Sweet Summertime

I don't think we've stopped since we came home from vacation...but that's okay, because we are still having fun and making memories. We made it home just in time for the 4th of July and pretty much spent the day unpacking and preparing to cook dinner for the church that evening. But then, we were invited to view the fireworks in a way that was sheer genius! My aunt works in a building downtown and offered to let us come watch from their conference room. It was perfect...no crowds to fight, no struggling to find a place to park, no ear muffs for Noah when the fireworks were too loud, no heat, and no mosquitoes! I love fireworks!

I enjoy the time that I get to spend with my kids during the summer. I love staying up late and sleeping in. I LOVE drinking coffee while we watch cartoons. I love being able to eat breakfast at home and not having to grab something on the go.

Sister was so excited when I let her feed Deacon the other morning. Check out those VHS tapes...a therapy strategy from Mrs. Luann. They are used to help keep Deacon stabilized in his highchair. Works out great...until you take them on vacation, your condo has a VHS player, one of the videos just happens to be a home video that you made in middle school (okay, maybe it was high school) where you bust out rapping (or attempting to rap)..."In West Philadelphia born and raised, on the playground is where I spent most of my days..." (pretty sure you know the rest), and your husband so kindly puts in the video and embarrasses you in front of your friends! Yep!

Anyway...I was thinking that I had come up with something pretty clever getting her to feed him for me, until checked on them and she had eaten half of the jar.

 In the mornings after Deacon eats, I let him sit in his high chair and play with toys.

I love watching the kids work with him on their own. Deacon had gotten a new toy, and sister was determined to teach him how to use it. It thrilled my heart to watch her show him how to play the piano, and then for him to figure it out. She started clapping and calling big bro over to come check it out, Deacon was beaming with pride over what he had done, and I just wanted to cry!  Tears of joy...of course! (Nevermind Sister's blue streak of hair that she has been rockin out ever since she found it in her room.  I think she got it in a happy meal or something.)

Sister is a huge Pinkalicious fan, so the other day we decided that we needed to make some Pinkalicious cupcakes. I let her do most of the work, and she was so proud!

Her favorite part was getting to use the mixer on her own.

And of course, while we waited on them to bake we decided to play a quick game of Candyland. Gotta love Candyland!

Ironically, it was the cupcake card that sent sister back to the start almost, and she was not too happy about it.

Cupcakes were done and we added the Pinkalicious pink sprinkles...

And Voila! Who needs Buttercups?! We made some pretty darn cute Pinkalicious pink cupcakes..if I do say so myself!

And they even tasted yummy too.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Big Boy was overseeing it all! :)

And then there was that night...that rare night where Dustin and I actually got the chance to go on a DATE! I had almost forgotten what that was. Our anniversary was in May, and we still had not had the chance to celebrate it, because he had a catering that day and we have just been busy or out of town or whatever. We had to go to the 4:55 movie, because we are like old folks, and if we go to dinner first, we would never make it to the movie after and would go home instead. It was so great to get to spend some time just the two of us. Thanks, Katie!

And while we were out, the kids told their cousin, Katie, that she pretty much sucked, because their old babysitter made them s'mores and built forts with them. So Katie had to step it up a bit, and earn back the Best Babysitter in the World title! And how do you like those tie-dyed t-shirts we made a few weeks ago at a church activity? I was pretty proud of how they turned out and even sported mine today.

The power went out in the middle of the day, and the best part about it was that Noah had to turn off the Wii and go old school with his entertainment. I dug out some dry erase boards that I used to use in my classroom, and they had fun drawing on them.

Noah said, "Mom, take a picture of this and Facebook it, or blog it, or something!" :) I love that boy!

We have frequented Barnes and Noble a lot here lately, because it is air-conditioned, they have all of the Pinkalicious books, a lego table, Starbucks, cream soda in a glass bottle, and they will be ever-so-kind as to heat up Noah's Reeses Peanut Butter cookie for him and sister's triple chocolate chip brownie for her.  I love everything about that place, and I especially love the smell when you walk in the door!

And then there are the birthdays...

We get to do lots of celebrating around here in the months of June and July.

It starts with Noah's birthday. And when it is your birthday, it is imperative that you eat off of the Pampered Chef Celebration plate! This is my sad attempt to make an M&M pancake in the shape of a 7.

This year he wanted a swim party at Aunt Mamme's house, and it was hot, but they had a blast!

We got so wrapped up in the party, that we completely forgot to give Noah his present. We probably still wouldn't have remembered if it hadn't been for the fact that we went to leave and found it hidden behind the tree where put it.

Then there was Poppa's party...

And then Nonna & Uncle Dusty...

