even the adults had fun

didn't want to forget the adults' favorite part at mcwane... the pin wall.

you know those things that you can push your hand or something through to make an image? well here are our faces...

Penny

Ron

Sam

Stannon

Luke

(I love that Ron was trying to hold his face still and his hand showed up)

The McWane Center

We visited the McWane Center a few weeks ago with the cousins. It was tons of fun. The boys started having fun before we even went inside. Their was a water wall that Luke decided to lean against. His bum was wet the rest of the time we were there.

We took turns getting in the hurricane force wind simulator. I don't know what it's called, but it can create some havoc on the hair...

This thing was funny. There was a ramp for kids to climb up in. Thanks to a television on the outside we saw an optical illusion. Here we have the three boys bigger than their older cousins/sisters.

There was a big Mr. Potato Head exhibit on the 3rd floor.

On the bottom level of the center are all the water exhibits. I am always fascinated with jelly fish.

Luke was fascinated too. He loved the big green eel.

What a cute little fish...

fire station visit

me and the boys made a quick trip to the fire station. sam loved it as usual. luke took a few minutes to warm up to it. they climbed around in the truck and got to ring the bell. the fireman was so nice to show them everything. what a fun memory for two little boys...

i love this picture of them sitting on the front bumper

Laney is walking

Laney started walking on July 26th while we were in Birmingham for a couple of days. This is the only picture I took of her that day. I guess I was too busy trying to keep up with her. She LOVES her new freedom these days...

my brother and his family came to visit us for the day on saturday. my niece, avery, mentioned she wanted to learn to sew. i found some fun ruffly fabric on clearance at hobby lobby while we were there and knew we could make an easy skirt. she got to push down the pedal while i guided the fabric. she felt like such a big girl!

it was super easy. we cut what we needed for the length and sewed the right sides together. then we made a simple casing at the top and pushed some elastic through using a safety pin. we turned it right side out and had a skirt.

laundry advice

i've had a few people ask me how i do my laundry. in conversations with other moms, we talk about how laundry day feels so laborious. one of the worst things about laundry day is how you have to stop whatever you're doing at least 3 or 4 times a day to fold the clothes that just came out of the drier.

so i have a tip for those of you who are overwhelmed. i started this about 6 months ago and it has made laundry day 100% more enjoyable.

i wash and dry a load and throw it on the bed. as i bring the loads into my bedroom throughout the day, i make a pile for each person in the house and a 6th pile for towels. then i close the door and ignore it until i bring more clean clothes to the pile.

at the end of the day, i have 6 neat piles of clothes to fold. i turn on the tv after the kids are in bed and start folding. i put the piles away after they are folded one by one. (for example, after i fold all of luke's clothes, i set them by his door so i can put them away when he wakes in the morning). most days, ron folds his clothes and the towels alongside me. so we get to catch up from the day and accomplish a task.

happy folding! ☺

i'm so far behind in the blog world.

we've been busy around here...

the Lord has answered so many prayers in the last 2 weeks; my fingers would hurt after typing it all. to sum it up, we have a contract on our house and are getting the house we want in birmingham. we're not closing until mid to late september, but we're moving in to the new house next week. our buyers are moving in to our house the following week.

although i'm TERRIBLY SAD to be leaving huntsville, i'm glad to have the logistics of this move somewhat figured out. life is less stressful these days. we will love birmingham, whether it takes 1 week or 1 year to do so... i'm ready for this new journey.

some of you know how much sam HATES getting wet. we've tried going to the splash pad with friends and he just stands to the side. after much discussion and observation, i finally discovered the problem. he doesn't mind getting wet, but he hates the feeling of wet clothes sticking to his body. so i got on the internet and bought him a good old-fashioned speedo. once it arrived in the mail we got out the sprinkler and pool and he had a blast. YEA! problem solved...

New PJs

i've had some star wars material sitting around for a long time. since sam was in need of new pajamas i figured it was a good time to use some. i cut out a spaceship for each boy and put it on a cheap hobby lobby shirt using wonder under and a decorative stitch on my machine. i made some easy shorts thanks to a friend letting me borrow her pattern and i was finished.

Girls Night

I got to spend the entire evening with some of my best friends last weekend. We got a room at the Westin Hotel here in town and talked 'til we had nothing left to say, or in my case until we couldn't keep our eyes open any more. I went to bed at midnight; not sure when the rest of the girls called it a night. Thank you to our wonderful husbands!! We seriously couldn't have done it without you...

We met up at Cantina Laredo for dinner and had so much fun eating good food. (We may have had a few margaritas at the table, but I don't want to incriminate anyone.) I was surprised, but everyone was ready to go to the room after dinner. No shopping at Bridge Street? Seriously? We got to the room and I had homemade turtle cheesecake waiting on us. The girls were sweet enough to bring drinks and snacks. We talked and laughed and I even gave out a few necklaces that were very dear to my heart.
I found out that it's super easy to make your own hand-stamped jewelry. So I bought a kit a few months ago and wanted to make something for the girls. I asked them what their favorite activities were and added charms to personalize the necklace. I stamped a Proverbs 31 verse that I felt applied to each girl. It was so fun reading through the chapter, studying up on each verse, and deciding which verses to choose. I think the finished product looked pretty good. If nothing else, at least it's a one-of-a-kind necklace. I'll never forget going around the room as each friend opened her necklace. I cherish these friendships and... OK. that's enough. i'm about to cry.

Denise was sweet enough to frame a special Bible verse. Isaiah 43:1 "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." She placed it on a clip, so that I can put in a new verse as life changes.

Thanks, girls... Y'all will have a special place in my heart forever! I love you all...

life's simple pleasures

playing with daddy outside

helping wash the car

going for a run

funniest thing i heard today

sam got it in his mind that he wanted his training wheels off. so while i'm looking at his bike, asking myself out loud what kind of tool i need to accomplish the task at hand, he says "mommy, you need a suck-it wrench".

funny.

faces

my kiddos gave me some good faces this morning

sweet face

monster face

"say what?" face

silly face

the curls are gone

at least for now, luke's curls are gone. his hair was starting to get out of hand. although he was ridiculously cute, his hair was too long. so i saved a few curls because i'm sentimental like that.

here is his new "do". it's short. ron and i laugh at how it makes his neck look even thicker. he's our big boy for sure...