3rd of July parade

We had so much fun this morning at the 4th of July parade (on the 3rd of July!). The funny thing about having a grandfather in politics is that you think that being in a parade is just a regular thing! Ali got the pleasure of riding in my dad's 2010 Corvette and Ryan was also thrilled to get to drive it (literally - I don't really get it - it must be something with boys and Corvettes!). Dad wanted Rhodes to get to ride too but I thought it would be better (safer!) for her to stay on the sidelines this year!! Dad brought over the Corvette last night and we took it for a few test spins and the girls practiced waving and it was hilarious! Anyway - here are some pictures from our morning - the girls were so excited when Dad pulled up in the car for the parade! Ali had so much fun again getting to be in the parade and Rhodes, my mom and I loved getting to watch from the sidelines.

Papa is here with his "new" ride!

So excited to be in the parade!
Running around and playing while we waited for the parade to make it's way to Cherokee Street!

2nd lollipop of the morning....over an hour of waiting on a parade to begin can be tough on a little munchkin!
The parade has started and there they are!!!
Can you see little Ali? The seats are low...hard to spot a little princess!
Ryan reaching out to take Rhodes the rest of the way (about .2 of a mile!) - luckily they were probably going .5 mph.
Rhodes joined the parade and knew what to do right from the start! She was waving at everyone - and Ali pepped up more once Rhodes joined the party!
Trying to get a good picture of the whole crew...
After their float went by, Mom and I went to join them at NW Bank to watch the rest of the parade. (Since their float was the first - I think it went on for another hour and a half - we only made it through about 10 more minutes b/c we were hungry for the hot dogs!). Ali was excited to be with our fun friend, little Mimi!
Three little munchkins eating their sno-cones at the bank!
Love these little friends!

After the sno-cones came hot dog time at the bank! Sno-cones before hot dogs, of course!Sweet friends! Look how they have grown since last year (at this exact spot!) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxQgOYmthlfYoB4KR8vVEYDptqzGdiFqDP9ZcLlLumqBJRg1q8hPR-3_cAzwD2j-QVV1AQbdteheoT5oPL27-iPdgDvwqs5lBBYazYGdXM5VtFHhcqK5p9YTzWPUeK-rq1w_q5xjSBng/s1600-h/June+133.jpg

The girls loved the flags!
Our 4th of July weekend has officially begun and I finally have found my memory card so hope to have more pictures!! Happy 3rd of July!

See you soon!!

This is a post I have tried to put off typing b/c it makes my heart sad, but here goes!! If you are a reader of my blog, you know about our friends the Tidwells. Their son, Bennett, is Ali's prince (as she calls him), Jill and I were pregnant with Rhodes & their second son, Beau, at the same time and both Ryan and I think the world of Jill and Fletcher - Bennett & Beau's parents! We have been so lucky to have them in our lives these past few years for so many fun times - music classes, church, gymnastics classes, preschool classes, Chick-fil-a and backyard play dates, Birthday club, girls getaways and plenty of nights spent at each other's houses with some good family company. It has been so nice having such fun, easy going friends so close by with kids almost the exact same age who also play so well together and we all always have such a good time together! This week is their last week in Marietta (at least for a little while :)) and we are going to miss them soo much! Fletcher is a Marine so their path now leads them to Okinawa, Japan for two years and we are so looking forward to keeping up with their new adventures via skype, email and blogs! :) They are such a great family and I know they will do great over there and fit in wonderfully - I just hope they don't forget about us! :)

Last Monday, we had the Tidwells and the Holles over for a little going away pizza party complete with juice boxes, "ice cream cone" cupcakes that Ali and I made, and wine and beer for the parents and grandparents and it was a ball. The kids had a blast dressing up (Bennett even got in a princess costume for awhile and pretended to be a witch trying to take candy! hilarious!), eating, playing with the cars and jumping! We were so sad to see it end, but had so much fun with such dear friends. It was a memory I will cherish always and I am so glad Jill and Emily had their cameras since I did not so I could capture some of these memories on here. Good luck to the Tidwells on their new adventure and we look forward to keeping up and for lots more memories with these precious families in the future - no matter where we have to go to make them! (preferably the beach if we end up meeting somewhere! :)) Love yall! :)

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Scotty's wedding weekend!

