"I help you"

our big helper

enjoying our time

we went to new albany last tuesday for the day to visit zeb's grandmother.  we arrived early so we stopped by his uncle's business and visited for a bit.  dry creek told sam to hang on tight!  he wasn't letting go for anything, but the ride around the warehouse sure was fun!

the tupelo hensons came over so that we could enjoy a lunch.  by the way, el agave, in new albany has delicious mexican!

sam had a playdate so we got in some good girl's time.  they enjoyed painting while i sat on the swing

and read an entire Magic Tree House book to them!  

we've enjoyed several fun days at the museum.

my bed is perfect for post nap snuggling!

yum

we enjoyed a very fun two and a half hours at the park on monday morning.  it was almost cool (or at least not hot).  this was their imaginary "home".  sam was the boy, leigh the mamma, and sb the aunt.  i found out when we took a bathroom break that i was the mimi.  

this made me laugh so hard.  sam asked us to wait on dinner so that he could answer the phone.  i have no idea where he got this from because we don't talk on the phone during dinner!

Making the most of summer

I  can not believe that we just have three weeks before school starts--less than that actually.  I have such mixed emotions.  On the one hand, I am a scheduled person so I find it easier to run our house when we all have a schedule.  But more than that, I am gonna miss these three.  We have had the best summer (minus two weeks ago when I wanted to throw in the towel).  Seriously, we have have one hard week and it was really hard.  But other than that it has been great.  I feel like we have had a good mixture of doing things and just being home.  We haven't gone out of town and it has been so nice.  It's just been laid back and fun.  We have done lots of swimming and lots of coloring.  Other than that we have done a little of this and a little of that.  

Last week after a long nap we loaded up in the car--in our pjs nonetheless--and went and held our new little friend, Coit.  The girls could have held him all day!

Sam got a balance bike last week for his birthday so we have spent some time practicing on it.

One morning last week we played at the park for about an hour and a half before getting too hot.  To cool off we went and had ice cream and then went home and had lunch.  I heard the kids tell several people that their momma gave them ice cream before lunch--ha!  It's summer!

Twin Lakes is the place to be...

So...over a month ago Sara Beth and several of her friends loaded the buses and headed to Twin Lakes.    She had the best time and is already looking forward to next year!  

Ready to load buses on Day 1

Day 5

a few more swimming pics and a video

Sam has spent many hours at the pool for swim team this summer.  He is such a trooper.  I know one day the girls will pay him back with many hours spent at the ball fields!  One day last week Jake came with us.  I absolutely LOVE these pics!

He has spent a lot of time playing in the kiddie pool and exploring the area around the pool!  Every time he did it with a smile!  He loves to be outside!

A couple more from City Meet

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

Since going to Disney World back in May, I have had Dory's song "Just keep swimming" in my head.  So much that Sara Beth finally said, "Momma, sorry, but that is just annoying".  ha! I couldn't even get on to her because I agree!  But that has been the theme of the summer!  We started out the summer with Sam having swim lessons.  He did so good.  There were tears but he got over them and did exactly what his teacher asked him to do.  He took with his buddy Jake.

I determined that this was the summer that SB was going to get over all of her swimming fears.  I figured swim team was the place to do it.  Not to exaggerate, but swim team has been one of the best things we have done.  I love how it is both an individual and team sport.  In the last few meets Sara Beth swam freestyle, butterfly, and backstroke,  plus a freestyle and medley relay (where she swam butterfly).  She got the "most improved" trophy and I would have to agree.  She has gained so much confidence.  It has been so much fun to watch her develop into a swimmer!  (On a side note, she swallowed her 8th tooth at City Swim Meet.)

The girls with their ever so patient coaches.

The team

Leigh has come so far this year too.  She swam freestyle in several meets.  She's not quite able to swim without grabbing the rope, but I bet she will be able to by the end of the summer--too bad swim team is over!  She has kept me on my toes!  One minute she is swimming great, the next minute she is not wanting to at all.  Two weeks ago she got up on the diving blocks ready to go.  The announcer says, "swimmers on your mark, get set, go".  Instead of jumping in the water she jumps off and runs away.  This made me so MAD! But, I already see the humor in it.  I was so upset, I deleted the video. I wish I had not.  We may have been able to win money on America's Funniest Videos!!  We couldn't end the year that way, so she swam a lap in City Meet so that she could end her year on a positive note!  The other funny thing that happened with her actually had nothing to do with her.  I was videoing her swimming at the yacht club and I tripped over the lifeguard stand. I do have video of that.  And a month later my knee is still bruised and I bet that teenage lifeguard is still laughing about the old lady that fell flat on her face.  I was glad I didn't fall in the pool and Zeb is glad I didn't drop the phone in the pool! 

Party Time

We celebrated Sam's birthday on the 4th.  Back in January when the girls were deciding what kind of party they wanted Sam said he wanted a train party.  6 months later he never once changed his mind.  So, a train party is what we had.  (Boy parties are so much fun!!!)

For a craft, they colored wooden trains and we made magnets out of them.

For the party favor, we had conductor hats with whistles.  It's amazing how many whistles were "accidentally" left here!

Sam and I made this train out of boxes.  

For snacks I kept it really simple.  The girls made the sparkler pretzels.  Other than that we had fruit and  salsa and chips.  Of course it all went with our red, white, and blue theme.  

I really had fun making the cake.  It took many more hours than I thought. But it was worth it to see Sam's face when I showed it to him!  Each kid got their own train car to eat.

Zeb's mom saved Zeb's baby plate and cup.  It was the perfect decoration!

We woke Sam up just when it was time for his party.  He had bad bed head so his hair is wet in these first couple of pictures.  He was so excited it was finally time for his party!  I love these pics with his finger in his mouth.  They show a big smile plus a little nervousness!  Thankfully, he was in the best mood and enjoyed every second of his party!  Just a warning...there are tons of pictures below!

Poor guy has had some sort of allergic reaction! Thankfully there was so much going on he didn't seem to be to bothered by it during the party.

Even some of the biggest kiddos got in!

What were Leigh and Henry talking about here?

Can't believe my baby is 3!  Happy Birthday to the sweetest 3 year old boy I know!