Fun with Chris and Dargan

Today we got to enjoy hanging out with Andy's childhood friend and his family!  It takes our kids a little while to get use to each other and remember how to play together.  However, they have a great time and swim till they shrivel up.  Their oldest daughter Clara was inside while we swam but we enjoyed talking with her when we were inside.  It's sad that we only get to see Chris and Dargan once a year but I'm thankful for the time we get!!  Hope we can continue our annual summer get together.

Maggie's Friday night mishap

Maggie had a little mishap while she was being a helper...every night Maggie likes to collect our plates and take them to the sink.  Tonight while she was trying to help, she slipped and one of the plates shattered.  She ended up with a nasty gash on her foot just below the ankle.  It bled quickly and a lot.  We weren't sure if she needed to get seen at the ER or not.  Thankfully our neighbor is a nurse and was home.  She came over to check things out.  We thought Maggie had a piece of glass in her foot but thankfully it wasn't.  We cleaned it up and wrapped it to keep pressure on it.  Not exactly the Friday night we were looking for but thankful for sweet neighbors and things not being any worse than they were. 

Flower Helper

The spring flowers on our front porch finally gave out about a week or so ago.  The summer heat was just too much for them!  So Maggie and I headed to Lowe's to pick up a few plants for the front porch.  She was such a good helper!

Food and Fellowship

Tonight we met our church family at the park for dinner and fellowship.  So thankful for this group of people that 2 years ago we didn't know...now they have become our sweet friends!  The kids have bonded together so quickly and play so well together!  It was a fun evening!!

Clothes vs. Toys

Caroline has entered a new phase...she has decided she would rather look at clothes than toys.  Shesh, that happened quickly! :0)

Bowling with Maggie's 3k friends

One of the sweet moms in Maggie's 3k class organized a family bowling night for Maggie and her friends.  It was SO fun and SO sweet to watch these kids interact together after being away from each other almost a month.  We always have so much fun bowling...I don't know why we don't bowl more often!  Caroline won both games!!  She was a beast!! :-)

Trimming Trees

Our time swimming was cut short today because the folks were coming to trim our trees.  Our beautiful oak tree by the garage was huge and touching our roof as well as our neighbors.  The trees in our backyard made us super nervous during the last few hurricanes.  So I had someone come out and tell us what they thought we should do.  We didn't want to loose the trees or the shade they provide but we also didn't want to have them fall on our house.  The owner of the tree service thought we could save all the trees but simply shaping them up and topping them off.  I was amazed watching the guys work...the girls lost interest after about 2 minutes...

Before...

After...

 

Fun in the Pool

After Maggie's swim lessons today, we stayed at Aunt Tomi Jean's to swim.  Grace brought Caroline home from swim lessons and they played for a while.  Loved the pictures I got trying to catch them in action! :-)

 

Voting again...

Today there was a runoff election held for a few local and state candidates.  The girls and I took advantage of our right and privilege to vote once again!  This time we borrowed a chair to take the picture!! :-)

Mr. Roger Day!!!

Several summers ago, we heard Mr. Roger Day at a summer library program.  We loved his music about nature and such.  Two years ago I heard him at a school conference.  The girls and I were both so excited to see him on the summer library lineup once again.  I think I enjoyed this program as much as the girls!!

Maggie's Yellow Band Certified

After Maggie did so well swimming on Saturday without any flotation device, I thought it might be worth a shot to try for her yellow band at the Y. A yellow band allows her to swim in the water up to the 3 1/2 foot section without any flotation device.  In order to earn the yellow band, she has to be able to swim a certain distance without touching the bottom or side of the pool.  She DID IT and was SO proud of herself!!!   I am SO excited for her but my summer at the pool just got super busy!  I can't take my eyes off of her now...

Ice Cream with Granny

Last weekend after Caroline's swim meet the girls and I headed to meet Mom to get some water shoes for Caroline to use while swimming.  Of course, the girls enjoyed a yummy summer treat thanks to Granny.  Life doesn't get much better than a cone of soft serve ice cream in the summer.

Afternoon Pool Fun

We had a wonderful day helping clean up our church home (aka a school) but we were exhausted when we got home.  The girls left a little early to hang out with my mom.  When they came home, I knew we needed to do something because if I sat down, I was done for the day.    

Maggie has been taking swim lessons this past week and her instructor Miss Ashley said to let her practice as much as possible with floaties or a life jacket.  So the girls and I packed up and headed over to Tomi Jeans for a swim.  Maggie swam the entire two hours without anything.  She did great!  She has picked up on swimming so quickly!  I'm so super proud of her.  I myself enjoyed floating on my new float that I received for Mother's Day.  I loved that Tomi Jean, Greg and Grace joined us for some afternoon fun!

