Lake Weekend

We finally made it to the lake this weekend for the first time this summer. The boys were SO excited and couldn't wait to get in the water! We had to dodge some rain drops Friday and Saturday, but the temperature was cool so we'll take it!

 

 I love this action shot! No fear!

 We had time for one quick sunset boat ride Friday night.

 Unfortunately, late Friday night we found out that Jordan and Anna's dog, Shug had to be put to sleep and they were on their way to the lake Saturday morning to bury him. It was a sad day, but the lake was his favorite place in the world and that's just where he needed to be! We could have done without Hudson running up to Jordan and Anna's car as soon as they got there Saturday morning screaming, "SO WHERE'S YOUR DEAD DOG!!!" I wanted to crawl in a hole! You just cannot control what comes out of the mouths of babes...I have learned that plenty of times now!

Saturday afternoon we headed to Liberty Day in Cedar Bluff. Wow, that was an experience. Never knew we would see a dunking booth made out of a toilet! Ha!

Then it was back to the lake for more fun!

 We told Hudson that he could not go to first grade without learning how to tie his shoes and ride a bike. He is the most stubborn child and just had no interest in doing either so we had to take drastic measures and he really did believe he couldn't go to first grade and that upset him so much!

A few weeks ago he finally mastered tying his shoes. Teaching a child to tie their shoes is worse than potty training in my opinion! It was so frustrating!

Teaching a child to ride his bike that doesn't care about riding his bike comes in at a close second. You can see how well it was going this weekend. I'm not sure who is more frustrated here...

 Enter Uncle Jordan! He came to the rescue and had that boy riding his bike in about 5 minutes! We were SO proud! And of course it's "easy peasy" according to Hudson. Hmmm.

 We watched the fireworks that evening (no good pictures) and then all went to bed!

Sunday we woke up to a beautiful day! First order of business was to ride the hot dog tube that we got for Christmas! Hudson LOVED it!

 I even gave it a try too and it was great. Just my style! It was just enough bump, but I didn't get knocked off!

 The big boys went skiing and of course Hudson wanted to give it a go too! I don't know how I got a child with so little fear! The trainer skis we had were still too big for Hudson though and while we tried four or five times to get him out of the water, the skis kept falling off. We are going to get him to knee board next time and I think he'll be able to do that just fine!

Of course it was only Uncle Jordan that could teach him...

Such a fun weekend filled with lots of gator rides, boat rides, tractor rides, and lake fun!

Father's Day and a Trip to the Cabin

We celebrated Father's Day with my Dad Saturday night. We were missing Carrie and Andres so we took this silly picture! Mom thought they were flying in that night, but about an hour before they were supposed to land, she found out they were not coming until Sunday. Senior moment for mom! Ha! Anyway, we had a great time celebrating Dad!  

 

 Sunday we had a relaxing morning and all the boys watched Karate Kid--second guessing that now with all the new karate moves they gained, but Joel loved every second of snuggle time with the boys! Then, we went to lunch to celebrate him!

 That afternoon the boys and I drove up to the cabin. I didn't have any plans for the boys this week, so we thought that it would be fun to go spend a few days with my parents. And as a bonus, Carrie and Rooney unexpectedly joined us! Carrie and Andres had another terrible week last week--they just cannot catch a break. Someone broke into their house in the middle of the night last Wednesday night and took all their electronics, wallets, and all their valuables, and even took Carrie's keys and took her car out for a joy ride, wrecked it, then parked it back in its spot, full of cigarette butts and drugs. Nice, huh. All while they were sleeping. They never even woke up. And even worse, Rooney was in the room right next to where they took everything...we just won't let our minds go there. Anyway, the good news out of all of that is that they immediately hopped on a plane flight HOME! Andres had to travel this week, so we are getting some extended Carrie and Rooney time!

My parents are having some landscaping work done in the yard and of course the bobcat was a huge hit!

 As was the dirt pile! White shirt was not a good choice!

 Ahhhhhh!

 Everything is a bat to Harrison...here he is in hitting position with a golf club. He is dangerous!

 Gator ride selfie!

