Don't worry guys...

You're in good hands!

Visiting Great Grandma and Peepaw

Jamie and I took the kids up one morning to visit Great Grandma and Peepaw. We always have such a fun time when we visit! Carson and Tanner love to give Great Grandma hugs and kisses! My grandparents still have a few toys that all of their grandkids used to play with in their house in Illinois, and the kids love it when we get them out. Their favorite is the airport and helicopter. After Great Grandma spoiled them with vanilla wafer cookies, we headed to the pool for some swimming. Tanner and Great Grandma had a nice time chatting. Our bathing beauty Hannah... Carson and Hannah showed off their swimming skills for Great Grandma and Peepaw. It was such a nice day to be in the pool.
After pooltime, we went home to have some lunch, and then Peepaw took us all on a golfcart ride. We had such a fun morning and love every minute spent with them. The kids were zonked after a great day!

Childhood Best Friend

I have wonderful memories with my childhood best friend Rachel. Rachel and I met at Lakeview Christian Church (now Journey, where Matt and I still attend) in 2nd grade. Although we went to different Elementary schools, we spent lots of weekends together, and summers. Some of my fondest memories are playing with our baby dolls and even pushing them around her neighborhood, riding our bikes to Eckerd's drugstore just to buy Reisins candy, and playing her piano. We spent hours in her swimming pool, diving off her diving board, and swimming away from her black lab Shadow that would swim after us when we jumped in. Her family was wonderful, and her Mom made the best homemade bread! Rachel and I went to Lake Aurora Christian camp for several years in a row (7 years to be exact!). We always stayed in our favorite dorm Azalea and made great memories. Here is a picture of us on a church summer trip...last 2 girls on the right... Sadly, Rachel and I both moved away our 8th grade year. We prepared a special song to sing in front of our church the day she left for Maryland. I can still sing every word to this day! We lost touch for awhile as we went through our high school years, but I saw her right before our senior year in high school when she attended a youth trip with our church to CIY. We were able to reconnect through facebook a few years ago, and it was funny to see that we BOTH married guys named Matt! Rachel and her husband moved back to Florida from Maryland not too long ago, and recently had their first baby boy, Zachary, one month before Tanner was born. 10 years later, we met up for a splash park playdate with our kids! Rachel and her adorable little boy Zachary! Meeting up with Rachel and Zachary was so wonderful! Rachel and I talked as if we had just seen each other yesterday, and the boys played great together.

Tanner and his new buddy Zachary... After fun in the water, we played on the playground, and then had a picnic lunch.
What a great morning! We can't wait to get together with them again soon!

Mischievious Monkey

We have a climber on our hands! It seems like everyday Tanner finds something new to climb up on. Today I found him searching through the toy basket while standing on top of his blocks box. His mischievious look in action...hmm...how can I get to those dvds?! He was simply thrilled at the fact that he got caught, and thought I would be just as excited! Love that sweet smile! He also has mastered how to climb up on the dining room chairs... Tada! Just one more thing to keep this Mama on her toes! :)

Water fun playdate

With the summer heat in full swing, I threw a water fun playdate for some of Carson's friends. We had 12 kids over to play. They stayed cool with 3 baby pools, a water table, a slip n' slide, and a beach ball sprinkler! Carson had more fun drinking the water from the beach ball sprinkler than running through it! The boys on the slide... Carly filling up her bucket of water... Sweet Evaeha playing in the water table... Christa and her sweet baby girl Camryn... The kids seemed to have a great time outside! After playtime outside, we came in for some turkey and cheese fishy sandwiches, fruit, veggie straws & goldfish. They were definitely hungry from all of that fun! Camryn snoozed away on the couch even with all of the noise! After lunch, the kids made a fishy craft...
And ate Miss Amanda's yummy cupcakes!

I think the water fun playdate wore everyone out, including the Mommy's! What a fun morning with our friends.

Leu Gardens

I decided on a whim this morning to take the boys to Leu Gardens for their first Monday of the month free storytime and entrance into the gardens. When we got there we heard the news that, due to budget cuts, there would be no more storytime at the gardens. We were glad we were able to make the final storytime, and the boys loved it. Carson's eyes LIT up when his absolutely favorite book, Freight Train, was being read! Carson has a slight obsession with trains right now. He loves his train table and freight cars, and if listening to his favorite train book at storytime wasn't enough, the minute we started our walk through the gardens, Carson found a train in the middle of the sidewalk! I couldn't believe it! Tanner loved being pushed around the gardens by his big brother. He's waving "hi". Some of the highlights of our morning was the vegetable garden...
The fountain in the rose garden...
And the butterfly garden...
Carson tried his hardest to catch a butterfly, but they were "just too fast!" he said. We ate lunch and enjoyed listening to the birds chirp. Carson named all kinds of sounds he heard while we ate. What a nice morning with my boys!