Blogging Hiatus

Wow, has it really been almost a month since our last post??  It has been busy! We did finally recover from the last GI "plague" as mentioned in my previous post.  We've done and seen a LOT over the past 4 weeks so we'll stick with lots of pics and minimal verbiage!

Friends from PA who now live in TX (but hopefully for not much longer!) pass 

thru every now and again and stay with us en route! 

Always great to see Nikki, Stephen and sweet Caedyn! She is getting so big!

Always looking for a good opportunity to get their lines wet

This little guy will be 1 on the 26th! Where has the time gone??  You can see 2 of his 4 teeth here.

  

Luke celebrated his bday & Father's day on the 17th of June.  

Granma D made his favorite, coconut cake!

We had a great night with just the fam, and we enjoyed introducing

Settlers of Catan to Luke's parents!

We have been in the pool/on the slip-n-slide a LOT lately! If you look closely, we rigged up this

get-up with a bag of potting soil as the ramp into the pool...please don't judge us, the kids love it! (by loved, I mean, were slightly terrified at first until they realized how awesome it really was!)

Can life get better? Warm bottle. Chocolate milk. Done!

 Look who's "walking"!  Miles is still afraid to fully let go, but he'll push this guy

all over the house and he's gaining confidence in just holding one of our hands

while waddling about!

Cheeto love...again, no judgements please! :-)

Ah, yes, and some for little bro, too!

My latest attempt at being creative and getting Miles' room complete

Had a GREAT visit with the Leggs! Thankfully, Melaine's folks worship with us so we get to sneak in a visit with them when they hop over the pond.  The Slighs were very willing to share their precious time with them, and we were able to hang out several times while they were here!

 Our first time to the Botanic Gardens in Memphis...it was great! And, these Koi were ridiculous!

The Legg Family

My sweet boys drew this at bedtime for me to find the next morning.

How blessed am I?

Our biggest event was a trip to the beach with my favorite brother and his fabulous wife! Robert and Erica invited US to tag along on THEIR FREE WEEK at the beach! How selfless is that?  Luke and I had not been to the beach since Dan & Eileen married in 2007 (Nicole, you were there!)...I had wonderful thoughts of a good book, a nap in the sun, swimming in the surf...what was I thinking??  Kids + the beach = a LOT of (wonderful, worthwhile, exhausting) work!  Robert & Erica were troopers and so very helpful with the boys, as always, and we really did have a great time!  Miles kept things interesting by having explosive diarrhea every day, while in the car, usually at/on the way to dinner.  I really don't know how he does it.  He has managed to ruin (like, not even salvageable, in the trash kind-of ruin) 6 or more outfits.  We still had a great week! The weather was perfect despite tropical storm Debby threatening our vaca!

only one reason to be naked on the side of the road...

yep, poop!  still a coulpe of hours from our destination

ah, but this sight made it worth it when we arrived late Monday!

Elijah pretty much is in love with Aunt Etica and Uncle Wobewt

...and the heavens declare His handiwork...

 sunrise view from our room...gorgeous

morning bottle with a view like that...life is good!

 

Skyping with Granma D on her birthday!

Robert sportin' the fanny pack (aka "water gun holster") loaded 

for a day at the beach!

Aunt Erica finally got this boy to sleep!  Precious.

me, dad & Roberto!

My dad and Vicki also were able to come down and join us 

for a few days which was great!

Miles had fun playing in the holes we dug.  Also, any time a helicopter flew

by he'd throw his hands in the air and crawl down the beach following it 

until he couldn't see it any longer...so funny!

bfast in bed? yes please!

They were even so generous to give us a date night! Miles wasn't very cooperative, however,

and ended up screaming (his new favorite activity) the majority of the time.

Robert & Erica may never have kids now.

Ah, date night! Dinner was lovely!

Breakfast on Saturday morning before we headed home.

 funny faces!

We stopped in Birmingham on our way home and had dinner with my cousin, Laura, and her sweet family.  Here are our boys with cousin Thomas! We're excited to see them again this weekend!

So, as you can see, we've been busy!  July has also proven to keep a steady pace.  July 4th at the farm in Dickson was great fun (and HOT)!  Also, Luke and I celebrate our 9th anniversary on Thursday this week and Miles turns ONE in 2 more weeks! Whew!  So thankful for our sweet family of 4 and the extended family that we've been able to see and visit with a lot in the past few weeks!

And, a few funnies from Elijah...

We've been reiterating that God made us, things we see in nature, etc.  We'll preface it with..."See the stars? Who made them?" for example.  While at the farm for the 4th, Elijah had a yummy brownie, and Luke was trying to figure out who made them so Elijah could say thank you.  So, Luke asked aloud, "Yumm, who made these brownies?" to which Elijah promptly replied, "God did!"  So precious.

Elijah has also discovered that our names aren't Mom and Dad, they are Luke and Shannon.  He thinks it's hilarious to call us by our real names.  "Lute, are you coming?"  "Hey, Shannon, can I have some popelate milk please?"  Hard not to laugh!

Lastly, on one of our trips I hopped out of the car at the gas station to use the restroom.  Elijah asked Luke where I was going, and he told him that I needed to use the bathroom.  Elijah then began singing,
"Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, Hallelujah" (which should be followed with "praise ye the Lord"). Instead, he inserted "Momma's in the bathroom."  Future lyricist? He does this kind of thing a lot...so funny!

Ok, that's it for now!  The boys are awake and ready to get moving! Hope you all have a great week!