Summer Lovin' Part 1

We are in full blown summer mode at our house!   I love love love summer and all things about it.  It makes me sad to think June will be gone tomorrow and it is already July!  That means summer is flying by and is halfway over for the kids!  Nooooo!  We have been having a blast since school got out and since I haven't did individual posts I am going to combine all of our random pictures from the first half of summer here!   The girls have had so many fun playdates, they have both attended tennis camp, Cohen had baton/dance/tumble camp, both have went to VBS, and we have all enjoyed some lake fun.  We have kept ourselves very busy but it is so fun to have no strict schedules and to be able to just have fun.  I also have to say I am forever grateful to my Hubby who works so hard so that I can be home to have all these fun times with our sweet kiddos!

Bryce absolute loves the lawn mower!!  If we have the mower at the house he is always on it.  I

Hubby and I love having date nights in Athens during the summer months too!

The little entrepreneurs-Josie and Cohen.  These 2 are always selling anything they can!

This was when Bryce went for his summer hair cut! This was also the only smile I would see from him.  He does not like haircuts at all!  Annie fixed him right up though and he looks so cute. 

Kate had a birthday party at Grannie and Papa's house before her big birthday.  They always go out of their way to make you feel special!  Bryce was having a blast feeding himself spaghetti and was actually doing pretty good with his fork!

The girls love to go fishing during the summer too!

Since we got Kate a water slide to have at her birthday party we have had fun just playing on it too.  This was a day before her party when we first blew it up and gave it a try.  She and Addison loved playing on it!

 

On Memorial Day we had a cookout with our family and had a little family kickball game.  We all got a kick when Cohen came out dressed like this...she was ready to say the least.  Water slide and kickball attire can be one in the same.  

playing in the tent together

 Cohen and her friend Brooke had a fun day playing together.  We had some water balloon fun and I have to say whoever invented water balloons that attach to the hose, fill up and fall off when full, AND are tied are geniuses!  We have enjoyed so many water balloons this summer thanks to this easy way of doing them!

Sug & Pop wanted to take the girls to Athens to show them where Pop had grew up.   We all decided to go and see it and had a fun time walking around seeing the houses in the neighborhood.  This picture shows the store that Grannie worked at when she was younger.  Her family owned the store.  It is now a restaurant called the White Tiger.   Chase Street Elementary school is right in the neighborhood so the kids wanted to stop to play.  They thought it was the coolest playground and Cohen actually mastered the monkey bars!  She had been trying for a while and did so good.  I videoed her doing them so no picture.  We finished the night with milkshakes at Cook-Out.  Cohen & Savannah got to stay with Sug and Pop at Nana's house for a sleepover!

What is a fun summer without some adult time too?!  My sweet friend, Jennifer celebrated her 40th birthday in June.  A few of us girls surprised her with a night away in the mountains.  We totally surprised her and loved every minute of our girls' night away.  We ate and laughed all night and just had the best time.  I cannot say enough how I love these girls' nights and treasure our friendships!

Kate got the game pie face for her birthday and the girls have loved playing it.  They even got Brock and Kori to play with them one afternoon!

We try to spend as much time as we can at the pool!  The first thing Kate will do when we go swimming at Ronnie and Tonya's is check the skimmer for frogs!  Our first day there she found one!  And goodness she gets obsessed carrying them around and putting them in and out of the bucket.  By the time she is finished the poor frog is probably wishing he would die!  She and Nolan had fun together with this one.

"want to hold the froggie, Nolan?"

On one of our shopping trips this summer Bryce was loving the dog mannequin.  Following in his big sister's foot steps!

Both girls attended VBS at Double Branches Baptist Church.  One of Cohen's best friends, Josi goes there and these girls had a blast together.  They got to have a sleepover too and Josi's mom, Kelli sent me these sweet pictures.  Precious girls!

One night while the girls were at VBS, we were watching Brock play baseball.  Bryce had some fun with Gavin and Griffin on the golf cart!  

Kate has caught her share of frogs, bugs, critters, you name it.  Here she is holding a big frog she caught at Bebe's house.  I think she actually caught this same frog 3 times.  Letting go is so hard sometimes for her!   On another night I found a cicada and she loved it too.  It had not yet shed its skin so you could still hold it.  Of course she did and carried it around on the stick.  If it fell off she was right there to pick it back up.

We loved celebrating Father's Day.  Kelly is such a great dad!  We also had fun celebrating Pop who is a great Dad and Granddad!  The girls adore their Pop and Bryce does too!  He is Pop's sidekick!  He loves to go on truck rides and I loved getting these pictures of the 2 of them as they were about to take one.

Uncle Kelly & Addison

Addison made Bryce a "vest" and had given it to him.  It was so precious the thought she put into it and we did let him try it on...it is the small piece of fabric on his right arm.  I think the rest ripped trying to get it on but this is definitely a memory I want to keep!   I sent her this picture and she did say he looked handsome in it.  How precious!

Bryce and "big tuck" Devin

Both girls attended tennis camp this summer.  We did this in Anderson.  I know they both had a blast. It was all week and because we went to Anderson they had early mornings each day.  I know they enjoyed it because they never once complained about the early mornings or the hot weather.  Each day when we picked the kids up they all had big smiles and were excited to tell us about their day.  They had friends with them so that really helped too.  I think they learned a lot and had fun.  I was so proud of both of them.  

Cohen won the game they were playing on this particular day. 

On the first day after tennis camp the kids got to swim at Dawn's parents' house.  They love pool time and us Mama's do too!

Last week we all went out on the lake one night.   Bryce absolutely LOVED it!  He wanted to drive Westley's boat and if he wasn't driving he wanted to be in the water.  A lot has changed since last summer when he fell asleep on the boat! Lol!  The girls' enjoyed tubing, especially Cohen.  Kate still wants to be pulled at a snails pace for sure.   Kelly even rode the tube with Bryce once and again Bryce loved it.  We were afraid that he might scream forever when it was time to get off but he got off and headed to drive with Westley again.

 This past weekend was a fun weekend for Cohen.  She got to spend the whole weekend with her BFF Josie.  She was quick to remind me when Friday came that it was the weekend, tennis camp was over and she wanted to have Josie over.  They had so much fun together.  I got them playing in the sprinklers on Friday night and then on the water slide on Saturday.  They went to Josie's house Saturday night.  On Sunday, Bebe took the girls along with Hubby and I to see "Finding Dory".

This week started off with baton, tumble and dance camp for Cohen.  Bryce actually got in on the warm ups and stretching.  A circle of girls and Bryce in the middle.  He will love this picture one day won't he?!

Monday night we went on a bike ride through town and made a quick stop and Jeremy and Stacey's.  We had to see the new little pony and of course see Eeyore.  As Cohen told us, "this donkey loves me."

Tuesday we had a fun fun trip to Lake Lanier waterpark.  We had the best time!  It was a great day to be there too because it was not crowded.  The kids loved all the rides and the Mama's did too.  I'm not sure who had more fun, us or them!  We laughed all day!  This is definitely on our summer list every year now!

Having fun with their mustaches!  We think they look more like Mario & Luigi than Cade and Cohen!

2 worn out girls!

And.....on the last day of June (today) we rested at home!  Bryce was in tractor heaven.  The girls had been at Sug & Pop's house the night before and came home today.  Cohen & Savannah had a little lemonade and brownie stand too.  We got to end our night going to Nana's house in Athens.  We love going to see Nana.  There is nothing like eating on her porch either.  We always look forward to our visits and I only wish I had a video of Bryce running to Nana when we got there.  It was precious.

 I know the rest of our summer is going to be just as much fun as the first part has been!