Church Clean Up Day

Today we had a service day at the school where we have church.  It was a beautiful day and we were so thankful the humidity wasn't as rough as it normally is.  I absolutely LOVED seeing our sweet little community of believers working together.  Many of the folks in our congregation were there to help and we accomplished so much! 

Celebrating 15 years!

Tonight Andy and I got to enjoy a night out to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.  Grace kept the girls and they were super excited...pretty sure they didn't miss us at all.  We enjoyed a yummy dinner and shopping at some of our favorite places without distractions.  I am truly grateful for every year we celebrate.  Marriage isn't easy and the world tells us when it gets hard, you can walk away...but the Bible tells us something different.  That's what we cling to when marriage gets hard-the commitment we made to Jesus and to ourselves.  I'm so thankful that I get to do life with Andy and I am thankful for the home and family we have built together!  Here's to many, many more years!

YMCA Swim Meet

So you only celebrate your 15th wedding anniversary once and when you do, you spend it at your child's swim meet and you wouldn't have it any other way!  This swim meet was for 9 and older so it was the first time Caroline swam a meet at the Y.  We were excited because I got to take Maggie to the outdoor pool and come in for Caroline's races.  Once the pool closed at 8, Maggie and Andy came home and I stayed with Caroline.  It was a fun but late night.   Caroline didn't swim her last event until 10 PM!  *I told Andy I feel like this is the summer things are changing...Caroline's events-VBS, dinner with friends, swim meets, etc. are lasting longer and later! :-)*  Our team did really well and we have so much to be proud of!

Caroline is the youngest in her bracket this year.  So unlike last year, she isn't finishing first or second in every race...she is having to push harder to shave some time off of her seed time.  I am proud to say that each swim meet she has improved in some way from the previous meet.  I love it!!!  I don't care if she finishes first, I care about her setting goals and working towards them!  That's winning in my opinion!  As of tonight, she has officially swam each stroke in a meet and will most likely get to swim an IM in the next meet.  She is SUPER excited about that!

One of Caroline's REACH teachers got this awesome shot of her swimming!!  Fabulous!

 Entertaining herself while she waits

 Caroline swam her last event at 10 PM. It was the breastroke and she won her heat!  She was super excited as she has never swam breast in a meet before!  I can't say enough how THANKFUL I am for each of the girls pictured here.  These other 3 ladies are the reason Caroline LOVES summer swim league!  They love her, teach her and encourage her to be her BEST!

Kids Camp AKA VBS

This week Caroline's sweet friend McCall invited her to Kids Camp (aka VBS) at her church.  Caroline was only able to attend 3 nights but had so much fun with her friends!!  Several of her classmates were also there which made it that much more fun!  Thankful for sweet friendships!

Castles make rest time easier

The girls decided to have quiet time in Maggie's room.  I told them it was fine as long as they were quiet.  I went in to find this...did I mention that we spent the morning cleaning????  SO after I told them they would be cleaning that up after rest time, I decided to take a picture of their 'castle' as they called it!! 

Sweet Summer Mornings

Last summer I realized that our day is SO MUCH better if I wake up before the kids to have a cup of coffee, quiet time with the Lord and a minute to catch my breath before our day gets started.  The kids are not allowed out of their room until 7:00.  Caroline can tell time and Maggie knows she can't come out until her green light goes off.  This has been one of the BEST things for our family for summer!!!

The girls have discovered that they can play quietly in each others room.  So there is the occasional morning when I hear giggles from someones room.  This morning I was getting something from our room and heard the girls on Maggie's monitor.  They were laughing and playing and having so much fun!  It was a sweet moment that I don't want to forget.  It's easy for me, especially in the summer when we are together so much, to only see/remember the yelling and arguing from the day.  But there really are some sweet moments and they do love each other SO MUCH!

Community Cookout

We were invited to a community cookout at Nana Carol and Papa Mike's house.  (This is my friend Charissa's parents)  We were able to meet some of their neighbors as well as visit with some of our friends from First Pres.  It was a fun evening and I'm so thankful we were able to join them.

Magic Marc

Today's library 'feature' was a magic show.  Part of the show included a real, live Albino Python.  Y'all this kid is SO much braver than I am...she was up there before I could say no.  When Magic Marc started heading my way, I almost walked on air getting away from him...NO THANK YOU!  Both girls enjoyed the bunny. :-)