CATCHING UP - I'VE BEEN A BAD BLOGGER

And I'm sure I'm going to kick myself for it later. Or maybe not because the reason I haven't been blogging is because it's summertime. Which should mean we have more time than ever only it seems we're busier than ever. I absolutely love this time of year. It could be spring or summer every day (because in Alabama spring pretty much IS summer) and I would be one happy mama! Days are spent by the pool with the smell of sunscreen everywhere, playing in the sandbox, eating sno cones or homemade popsicles (or both), water gun fights, and we've been known to have some fun with water balloons. And with three boys, this time of year also means bugs, and with rain some frogs so of course they've had fun with that, especially being that I'm frog and bug phobic!


Evenings are spent with everyone smelling like Off, picking blackberries,

Chris and I "playing" in the garden, :)

It's our baby and we love it! And it's done quite well so far, especially the tomatoes,

so yesterday was the first of many evenings spent canning tomatoes, and of course grilling out, more swimming and naturally more cool treats. Throw in the mix a gymnastics class for the boys (which C was so not into until someone told him it would help with strength and coordination in sports - now he's a bit more enthusiastic) :) and some swimming lessons, and we have ourselves one jam-packed summer. We are enjoying every minute of it. So you'll understand if the blogging takes a backseat.

I will say, though, it has been bugging me. There's been so much I've wanted to post so I decided today to MAKE time to play catch-up. Just warning you that this may be a long one.


DESTINATION DANCE:

By day she's a preschool teacher, mom, wife and all that goes along with that. By night she's a dance teacher. Four years ago (after much prayer and thought) Rachel opened up her own dance studio. It's grown each and every year, and I have no doubt it will continue to do so as she goes into her 5th year this fall. Not that I expected anything different, but she's done an amazing job. I truly don't see how she does it all and does it all so well. Her theme this year was Destination Dance. I wish I had an abundance of pictures to show you from the recital, but even if she allowed flash photography during the performances (which she doesn't), I would never allow myself to be distracted with a camera. Her recital is like Christmas to me. I wait and wait with so much anticipation, it's great in a way that is indescribable, then it's all over way too fast. Then it's a WHOLE YEAR to wait again. I've put a plug in about a Christmas recital too. She threatens to hurt me. :) Her recitals are great every year but this is the best one yet. I think I say that every year but they really do just keep getting better. It was like a well-oiled machine. It went off without a hitch. If you know anything about dancing you know that a recital isn't just dancing, it's a production. Martha was born to do this. She truly has a God-given talent. And so many are blessed because she's using that talent.

I did manage to get a few pictures during the finale and when she was giving out trophies.

Grace during the finale:

Mayree and Claire doing their "booty dance" when Claire got her trophy.

Mayree and my loves:

Martha and Annie:

"AINT" DAWNIE:

The weekend of Martha's recital was doubly special. It was also the first weekend we had gotten to spend at home with Dawnie in 5 months. I'm going to post a few of my favorite pictures from our weekend with "Aint" Dawnie (as she calls herself). I think the pictures speak for themselves. We didn't want our time with her to end. It was an awesome weekend, and we look forward to many, many more weekends like that to come. God is good.

Naturally with my Dawnie there were A LOT of laughs!!

WATER BALLOON FIGHT:

Thin Mint wasn't the only one to have a recital as of late. So did my baby girl. With everything she has going on, she decided to only take a jazz class this year. Cheering is really where her heart is, but she does love to get on that stage come recital time. :) She gets it honest. I'll take what I can get because dance is my heart, and it does my heart good to see my baby girl do what I did and loved for so many years. You did me proud, Umby!

As always, RaRa made the trek north with us:

Meems was there too, only she somehow escaped Big Nas'. She seems to have gotten good at that lately. Hmm, gotta find a way to fix that.

And after hours in the car as well as a full day of eating, shopping, and eating again along with fighting the heat and humidity in the midst of all that all the while knowing we have three or more hours to go from that point, I think Bethany's expression sums up how we ALL felt!

Ok, well maybe Martha's sums it up best:

Yep, pretty much! :)  Happy Hump Day!