I was pretty proud of my dad. He booked a suite at the Holiday Inn and invited us to all come, have pizza and cookie cake, hang out, and swim. It was a lot of fun!

I accidentally forgot to have my brother's name added to the cake. But I'm sure he was able to forgive me when he opened his gift only to find Season 1 of MacGyver.  Don't be jealous! Dustin was. I love the look on my mom's face when she realized that we gave her a big print wrap of the family picture we took in Florida.

Deacon had a good time even though the water was too cold for him to take a dip.

And with summertime comes camps...

I was not quite ready for that, but the time came today when I had to send my baby boy to camp for the very first time.  I cannot believe he is old enough to go to camp. I was not ready to let go, so I even drove him there...an hour away...just to buy a little more time. The whole time Dumb and Dumber was on my mind, cause I felt like Lloyd Christmas telling myself over and over, "BE STRONG!" 

I was proud of him. He was excited and not the least bit scared. He was so ready to get away from his sister for the week that he couldn't stand it!

So it has been pretty quiet around here this evening, other than the new little sound that I am starting to hear quite often. A sound that Sister is so proud of and has been working on for quite sometime now...Sister has learned to SNAP! And she doesn't just snap, she puts the attitude into it. I'm talking hip out, head twisted from side to side attitude. And tonight Sister is snapping in style with her new manicure she got this evening.

I go to take her picture and she says, "I'm sassy, and I know it!" That's her version of the song, because her Daddy won't let her sing it how it really goes. :)

He's so protective of her. He refuses to let her get her ears pierced and barely let me get her hair cut. And although it can be annoying, deep down I think it's really sweet! :)

I had to take a break from my blogging tonight, because there was something going on in my living room that involved a Thomas tent, three of my favorite people, and s'mores. 

And on that note, I'm going to go watch the Bachelorette and try not to think about that fact that my little man won't be home til Thursday. :(

Avoiding Reality!

I saw this sign in Kirklands the other day, and I loved it. Mostly because this is what we have been doing for the past few weeks....avoiding reality.  Bear with me, cause this is going to be a long post!

(iphone pic)

I've been wanting to blog about our beach trip(s) since we got home, but being the photographer that I am, I took a gazillion pictures and for some reason feel the need to edit each one of them.  However, when I started getting stressed out about editing my own pictures, I gave up! Some are edited, some aren't...who cares? Only me! What matters is that it was beautiful, we had a blast, and I took it all in like I never had before! Every little moment, every seashell, every footprint in the sand, every wave, every sandcastle....I didn't not want it to end!

We used to go to Fort Walton Beach every year with our close friends A.K.A. "The perfect Florida couple!" For the past couple of years, we haven't been able to go, but this year we were able to go back and decided to go to Panama City for a change. We call each other "The Perfect Florida Couple" because we vacation the same way. We don't have a trip agenda and are okay with having no clue what will take place from day to day. Although we do know that at least one day must consist of an arcade with mini-golf and go-kart riding, and we do not getting offended when one person goes all Dale Earnhardt Jr. on another one trying to win the "race"! And of course at some point during the trip we must go to a beachy restaurant...the one that is right on the water and has a live band that plays songs like "Brown-eyed Girl" and "Mustang Sally" while we eat. I LOVE those kind of places!

We sleep late and waste sunshine and it's totally okay.  We have crazy kids to deal with. We love to hang out at the condo and cook instead of going out every night, and as we eat, we are talking about what we are going to eat next and getting excited about it! We make Starbucks a part of our daily routine, and we scored big time when our condo had one downstairs! We are just flat out lazy and don't worry about a thing for the entire time that we are there, because in my opinion that's what vacations are all about!

This trip fell on Father's Day, so Kelly and I headed out the night before and tried to get a few things to make it special. We found a Marshall's that was open late, and scored when we were able to grab a few gifts that didn't look like we just grabbed them last minute at Walmart while grocery shopping! :)

We did our own little version of "Donuts with Dad."

And we whipped up a yummy little pinterest recipe to go along with it!

On every beach trip, one of the things I look forward to the most is hanging out on the balcony. This year we had an amazing view being 21 floors high. Although it made me a little bit nervous when the kids were out there, okay a lot nervous, it was still one of our favorite places to be.

Playing Hello Kitty games and drinking coffee...

Watching the sunset....

Being silly...

 Capturing it all...

Enjoying sweet little moments together...

Just taking it all in...

Stealing kisses...

Eating Breakfast...

Being so stinkin cute...

Being sweet to each other for a brief moment in time...

I think one of the most amazing things that happened from that balcony was watching a group of more than twenty teenagers get baptized in the ocean. They were attending a youth camp in our complex. It was amazing! I loved that balcony!

Of course we also found lots of seashells...

