Back in June...

My parents visited.  We love having them here! 

We rode bikes to the pool and swam.  A lot.

 Phil sat across from Michael Keaton on one of his flights.  Lol.  But seriously that is really him.

My sister Leslie and my niece and nephew visited!

And Davis left the cutest footprints and then face-planted right before we left.  Lol.

The boys kept getting bigger.  :(

We took swim lessons.

We loaded up the jeep, drove across the street, and rented a pontoon for the day.  So much fun!

 

Someone always wants to be just like his big brothers...

 

Bottle was empty...  just FYI..

Nothing better than napping on a boat...

J never naps on the boat... he loves it too much.  He stands up at the front any time we are moving.

J lost his first tooth!  He was SO excited... he told everyone he saw.

We had so much fun with the pontoon that one weekend that we had to do it again... this time we met up with some friends with sailboats for what the boys now call "the boat party".  We all tied up together and hung out there and jumped off the boat and swam and floated for hours.  It was an amazing day.  We had to leave at 5:30 to get the boat back by 6:00 and Phil pretty much had to drag us out of the water.  

We were the only ones with kids there and we told the boys they had to be on their best behavior at all times and thankfully they were.  No fighting and not one tantrum or argument.  It was a boat party miracle.

Right after I took this pic on the way home Reid went and laid down on that little couch and fell completely asleep... He even stayed asleep while we docked and unloaded.  Wiped out.

One last fun thing back in June (until "Back In June Part Two" coming up soon)... Phil and I got to meet up with my high school friend Kristen and her husband for dinner one night! They were vacationing over on 30A and we drove over to meet them.  We had the best time and it was so great to see them!  Kristen is really the only friend from high school that I still keep in touch with... She is such a wonderful person and we have a lot in common.  She also has four kiddos who are all just a little older than mine.  And she also homeschools her kids and has helped me so much in that area!  She really is a blessing to me... We have very similar personalities and parenting styles (and husbands who travel often for work) and her advice and support has been invaluable to me!  She's currently helping me with diet and fitness (where I need the most help... Lol!).  Thank you, Kristen, for being such a blessing in my life!

Stay tuned for Part Two and another sweet blessing!

Photo Dump

Being silly...

Monkey-See, Monkey-Do (drives Emmett CRAZY!)...

SO hard to get a good pic of J with his eyes open!

LOVE this one...

STINKER!!

STINKER EXTRAORDINAIRE!

 

Little Lovey...

Everyone loves that Jeep!!

Sleeping angel...

Oh, Reid...

New potted plants for the porch (and popsicles)...

First dinner in our dining room at our new (old) dining room table via craigslist...

I love that table.  I searched for months for a good deal on an oval table with leaves that was a medium wood tone.  Finally found this one a few weeks ago and loaded everyone up in the truck to drive an hour to Grayton Beach to pick it up.  It was worth it.  Chairs need some work but they were free with the table and they are great for now.  I might spray paint them white.  They have fabric seats that I have already recovered, which really helped.  We absolutely love having dinner in there.  The boys remind us every night before dinner that we are eating in the dining room.  The first night they kept commenting on how nice it was.  Emmett kept saying, "This is so nice and ORGANIZED!"  Lol!


On to other pics.  Yes, he did this himself and was walking around like this.  We were dying laughing.

 

This is a weird picture of me but D fell asleep on me after being at the pool one morning and I just had to take a pic of how sweet he looked.  

Also had to document the time I was talking to an adult that stopped by and asked J and E to "pick out some books and read quietly on the couch" and they actually did!  Lol!

I wish D stayed this happy in this fun little floaty for more than 2 minutes!  He just wants to jump in like his brothers!

My magnolia tree bloomed!

Reid will FINALLY sit still and play with something for more than 45 seconds!  As of about two weeks ago he likes to play little preschool games on the Kindle!  HOORAY!!!!!!  (This is major news around here... he is usually such a crazy tornado).  And I can't handle those fat little thumbs... I took like four pictures of them...

Oh my gosh... this is the sweetest thing ever.  EVERY. SINGLE. morning Reid has to go into the garage to watch Daddy start his jeep when he leaves for work.  Then he runs to the end of the driveway as Phil is pulling out and stands there with his hands behind his back watching Daddy until he turns around the bend.  He waves and yells things like, "I'll see you later!  Have a good time at work!"  All with those camo rain boots on and usually shirtless.  It is so adorable.  :)

Also adorable...

 

How we get plants home now that we've sold the truck... (Oh, yeah... we sold the truck last week)...

That's about it for now!  :)

"Naaaa-Tuuuure!"

Imagine that word being said in the voice of Will Ferrell playing Robert Goulet.  LOL!  I cannot even hear the word "nature" anymore without thinking of that skit.  It's so funny... and I don't even know who Robert Goulet is.  

Anyway, we have lots of cool "naaaa-tuuuure" around our parts.  Lots of birds... especially cranes or egrets or heron.  I need to get a bird book to look them up, because they really like hanging out in our creek.  And I swear a bald eagle flew right past our porch and into a tree down the creek the other day!  Right in front of me!  Can you see the big guy the boys are looking at?

Two weeks ago we had torrential rains for about two days straight and our creek filled up a little and was flowing fast.  It even almost washed our bridge away...

Phil was supposed to be TDY over in Ft. Walton Beach those days, but he got two days off for the weather!  That was nice, unexpected treat.  And this guy hung out in that spot almost the whole first day.  Didn't even get scared away when we were making lots of noise on the porch.  Isn't he cute?

After two days of being stuck inside we couldn't take it anymore and let the boys get rid of some energy in the huge puddle in our driveway.  It was still drizzling at this point but they needed to get out!

 

 Davis was in HOG HEAVEN!

And then a few mornings later I went to put the garbage at the curb and saw this most beautiful little box turtle in our driveway!  Isn't his shell the most perfect tortoiseshell design?  I couldn't stop staring at him.

Right where J is standing there is now a gross blood spot (I thought it was oil from Phil's truck) from when our neighbor apparently killed a squirrel that was eating from her birdfeeder!  She never mentioned it... her boys told us one day.  And she never cleaned up the blood?!?  Gross!

Family Pics

All I really wanted for Mother's Day was donuts for breakfast and a nice picture of my boys and our family.  Phil delivered on both accounts.  :)

Sometimes I just cannot believe all of those precious boys are mine.  I love them so much.  It's a good thing Phil got his little "operation" because I am having major baby fever again!  And I KNOW we do not need another baby.  Lol!  My sister, Becky, is due with her first baby in about a month... so I'll just love on him/her an extra lot.  :)

Not too shabby for using the timer, huh?  I am so thankful for all of my boys (especially the biggest one to my right)!