Happy Birthday, Mommy!

This year the kids did great for my birthday- minimal fighting, sweet cards, and lots of hugs and kisses!

My sweeties!

Traditional Dunkin Donuts- the kids helped eat most of them

My amazing friend Elizabeth showed up to the pool with birthday mnm cookies!!  

 A HUGE treat- I had a gift certificate to a nice restaurant AND my friend Elizabeth came over and not only fed, but put to bed all 4 kiddos!  Yes, this means that Al and I had an entire evening to ourselves!!  It was marvelous!!

I'm certainly thankful for my family and the gray hairs they cause, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!  And for the record, if you ask my kids, they all think my age is anywhere from 5-25.....  See why I love my kids?!

The Day of FREE!!

Two of our favorite days each summer are Cow Appreciation Day (free Chick-fil-A) and 7-11- free Slurpies!  This year, they were the SAME DAY!!  And finally, after years of meaning to do it, but just forgetting, we made cow costumes that we can use year after year!!  Addie and Alden helped paint spots on shirts, and masks were made out of foam.  We were able to don our cow costumes and score free breakfast AND later, with Daddy, free dinner!  We saved the Slurpies for our post-naps snack...  Asher and Annalise thought it was all hysterical!!  

What a fun, fun, fun day!!

July 4th Fun

July 4th was a perfect day!!  We spent the day at the pool and totally enjoyed the party that was happening there!  After dinner of hamburgers, corn on the cob, baked beans, pasta salad, with our good friends the Ws, the Little kids went to bed and the Big kids went with their friend Winston and Al, to see fireworks!  The following evening, we all went to see more fireworks downtown!  Asher and Annalise LOVED it!  Asher keeps asking to go see more fireworks....  We were excited to share this tradition with them!

Fun with photo props!

July 6th fireworks with our friends and neighbors!

SO excited!

In Awe!

Beautiful!

 Sorry- these are out of order- and I don't feel like putting them in order.... Here are back to July 4th at the pool

The kids loved the competitions the DJ had- and even Asher led a bunch of girls in a dance!

Splash contest! 

LOVE this pic of all my 4 babies!

July 4th Fireworks with W!!

Annalises' First Day of Summer School Kindergarten

Annalise is super smart and is picking up academics quickly, but we still felt that she would benefit from a great program our county offer, Kindergarten Readiness.  It is 4 days a week for a month.  She has Mrs. Mason, who I am totally impressed with!  The highlight for Annalise- riding the bus!  There is a bus that takes them from her "home" school to the school that is hosting the program this year.  It isn't far, but she LOVES it!

I ordered her a new orange backpack- which she LOVED!  She wore Adeline's orange ice cream dress- which she LOVED.  She has our neighbor and her pal, Jack, in her class- which she LOVED! 

Here is to hoping she has a great summer and it launches her into a successful academic career!

Happy Anniversary!!

14 years- wow!

3 states

7 houses

4 children

2 dogs

Thanks to the extreme generosity of 2 amazing friends, Al and I were able to escape for 2 days to celebrate our anniversary!  We just went to Virginia Beach, but it was wonderful to spend uninterrupted time together.  The beach was so rough that people were not allowed in past their knees, but we still enjoyed it!  Many, many thanks to Karen and Jennifer for taking care of our rambunctious crew!

Wonderful hotel, food and beach!

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

Chlorine in Our Blood

We have an amazing pool at the end of our street- we walk there every day, multiple times each day most days, we have made lots of friends there, we are so thankful for it!  It is a big part of what we do- it is the main thing we opted to do this summer!  We are all so happy that Asher and Annalise love it- LOVE it!  "Go to Summer Pool! I put my swim trunks on!" is how Asher greats us each and every morning.  The mornings we do NOT go the pool, as in Saturday and Sunday, he is in tears....

Our swim team is wonderful.  The kids have all made great friends thanks to this- which is perfect since they don't go to school with any of the neighborhood kids!  This year the coaching staff is awesome- each week the kids drop time and improve!  I also love that the coach really puts thought and effort into helping the kids work together- big kids are often paired with younger kids to help them!  This builds a great sense of community- and everyone cheers for everyone- it is such a fun and uplifting time!  You should hear everyone cheering for Annalise as she swims- and she LOVES it!  Addie and Alden adore the big kids who have been assigned help them- they all play together when they see each other!

Both Asher and Annalise have come so far- Annalise swims in the swim meets 25meters free style.  Asher has mastered swimming about 10feet- enough to go off the diving board and slide!  He LOVES it!  With each passing day, he swims farther for longer!  He so desperately wants to be a Big Kid!

Team Cheers

Sassy Girl at a swim meet

Winner of his heat!

Ready for her race!

Asher desperately wants to be on swim team- and he was ready to jump in at any time!  Here, he is ready for a fun relay!

Annalise and her pal in matching suits!

Her ribbon for completing her first meet!

Always fashionable at the pool 

Addie helping Annalise with her backstroke!

Asher jumping off the board!

Beginning of Summer

We have fully embraced the joy of summer- sleeping in until 7am, swim team practice, spending time with friends, reading, building forts, and just loving being kids!

Writing with friends is SO much fun- especially when Oreos are involved....

Fort Building

After blanket forts kept falling, we pulled out our old tent!

All 4 kids are in here- happily reading and playing!

Making the Mrs. Blevins dessert! 

Reading and snoozing in the tent

It has been HOT- on one such day, we went to a birthday party and I got to hold a sweet new baby and stay in the AC while everyone else played outside....

 The kiddos are getting SO big, SO tan, and turning into fish!

We had good friends from Ohio visit- Adeline and Eli hit it off!  I think she will be an amazing mom someday!

It isn't fancy but we LOVE our life!!