Summer 2021

 I realize that the summer is not officially over, but for the Bowers kids, school starts next week. Our summer basically ends this weekend. I learned after trying to gather pictures for this post that I should probably go back to weekly posts. I tried to narrow the pictures down to a minimum, but 3 months in our family covers ALOT of activity. I tried to hit the high spots only, but this is a summer photo dump post for sure. 

Dance Recital was a go this year. Emma danced ballet, and Ellie danced ballet, pointe, and modern. 

Ellie on pointe for the first time on stage. 

Ellie's class killed it with their modern routine. They certainly didn't look like 11 and 12 year old girls up there dancing. 

Emma's ballet has improved so much this year. 

                                                       

Of course, all of the grandparents were in attendance. 

Mack was super cute at his guitar recital 

                                                    
                           Ellie was acknowledged at the honors program at school for being on honor roll all year. 

The Bowers were back at it on the golf course! 

Mack's baseball team won the silver bracket championship. These are some proud boys and coaches right here. 

Mack with his trophies and the most coveted "junkyard dawg chain" 

They made it the entire year without having to go virtual! None of the Bowers kids were even quarantined at any point. I was so proud of Lowndes County Schools for making this happen! 

VBS 2021

Mack and Emma had a great time at VBS this year. Ellie was too old to participate, but she got to be a youth helper this year and I think she really liked being in charge of some of the kids. 

On our way to our Alabama beach trip, we stopped in Pensecola for a night and visited with Mandy, Clint, Logan, and new baby Everett. My old roommate and good friend Nicole Branch and her husband Todd even made an appearance for dinner. It was SOOOO good seeing these people! 

Logan watched as Emma and Ellie fought over who would hold Everett next. 

Next stop was Gulf Shores, AL. We had to go there this year due to  some hurricane damage to the house we had previously rented in Ft. Morgan. 

The water was beautiful and the weather was perfect almost  the entire week. 

Mack and Cole on a mission. And yes, that's Ellie in the background STANDING in the water. 

Crab Hunting night is always a win. 

We also got to meet new baby Teddy on this trip. Emma was smitten. 

This year the boys were up against the boys every day in some competitive whiffle ball playing. 

With the dads being umpires, there were some questionable calls in favor of the girls team. 

Our Birmingham Besties t-shirts have made it yet another year. 

All 18 kids minus one special little guy. 

The girls had so much fun together this year. we never quite knew what they would come up with to do at night. 

The last day a hurricane started getting closer. The waters were closed due to dangerous wind and rip tides. We had not taken our group picture yet, so we headed out that morning and snapped some. Some of us were still in PJs. 

I just loved this picture. 

Family shot for the trip. Mack still in pajamas and not smiling for the picture. 

Emma getting her last snuggles from Teddy.

The guys

We hit the ground running with golf when we got back from Gulf Shores. 

I got to spend some time with this sweet man for Father's Day. I'm so proud he's my Daddy. 

This is another group of kids that hit the jackpot with their Dad. 

SSI 2021 was our next trip The family was there and Hardy introduced us to new baby Ford. 

Ellie couldn't keep her hands off of him. 

The 4th was the 2nd day of the trip this year. All the Bowers, Berryman, and Tift kids were present and dressed appropriately in USA attire. 

Even baby Ford made a beach appearance for the 4th. 

Bo has caught Emma in height, even if Emma claimed he was standing on a higher level on the beach. 

My cousin Tee and her family came to hang out with us on the beach. It was so good seeing her and being able to catch up. 

Aunt Telie and Uncle Dale were there as well and Aunt Telie got some sweet snuggles from Ford. 

no caption needed

These 2 were excited about the fireworks. 

Emma got her turn holding Ford. 

Ellie and Papa headed to the beach. 

Crazy cousin time

Annual Bowers beach picture!

Grey had the best grin of everybody. 

Hardy was LOVING the water this year. 

Emma in her happy place. 

Ellie has really overcome her anxiety about things in the water and had a blast this year. 

Waffle House breakfast run

Bennie's Red Barn Night!

It rained a good bit at St. Simons this year, so Worth bought some puzzles for the kids to do when we had to be inside. the kids worked hard, but I think the adults enjoyed them more. 

They finished the UGA puzzle! 

On one of the rainy days, we took all of the kids to the movies. Grandma stayed at our place with Ford. Mack and Banks were checking in on her when we got back. 

