Our Summer....

OK. I am the first to admit that I am a slacker blogger, big time! I really need to be better at this and not wait so long in between posts. We had such a fun and exciting summer, that there is no way I can re-cap it all- so I will just hit some of the highlights and include lots of pictures :)

Parker started off the summer by taking swim lessons to get him geared up for all the pool and beach fun this summer. He was NOT a fan at first, because he was scared to be in the water without me and/or his floaties- but he warmed up to it as the weeks progressed. And a week after his swim lessons ended, he was swimming totally on his own without assistance. The rest of the summer he was pretty much a fish and he now LOVES swimming on his own.

As always, we had lots of fun weekends at the lake! The new "toys" there this summer are 2 jet ski's, which Parker loves driving. Yes, he drives them...with someone riding on the back with him of course. He loves it, and even gets it up to 60mph at times- which makes this mamma nervous!He does a great job though. We had lots of fun with family and friends this summer up there- it is such a great place for a fun weekend getaway! Anthony's family was able to come up one of the weekends, and all of the cousins had such a great time together. Pretty sure the adults had a little fun too :)

We also had our annual trip to Mexico Beach, FL with about 75 of our closest family members!! It is always a great trip, and this year was no different. Parker loved the beach, ocean and pool that was out our place- so we had lots of fun in the sun! This was the first year that ALL of my mom's side of the family were there- there is usually at least one person each year who can't make it for whatever reason. So, I surprised Mere and Grandaddy by hiring a professional photographer to take all of our pictures on the beach. It was so awesome, and they are pictures that we will all always treasure. It was an awesome vacation!

Parker also played t-ball this summer, which was SUPER cute! He was on the team with one of his best little buddies- our neighbor, Carter. Half the time they spent more time goofing off in the field than paying attention- but that is what made it so cute. He really enjoyed it though, and I'm so glad we did it.

The end of the summer was a hard time for my family. My grandaddy had back surgery in August, and ended up getting really sick afterwards. He was in the hospital for a week, and then in the rehab at a nursing home for a couple of weeks after that. He is back home now, and doing SO much better! He is making huge improvements every day, and we are so happy to see how far he has come. It was a scary time for my entire family, but things are really looking up now. My aunt Laurie also had surgery-which went really well, so we are very thankful for that!

I enjoyed being home with Parker this summer and was happy that we could stay busy and find lots of fun things to do with friends. So, now we are winding down summer and getting ready for FALL- my most favorite time of year!! Hopefully there will be more posts to come once all the fall fun begins...I will try to do better. Really, I will :)

Hope everyone is doing well. Enjoy the pics :)


PARKER AT SWIM LESSONS




FUN AT THE LAKE







MEXICO BEACH VACATION



















MORE FUN AT THE LAKE












T-BALL

Spring, Birthdays and Easter!

I LOVE spring, and get so excited when it gets here. We have had a fun and busy start to spring around here. Parker turned 4 years old on March 31st, which is so hard to believe. I know everyone says how fast time goes by, but it truly truly does! He was pretty excited about his Birthday this year and for about a month he would ask me "Is it my Birthday today?" So, he was pretty happy when it finally got here! We ended up having a week long celebration between his Birthday, my Birthday and Easter, so it was a fun week! It started off with his party at school on Friday, which was a "spiderman" party. On Saturday we had his Birthday party at the Bowling alley with family and a few of his friends. The kids got to bowl on the "mini lanes" which are PERFECT for kids his age. I think everyone had a great time Bowling, eating pizza and cake, and playing games in the arcade! On Wed (his actual Birthday), Grammy and Paw Paw came over to celebrate and give him his big present (Power Wheels Jeep) that we went in on together with my parents. The funny thing is that I had also bought him superman and spiderman pj's because that is what he asked for. My mom found a superman card that played the superman theme song. So, he opened those things first and was SO excited about them. He would have been happy with just that! We then took him outside to see the jeep, he ran to it- started driving it right away and then got out- went back inside and got his superman card and pj's. SO, he spent the rest of the night riding around in his jeep, wearing his superman pj's, holding his superman card. It was great! A few of his new little friends from the neighborhood ended up playing outside with him and coming in to sing Happy Birthday and have cake. It was a GREAT day for him! Then, the weekend rolled along and it was my Birthday on Saturday! Anthony and I got to go on a date on Friday night, which is always nice! On Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt in the neighborhood and to lunch just the 3 of us, and then Saturday night we went to dinner with my family! Sunday was Easter and we went to church with my parents and then had lunch and an Easter egg hunt at my parents house! THEN, Sunday night we celebrated my Birthday and Easter at Anthony's parents house! Whew, I am tired just typing all of that. Needless to say, by Sunday night we were exhausted and full from so many fun get togethers and all the good food, and WAY too much cake. But, it was a great great week!

Oh- and in GOOD, GOOD news...We have a contract on our house in Franklin! It was on the market 7 weeks before we got the offer- not too bad at all. We feel so lucky and blessed. We are hoping to close on it by May 14th, and we are so ready to have that part over and done with. We are loving the new house, and love spending time outside playing and Parker loves riding his bike. Just about every afternoon we are outside playing with the neighbors until it is time to come in for dinner. It has been really great for Parker, and for us! We are LOVING it here and have met so many wonderful and nice people!
Here are some pictures from Parker's Birthday, My Birthday and Easter! YAY FOR SPRING!!!