Beating the Heat

Though the calendar says September it feels more like July to me.  The humidity and heat seam to last forever and it's these hot and humid days that make me so grateful for the option to go swimming.  The way we beat the heat around here is to either stay indoors or, the more fun option, go swimming!   

We have had so much fun hanging out with friends at the pool all throughout the day and sometimes we have even let the kids stay up late to swim 'till the sun goes down.  So many fun memories this summer in the water.  Gwendolyn is in love with the pool and just all water activities.  Neal and Tyler have often gone for a quick swim after dinner, while Gwen and I stay home, and it's so fun to hear the excitement in Neal's voice as he tells me about their time at the pool with just him and daddy.  

The big accomplishment this summer was Neal learning to swim!   He can almost make it across the width of the pool all by himself.  He has turned into quite the little fish this summer.

So if you come visit us, at least for the next few weeks, bring your swim suit 'cause we are practically living at the pool.

A Bit of Everyday Life

Nothing to exciting has been happening around here lately but our lives our never boring.  I actually have been enjoying the fact that we haven't had much on our schedules lately.  I enjoy the days/weeks were we are home and our schedule is open so we can participate in whatever activity may present itself for that day.   So, this is a glimpse of what you might find us doing with our days at home lately...

The occasional photo shoot...this girl is already 10 months!  Plans for her first birthday are already taking place.  

She is crawling all over the place. If not in the living room with Neal she can be found in the kitchen playing with her magnets.  I think a few new magnet sets are in order 'cause it keeps her busy and happy.  

We go to story time at the library once a week but during the month of August there is no story time.  No worries, Neal has stepped up and started his own story time for Gwen and I.  With a puppet show and everything. 

Grocery shopping has turned a whole lot more fun, with new car carts at the market and Gwen who is old enough to join Neal in the "drivers seat".  It's grins and giggles and a way to have a fun and productive outing. 

An evening fire outside is one of our favorite family activities.  It's been nice to have all of us home (no traveling for Tyler lately) and so we have been taking advantage of lots of family time. 

Sisters

The month of July has been one of the best months of the entire year for me, why you might ask? Because I got to have both my sisters here at my house at the same time!

I am so thankful that Anna, my youngest sister, has been able to come out and visit several times over the last few years.  We always love our time with her (and her husband).   She has graciously come form TX to see us the kids and we always have fun (we can't wait for her husband, Matt, to come back form deployment).

Amie, my older sister and her family, live outside of the US and so it has been almost 2 years since I have gotten to see her in person (we do love modern technology and Skype which has allowed us to see her some).

However the Lord, in His grace, allowed all three of us to be together in the same place for 2 whole days!    Amie was coming through Charlotte, on her way back overseas from a friends wedding, and was able to schedule her flight to have a 2 day layover so we could see her.  Anna flew up from TX and joined us for those 2 days and it was so wonderful!

We got to sit around talking, visiting, laughing and sharing all that has gone on in our lives over the last few years.  It's incredible to see how the Lord has cared for all of us and provided for all of us in so many ways.   We all have grown and changed through the circumstance of life, yet even with all those changes there is the familiarity of family and the bonds that hold us together as sisters.

Me and my sisters would probably all readily admit that we aren't the best at keeping up with each other over the phone.  We have all been separated by distance for quite sometime and we still haven't gotten better about keeping up on the phone.  Maybe it's just me but talking on the phone isn't a habit of mine.  However, this doesn't effect our relationship as sisters one bit, which I love!  

Our visit was far to short but really encouraging and uplifting.  Nothing like spending time with those who have known you from the beginning.  My sisters also are great at loving on our kids and it makes me so happy to see how much Neal and Gwendolyn love their Aunties (however I do wish Amie's kids could have been here to play too).   There was much laughter, dance parties, superhero fighting, henna and ice cream dates.

My sisters will aways be close to me no matter the distance, or lack of phone calls we make.   I can't wait for the next time we are all together in the same place.  For now we'll try to make more phone calls and FaceTime chats.

10 on 10 in July

I remembered!!  It's been a few months but finally this month I remembered to record my day in pictures for my 10 on 10 photo blog.  

So here was our day yesterday - July 10, 2014

8:00 am 

Getting ready for the day with this sweet girl hanging at my feet 

  

9:00 am

Painting his special picture from the library 

10:00 am

Getting ready for some quilting...hope to be able to sit down and quilt tonight once the kids are asleep

11:00 am

A house full of Superheros!   

Neal and his friends were very entertaining acting out their own action movie. 

12:00 pm

This girl is full of giggles every time she wakes up from her nap 

1:00 pm

Getting my 2 mile daily run in while the kids nap 

2:00 pm 

Relaxing for a bit with some coffee and a good book 

3:00 pm

Getting ready for Tia and Aunt Amie to visit.  Neal wanted his bear to keep Tia's bed warm until she arrives.  