 We went hiking one morning. It was just so hot though that we weren't out for long. So much for the mountains being cooler!

 Hudson's favorite part of the whole trip was watching the men work. He drove them crazy. They were so sweet to him and answered all of his 5,000 questions.

 Hudson was obsessed with Rooney too!

 She is the most perfect baby!

 Isn't she the cutest baby!?!?! I just LOVE the pigtails! And I think she loved country life! Maybe not all the sweating, but she loved being outside!

 Life in the fast lane!

Cousins!

 He fed her several bottles and was just so sweet.

 It was only 98 degrees, but the boys wanted s'mores so you do what you gotta do.

 They were good though! It was worth a little more sweat!

The boys became real firefighters and got to extinguish the fire with the hose, and loved every second of that!

We had a great few days! We were all sad to leave yesterday, but we've got more fun planned the next few weeks!

First Sleepover!

Last weekend, Hudson had his first friend spend the night. He has been begging to do it for over a year now, and we finally decided it was time. Haines' mom went out of town for 7 days and we decided that it might be the perfect opportunity to help them out a little bit and keep him for a night. It could not have gone better!

 

We have the glider still in Harrison's room because he still loves to rock before bed time, and the big boys just had to rock too! Joel was loving this let me tell you.

 

They were in their beds a little before 9. They talked and giggled (which was so, so cute) for about 15 minutes and then it was quiet! Success!

 

They even slept until after 7 the next morning!

I love this picture below. They were definitely using their imaginations while playing!

I know Hudson can't wait to do it again!

Summertime

We are loving summer!

 

Hudson had a fun play date with his buddy Luke last week. We tried to go to the park and didn't last very long. It was hot, hot, hot! We ended up with Icees from the gas station instead! Much better!

 

 And then we decided we needed something with water, so I found an empty bucket and filled it with water and the boys went to town. Who needs a pool anyway?!?! A sprinkler and a bucket do just fine!

 These were all too cute to share! Harrison REALLY had a blast! Why is it more fun when you are in regular clothes!?!?

 The boys both did Vacation Bible School last week. Hudson did it at our church and Harrison did it at his school. They both had so much fun! We had a Chick Fil A lunch date one day after VBS.

 I helped in Hudson's class on Friday and it was so much fun! Well, I developed a whole new respect for Kindergarten teachers (and my respect level was already pretty high before I took on 20 kids!). It was Friday and they were WILD. It was hard to keep them all together, but we managed!

 These sweet boys are all some of Hudson's good buddies. They play so well and it is fun to watch them grow up together!

 Not to be outdone, this boy's VBS them was superheroes if you couldn't tell! His favorite thing about VBS was "the show where there were people with blue hair." I have no idea, but apparently that was pretty fun!

Friday night, I got to go see Garth Brooks! I had the best time and he put on a phenomenal show!

 We sang our little hearts out! It is pretty neat to go to a concert that basically takes you back to childhood, and you know every single word to every single song and the songs are still so, so good! I think I was most impressed with Garth's stamina! That guy still has it! He was all over that stage and there were times I thought he might pass out he was breathing so hard, but he went on! I would have gone again Saturday night if someone had asked me! It was that good!

Joel didn't want to go (he is crazy and doesn't like country), so my friend Carroll went with me and our seats were with our friends Laura and Rob. We had a blast!

 Sunday morning the VBS kids sang in church. It was so sweet. Hudson looks thrilled...

 He was concentrating so hard on getting the hand motions down pat that he forgot to sing the words to the songs! Or maybe he's just that typical boy that doesn't sing...either way it was sweet!

Joel's parents got the boys this swing for Easter and we finally put it up on Sunday afternoon. The boys have had more fun with it!

 

 This week Hudson is doing an adventure camp for boys at our church and he has had so much fun. They are building things with hammers and drills, and solving crimes and doing scavenger hunts, and Hudson cannot get enough. It ends at 1:30 every day so we've headed to the pool afterwards.

 He says he is in the army. They made this really neat marshmallow gun out of pipe.

 Nothing like summer nights! Hot and sweaty outside until 8 most nights! I am NOT looking forward to getting back on the school schedule!