The last days of summer...

Yes, I am aware that as I blog about our final summer exploits it is a balmy 32 degrees outside. What can I say, I am a busy woman! I just couldn't let the year pass me by without adding some of our favorite summer memories from 2010. Due to the fact that Chris was gone much of the summer, we spent a great deal of time at home playing with friends and neighbors. Below is just some of the summer fun.

Sarah and our Neighbor Laura are having a blast on the bouncy house in the 90 plus degree heat!

Luckily, Laura also shares Sarah's passion for all things princess. What a cute Bell she made!

Sarah saved her money to buy this beautiful castle (well at least half of it :).

It made a lovely location for a tea party with the princesses.

Laura loved munching on the crackers, grapes and juice.

We are so sad to hear that she will be moving to Florida soon. Sarah will sorely miss her next summer.


Speaking of moving, we also had our good friends Lily and Liam over for one last play date before Liam before Amy and Liam moved back to Georgia (it seems like we are losing all of our friends...)

Lily and Sarah are cuddling together. We always seem to get some sort of photo just like this when these two are together.

Liam is showing Leah how to play with some of the "big kid toys".

Of course, Sarah would not let this event go without a tea party.

She was a very nice hostess for her guests.

Leah spent much of the summer enjoying her baby toys, like this jumper. All good things come to and end. She has since moved on to bigger and better now that she is mobile.

Our little blue eyed beauty.

We also celebrated Chris's birthday this summer.

Papaw Coleman came over to help celebrate. What a great grandfather the girls have. He is always here for us during the week if we need him (he works second shift and picks Sarah up from school at lunch time).

Happy Birthday Chris! (notice the card...You can't touch this played each time we opened the card. Thanks to Sarah, this was hundreds of times).

The Coleman ladies. Amy is always ready to play. Today she is outfitted in a boa and butterfly wings. Hilarious!

I love summer, and I hated to see it go....

Girls, Girls everywhere!

What is in the water? The McReynolds family has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 13 months with the addition of 3 girls! No boys yet to speak of (and no, I don't plan on contributing any more to our number). There are females everywhere you look these days. Good thing they are all so cute!

Leah having some lap time with Mamaw McReynolds. Notice the smile. She now smiles every time we say cheese. Cute!

Alena showing off her pink princess ensemble. Sarah was impressed!



These two have become fast friends. They are so intrigued by one another. The amazing thing is that even though they are only three months apart, they will be in different grades. Leah will be in the same grade as baby Aubrey.



Alena came by for a little play time and stayed for lunch. Yum!
Love the piggy tales.


What a cutie!




Getting three girls to pose for this photo became somewhat of a challenge.

Nope, still not getting it.

Oh well, I guess I get points for trying.

The new star of the show.. baby Aubrey. Can you just hear the teen angst coming from the McReynolds household during holiday visits to the mountains in about 13 years? Yikes! No seriously, we are all blessed beyond measure and we love our girls.

Baby Aubrey arrives!

My neice Aubrey Fay McReynolds entered this world on July 23, 2010. What a beauty! This addition makes the grandchild count 4/ 0 in the girl to boy ratio. Mom says the girls can form a quarted some day. As expected, Aubrey arrived with a head full of dark hair. Believe it or not, not one single redhead in the bunch!

Welcome to the family sweet girl!


Pappaw shows off the new addition for the Coleman girls.

The proud grandparents.

Alena gets a look at her new baby sister. They are so close in age, they will never remember life without one another. What a bond they will have!

When she was born, she seemed to favor Jason, but as time has worn on, she looks more like Ashley every day.

Big sis doesn't know what she is in for. Time to share some toys :)

The new family of four. Congratulations Ashley and Jason!

We couldn't resist the chance to take a photo of Jason and my brood of four. Oh how holidays will change at Mamaw and Papaws!

God has richly blessed us with four healthy and beautiful baby girls!

Random thoughts (Missing summer already)

Boy am I going to miss summer! My fondest memories are of long hot days, nights catching lightening bugs, fireworks, and sharing watermelon with my Mamaw and Papaw on their back patio. For me, summer can't last long enough. Thanks to our new water feature, we have spent more time in the backyard this year than any year since we have lived in this house. I thought I would share a couple of action shots from all of the fun we have had, since today was our last 90 degree day in sight(sniff, sniff).


