Harrison says...being 8 is GREAT!

And no wonder he loved his 8th birthday...it went on for weeks! To start, he had an "at home" birthday celebration at home with a huge stack of gifts. Here he is with the stash:


It was a baseball birthday for sure. He got a St. Louis Cardinals tee-shirt and ball cap. He also got his very first baseball glove.


Oh, and the part I liked the most...Dad made birthday doughnuts!

Later that night, we went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner (Harrison's choice) and he got his "big gift" - an Albert Pujols jersey. He was very excited about that!

A few days later, on the following weekend, he had a birthday party with some of his best friends from school. The original plan was a swim party at State Farm Park, but due to the weather we moved the fun to Chuck E Cheese. The boys had a great time - Harrison especially liked playing skee ball.

Dad had some fun as well...

And what birthday would be complete without a good birthday spanking (yes, he got it at Chuck E's place):

The boys all had a great time - at least they seemed to from the noise in the van on the drive back. Note to parents...4 boys in a van for a 30-minute drive after a night at Chuck E's requires LOTS of concentration!

So, that was the first TWO rounds of Harrison's birthday. There was more to come...but I'll save that for another blog.

Happy Birthday, Vi!!!

Summer is a time for birthdays in our family, but none was as special this year as Momma's. We all got together to celebrate her 80th birthday on the weekend of July 17th. On her actual birthday, July 16th, Janey, Michael, Toni, and I took her to dinner. We had a great time together and when we got home we had even more fun trying to get this picture of us using the timer on my camera:

The following night we hosted a reception at Momma's house. We had LOTS of food (but then that seems to be a common theme in this family):

We had a lot of family and friends come by. I've added a few pictures of some of the evening's events below... Me & Kayce:

Toni & Momma on the deck chatting with Eddie May and Damon Rose:
Drew doing something crazy with Harrison (Leslie, Will & Kayce are sitting behind them):

The Stotts "children":
We had a reunion of Janey and her friend, Sherrill and had to get a picture of them with Kayce and Sherrill's daughter, Tammy (these 4 had many adventures when Kayce and Tammy were wee little girls):
We had lots of fun getting this picture of them - and I'm not really sure why it seemed so necessary to take it this way (but trust me, we had FUN getting it done)!
Then came "Pictures with the Birthday Girl" time!!! Here's Momma with Drew and Thomas:
And with Harrison:
And with Kayce, Ashley, Jenny & Leslie:
Finally, it was just "Free-for-all picture" time...starting with Toni & Thomas:
Then Toni & Drew:
Then me & Toni:
Kayce & Momma:

While we missed Mike, Sherry, Jonathan, Faith, and Leah, it was still a great party for a great lady! I'm just not sure how we're going to top it next year!!!

Drew's birthday - golf, cake, & fireworks

Drew, Nana, Pop, Craig, Leslie, and Katie came to visit over the 4th of July. We had a chance to celebrate Drew's birthday, the guys got to play a little (ok, a LOT) of golf, and we got to see some fireworks. It was a lot to cram into one weekend, but we did it in true "Moore fashion!"

Here's the birthday boy...also note the "hot tub junkies" in the back of the picture. They couldn't wait to get in:

You can't have a birthday on July 3rd and have regular candles on your (yummy) ice cream cake!

And, you can't get Nana with her grandkids all in one place and NOT take a picture!

Finally...the HOT TUB!!! They had a blast!

Once it got dark, the sparklers came out. Harrison was ready to go, but Katie wasn't too sure about them. Eventually, she got the hang of it and enjoyed running through the yard with hers.











Leslie had the most fun, though...


Once he saw the hot tub was vacant, Drew had his turn (after all, it was HIS birthday)! He seemed to enjoy it more than anyone else over the weekend - I wasn't sure we were going to get him out of it for a little while.

It got pretty cold by the time the fireworks were scheduled to start...Nana, Katie, and Harrison camped out in the trunk of the car for a little while, Leslie couldn't control her fireworks enthusiasm,












and Drew just kept swinging his golf club (I think the only time he stops is when he sleeps).


I really like this picture of Drew and Harrison together!

The fireworks were hard to capture on my little camera but here's a couple just to show you the view from our backyard. It was a great night and a great weekend!

Was it a left turn at Albuquerque???

Well, after a great time last year in Savannah, my friends Stacy, Stacey, and I decided to do the SITE conference again this year - this time in Albuquerque, NM. Our first act as tourists was to ride a tram up to the top of Sandia Peak. There's nothing like hanging over a mountain in a little cable car crammed full of people to make you appreciate the good 'ole ground when you get back down! The views were spectacular, though, and made it well worth the ride up (and down).














We also squeezed in a trip to Santa Fe and were happily surprised to find out we had arrived on a very special day. Each year, a procession carries a statue of La Conquistadora, the oldest statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary to an old campsite, where today stands a chapel known as the Rosario, built in 1806 to replace the temporary shelter of cottonwood and juniper branches erected annually for her novena. It was explained to us that the week before we came, this procession carried her to the Rosario and on the day we arrived we saw the procession bringing her back to St. Francis Cathedral where she is enshrined in the Lady's Chapel. It was a fascinating thing to see!

We also took a tour of Old Town Albuquerque. We stopped to get a couple of pictures of the scenery on our way to a restaurant where we had a chance to have some very authentic southwestern food. To make the experience even better, we got to sit by a tree that was growing up through the middle of the old home that had been converted to the restaurant.












While doing a little shopping, I noticed this bar and just had to take a picture. It really appealed to the reader in me. The book titles are hard to read in the picture but they are: "Gone With the Gin," "Tequila Mockingbird," "A Midsummer Night's Drink," "The Wrath of Grapes," "Lord of the Onion Rings," and "Partying 101." Funny thing was, I noticed on a following night that it was a biker bar - interesting, huh?

On our last night there, we dined with the convention group...you guessed it - more southwestern food. I was as happy as I could be. There were beans EVERYWHERE!!! Here's a shot of our dinner group, one of me with my Stac(e)ys, and one of my food (it's becoming a tradition for me to capture a shot of a good meal, it seems!









I had a great time with the girls - AGAIN!!! Can't wait for our next trip together!