daddy can do lots of traveling from the money we'll save on college tuition!

😜

Our favorite plantation

We just cannot get enough of Middleton Place! It is one of our favorite places to spend the day! The weather of course made it even more perfect with no coats necessary. 

Can you see two "Pig Pens" above? Yes we have the real pig himself and then we have the little "Pig Pen" that can't get enough of sticks, dirt, guns made of out of sticks and yes an umbrella with no rain just for good measure. 

It is the place that I can go with the kids and I enjoy it as much as they do. I enjoy the memories that run through my head of field trips there as a kid. I can still remember the picnic table that I sat at in front of the house and ate my bag lunch at in the 3rd grade. Weddings that I have been part of on the beautiful property come alive all over again. Mostly I love seeing the smiles, hearing the laughs and joining in on the giggles when the sheep run just a tiny bit faster than we do!

Through the years we have so enjoyed it here! It is the one place that we always love to return to.

And a perfect way to end the day is finding some fresh spanish moss to feed the goats. 

Fancy Schmancy

What an exciting day when the neighbor brings over a fancy car for you to have!

The kids thought they hit the jackpot! The car not only is electric but also has a speaker with about 5 songs that can blare down the drive!

They have been on this car all weekend - it is hilarious! They ride proud in this little treasure! 

Thomas enjoys the car but is not insistent on riding in it all day like Tyler and Tripp are. He likes to keep things changed up and take a break with Tripp's scooter. 

And when there are technical difficulties three boys to the rescue surely should be able to figure it out! 

When the winter has been close to 70 degrees every day

All kiddies jumped at the opportunity to cruise around the block today. 

We started on our little jaunt. Let's just say it took an hour and a half to go a half mile. Once one was ready to change the mode of transportation all the others were ready as well! And it got silly... yes, Juliette was making it quite silly. She claimed to be exhausted and expected Tyler to push her home. He gave some great effort I guarantee you but pushing her is no easy feat. Tripp wanted to push Thomas part of the way, Thomas did not want to ride he wanted to push his own car and then Juliette settled in with the notion that she wanted to big wheel all the way home!

And when we finally arrived home with a push from Thomas, Thomas was determined to help Tyler unbuckle that belt! After all, if he can push him down the road, he surely can unbuckle a belt he thought...

And to avoid going indoors Tyler thought he could hide from us in the tree house!

Good thing Mommy is on to his tricks! And let me assure you, Tyler is the trickster. He is full of the most mischief, he is the quickest, and he can stay one step ahead of the others with all of his quick tricks.