We had our own little version of Blue Crush going on...

Sister created Mr. Sand Man

They buried Daddy in the sand...

Jumped in the waves...

Played in the sand...

And just had a grand ole time...

And then there is the dreaded picture night....

The one that stresses everyone out (especially me), but you know it has to be done. The one where everyone has to get all looking good and dressed up in their color-coordinated outfits, only to get lost and lose daylight on the way to the location, argue with one another about it, and then try to put on a fake smile for the photos. (That would be me and Dustin) Then, you sweat, get sand in places that sand shouldn't be, have kids that won't cooperate (those would be mine), and the whole time all we really want to do is get it over with so we can go out to eat.  Picture night did not go quite as I had planned it in my head...my kids were driving me crazy, the lighting was horrible, I don't know what I was thinking with my hair-do, and although there were some good shots, these were the ones that best describe the evening.

Anna Grace could not help herself when it came to staying out of the sand, and Deacon just looks like he's wondering what the heck we are making him do. 

Deacon spit up all over Daddy, causing him to have to wear his fancy undershirt to dinner.

Of course, my child would not mind.

And it was like pulling teeth to get them to pose for the camera.

Granted, I like taking natural, un-posed shots, but these were not quite what I had in my mind! :)

However, we did capture a few sweet moments...

On the last night we spend the evening at the beach, had dinner by the pool, and stayed there until the pool closed. We did not want the evening to end, because we knew that meant the trip would be over.

We ended the trip with a stop at Dunkin Donuts where I was introduced to their yummy coffee and delicious breakfast. We made it safely home, and then what did we do? We did it all over again! My parents, my brother, and his family were making a trip to Pensacola only five days after our trip. When we got home, my brother begged, pleaded, and nearly twisted my arm off trying to get us to go back with him. Whatever, you know I'm lying.... nobody has to twist my arm to go to the beach and especially to go with my family! Although, we did try to be responsible and told him no three times, but he had Dustin at Deep Sea Fishing Charter.  My brother is quite the salesman...I see now why he does so good at his job! So the following week we headed back to the beach....YOLO! (Some teenage slang I learned while in Florida the first time, "You Only Live Once." I know...I'm a dork, and Dustin tells me not to say it!)

Since we weren't planning to go, my parents and brother only had a two bedroom condo, so we had to stay in a hotel about 20 minutes away. We would just stay the night there and then pack up to spend the day at the condo with them. Oh, how I enjoyed spending this time with my family!

I loved every minute of taking it all in!

Watching my parents adore their grandchildren, spending time with my nephews, and watching the kids play together...

Watching my dad and Dustin catch fish...

Watching Noah and Uncle Dusty relentlessly try to catch a fish by hand. And then be thrilled, when they were finally able to complete their mission. I'm not sure who was more excited...

Watching my brother with his sweet boys...

Spending quality time with my kiddos...

Watching Deacon conquer some major milestones like almost sitting up, puckering up for kisses, and giving fives...

He amazes me! He works so hard to do the things that he does and makes me so proud!

Watching my sister-in-law be such an awesome Mommy...

Glaring into those handsome blue eyes...

I love this shot....I'm sure this is one of many times to come when Deacon sticks his tongue out and makes faces at his cousin. I also love the look on Hudson's face!

Watching Hayden finally overcome his fear of his feet touching the sand...

Going to the Beachy restaurant that scored bonus points when it had a playground.

He hadn't quite overcome that fear yet...

And then there was that last day. Mom was taking care of Deacon, so Dustin and I took the big kids over to the beach...no phones, no cameras...just us, a sand bucket and a few pair of goggles. I even put on a pair of goggles, which I never do for fear of looking like a fool, and looked for fish and seashells. I felt like a little kid...heck, I even did a few front flips in the waves. It was so much fun... just spending some quality time with each other! All good things must come to an end, but at least we went out with a bang! Dustin whipped up some steaks and blackened some of the red snapper that they caught, and it was amazing! Of course, it was Monday night, so we had to watch the Bachelorette, and then with finished off the evening with one of those moments that I love. The one where my brother breaks out his guitar and plays the Jack Johnson tunes, or sings one of the songs he wrote, and we all sing and laugh, and just enjoy the time that we are spending together.

And then, it was picture day. We decided to do picture day on our way out of town. We went to an old military fort called Fort Pickens. It was a photographers dream! The only problem was that it was 100+ degrees outside. So needless to say, we did not stay long. I definitely want to go back when it is cooler. We had a friendly bystander that offered to take our picture, and now have a treasured photo of the entire fam.

Another wonderful trip, that we were so blessed to get to take. Memories that will last a lifetime. And now it is back to reality. But guess what? I like reality too! ;)