Fun times With Fun Friends

We have had a lot of great times with our neighbors, and our kids have become the best of friends. Every afternoon for as long as we have lived here Hannah has stood in her garage and watched for Mr. Allen's truck to come home so that she and Wyatt could play in the driveway before it became too dark. I can not tell you how many times a day Wyatt has asked what Hannah is doing or if he can go over to Hannah's house and play. 

We are really going to miss our good friends and neighbors but I know that the kids will miss each other even more. It is a good thing that Amy's parents live in the Jackson area and my parents live in Starkville. There will be a lot of visiting between our two families.

I took these photos a few weeks back on the 4th of July. We had planned a big celebration with tons of fireworks and great food but the Cains came down with a stomach bug. So we tried to keep the kids apart but as you can see that didn't last very long. It never does.

These two daddies teach these two the best things.... like how to shoot a bottle rocket for the first time!

I had to put this one in here because it fits both of their personalities. Wyatt is the wild man and Hannah is the  princess...yet they are best friends. 

Sweet Friends

BEST FRIENDS

Packing it up

This past week has been spent packing up our house in Starkville and preparing for our move to Jackson. I feel like I have been doing this all summer, but now I really had to get down to business. The movers will be here Sunday whether I am ready or not! Thank goodness for my Mama coming to help out packing up the kitchen. I just could not get motivated to do that. Wyatt and I have been picnicking since Wednesday thanks to her superb packing skills.

With all of this hustle and bustle going on around the house Wyatt decided that he needed to get in on the action. He was so serious about it all. If we didn't watch him closely enough he started packing things that were not his!  He was such a hard worker that day.

He didn't want to leave anything.

When he realized the box wouldn't close, he decided he needed another box!

All his books had to go too. As he packed them he would say, "The tractor book needs to go with us to Jackson too!"

Then he decided that he needed to tape them up.  I  handed him the scotch tape and he didn't mind that it wasn't the "real" tape :)

I feel like I should let you know that when nap time came he decided that his animals needed to be back on his bed so out they came. Then when he woke up he wanted to play with his toys so he opened those boxes. I drew the line when at bedtime he wanted to put his books back on the shelf. Good thing his Mama had the sense not to tape his boxes shut!

MCM

Janna and I took Wyatt and Anderson to the Mississippi Children's Museum and Mama and Mrs Ruth came along to watch the kiddos play. They had a great time... as long as we could keep up with them!

After all that fun Allen came and met us for a picnic lunch at the park. Wyatt was SO excited that he was able to eat lunch with his daddy.

One last time

I was in junior high when my parents purchased our first boat. We enjoyed MANY trips on that boat and then they upgraded to a newer boat. To say that we have enjoyed the "new" boat would be an understatement. We spent many Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings on the Pearl river as a family. We would ski until we just couldn't handle it anymore.

This was taken a few years back. I can still do it but I wouldn't put pictures of it on  here!

 When Stephen and I were in college we convinced Daddy to let us take the boat to Smith Lake without him. I still can't believe he let us do that but we sure did have a good time!

Yea, I know this isn't the boat but we rented this one too while we were down there.

I think the boat was a little worse for the wear when we got home.

This year Daddy decided to sell the boat. I was kinda sad to see it go to a new owner but we were not able to use it like it needed to be used. He told Stephen and I that we could take it out one last time before it was delivered to its new owner. There was no skiing but we had a great time anyway! The crew for the final voyage was Allen, Stephen, Tracy Cain, Wyatt, Anderson, Janna, and I.

Toes in the sand

We started off our summer with a trip to Seacreast beach with our good friends the Cains. Allen's sister Abbie made the trip to help us out with the kids and to let us have a nice adult only meal one night. We rented a WONDERFUL beach house that had a pool out back. That pool was the best part of the house :) We would spend a few hours in the morning at the beach, come back so the kids could take a nap, and hang out by pool for the rest of the day/night. I think that we need to repeat this trip every year.

 You cant go to the beach without trying to get that elusive perfect family beach shot. I can't say that we had alot of fun doing that but I think that we got a few good ones :)

Little Fish

I am so excited that Wyatt LOVES the water. He is swimming like a fish this summer. Under the water, off the slide, and off the "diamond" board all without swimmies. I would not say he is a professional just yet but he is pretty close, ha! He has no fear which scares me but maybe I will live to see next summer without having a heart attack.

Silence

My blog silence has been due to the fact that we have been SO busy! Allen is in Jackson during the week and comes home to see me and Wyatt on the weekends. We will be moving to the Jackson area in 2 weeks and I can't wait for my family to all be under one roof again! In the next few posts I will try to give you a quick rundown of what has been going on in the Joiner house this summer.

4 years and counting....

Today we celebrate 4 years :) I could have never imagined where these four years would have taken us but it has been a fun ride. Happy Anniversary Allen!

A change gone come, yes it will

  Allen and I love living in Starkville. We both came here to attend Mississippi State University and ended up staying here after we married. The traffic is bad during the school year, terrible on football game weekends, and non existent during the summer. We have our favorite restaurants and activities. In short, we have created our routine and we like it. Fast forward to 4 years later and we are still here, but not for long.  Allen has accepted a job at SmartSynch in Jackson, MS. That means we will all be moving and quick like! He starts June 1st. Let the stress begin. Anybody want to buy a house? We love the house that we purchased as our "starter home" and we could not have asked for better neighbors!

  We will miss our friends and family but I am sure we will make new friends and we have some family that already lives there. Change is hard but I hear it is good for you. At least that is what my Mama keeps telling me. Heres to hoping she is right!

Easter 2011

     We started out Easter this year by eating lunch Saturday at Granny and Grand's, Allen's grandparents on his mother's side. After lunch the great grandkids had and Easter Egg Hunt. As you can see they are pretty young so we probably should have called it an Easter Egg Gathering because the eggs were so easy to find!

Cousins

Now I have got to break it to you... I am gonna get all the eggs!

Look at me!

RUN!

I got one! Orange is my favorite color!

Easter Morning we got up and went to 6 am sunrise service with Allen's family at Ocobla Baptist Church.after church the men cook breakfast so we stay and eat.... YUMMY! Shortly after Allen and I left so that the Easter Bunny could come visit Wyatt. His parents kept him at the church so that he could play with the kids while we hid eggs and set things up.

This year Wyatt's Easter Basket included a monkey, orange aviator sunglasses, a personalized hooded towel, "woody buzz" bubbles, and silly straws. He picked out the sunglasses himself and made the monkey at Build-A-Bear earlier in the week when we went to the mall. We left them with the Easter Bunny who just happened to be there ;) He didn't exactly understand why we had to leave them but he sure was excited to see them again Easter morning after church.

Wyatt's Easter Basket.

Look at the glasses the Easter Bunny brought me.

"I lub 'um. They are my fabrite colur" Hey buddy... I think they are upside down!

I see one. Way up high

Daddy directing traffic.

Two of a kind

   After the egg hunt we headed to Papa Jims to eat lunch and celebrate with my family. After lunch we drove over to have a egg hunt with the Byrds and had a wonderful visit. I didn't pull out my camera but Mama and Janna did so maybe I will have some photos to share of that soon. A few hours and one cranky child later and we were headed home.

   Oh no... Our Easter wasn't done yet! After resting up we headed out to the golf course. We met up with Brooks, Brecken, and Bella so that the guys could play 9 holes of golf while the women and kids watched.

How is that for a full weekend?