These two have been backyard play buddies all summer. Maura and Sarah have had so much fun in the pool and the bouncy house.



I love this action shot the most. It really shows the pure joy of childhood. Don't you miss it?


Our wonderful bouncy house. What a life saver this summer! We paid $0 for the public pool this year.
Sarah is so interested in gymnastics. She learned to do a cartwheel this summer.

Our neighbor, Laura blasts down the water slide. We will miss you so, summer!

More random thoughts...Check out the morning hair on my girlies. Sarah has stick straight hair, and since it has been shoulder length, it tends to look pretty good, even in the morning. Leah, on the other hand, has been "blessed" with her mommy's thick curly hair. I have been hesitating to get it cut, but it is now getting out of hand! It looks like she knows it in this photo. Ha!

It's too early in the morning for a photo shoot, Mom.



Crazy hair or not, she is a cutie petutie!

Alena's first Birthday!

An important day came for Alena Lynn McReynolds on July 6, 2010. A 1st birthday! You only get one, so Ashley and Jason made it a great one for her. They had just moved out of their house a week before the party, so Brandy and David offered their home as the "party pad". Alena was surrounded by friends and family and got a ton of gifts.

Aunt Brandy made the cake for the littlest McReynolds (for the time being). This was both Brandy and my first niece (now we have yet another McReynolds baby girl).How fun have a princess party for the littlest princess!

As you can see, Sarah came prepared, at least for the princess portion. Check out the Sleeping Beauty get up.

I love to see little ones at first birthday parties. You never know how they will react to all the people, presents, and cake!

Alena certainly enjoyed opening her gifts!

Time to cut the cake. Such a shame to cut something so beautiful :(

Happy birthday baby, I mean big girl!

Leah loving life!

What a sweet little girl! We just love our little Leah. She is quite shy in large groups of people (very different than Sarah) but boy, when it is just Mommy, Daddy, or Sarah around, the wildcat comes out! Here is the view I get everyday as she catches my view. It changes from happiness to loneliness in 2.5 seconds! We love her curls, her smile, her squeals and her cuddles.

This smile can light up a room!
We especially love to see the special bond that Leah has made with her big sis. What a joy it is to watch these girls laugh, play, hug, and kiss. Leah thinks that Sarah hung the moon. Sarah is such a little mommy to her.

Although I have stayed away since she was about six months old, I hear that Leah loves Bible class! She is in a wonderful class that has special animal toys for each child to chew, wave, squeeze, and love. Sarah and Leah both learn so much from these classes even at this early age. They learn about God making the world, children, animals, flowers and they also learn about Jesus. What a gift for them to be able to hear about God's love from such an early age. Thank you to all those Bible school teachers out there who take time out of your busy schedules to share this with our little ones.
Yes Jesus loves me...the Bible tells me so. :)

Changing Leah ( I had to fit these in)

As I am fitfully trying to update the blog and catch up with the many photos I have taken this summer, I realized that I missed out on sharing some very cute photos. As always, these photos mark important times in kids lives, and I would hate to skip over them.


Back in the spring, Chris took a few photos on the iphone while dining out. I am shocked when I look at how much leach has changed in these. Check out the photo below.


She looks so little! And the hair is a lot less wild. But she has always been oh so cute!


This one is from mid summer. Leah had a stretch where she loved playing in the exersaucer (this has definitely ended abruptly by the way). This is the face I get every time I walk in the room. She melts my heart!

It is so wonderful to see the joy on her face these days. We went through so many months where a smile was a rarity for this little one. Now she is healthy and happy and I thank God everyday for this!






During our last trip home, we stopped at my cousin Melody's house for a birthday celebration for Uncle James. Leah is obviously the center of attention at all family events (babies usually are :)



Aunt Nancy and Leah



Mom taste testing Melody's good food.


On another day, Jason brought cousin Alena over to play in the bouncy house. Isn't she cute in her swimsuit? Many people say she and Leah look similar. What do you think?




Sarah loves for Alena to come over. She is in the toddler phase now where everyday is a new adventure. Sarah loves playing with her!
I LOOOOOVE this photo. My two sweet and beautiful girls sharing a moment one morning. They love each other to death and I couldn't be happier.


I pray they remain this close forever!


Saving the best for last. This photo says so much about our little leah. She loves to be out and about with the family and she loves to eat! We are so happy to have her in our lives!