july

July has been a crazy month. We went to two fireworks displays for the 4th, two birthday parties, gymnastics, Brentwood Baptist VBS (which was great, by the way), had Bunco here at our house, have gotten two fillings in Lilly's teeth, been to the zoo twice, celebrated Sassy's birthday, gone to see my mom and dad in Huntsville, spent lots of days playing with friends, and whatever time we have had leftover has been spent at the pool where Lilly has now officially learned to swim on her own. Whew.
Here's a little bit of what we've been up to.


Sorry for the ridiculous amount of pictures...

Summer Celebration at Lipscomb

After sitting through an hour of singing followed by a "sermon," my kids were WILD. We were very ready for the fireworks to start. Here is Lilly dancing with some of her friends from Lebanon, Grant and Sophie.

Lilly, Mamie, Claire, Molly, Grant, and Sophie (and little Avery in the background)

The 4th of July

We spent the day with Jon's family swimming at his parents' pool, playing cornhole and eating hamburgers & hot dogs for lunch. Then we all went out to eat mexican for dinner and to see the fireworks at Richland. Unfortunately they didn't get it started until it was pouring down rain, so it wasn't the most fun we've ever had there, but Jon and I braved it until the bitter end. We were crammed onto a porch with a ton of people--the fireworks were still amazing.

One of Jon's crazy dives. The guys kept trying to outdo each other.




the best picture we could get of the cousins--Mamie was hiding behind the railing on the stairs

the best family picture we could get--pretty funny. even zach said, "well, maybe next year" after he took it. i don't think our family is going to win any "most photogenic" contests. if you saw our last church directory picture you would literally roll on the floor. the lifetouch salesman couldn't even suggest one for the directory and sure didn't try to sell us any.

Aunt Kristin and Hollis

Bunco

My friend, Meleah, who started our group, is moving to Arkansas. This was her last Bunco, so my friend Elisabeth made this amazing cake. She would want me to point out that someone smashed the corners of it during trasport :) Anyway, we will miss you, Meleah!

group shot

Warner Park Nature Center

Aunt Kim told us about the Nature center at Warner Park having a neat outside mud & sand area. I put old play clothes on the girls and we went to get dirty. I thought they would love it and run for the mud, but instead I had to force Lilly to get herself dirty. Once I did, she loved it and ended up getting pretty muddy.

This is right after I made her get her feet in it. I love the look on her face--like she's not sure if she can do it or not.

Playing in the Creek

We went to my cousins' farm, ate a yummy lunch, and all the kids played in the creek.

trying to catch crayfish

SUCCESS! Lilly caught it by herself.

Ellie and Emma picking vegetables with my uncle (AKA Pop Aston)

Girl's Night Out

Lebanon friends at the Melting Pot one night. It was SO good. You know you are officially a bunch of moms when you close down the fondue restaurant on a Friday night.

Huntsville

Lilly and Mamie feeding the ducks and fish with Pop at Big Springs.

This was NOT posed. I just looked and they were sitting there looking at the water like this.

Thanks, CJ and Pop for the fun visit!

Sassy's Birthday

We had Sassy's birthday party at Uncle Branson and Aunt Kristin's house.

Kristin and Branson brought Lilly and Mamie Minnie Mouse ears from Disney world. Maybe that will hold them over for a few more years!

Hollis having fun with a stick

Fun day at the horse farm

Sassy took Lilly, Mamie, and me to the Daniel's horse farm to have lunch and play. Savannah, Jackie's 3 year old granddaughter, was there and Maggie brought baby Sydney over for lunch. The girls played with 2 turtles that were found that morning and had so much fun looking at all the animals on the farm. We saw chickens, a rooster, cats, fish, geese, ducks, and a ton of beautiful horses. We were worn out!

Lilly and Mr. Turtle #1

Sassy and Hollis looking at the horses

Savannah and Lilly on the tractor

Me and the girls with a gorgeous horse. I L-O-V-E horses and everything about them.

At the duck pond about to release Mr. and Mr. Turtle into the wild

Mr. Turtle was not as excited as we were about his new found freedom.

Finally he realized he was almost home and took off :)

Sweet little Hollis taking it all in. He made animal sounds all day long.