The fishing trip almost didn't happen this year due to another hurricane/tropical storm hitting SSI while we were there. Thankfully, we were able to reschedule for the end of the week, because the Bowers kids look forward to this trip for the ENTIRE year. 

Mack caught a Bonnet shark. 

Emma did too! 

Ellie was bummed that she didn't catch a shark, but she did have the first catch of the trip. 

Bo got a big shark off the back of the boat. 

Hardy was even able to go fishing with us this year and he had a blast. 

Fishin' crew

All of the kids know where the good snacks are.... in Grandma's bag and cooler. 

Hardy needed a break from the action in Grandma's lap. 

We left SSI on Saturday morning, came home to Valdosta, washed and packed, and then headed to Tallulah Falls, GA Sunday morning to drop the girls of for Camp Chatooga Athens Y Camp. 

They were in such a beautiful area, but it was rustic. 

The pictures were great, and if I had been on top of the blog a little more, I would post all of the ones I ordered, but these are a few screen shots of the highlights. 

While the girls were at camp, Mack had gone back to Watkinsville with the Berryman's for the week. That left Worth and I an entire week kid free. We actually got a date night to celebrate our 16th Wedding Anniversary and didn't have to get a babysitter! 

We headed back up to north GA the following Friday to make a pit stop in Watkinsville to pick up Mack from the Berrymans. We drove from there to Jefferson to stay the night and see Amos and Anna's new house. Saturday morning as we approached the camp, Mack was ready to see his sisters. 

The week after they got back, Emma and Mack did Camp Do Re Mi at church and it was so fun! 

The gang was finally all back together!The girls had a blast. Ellie was not a fan of the bugs and lack of air conditioning, but overall has still not stopped chattering about all of the things they did at camp. Emma LOVED it. 

We had one more SSI trip before we started to gear up for the new school year. 

The kids made me take their pictures jumping as they held on to the back of the tent so that it looked like they were flying away. This is Mack. 

Ellie

Emma

We surprised the kids with tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters in Tallahassee this week. Mack has been obsessively watching videos of them and they happened to be in the area. We even got pre game passes to get a few autographs. Mack's year was made. 

Emma was taller than Crossover. 

Of course, they opted for a souvenir basketball

We do love a girl basketball player! 

Out of the 3 kids, Ellie won the highest jump ability. 

We had such a good time and it was a fun show to watch. All 5 of us laughed the entire game. 

Ellie and Emma said goodbye this week to 2 very sweet sister friends. Their dad is with Moody AFB and they are transferring to Seattle, WA. Ellie loved Cara and Emma loved Shannon. They became great friends, and they were 2 of the happiest, most uplifting girls you will meet.We will miss them and their sweet family so much! 

Really hot, humid days call for pool time around here.  Mack was working on his "rowing" in this picture. The olympics are making their mark on the Bowers kids. 

Emma is 10!

I cannot believe that Emma is 10 year old. Her birthday also reminds us of how long we have been in Valdosta since we moved here when she was about 6 weeks old. I can't fathom that we've been in this sweet little city for almost 10 years now. Emma has no memory of moving here, obviously, but her life is definitely a marker in my mind for our transition from residency life in Alabama to establishing roots in Valdosta. 

Over the last week we have celebrated Emma. Her birthday was Tuesday, which was right in the middle of GMAS testing at school. I couldn't send birthday treats in due to testing  (and they are loaded up on after test treats already.) Also, that day, I had to to have my second round of eye injections (which pretty much puts me out of the equation for the afternoon,) the girls had golf practice, and Mack had guitar and a baseball game. Needless to say, her birthday was a busy day. We were able to squeeze in her favorite dinner from Wendys though. She wanted a sleepover for her party this year, so Friday night 3 of her closest friends showed up to party at our house for the night. I think I laughed as much as they did. They were a fun, very entertaining group. At 10, she is a joy. She is so helpful around the house and a true giver of herself. She works so hard at everything she wants to do, especially when it comes to sports. When she grows up she says she wants to be a professional golfer or a marine biologist. She has high goals, and I have no doubt she will accomplish them. She loves math, and I mean LOVES it. I find doodle papers in her book bag that are covered in math problems instead of doodles. Just this morning in church she was writing math problems on a sheet of scrap paper. I asked her what she was doing. She told me she was counting all the lights in the sanctuary. (For the record, she counted 238.) I love her so much and love how she balances the extremes of her brother and sister so well. She is extremely competitive about ANYTHING and she does have a stubborn streak. The stubbornness doesn't rear its head very much, but when it does, you better not plan on her backing down. She is a heel digger FOR SURE! We are thankful for her each and every day. 

