Fish Fry

We had a fish fry tonight on Granna and Grandaddy's new deck and Isaac only intruded a few times. Good thing they decided to put a roof on the deck since we all ended up under it at one point :) 

I have been slacking on photos lately since I use my phone so much so I tried to do better and at least take 1 picture of each of the kiddos. Can't say I did as well for the adults. We aren't as adorable as they are anyway. 

Jacob-10

Cole-7

Jonah-5

Yes, this is how he chose to pose for his picture. Only Jonah. 

Bishop- 2 1/2

Jake-1 1/2

How cute is this ginger boy?!

Fischer-1

We missed his mom and dad...but we enjoyed playing with this cutie pie!

And, last, that Future Dawg is my future niece! Can't wait for her to arrive! I'm anxious to see what it is like to have a GIRL around here amongst all of the boys!

And, we CAN'T go to Granna and Grandaddy's without a Gator ride or 2...

For the occasion, Bishop and I made memories  fish cookies, per request of my mom. The only cookie cutter I could find was a bit tropical, but I don't think anyone cared :)

They run around non stop when they are together! Bishop loves his cousins so much!

Once again I am reminded of how truly blessed I am. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

JJ's Baby Shower

On Sunday after church, some of JJ's friends from Kosciusko had JJ a shower. I thought it was nice of them to include me since I am not from there, and I was happy to help out. I volunteered the cake, even though I had never done a GIRL cake before. It was fun! Pink is not so bad ;) I enlisted Mags AGAIN for her awesome invitations and just copied her design for my cake. 

Whitney and Rachel did these AWESOME onesies. I now want a baby girl just so she can wear all of these. I'm definitely stealing this idea for Wendy's shower!

The mommy to be :)

The cake

Her friend Melissa "threw together" this beautiful centerpiece from her garden. She has such talent!

I'm not one to go around taking pictures of people...it makes me feel weird and stalkerish but I'm glad I took one of her beautiful mom and grandmother drinking their pink punch. 

Rachel, who is also about to be a mommy of a little girl in just a few short weeks, serving up her pink [delicious] punch. 

Opening up all of her girly goodies..it is going to take some getting used to but I think she can handle the ruffles! She will be just as precious as her brother and I can't wait to meet her SOON!

Backyard Golf

I won't be so whiny this time....I was off today!

Hasn't the weather been fabulous? Do I not live in Mississippi? Is it not August? Either way, I'll take it!

Since it was SO pretty today and Bishop has been SO good lately (in general and in potty training), we decided we would go play golf with daddy this afternoon. After arriving at the golf course and finding out that the office was closed and we could not rent a cart and play, I was crushed.  Not because I really wanted to play that much, but because I knew the second we pulled up at home he would cry. You see, I had promised him golf. He had his new golf clubs packed up and his bag ready. He was one excited little boy. He kept saying "I'm going golfing". So excited. And, to know you are going to disappoint your child feels kinda like being punched in the stomach. I can handle tears. I can handle fits.  But, knowing that his little heart is broken is just too much. So, the second we pulled up at home, it happened. He cried. And I almost cried. But, daddy saved the day! He got him all excited about playing golf in the backyard and all was well with the world. Crisis averted! Whew!

Love my golfer boys! 

So thankful God gives us days like today to wipe away days like yesterday. 

Lately

Keeping it real, lately I have been in a funk. While we have been constantly busy, I haven't really used my camera much or taken the time to blog. I hope that changes soon because even though there really aren't very many readers, I do actually enjoy blogging. Maybe it is because it is summer we have been on the go a lot. Or maybe it is because my two year old is going through a very difficult stage right now and at the end of the day I just want to plant my face in a pillow and scream. Maybe it is because I constantly think that I need to be at home with said two year old instead of leaving him crying in the mornings. Or maybe it is because potty training a two year old is about as much fun as getting a tooth pulled...without any anesthesia. I know, poor me, right?  I will do better. I will be in a better mood...and blog more because while there is a lot about the two year old that drives me crazy, there is so much more that makes me smile every day. Like, how I have to kiss every little boo boo (real and made up) and make it better. And how he gives sweet kisses when I pretend to be sad. And, how he loves me to lay in bed and read him stories and sing songs every night. And, how when I get home from work he says "Momma, I am SO glad to see you" and runs to give me a big hug. Yeah, he is difficult, but so worth every minute. God has blessed me to be his mother, as trying as it may be sometimes.

Here are a few pics from this summer. I seem to be able to have more time for Instagram than my actual camera (after months of complaining about not having it...go figure!)...

