Summer memories

We have been working really hard for the past couple of months to get our yard level enough to put a pool on. Whew! It has been tough...stressful...hot...annoying... haha...I think you get the idea. So...Guess What!

We finally did it! Our yard is level and we now have a pool! Woohoo! I AM SO EXCITED! It has been sooooooo HOT outside. A pool is the only way to go. :) We will definitely get a lot of use out of it and make some awesome summer memories.





We also made S'mores the other night. They were soooo delicious! Bella loves anything chocolate, so it was a big hit.

We used our grill to melt the marshmallows

Precious

My kids are precious...nuff said. :)

Over the river and through the woods....

to grandparents' houses we go...:)

We decided to head down south for the weekend to do some much needed grandparent time. We spend Friday and Saturday night at PawPaw's, and we headed to Big Daddy and Big Momma's house on Sunday. The kids are always spoiled and come home completely rotten. I guess that's what grandparents do....:)

My 95 year old grandmother always enjoys our company the most. She has had many, many years of sitting in a swing with children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and yes, great great grandchildren. She is one special lady.

MawMaw and Gavin in the swing



Bella and Gavin sitting on PawPaw's lawnmower


Gavin and Big Daddy sleeping

As promised...

Here is Bella's dance recital video. :)

VHS tape, plastic utensils, car key...it's all the same...right?

Our TV has a DVD/VHS combo feature. We can't use the DVD part because it's broken, and the VHS part rarely gets used. Or does it? ;)

Gavin

+


VHS slot

=

Finding all of this stuff inside

Yes, it's true... A VHS slot can be used for more than just tapes. ;)

Update

I am definitely going to have to get better at this blogging thing. Seriously. :)

Well, I decided to take myself off of Facebook. It feels better to be away from so much outside drama. My family deserves my full attention without all the negativity that Facebook brought us. I am glad for my blog, because I love, love, love talking about my babies and my husband. I can still do that here. Thank goodness. ;)

My sweet, darling Bella will be staying home with me starting Monday. This is her last week to be at Mrs. Karen's. We will miss Mrs. Karen so very much. God placed her in our lives at just the right time, and now it is so hard to let go of her. :( We are trying to hold on to what we can, so we have decided to hire Shelby (Karen's daughter) to babysit the kids from time to time. It makes us happy to know that we have such wonderful people to trust our children with (because we need our time away too ya know).

Gavin, oh Gavin... What can I say. He is a ball of crazy with a "little tiny smidgen" (Bella's favorite saying) of sweetness. haha. He loves his momma and daddy like crazy and loves his big sister even more. Thank God for this child. He is the baby Chris and I always imagined we would have together. Exactly as we always knew he would be. Even with all the crazy. :) We are working on getting his screaming under control...he seems to be getting better with it....maybe not. lol Either way, we are all able to better tune it out. ;) The climbing, however, is getting worse. He has turned into a monkey, I think. Well...minus the tail. He climbs on the couch, the love seat, the chair, the stove, the patio chairs and table, the stairs off the deck, the slide, oh and today he climbed on the end tables...haha... I think he would climb on anything if he could reach. I can't get mad at him because he smiles at me. Oh what a smile...it literally turns me to mush. He has his daddy's smile.

To do list:

• take more pictures
• take the bottle away from Gavin (yikes)
• save some money for vacation (yeah right)
  
• do the laundry (who am I kiddin')
• Forget all of the above and spend time with my family instead :)

Gavin and Bella love each other. Bella's little "sugies" is so special to her. She doesn't always admit it, but there are moments that I catch (when she doesn't know I am watching) - little moments of sweet hugs and tickle time. She even shares a toy or two every now and then. I love when I catch it. The secret moments are the best. :)

Dance Recital and Build-a-bear

Friday night was Bella's first Dance Recital! Woohoo! She did so good. :) I am one proud momma. For now I am going to only post pictures, but I will post the video very soon. It is precious...and hilarious. haha! You will see. ;)

Aunt Jessica, Uncle Stan, and PawPaw came to watch our baby girl perform. She was thrilled beyond belief to see them there. She even gave PawPaw a shout out from stage! (she was suppose to be dancing, but oh well) Aunt Jessica brought her some beautiful flowers and a gift card to go to Build-a-bear. She has been wanting to go there for an eternity (maybe not that long). We decided to get up early today and take her. She absolutely LOVED it! She picked a pink bear and named her "Flower". I am so happy for her...she really loves it. Gavin didn't really care about build-a-bear, and we didn't take him to the recital. Poor Gavin. :( I think he will be okay though. He's pretty happy anyways.