The pictures from this past week include all of the May Cray that we've been up to so far in the first week of May. 

These 3 competed in their first official PGA jr. tournament last Saturday. Unfortunately, the colors for each team are blue or orange. We were on team orange for the day, but it worked in our favor!  

Team Orange 5/1/2021

Ellie did not get paired with her best friend Taylor, but they did represent team orange together. And they were pretty cute too! 

 

Emma making her putt on the last hole. Mack and his partner were finished and came to watch. 

Mack was teamed up with a 4th grader named Hank Denham. Hank's dad grew up with Worth and I, and played golf for Coach Bowers in high school. I set up Hank's mom and dad on their first date in Athens many years ago. 

It was a hot but beautiful day for golf. 

The shot over the water is a Bowers kid favorite. 

Caroline Smothers and Molly Smith were teamed up against the Bowers girls. 

Ellie nailed her shot over the water. 

Hank and Mack won their match and were super excited about it. 

Worth was quietly giving Mack some advice for his next shot. 

Mack had a nail biter of a baseball game Monday night. This is the only picture I took, because I was scream cheering for most of the game. They won, only by 1 point, but it was still a "W" and we were so proud of him and his team. 

Emma looks forward to her birthday morning to come downstairs to this. She was loaded down with gifts this year. 

I know it is my fault that they expect a presentation on their birthday mornings, but how excited does she look?!  It makes me so happy to do it for them. For the record, Worth and I only gave her 2 gifts on the table, the rest are from grandparents and siblings. 

She has been asking for a keyboard for her iPad for a while. She is trying to teach herself how to type from some app she learned about at school. She was pumped to get this. 

At 10, she still loves a lego set. The more challenging, the better. 

Early morning birthday crowd. 

Even though they can fight like cats and dogs, Ellie was the first one up Tuesday morning and couldn't wait for Emma to get up so that she could give her the gift she picked out for her. (Lavender bath supplies and nail polish) 

Mack gave her some new goggles for the pool. I promise Ellie was excited even though she looks miserable in all of these pics I chose for the blog. Haha! 

Ellie even made Aspen a unicorn cape to surprise Emma. Aspen comes in and goes straight to Emma's room in the morning and sits with her in her closet while she picks out her clothes for the day. 

Aspen played the part, albeit briefly. 

She wanted a Frosty from Wendys as her birthday night treat. I made her blow out a candle on it after we sang happy birthday. 

Mack and Ellie wrote and performed a birthday song for Emma: 

Random picture, but we were proud of Ellie for being a part of the upcoming honors program at her school this year. 

Emma getting ready at a volleyball game. Their season has been not that great. They've only won 2 games. Emma has done well, but only 3 of them had ever played volleyball before, so it has been a learning season for the majority of her team. Emma has had so much fun though. She has had such a good attitude for a kid that is ultra competitive. 

And then it was Friday night and time for the Unicorn Sleepover! 

This 10 year old couldn't be more excited. 

Emma will learn to appreciate her sister's ability to jump in and lead the games like unicorn ring toss...

...and "Don't step on the Unicorn Poop" 

The pool is still a little cool for my taste, but it didn't bother these girls at all. 

Next up was dinner and cake.  We went outside to tie dye t-shirts after they ate, and I got zero pictures, but the shirts turned out awesome. 

Later that evening they were ready for ice cream cake and gift opening!

Worth was on call (of course) so Ellie was my cake assistant for the night. 

Emma has really gotten into Harry Potter lately. Her friend Gwen gave her a wand. 

A glow in the dark basketball was a "score" of a gift for Emma from her friend, Macy, 

Emma's super sweet, kind, and creative friend, Avery gave her a journaling kit. 

There is nothing funnier to these kids that being blindfolded for a game. This was pin the horn on the unicorn, and Macy was struggling. (Even though Gwen was covering the actual unicorn.)

In other news, this guy had a dangling tooth last night that was too funny not to document. 

I thought for sure it would come out when he ate dinner, but it didn't. So he took matters into his own hands: 

No teeth Mack!

These sweet 3 were my Mother's Day dates to church this morning. I wouldn't have it any other way!