4:15 pm 

Grocery Shopping - Neal loves that Gwendolyn will sit next to him now, and they enjoyed sharing their snacks 

5:30 pm 

Afternoon Thunderstorms - we made it home from the store right before the rain.

"Look mom I'm soaking wet" - for him this is quite wet for being in his clothes

9 Months and so Happy

This little girl of ours is 9 months!  Nearing 10 months actually, I'm just a little late in posting these pictures.

Here is what has been happing with Gwendolyn at 9 months:

1)  Not crawling, but will push herself around on the floor backwards.  

2) No teeth but eats everything we feed her.  No longer pureed food for her, she wants to eat what we eat.  

3)  Absolutely loves her brother and will always give him a huge smile and even laugh at whatever he does. 

4)  She was waving lots but has gotten tired of that trick and now is just starting to pick-up on some sign language.  

We have been having lots of fun the last few weeks, and there is more fun to come before summer ends.  We have taken a short trip to Tennessee, had great friends come visit from TX, and have spent many hours and evenings down at the pool.   Tyler has been working with Neal on swimming and he is doing great!  I think by the end of this summer we will have a swimmer!  Gwendolyn is not afraid of the water either and I think she will be trying to keep up with Neal sooner then we think...who knows at the rate she's going she may decide to swim before she crawls :)

Afternoon Activities and Summer Storms

This is what it looked like out our back door last night.  Isn't God amazing!!  The summer storms here in NC are one thing that I love about NC summers.  As I hear the rolling thunder and watch the dark clouds come in I am reminded of our great God.   Sitting out on the porch and watching the rain and storms roll in is a favorite pass time for us.

While summer is upon us and the heat and humidity are ramping up into full force we are trying to be creative and find fun things to occupy our time.  Besides going to the pool, our favorite summer activity, we are often looking for things to do that don't require us to run around outside in the heat. The last few weeks we have found a few activities that have been a big hit at our house.  Thanks to both ideas from friends and a fun activity book I have this is what we have been doing...

Bubble Painting

We filled a tray with dish soap and paint and then made paint bubbles by blowing into the paint with a straw.  We popped the bubbles with the paper and it made really fun looking pictures.  Neal has already asked when we can do this again.  

Family Ballon Toss

This activity was an idea from a friend of mine.  Neal either drew the faces or told me what to draw on the faces and he wrote most of our names. We made a ballon for each person in our family.  Then we had fun tossing the balloons on a blanket and trying to keep the family from falling on the ground.  

Sprinkler Trampoline Jump 

Pool Time

As always the best way to beat the heat is to go to the pool and enjoy time with family and friends. 

When you have a cutie like this at the pool to keep you company it's always a good day.

So, how do y'all enjoy the summer?  We're always looking for activities to fill our days and would love to hear about some of your favorite summer time activities.  One of Gwen's new favorite activity would be this....mmmmmm, watermelon

Disneyland!

We had the great privilege of getting to go to "The Happiest Place on Earth" while we were in California.  That's right we went to Disneyland!

I, Laura, have so many fun memories from Disneyland growing up from my trips there while in college.  In fact Tyler and I first hung out together at Disneyland (in a group of 20+ people from school), though we don't really remember each other from that day.  It was another 2 years after that trip that we started hanging out.  But that's an old story and this post is all about our recent trip to Disney and Neal's first Disneyland experience.  

We were able to go for 2 days and got to see both Disneyland and California Adventure.  Neal LOVED every part of those 2 days.  He was the perfect age to take and was tall enough to ride every ride he wanted.  His favorite rides were Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear, Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain.  Thunder Mountain was his first roller coaster and after that there wasn't anything he wouldn't try.

I was impressed how brave he was riding everything.  I am not a fan of roller coasters but there was nothing that intimidated Neal.   We got to go the first day with Tyler's whole family and all the cousins.

The kids had a great time all together.  I spend most of the day relaxing in the shade keeping company with those who didn't want to do every ride while I watched Gwendolyn.  Most of the time you would find Gwendolyn sleeping....She did however really enjoy the parade.

She was such a great sport hanging out all day in the stroller and the heat.  It was 104 and 106 degrees the two days we were there, so it was HOT!   My favorite day however was our second day.  We were able to leave Gwendolyn with Gigi and Grandfather and got to spend the whole day with just Neal. Getting to ride everything with Neal was extremely fun and loved his expressions and comments while both waiting in lines and after the rides.  My favorite was after all the roller coasters when he would say, "that was so awesome!"  

We still get to hear stories from him as he remembers all the fun we had and all the "awesome" rides.  Now if you ask about his favorite ride he will pretty much list off every single ride at Disneyland.  It is hard to pick a favorite when they are all so fun, right?  I have always loved Disneyland but going with your own kids is even more fun.  I hope we can go back again one time 'cause it really was "so awesome!"