The Slow, HOT Days of Summer

I haven’t been posting as much lately because really we have been just taking it easy. But I thought I would share some of these random pictures with you all that have been snapped over the last month. As you can tell the girls have gotten to spend lots of time with friends.

 

This is while I was watching our neighbor's kid (Brady and Sydney are only 11 days apart). All three girls dressed up and had a great time. These three ALWAYS have a good time together.

I recently discovered this splash pad in Pensacola. I can’t wait to go back. It is great many hours of fun for the girls and it is on the water, so you get a breeze while sitting out watching them play.

At a work function for Karl, I suggested that all the kids sit together and us adults enjoy ourselves. The other two mom hesitated but boy were we glad we did it. They all entertained each other. I brought in a pile of books from the car. We adults ate our meals and enjoyed adult conversation!

Reese listened to this Sailor for 1.5 hours straight as she read stories to her. Her name is ‘Skittles’ thus I think the two of them had a candy bond!

The girls saw Winnie the Pooh in theaters this week. We went of a Tuesday at 10:30 and we had the whole place to ourselves. It was great because the little guy in the picture could crawl around and make noise without worries! I HIGHLY suggest attending weekday morning showings!

Reese is a MESS!

Reese is the definition of two right now. Mild things can set off the biggest tantrum. Which then leads to a series of tantrums. But you know I can still look at her in the middle of a tantrum and smile, because to me she is just that special (and pretty darn cute).

 

Here she is holding up a picture she drew of Brady. As you can tell she is very proud of it.

 

I am not ready for this cutie to start preschool this fall!!!

Brady is a MESS!

This is how she dresses up to ‘play doctor’.

 

 

What kind of doctor has she been going to?

 

And this little girl loves to sing in the rain because Taylor Swift does…

Wordless Wednesday: a Money Saving Portrait Session at Home

Poem that speaks volumes…

At a retirement ceremony yesterday the wife was being thanked for her years of service to her family as a military wife. This poem was read and it meant a lot to me.

When God Created The Military Wife

The Good Lord was creating a model for military wives and was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said, "Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What’s wrong with the standard model?"

The Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, possess the qualities of both father and mother, be a perfect hostess to 4 or 40 with an hour’s notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she is pregnant and has the flu, and she must be willing to move to a new location 10 times in 17 years. And oh yes, she must have six pairs of hands." The angel shook her head, "Six pair of hands? No way!"

The Lord continued, "Don’t worry, we will make other military wives to help her. And we will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with pride in her husband’s achievements, sustain the pain of separations, beat soundly when it is overworked and tired, and be large enough to say "I understand" when she doesn’t and say, ‘I love you’ regardless".

"Lord," said the angel, touching his arm gently "Go to bed and get some rest. You can finish this tomorrow". "I can’t stop now", said the Lord "I am so close to creating something unique. Already this model heals herself when she is sick, can put up six unexpected guests for the weekend, wave goodbye to her husband from a depot, pier or runway and understand why it’s important that he leave."

The angel circled the model of the military wife, looked at it closely and sighed, "It looks fine, but it’s too soft". "She might look soft", replied the Lord, "but she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure."

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord’s creation. "There’s a leak", she announced. "Something is wrong with the construction. You are trying to put too much into this model."

The Lord appeared offended at the angel’s lack of confidence. "What you see is not a leak", he said, "It’s a tear." "A tear? What is it there for?", asked the angel. The Lord replied, "It’s for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride and a dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear." "You are a genius!" exclaimed the angel.

The Lord looked puzzled and replied, "I didn’t put it there".

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

One thing that I REALLY liked was that since it isn’t possible to have six hands, we lean on other Navy wives. This is so very true. With every move I have found I always make quick friends with other military spouses. We have dealt with things unique to our husbands’ jobs.

 

Another funny story, was the Navy wife who read this is my husband’s boss’s wife. There was a command party that was to be held the next day at someone else’s house, well their son ended up in the hospital and unable to host the party. So at the end of the ceremony I was chatting with the boss’s wife and her husband asks her if she can host the party tomorrow. A party that HUNDREDS of people are invited to. I started thinking about the line from the poem “be a perfect hostess to 4 or 40 with an hour’s notice”. She got 21 hour notice for HUNDREDS of people…HAHAHAHA

 

Love all my military wife friends out there!

Man, he is Old!

I am in my twenties and my husband is in his thirties! While I can only say this for 34 days, I felt the need to publish it! HAHA

 

Karl celebrated his 30th last week on the 9th! I think he still surprises him when Brady tells him he is 30.

 

We had a party during his lunch time on Friday so his office buddies could join.  It was a very fun party that was family friendly. The girls got to bowl for the first time. It was such a big hit, I think we will be going back this weekend. Nothing is cuter than baby bowling shoes!

The next day, Karl’s real birthday, the girls wanted to put 30 candles in one of the leftover bowling ball cupcakes. What a sight it made once they were all lit.

We also sang ‘happy unbirthday’ to the girls. They loved doing that and blowing out the candles.

Happy 30th Birthday, Cutie! I love you!

4th of July in VA

We made a trip up to Williamsburg for the 4th of July. It was very nice to be able to see Karl’s family in this quick trip. IT added a lot of travel hours to our trip but it was well worth it.

Beppa had lots of crafts ready for the girls to do. Brady especially loved the bead work (not pictured) and still talks about it everyday. It is that Pixio for those interested.

Also, in honor of this classic summer holiday, we enjoyed the neighborhood pool. My little water babies were pleased with this activity!

Nana (Walt’s mother, Karl’s grandmother, the girls great grandmother) turned 92 on 4th of July. Fun four generation picture.

Reese was worn out after all that fun and fell asleep watching cartoons and missed dinner.

We look forward to our next visit with Beppa and GP!

 

Here are two snapshots from one of the hotels we stayed in. The girls LOVED the fridge and spent an hour playing with it. They started by putting their shoes in it then just kept putting things in and out of it. (FYI: we turned it off, so no energy wasted)