Beach Blast

Our annual trip to the beach with Jason's family is one of our favorite weeks of the year. At this point, we're up to 25 people (11 adults and 14 kids). We travel from NC, VA, WV, and OH and converge on a big beach house in the Outer Banks.

The week is filled with plenty of sun (both at the beach and the pool), bike riding, fireworks, water balloons, ice cream cones, late bedtimes, and cousin bonding. We're already counting down the days until next year.

Despite taking 200+ pictures, we'll just post a few highlights... =)

Playing on the beach

Courtney goes airborne thanks to Uncle Jared

Alyssa wanted to try it, too

Relaxing with drinks on their hand-crafted sand couch

Lighting sparklers

Alyssa and Dad

Pool baseball against Dad and Uncle Jared was pretty popular

Alyssa and Corinne on the go

Courtney loved boogie boarding this year

Jordan and Tyler

If you lift off the hot tub lid, they will come...

You're never too old to torment your brother

Alyssa enjoying the surf

Jordan and Tyler boogie boarding

Julia and Courtney

The Mattingley cousins

Good Times for the Girls

The close of the school year brought exciting news for Alyssa and Courtney. Both girls ended up being the top reader for their grade levels - Alyssa for 3rd grade and Courtney for 1st grade. Guess their love of reading really paid off! =)

Courtney got a second thrill when her artwork was chosen as the first grade entry from her school for the district K-2 art exhibit. The entries from all over the district were on display downtown for a whole month. (We were a little surprised to discover it was a real gallery!) =) Courtney was so excited to see her picture on display!

Courtney with her winning picture

May Madness

May is always a busy month for our family. It was my intention to keep up with the events as they occurred, but things were just too busy. So now, here for your viewing pleasure, is one mega post with a look back at our May adventures. (Warning: Lots of pictures ahead...)

Happy Birthday Karen!

We're not really a sentimental card kind of family, and my birthday was no exception. Here's my card: "Birthdays are like boogers... The more you have, the harder it is to breathe." The kids thought it was hilarious. It was a great birthday with my favorite breakfast, dinner out, yummy cake, and great presents.

Happy Birthday Courtney!

It's hard to believe Court is 7! This year, she wanted to have a flower birthday party, so we made flowers out of craft foam, tossed a flower for hot potato, played pin the little flower on the big flower, had a flower pinata and a flower cake, and even planted real flowers! She had been counting down for weeks (with a paper chain) and was so excited for her party day to finally arrive!

It turned out to be a fun little party. I let Courtney invite a few more kids than I normally do - thinking (incorrectly, as it turns out) that several wouldn't be able to come. Luckily, Courtney also invited her aunts and uncles, so we had plenty of extra hands to help.

I only discovered this almost-attack later...when I saw the photographic evidence. =)

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

Alyssa celebrated her 9th birthday with her two best friends. They went out to eat at Alyssa's favorite restaurant (O'Charley's), then had presents, crafts, cake & ice cream, and a sleepover.

Strawberry Picking!

We took our annual trek to Patterson Farm to pick strawberries with Aunt Melanie and Aunt Joanna.

Time to Dance!

Our final May activity was the girls' recital. In their program, a dancer earns a trophy after dancing for three years, so the girls both received one. In fact, that was really Courtney's main motivation for dancing this past year, and she does not want to continue on in the Fall. =)

For the recital, Courtney had a ballet dance and a tap dance. Alyssa had the same plus a jazz dance.

Courtney is on the far left.

Now she's on the right.

Right in the middle.

And second from the left.

Alyssa is on the far right.

And second from the left.

Alyssa is on the far right.

Now she's front left.

She's at the front of the left line.

And second from the left.

My Nose Job!

I've always hated my nose. Thought I always would. But I guess I complain about my nose more than I realize, and I guess Jason got tired of hearing about it. So when the tax refund came, he simply turned it over to me and told me to schedule an appointment. I couldn't believe it!

It was actually a pretty simple procedure. Obviously, there will need to be a better "after" picture once the swelling goes down, but here's what we have so far...

OK, I'm completely kidding. I did have surgery, but it was for a deviated septum. Just thought it would be a funnier post this way. (And I don't really hate my nose.)