Family, Fun, And Home Sweet Home

Hello, my friends! How I've missed being here and visiting with you all! I am Home Sweet Home, filled with happy memories of all my people spending eight days together on a beautiful cruise ship. I am so thankful everyone could join us and that they all had so much fun together. A few things I want to remember forever are...

Selfies on the way to prove who was in the coolest car ~ Starbucks every single day ~ Celebrating Rhett's, Nicolas', and Peyton's birthdays ~ Afternoon naps before dressing for dinner ~ The kids having so much fun together ~ Swimming in crystal clear water ~ Slathering on sunscreen ~ Making new friends from all around the world ~ Buying my son his first legal drink ~ Trivia with Flynn ~ Strawberry Daiquiris in the shade ~ Calm ocean water ~ And not so calm water too ~ Looking around the table seeing the beautiful family Steve and I created ~ And then, being home ~

Have a lovely day, my friends!

I look forward to a hot cup of coffee and visiting with you all!

Billie Jo

 

Celebrating My Son

Twenty-one years ago. Someone should warn you when you snuggle your newborn baby that time passes in the blink of an eye. Oh, wait. Many people did. And I heard them, but in the moment, I could not imagine the sweet-smelling little bundle being anything other than a brand new addition to our little family. This time wrapped up in blue.

This is his first birthday party. He and Peyton celebrated together as she turned three a few days later. I remember this day so clearly! I remember it was a Bear in the Big Blue House party, and Peyton liked to plop the plastic Bear into different places on the cake. I remember also it was that night that I truly realized we had a little boy in our family! He always played with the baby toys we had. But he received lots of bright yellow Tonka trucks, Old Navy baseball hats, and Dump Truck Dave videos for his birthday, which now fit into our family room right next to the Barbie houses and dolls.

Rhett turns twenty-one today, and I could not be happier that my one and only little boy grew to be the fantastic young man he is today. Rhett is funny, sensitive, hardworking, caring, a wonderful son, and the best brother ever. Rhett organizes family movie nights, calls to thank me for his lunch, takes Flynn to Taco Bell, and brings joy to all our days. He works very hard. He makes us all laugh. He likes professional basketball, selling cars, good food, and spending time with his family and friends. He also has the most lovely, kind, fun girlfriend, Kyrstin, whom our whole family loves. 

Rhett has grown from that adorable little guy who looked to me for guidance, help, comfort, and love to a wonderful young man whom I turn to for those very same things. I couldn't have known that day twenty-one years ago when my doctor surprised us all by saying, " Oh! It is a boy!" that my little baby boy would become one of my very best friends. Who just so happens to look so very much like my dear father.

We are leaving today on vacation to celebrate Rhett, so I will be absent from blogland this week, but I will be back next week to catch up with you all! Have a wonderful week, my friends. Enjoy!

Billie Jo

 

Friends, Fun, Food, And Sun

And naps. Lots of naps. We returned from our family time spent together aboard our favorite cruise ship ever, The Carnival Pride, rested and full of memories to last a lifetime. The amazing thing about cruising is that you are all together for an entire week with nothing to do but spend quality together. And of course, make new friends.

Here are way too many photos of the week we spent cruising together...

On our way...

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

Flashback to late November, and my Madison was returning to Denmark after being home for Thanksgiving. Our firstborn would be spending her first Christmas away from home, and despite our brave faces, she and I were both extremely sad and apprehensive. Enter Steve, the most amazing husband and father, who strives to ensure his family is as happy as is humanly possible. Before Madison and Nicolas left for the airport, Steve surprised us by telling us we were all going on a cruise in March! (FYI...a cruise in March is almost half the price of one in June.) And so, we were happy that even though our Christmas wouldn't be the same, we all had something to look forward to come March.

Great idea, right?

Seuss At Sea

Yep. It is the last of the cruise posts, I promise. This one is all about the fun we had with Flynn and Carnival's cute activities centered around an old favorite...Dr. Seuss!

On Tuesday, the cruise director organized a Dr. Seuss parade with the children participating by carrying props and chanting, "Dr. Seuss is on the loose!"

This mother may or may not have marched right along.

We waited patiently for a peek at the leaders of the parade to make their appearance...

Waiting...

And there they were!

Thing 1and Thing 2!

We marched all the way to the main theatre, where The Cat in the Hat joined us for story time!

Saturday morning we joined our Dr. Seuss friends for a special breakfast!

It was so cute!

And they served...you guessed it...

Green Eggs and Ham!

We also enjoyed strawberry Cat in the Hat Parfaits.

And there were pictures with our favorite friends too...

Including The Cat himself. 

And as they say...

I do so like

Green eggs and ham!

Thank you!

Thank you,

Sam-I-am!

Cruising 2017

Our summer family vacation is in the books. And it was wonderful. I am so thankful our children are each other's best friends, and enjoy spending time together with their old Mom and Dad. We enjoyed a week together aboard The Carnival Pride, a beautiful ship in their line, and sailed from Baltimore to the Bahamas and back, with stops at three beautiful islands. Below are way too many photos of our trip. I apologize for subjecting you to our online scrapbook! Kinda of like the agony of watching a slideshow of your neighbor's summer vacation, right?!

Ready to go!

Reunited with her Nicolas...

A special surprise waiting in the stateroom for our graduate...

Checking out the arcade...

And an ice cold daiquiri while we departed.

On stage with the comedy club's hysterical comedian...

Pictures during our first dinner in the Dining Room...

With dancing too!

Pictures...

Pictures...

And more pictures!

Daddy and his girl loved swimming on board the ship...

And had even more fun playing in the splash zone.

(Throw in a mommy who is forever grateful her husband does all the swimming!)

Afternoon naps.

Because vacation.

And late nights.

Snorkeling...

And Beanbag Toss Tournaments.

Winning!

A day spent at Carnival's beautiful, private island, Half Moon Cay...

And back to find sweet touches waiting for our girl...

Fancy dinners meant getting dressed up...

And taking pictures with a wait staff that quickly became like family...

Alan, who always served with a smile and kind, inspiring words...

And who can really dance...

John, who made sure my little girl had a plastic cup of milk with a straw every single night.

And who has the biggest heart ever...

And Sanjib, who brought Flynn her chicken with fresh broccoli every night without fail.

And who always made us laugh.

The table artist kept us guessing too.

Selfies...

And pictures with Mom...

Watching the ocean go by in the evening...

And in the early morning too.

Did I mention the food???

We loved spending time together...

Away from it all...

With nothing but time and food and drinks and conversation.

And an 80's Dance Party.

With an awesome fluorescent t-shirt that a certain mom got for participating in a competition.

Enough said.

Except that it involved a big screen and Michael Jackson music.

It was hard to say goodbye.

But maybe it isn't goodbye forever.

Maybe it is goodbye. For now.

A cruise is a wonderful way to relax with your people.

To spend time together.

Without technology.

Without anything.

Just you.

Together.

Making memories that will last a lifetime.