Going back to the Science Museum to see the dinosaurs with Harvey. We originally planned to take them to the Children's Museum, but apparently it is closed on Mondays. The boys both had a blast and never knew the difference. And Bishop asked to go to the museum at least once every few days. Between the zoo dinosaur exhibit and this one twice, he has no clue that dinosaurs do not exist anymore. 

Playing a little golf with Daddy

Coloring with Mamaw and Papaw

Playing on the "watermark" with Claire

Catching Butterflies

Visiting my Papaw Herman

Playing in the "sprinkles"

Sorry for the randomness. I will do better...maybe. And, FALL isn't too far away! Yay! My favorite!

MS Museum of Natural Science

Between our Jackson trip and coast trip, we decided to stop at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science dinosaur exhibit because of my son's obsession with dinosaurs, particularly the T. Rex. He constantly plays with his dinosaurs, pretends to be a T Rex,  wants (us) to draw dinosaurs,  picks out books and movies about dinosaurs, and loves to watch Dino Dan and Dinosaur Train. I knew he would love it. It was a fairly small exhibit (not life sized like the ones at the zoo) but perfect for us. Also, it was air conditioned :) They also have neat permanent exhibits of animals that are native to Mississippi. So, he got to see fish, alligators, snakes, turtles, frogs, and birds. And he loves them almost as much as he loves dinosaurs. He had a great time. And, I always love watching his face light up when he sees something he loves. Plus, it was educational...so Leon liked it too. 

Waving at his favorite....

The T Rex

In additions to the animatronics, they also had several fossils from "real" dinosaurs. They weren't quite as cool to the 2 year old. They were cool to us though. It was truly amazing. 

They also had little game type things for the kiddos..puzzles, buttons for different dinosaur sounds, a dino dig, a robot type dinosaur, etc.  It wasn't anything elaborate but it was great for him. 

Even 2 weeks later, he still talks about going to see the dinosaurs and fishies!

Coast Trip

After a fun weekend with the Hays family in Jackson, we headed down to the coast to stay with Mandy and Nate a few days and then to Biloxi to a convention. It worked out last year that we got to stop on our way to Biloxi and see Fischer when he was born and this year we got to spend his birthday with him again. Hopefully it will always work out that way! We spent his birthday at the water park and honestly I am not sure who had more fun..Fischer, Bishop, or ME. The water slides were so much fun! Once Bishop got the nerve to go down with me, he was hooked. He would say "one more time" every time. It worked out that my mom got to come too, so that was nice. Last year, Bishop and I literally did nothing during the convention  but it is quite hard in a casino hotel room with a 2 year old. Especially without Disney channel. Just saying. I have to say you learn to be, um, innovative in hotels....warm milk in coffee pot, make oatmeal with coffee pot, etc. That may have been the worst part! But, we survived. And, we really had a great time. I still got to relax in the hotel while he napped. It was nice having no other choice but to lay in that nice cool, dark hotel room...otherwise during nap time  I am cleaning, on the computer, laundry, sewing, etc.

Getting a 1 year old and a 2 year old in a picture together is near impossible. 

Actually, I took the BEST picture of them. Oh, it was so cute. Mandy and I were just so excited that  they both laid on a pillow and smiled real smiles and looked at the camera and everything. And then I realized I had my camera on manual and the shutter speed was so fast that the picture was black. Completely black. I almost cried. And then I made do with the jumping monkeys on the bed. They are so entertaining. 

We had some really good food while we were there. Ocean Springs has some really good restaurants. My favorites were Bayview Gormet for breakfast and Leo's for dinner. We also ate at a pretty good Greek place..Bishop loved the hummus and pitas. 

Yes, it was as good as it looked. 

Trying to teach Fischer how to put a puzzle together. However, Fischer was only interested in eating the puzzle. And, yes, Fischer does have 2 arms...he is just way too busy to sit still for a picture and one of them is completely blurred :)

Next up was Biloxi. We went to Gulf Islands water park for Fischer's birthday and the rest of the time we did what we do best...EAT! We did hang out at the pool too...while daddy "worked". 

Happy Birthday sweet boy!!

The cheese face cracks me up! He was having a blast!

Cell phone pic of me and B going down his favorite slide. He loved it! Obviously I did as well. 

Our only family photo..at least it is a decent one.

With G&G

Loves, loves to swim.

Making do with Little Einsteins on mommy's phone. 

Um, not sure about this face B man

We walked down to take pictures while we waited at the Blow Fly Inn and got distracted by this little guy. Obviously he gets fed a lot. Obviously we didn't take any pictures...but we did eat a lot!

And, that, concludes our trip to the coast. So nice to be away with my family with no responsibility other than figuring out where to eat!