4th FUN

For the 4th of July we went to Will's and had lunch with the family, then we went swimming. Later we met back at our house for fireworks. Once again we were outdone by the neighbors, but we're fine with letting them spend the big bucks on fireworks while we just watch them. Luckily from our driveway we can see fireworks for pretty far all around us. Who needs a big show when you have your own front yard?

Happy Birthday Nolan!

Nolan's birthday fell on a Sunday this year so we couldn't go out and do anything that day but we had a few of his friends from church over for cupcakes that night. They played flashlight tag in the house and wore each other out and then settled down for cupcakes after. Party still to come..Happy birthday to you!Bowing out the candles. It was hard to fit seven on a cupcake.

In the background some of Nolan's friends: Bryce, Trendon, Trace and Zoie
Reagan
Zoie

Tiff's day off

The day before my birthday Jim let me have a day off. So I took advantage of the opportunity to spend a relaxing (kidless) day at the beach with my great friend Jennifer, however mother nature had other thoughts in mind. It was cloudy all day so we ended up running errands for most of the morning. After getting lunch we decided to brave going to the beach anyway and promptly upon arrival we were nearly knocked over by the wind, pelted with flying sand and after scarfing our lunch down we had to get out of there because we could see the rain coming at us down the shoreline. Oh well. We decided to just spend the day shopping instead (which was okay with me since it just so happens to be my favorite pastime). I found a new shirt, some fun jewelry, two pairs of jeans for $6 each, and a great new pair of shoes that I LOVE!

Later that night several of the girls from playgroup got together for a girls night out. We celebrated three birthdays, had free dessert, and generally just had a fun time talking and laughing. It was a wonderful day. Thanks to all my friends and especially to Jim for letting me have some time away. from left: Jennifer, Beth, Abby, Emily, Angel and me

Jennifer, Me, and Emily

Eggs anyone?

On Father's Day I was trying to be nice and make a good breakfast before church, however Jim's favorite breakfast food is eggs which is not my forte. I decided to try anyway and here is what happened.Yum! Jim definitely did not marry me for my egg making skills.

Since these eggs were not especially edible Jim ended up making more because I was running around trying to get a million things done before church. At least I tried. The bacon turned out okay but I don't have a picture of it for proof.

See how happy Nolan is? He takes after me in the non-morning person category.

Doodlebug!

We went with my good friend Vanessa to the Grand Opening of a place in Cape Coral called Doodlebug. It was really cute and they had a lot of stuff there for kids to do. Too bad we probably won't go back anytime soon because it is pretty far away and a little expensive for our taste. (We got in free for the Grand Opening) There was a crazy long line but luckily we didn't have to wait that long because Vanessa knows the owner. (Thank you friends with connections!) The kids a great time!

Baseball is over!

Yay! Baseball season is over! Nolan had a great time but two games a week got old fast. Luckily there was a nice big trophy to tide him over till next year. ha ha

After the fight night game (see older blog post for fun info on that) Nolan's coach stopped showing up so it was left up to the assistant coach to hand out the awards. Nice trophy!

Beach fun

The kids and I recently went to Tampa to see my friend Tiffany(who is also my cousin's wife)because she was visiting from Arizona with her son Ty. We were able to get there just in time to crash Ty's birthday party, and then the next day we all went to the beach.

The water was really rocky once you walked into it, so Aidan didn't go in much.

Tiffany, Ty, and Nolan in the back.
This is probably really mean but I think it is hilarious to take pictures of my kids when they are throwing tantrums. Although it just seems to make them more mad. Weird.......Zoie was having one such episode here, and I just happened to have the camera ready. I am going to save pics like these and show them to my kids when they get older so they know what they put me through. Ha!
The tantrum didn't last long (fortunately they never do), so five minutes later everyone was as happy as ever to play in the sand.
Those two dots are Nolan and Ethan. They thought they were hot stuff because they could walk out far in the water (it wasn't deep and there was a sand bar out there).