Happy Birthday Granddaddy, Family time, and a trip North

My mom's family got together during the Mother's Day weekend to celebrate my granddaddy's 90th birthday!  We had 26 of the 35 members of our family together!  The most that we've had all in one place in quite a while.  It was too bad that Josh couldn't be there or we would have had all of Granddaddy's daughters and grandchildren present.

The birthday boy ;)

Blowing out the candles

Almost the entire family

The Sisters

The original Galloway clan

My mom's youngest sister, Jeannie, has always been the fun aunt (not that my other aunts aren't fun, but since she didn't have any children of her own, we all kind of adopted her :)) and for some reason, all of the nieces have been called "Jeannie" while Jeannie gets called all of the names of her nieces.  So we decided that we needed to take a picture of "The Jeannies".

The Jeannies

The smallest of the next generation had fun playing together both during the party and then on Saturday night while the rest of us enjoyed the manager's reception (with free drinks) and dinner all together (we left the grandparents home so they could rest).  It was so neat to see the kids all play together and have fun. These pictures aren't the best, but it's the best you get when you have two two-year olds and one four year old running around :)

Jay and Lily posing themselves :)

Lily smiling, but already thinking
of where she's going next

Jay turned around just as a snapped
the picture

Just before we had dinner, Steven joined our cousin Richard at the bar and they were watching some racing on the T.V.  Well, Mr. Jay just loves racing and so he decided to join Daddy at the bar.  It was just too cute not to snap a few pictures of :)

Like Father, Like Son

We managed to get Jay's attention

After our weekend in Charlotte, Mom, Dad, and I went to Ohio to retrieve their Hi-Lo camper that was being repaired.  Since the repair shop was within two hours of Lake Erie, I convinced Dad to go there first (also, we weren't going to be able to get the camper until Monday, so what was the rush).  So we spent Mother's Day in the truck with a brief stop at Lake Erie.

Not the best picture, but it's a light
house in Lake Erie

A look of Cleveland across a bit of
Lake Erie

Happy Mother's Day at Lake Erie

a self portrait with a Lake Erie
background

Our trip was a total of five days (Friday - Tuesday) and we went through a total of nine states (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, then back through Georgia and Florida).  I was able to see the Ohio River for the first time and enjoyed the beautifulness of The Great Smoky Mountains!  It was a fun trip, but I was never so ready to be back in my apartment and out of a truck :)

The Great Ohio River
outside of Cincinnati

The Smoky Mountains - can't really
see it but there is smoke coming
off the mountain

We're talking about another trip to Charlotte for Fourth of July (since we didn't really get to spend much time with the grandparents), but first I have a trip to Tampa and Busch Gardens coming up next weekend.  Then in June I will be celebrating my parents' 40th Anniversary and the birth of my best friend, Christy's, baby girl!!!  So I'm sure that there will be more stories and photos to come!!

Birthdays, birthdays, and more birthdays!!

I'm a little behind in posting this, but March/April is a very busy birthday season for the Southwell family!  We have 4 birthdays in 3 weeks (but since three of the birthdayers are the next generation, the 4th birthday doesn't get as much attention anymore.

Miss Lily turned 2 on March 18.  I can't believe that she (and Ethan) are already 2 years old!! I was able to go home the weekend of her birthday and had a little fun with she and her brother the night before her birthday.  (We didn't have the party until the following weekend.)  I introduced them to Tangled and they loved it!  Jay was belly-laughing at a few of the scenes - it was hilarious!  I unfortunately didn't get any pictures that weekend.  I know, I'm a horrible Oba!

Ethan turned 2 on March 25.  That's right exactly one week after Lily, Ethan made his grand appearance!  We were able to celebrate his birthday this year on his actually birthday (pictures to follow).  He also had another grand adventure that weekend in that he moved to Wauchula to live with both of his parents!  Danielle found a job in Sebring and so she, Josh, and Ethan are able to live full-time under the same roof!  I miss them in Gainesville, but am so happy that they are together!

Joshua turned 27 on April 1 (I can't believe that we're that old either), but I'm not really sure how much celebrating went on.

Jay turned 4 on April 3!  My baby is growing up and will start Pre-K in August (although, apparently he thought he would start the day after he turned 4; Grammy had to correct him and explain it all).  I feel like it was just yesterday that he started the next generation of our family.  Four years has gone by so fast!

Tiffany decided that since the kids' birthdays are so close together, that they would have a joint party on Saturday, March 24 (smack in between their actual birth dates).  It took a little thinking to come up with a theme that Jay would agree to (he really wanted a Cars themed party, but we tried to come up with something that was a little more girly too) and she decided on an ice cream party!  What kid (or adult) doesn't like ice cream?!  The kids all had a wonderful time and so did the adults.  I will say that present opening was mayhem with two kids tearing into presents, but we loved it!

The next day on his actual birthday, we had a party for Ethan.  It was at a little park and the kids had a blast playing on the jungle gym and swings.  I was able to get all three of my yearly pictures with the kids and they turned out pretty well.

Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Toppings for Ice cream

Jay got some of Grammy's
homemade Vanilla!!

Lily decided she wanted a cupcake
with icing :)

Tiffany reading to the kids from
one of Jay's gifts

For some reason, the kids wanted to
play in the unused dog pen

Miss Lily loves the slide!

Jay scaring me that he might
jump :/

Ethan showing me his
mad climbing skills!

Me and my handsome 4 yr old big boy!

Me and my curly headed 2 yr old!

Me and my little2 yr old princess

It was a crazy, but fun weekend!  Up next?  Granddaddy Galloway (Grammy's dad) is celebrating his 90th birthday!!!  As many of the Galloway clan that can make it will be gathering in Charlotte, NC for the celebration May 11!  Can't wait to see the family and spend some time with some of my favorite, if not a little crazy, cousins and family!