In July

No swim team to get us up early every day, and not a lot of other plans.  Just a lot of sleeping in and chilling. 

And posing with store displays. 

Summer at it’s best. 

The adults in this clan got to go our on 2nd annual float trip with some of our favorite friends.  It’s a good white trash time. 

We also snuck in some good old fashioned people watching at Six Flags. 

At the end of the month, we packed up and joined family down at Pensacola Beach.

 

Just lovely. 

The water was as calm as can be.

 

We rented these paddle boards for the first time ever.  Super fun. 

My sister-in-law, was able to capture one of my favorite family photos, to date. 

Also… Batman came. 

School starts in 12 days!  Ugh.

2014 photo dump

It looks like I’m an annual blogger now.  My bad.  I’ve got about a dozen drafts started, but they all seem pretty irrelevant now. 

Not much has been going on though.  Life’s just been full of brotherly love over here.

Just kidding.

Even so, here’s some pictures to make it look that way.

We framed this up for G for Father’s Day.

 

Not an original idea.  But I like our spin on it.

 

New this year:   Ace & Echo

These guys are our new friends around the house now.  

AROUND the house, not IN it.  Anymore at least.

They surprised Grant the other day with their first mouse.  He was beyond thrilled.  They’re keepers. 

They boys have kept busy with sports.  Jagger is really loving basketball lately.  Every other word out of his mouth has something to do with Kevin Durant.

Cash did two seasons of soccer, and then decided it was time to retire. 

He claims he wants to focus his efforts on roller skating.  We’ll see.

Someday I’ll post the total befores and afters of our exterior renovation.  We are so close! 

In the meantime, here’s a little bit of the summer prettiness that I get to enjoy. 

Now where were we?

Oh yeah, summer is almost over.  The boys have been playing hard.  We had a great family vacation.  And our house construction is almost done. And of course I’d love to show you a few pics.

This was our summer agenda.  Most, but not all, of it happened.

 

Ocean Isle, NC didn’t disappoint.

We are on the homestretch of our exterior project.  There has been a crew of 4 guys out at our house every weekday for the last month.  It’s going to be weird when they are done. 

Grant will have some more work to do though.  He’s taking on the decks and the shutters himself. 

This is how she looks as of a few seconds ago.

Meanwhile, I’ll be trying to hide my tears.  Baby Batman is off to kindergarten next week and this momma isn’t exactly ready for that reality.  I mean, I’m totally excited for him….. but am I not a young mom anymore?

House Updates….

She’s coming along, slowly but surely. 

But there’s still plenty on the to-do list.

The Latelies

So, turns out, summer makes me not want to blog.  It makes me not want to make dinner either.  Pretty much, I’m not really good for anything in the summer.  Except for going to the pool.  I’m pretty good at that.

 

The boys have finally learned how awesome life is when you sleep in.  To this mom, it’s a blessing, really.  And right now, I would just like to tell my mom “you’re welcome.”  I was a champion at sleeping in.  She never told me she appreciated it, but how could she not? 

Sometimes, after an awesome night of sleeping until 9 am, the boys will dance with their reflection in nothing but their skivvies.  We’re just crazy up in here.

VBSing it up.

Dental Hygiene.  Holla.

Back around Father’s Day, I got Grant this bug zapper swatter thing.  Uh, it’s safe to say we love it.  Well worth $6.  I recommend. 

Cousins being boyish. 

Meanwhile, we are knee deep in our little house project of new siding and stuff (stuff meaning: new front door, shutters, lights, stone columns, front balcony and gutters.)  I’ll have to give that it’s own post.  We’re doing most of the demo of the blue stuff to save us some green stuff,  and then people that actually know what they are doing will take care of the rest.

 

Thanks Josh and Bradley and Dan.  You guys are true friends!

She’s coming along! 

Spring Blog Break

It appears I forgot to keep the blog updated for the last 3 or so months.  Ooops. 

So for today, more pictures, less words, of what’s been going on around here all spring. 

We had way too much snow!

We hosted the cousins for a few days of Camp Cornell!

We had a lovely Easter out here with lots of friends from church!

 

We got to hang out with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Cornell for a day or two. 

I’ve designated this spot the obligatory picture spot.  My boys now know what to do when I say “go to the picture spot!”

This is their impression of zombies.

Cash received his pre-K diploma.

Clearly he is thrilled.

Cash’s dad is still a hottie. 

And my little cowboy nailed his speaking part.

Here’s a little video I shot pre-performance of my favorite little song.