Summer Night Sprinkler Fun

We interrupt the normal order of events to bring you a special message.

The kids and I have been in the house all day. With all the craziness of travel and guests the last couple weeks I just needed a day to regroup. So I paid bills, organized mail, made/cancelled doctor appointments, ordered school backpacks, lunchboxes, supplies, and just caught up on the every day stuff.

This evening the kids went outside for some "after dinner sprinkler fun" with the neighbor.







Long after Nikki left, my kids continued on.





It went from water fun to a full out mud bath.









Gosh I love being a mom and being able to celebrate such fun moments with my kids!

Bedtime Stall

"Mom, take my picture..."






Love that kid!

4th of July Cookies

The kids and I tried our hands at cookies we saw made by Martha on the Today Show last week. While she made everything from scratch, we went the ghetto way out: break and bake sugar cookies, pre-made white frosting, and blue/red decorating gel.

For our first attempt I must say we rocked it!

I put the white frosting on the cookies.


We put either a blue or red dot in the middle and then made concentric circles.


Next we took a toothpick/skewer and pulled it from the center out.





Look how fun they turned out!


and they were good too boot!


Surprisingly they weren't hard with all our pre-made ingredients and Drew didn't have one single meltdown from frustration.

Sweet Baby Sarah

Look at the sweet gaze on Izzy's face...


And the smile...


Drew can't help but look on...


and then get drawn in by the "tiny wittle fingers"...


and her funny sleeping poses that he just had to imitate...


They were a huge help the night we got to babysit for our neighbor "Baby Sarah" (6 weeks).



It kind of got me wondering, what if?

Hutchinson Island

Today happened to be Father's Day and while we weren't with our Daddy, I was thanking my lucky stars for him! He works so hard to provide for us and allows me to do what I love the most...be with the kids...and, of course, take care of him :)

Because I don't have an actual "job" job, we are able to do lots of travelling in the summer months. We actually timed our trip to Florida so I was able to meet up with my oldest and dearest friend. We figure we have known each other for nearly 30 years.

We had THE.BEST.TIME. Let me say it again. We had THE.BEST.TIME! We didn't do anything crazy or outrageous, we had kids with us for cryin out loud, but we had a blast. There is something to be said for watching your best friend love on your kids. Meg is a natural with kids - she has 5 total but only 2 were with her. It was 3 days of me with my best friend and my kids. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.

Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures. In fact, I didn't get any of Meg and me. Such a shame, really. Between the pool, the beach, the poolside food/beverage service (courtesy of a flag raised on our lounge chair), how could I possibly manage a camera as well?





this is Meg's youngest, Shanan. How cute is he! ...and that is Meg you see grinning in the corner of the 2nd picture.




The days were full of fun in the sun. The nights included late night swims and card games between the girls.




Both boys either hung like champs, or slept, which allowed for Meg and me to catch up. In fact, the night before we left Drew fell asleep at 6:30 and didn't wake until 7:15 the next morning.

Look at how Drew looked after a day at the beach and pool.


and Izzy with her still sandy nose...


While I wasn't with Pete for Father's Day, I was certainly remembering how very fortunate I am to have such a wonderful partner. He takes such good care of us! Not to mention that with all the travel he does we are able to get super awesome upgrades when we travel ;)