Happy Father's Day...

to the best Dad out there!

We love you!

Panama City

Holy Moly we love the beach!  This year we went to Panama City.  We had never been before (well, Todd has been once before in his younger, singl-er, days), but we've never been as a family.  It was super crowded and I'm not sure we would choose to go there again, BUT the beach was BEAUTIFUL and we had the best time ever so the crowds didn't bother us too much.  The weather was good and we hit the beach and the pool every day.  We loved our condo - the amenities were fantastic and the view was perfect.  We even saw dolphins from our balcony! 

Going to the beach with my family is one of my favorite childhood memories, so being at the beach with Cade and Luke is extra-special.  Watching them on the beach is so funny - the way they approach their ocean-fun perfectly sums up their personalities.  Cade had a love-at-first-sight relationship with the ocean.  Every time we go to the beach and walk down to the ocean for the first time, he runs, full speed into the water with the biggest smile on his face.  He's so adventurous and fearless - boogie boarding, diving under waves, getting totally tossed around, dunked under - and comes up with a huge smile every time.  He can't get enough!  This year, he bought an inflatable boat from a tourist shop and had the time of his life "white water rafting" on a red-flag ocean day.  We are in for a wild ride with this high-sensation seeker!

Lukey, on the other hand, is a bit more cautious.  He prefers to spend his time on the beach building sand castles and playing peacefully with his ocean animals.  We got a video of him doing a crazy dance (unaware that anyone was watching - or recording) on the beach.  He loves to play in the water, but is TOTALLY hesitant with the ocean.  On our last day there, he went out to his knees and he tolerated the ocean while I held him.  He giggled and giggled as the big waves crashed into our backs.  We were calling them the "Gina Giant" waves - I could listen to his laugh all day for the rest of my life. 

 Both boys loved the pool - their favorite thing is jumping into the pool from the side.  They literally did it 50 times in a row.  Lukey especially loved the hot tub!  :) 

One of the highlights of our trip was a Pirate Cruise.  It was the best!  The boys (and all the other kids on the cruise) had a water gun fight, swabbed the deck, had a sword fight, heard a pirate story, pulled up a treasure chest from the ocean.  Totally awesome! 

We now have the post-beach blues, but we are so grateful for the memories we made and we're already looking forward to next year's beach trip. 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Can't say I've ever seen a cuter Cat in the Hat!

Happy Love Day!

Oh I am so, so, so in love, love, love with my 2 little loves and my 1 big love!  While I try to never miss an opportunity to tell my sweethearts how much I love them, we especially love Valentine's Day as another reason to spread a little extra love around here!  Lukey had a special lunch at his school and then we celebrated at home with an "I love you" dinner with a few special treats.  I don't know how I got so lucky to call the three most handsome boys around MY Valentines, but I sure am thankful!

Super Bowl!

Our annual Rogers Family Super Bowl Party was tons of fun!  Cade and Luke spent the day making decorations for both teams...we cooked, ate, watched football.  Cade was cheering for the Eagles and Lukey claimed the Patriots...Eagles won.  I love my football lovin' boys!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful for another Thanksgiving!  We celebrated our many, many blessings with food and family.

6th Birthday!

My Dearest Cade,

You are 6 years old!  A whole hand plus one!  You had a Lego Ninjago themed birthday this year and to celebrate we went to the Lego Ninjago movie with Grandmother, Grandaddy and Betty, had a family birthday party, and went to a Falcons game.  You have grown a lot over the last few months, in many ways.  Here's your 6 year old stats:

• You weigh 46 lbs. and you are 46 inches tall.  
• You wear size 5/6 in clothes and 13.5 in shoes.
• You remain an amazing eater.  You eat like an adult and have an amazing threshold for spicy foods.  Your favorite foods include fruit, pizza, nachos, chicken wings, cheese, and apple sauce.  Getting you to drink requires a bit of coaxing.
• Your favorite things to do include building with Legos (you BLOW ME AWAY with this - you build very complicated sets almost entirely by yourself), draw, play with cute/cuddly stuffed animals, make/create things (you like to create things out of cardboard - dog houses, etc. and yesterday you made me a necklace using one of the rocks from your rock collection), and play on your tablet.  Your favorite TV show is Wild Kratts.  
• Your personality is quite complex.  Your inner-most soul is so sweet, kind, and thoughtful.  You are the first to jump in and help out if someone around you needs it.  You have a heart for others.  About 3 weeks before Christmas you began making a gift for Santa.  It was a box of hand-made gifts you collected - full of pictures, letters, cards.  It was the sweetest thing ever.  You are very much a leader.  You strive to be in charge of whatever circle you find yourself in - both at home and amongst peers at school.  You are intuitive and sensitive.  You are loud and rambunctious.  You are adventurous, fearless, and curious.  You are smart...so very, very smart. You are rough and silly and confident.  At times, usually at home with us, your really push boundaries.  At other times, usually when you are out and about and have been given some independence you walk such a tight line that I think I might just burst with pride.
• You approach the world with curiosity...you truly love to learn and you are seriously like a walking encyclopedia; particularly with regard to animals.  
• Your best buddies are Lucas, Brooks, and Nolan and you claim that your favorite thing about school is recess. 
• You waver between best big brother ever and pretty-hard-to-get-along-with big brother.  :)  But Luke looks up to you in a HUGE way.
• You have a bit of a perfectionist side developing.  When completing your homework (which you think is AWESOME...I hope you always will :)) you erase numbers/words that look perfectly fine because they don't look "right" or "good enough" to you.  I'm hoping you outgrow this.
• You love, love, love to help.  You also love to clean the house.  Today you even said, "Can we clean the house today...like the WHOLE house?  I really want to clean the house."  And you really meant it!  You really enjoy helping others and you really enjoy cleaning.  
• I've said it before, but it still rings true...one word to describe you is BIG.  Whatever you are feeling..it's BIG!  When you're happy, it's a BIG happy...when you're sad/mad/frustrated...it's BIG.  It's impossible not to know when Cade is in the room.  :)

Your 6-year-old self is pretty amazing.  I could write for hours and still not capture all I want to say about you at this age.  The most important thing to know about you at 6 is that you are loved and admired in the biggest way.  Sometimes I just stop and think about you - your sweet, thoughtful heart, your angelic little singing voice, all of that potential wrapped up inside of you - and I cry big elephant tears. We are so grateful for you and we can't wait to see what the next year will hold for you!