Pizza Friday

Friday nights around here usually mean Pizza nights.  Who doesn't like Pizza right?  Around here we eat a lot of pizza.  I love it 'cause it's easy to make and makes great leftovers for lunch over the weekend.

Neal really likes to cook with me.  So, he helps out when it's pizza night, although we get less pepperoni and pineapples on our pizza when he helps (he likes to sample the toppings).  

Also, if you haven't been over to our TWR ministry blog lately make sure to pop over there and see how God is working through TWR and our ministry there. 

The Builders

The best time of day around our house is when daddy gets home from work.  No matter what Neal is doing, the minute he hears his daddy come home he runs over with excitement saying "welcome home daddy" and gives Tyler big hugs.  Then he is running all over the house telling Tyler about his whole day and showing him all the toys he wants to play with.

While making dinner the other night Tyler and Neal were busy making their first fort.  Well, Tyler was busy making the fort, Neal was busy watching and saying "look mama, look".

Neal loved his fort and him and Tyler had fun laughing and pretending to sleep inside the finished fort together.  It was a bit small for Tyler but Neal loved crawling around inside.

Anything that daddy does around here is way cool according to Neal.  It is great to see how much he loves to spend time with his daddy.   No matter what Tyler is doing Neal wants to be right next to him doing the same thing.  There is always lots of laughter coming from Neal when daddy is around, and it puts a smile on all our faces 'cause what is better then the sweet sounds of a child's laugh.

Reading Material

Unpacking always takes longer then packing.  We finally set up our last bookshelf and were able to unpack our last box of  books...We have a lot of books.

I had forgotten about a lot of the books that we own.  While unpacking I found the photo books I made of Neal's first year.  Neal and I sat on the couch together and had a lot of fun looking through all the pictures together.  Neal was pointing out everyone he knew in the pictures and was so excited to see "baby Neal" on each page.  I loved looking at all the pictures and remembering all the milestones over the first year of his life.  He changes so quickly.  

I also found some good, and very applicable, reading material for myself.  

I had forgotten about these books and am excited to start reading them and learning more Biblical truths and wisdom for parenting.  I pray each day that Neal will come to know the Lord as his savior and that I will be faithful to speak the truth of the gospel to him each day.  I am so glad that Tyler and I get to walk this road of parenthood together.  We have learned a lot already and we have only started.  

Now I should get going and get in some reading while Neal naps.

Thunderstorms and Movies

We finally are having a break from the hot weather.  The other day we had a huge thunderstorm.  The wind was blowing, it was raining hard and the thunder was so loud that the house was shaking.  Neal managed to sleep through the first 20 minutes of this storm (which I can't believe).  When I walked into his room to wake him up he was laying on his bed saying "boom, boom, tunder....boom, boom big tunder".   He was so excited about the thunder that he wanted to go outside and watch/listen to it.  I told him we had to stay inside for this storm.  Every time he heard the thunder he would jump up and down with excitement and say "boom, boom tunder".    Shortly after this excitement we lost power, but not before we had popped some popcorn...

So we brought out the ipad and watched a movie together while eating popcorn and listening to the thunder.  Neal and I got to snuggle together and enjoyed the storm in the dry house as we waited for Tyler to get home from work.  Thankfully the power came back on just in time to make dinner.

Bugs

Bugs, bugs and more bugs.  Not only are there lots of bugs outside but Neal likes to try and keep them in his bug catcher so he can watch them up close.   As long as they stay in the bug jar I am ok with that, but I make sure to put plenty of tape on the lid so no little hands can let them out without me knowing.


May favorite one we caught was a "blutterfly" (as Neal calls it)

The June bug was way to loud and made all of us (even Tyler) jump when he would suddenly buzz and fly around.

The coolest looking one was the Praying Mantis (which is hard to see in this picture).

Neal loves to watch them and tap the jar to make them move.  After a day he wants to go outside and watch them fly away when he open the lid.

Beating the Heat

It has been HOT here the last few weeks.   But that hasn't stopped us from having fun.  What do we do when it is to hot to really enjoy it outside?   You play inside or find activities that are in the water.  We have found lots of different water activities and Neal loves them all.

Neal's favorite by far is swimming in the big pool with Tyler and I and of course anything when his friends are around.

July 3rd

Happy Fourth of July everyone!   We got to celebrate a day early with a great Fireworks show on July 3rd in downtown Fuquay.

This is the first time in 7 years that I have gotten to really see fireworks for the 4th of July.  In AK there were always fireworks but with the constant daylight the fireworks are very hard to see in the sky.  So this year not only did we get to see them light up the sky but we also could enjoy them outside without being freezing.   It was dark and 90 degrees outside yesterday and so we had a great time watching the show.

There was the firework show in front of us and a thunder and lightening storm arriving behind us last night.  So we watched from right outside our car and just as the fireworks ended and we hopped in the car it started to rain, and then pour.   Neal was talking about the fireworks and then saying "boom, boom, splat, splat" every time he say lightening and heard thunder the whole way home.  It was quite the exciting night.

When we arrived home we found that we had lost power so we had to run through the pouring rain to our front door (running through huge puddles).  We found some flashlights and Neal was beside himself with delight getting ready for bed with the flashlight and finding his way around the house in the dark.  Neal loved every part of the night from the fireworks, to the storm, to the power outage and getting to stay up way past his bedtime to enjoy it all.

A great early celebration of Independence Day with the family.