We have been BUSY lately - so much so that I felt like I couldn't come up for air at moments. But, we have been busy with lots of fun things - just so happens that they all fell around the same time. Luckily, our calendar looks to be clearing out at least for the next 2 weeks (somewhat!) so there is a light at the end of our busy tunnel. This past weekend, Ryan's best friend (and one of mine too!) got married and we spent a good bit of our weekend in Atlanta celebrating with him and his new bride. It is always so fun and refreshing to be with the kind of friends that know you better than anyone and still love you! :) Despite the fact that we only live about 30 minutes away from each other (Atlanta to Marietta), we do not see each other nearly enough, but when we get together, nothing changes! Anyway...luckily, I remembered to take my camera AND have batteries in it so I actually got some pictures (reason #1 I haven't blogged in awhile - either haven't had my camera or have had it and taken it out to take pictures and got the wonderful "charge the batteries" message on the screen. ugh.) so here are some pictures from our weekend. Congratulations to Scott & Ashley!! We could not be happier for them and I am so happy Scott found a great girl like Ashley!!

30th birthday month - Happy birthday to me! :)

I have to admit, I was a little weary of my 30th birthday. For the past 3.5 years (since I had Ali) I have secretly been wishing I could say I was 30 years old when people (other moms) asked me how old I was instead of being treated like a baby! :) I would always say that 30 did not scare me...until the past few weeks/month. I started to get sad at the ending of a decade (I am NOT good with change) and reminiscent and lived it up saying I was still in my 20s! :) I think I was down b/c I had made all of these (well, maybe 1 or 2) goals that I did not think I achieved in time - but, looking back, I have achieved much more! :) The whole month of May - my birthday month- has been one of the best months of my life. The official celebration, though did not start until May 22nd, when Ryan through me a 30th birthday fiesta. Nothing huge b/c I didn't want to make it so big that I would start leaving out friends - I just wanted to keep it small and fun! Our favorite restaurant, La Parilla, catered and I had the best time. Here are some pictures from my 30th birthday party!Ryan brought out this get-up for me!
The party scene

A few different table views....in the above picture you will notice my best surprise of all!! I think that I am so intuitive and that no one can get a surprise past me but I am SOO wrong! I had absolutely no idea that Ryan, Anna Margaret and Kate had the best surprise ever up their sleeve. Kate is my oldest and one of my best friends on this planet - she lives in New York and is a very busy girl. Never in a million years would I have thought she would be at my party!! She had regretted even! Anna Margaret was one of the first to show up and she came in while I was last minute finishing getting ready. I came into the kitchen with her to catch my breath and say hey and immediately lost my breath when I saw Matthew walk in with Kate - who flew in from NY for my party! I freaked out and started bawling and still can not get over it! It was the best birthday surprise I could have asked for! :)



The Tumlin kids...


I am SOO grateful for all of these fun friends who came to celebrate my 30th birthday with me (and those that are not pictured who were there!) - it meant the world to me. We had a great time - and when we were on our way back in town this past weekend, my mom called to tell me that the party made the paper...which is always fun! http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/7744736/article-McBee-makes-a-beautiful-bride--resident-hits-milestone?

My birthday weekend kicked off this past weekend in Landrum, SC! Amy got married and I got to be matron of honor in her wedding - it was such an honor and such a fun weekend getting to spend time with these girls!!! (and boys!)



And, I was soooo excited to come home on Sunday to these precious little girls! Ryan had originally planned to take me to the Grove Park Inn (b/c it was not too far from Amy & Corey's wedding) but we changed our plans and I could not have been happier to get to spend my birthday at home with my girls!!!
It was so nice having my 30th on Memorial Day b/c Ryan was off of work and he let me sleep in and enjoy every second. I had so much fun celebrating with Ryan, the girls, my parents, Sig & Frances (Ty & Ashley were in SSI) and this truly was the best birthday ever! Just had to make sure I blogged all of my little memories so I never forget this birthday!

Last day of school 2010

The girls had their last day of school on Thursday, May 20th - tried to get a good picture of them that morning dressed and ready to go - but these are the best two I could find (where at least one of them was looking at the camera!) I put up comparison pictures to their first day of school last September (the last two pictures) - what a difference a year makes! They look so different to me in their pictures from last year! Summer - here we come!