2014 Summertime

Catching up from the summer. These boys have absolutely stolen my heart!

Sweet little naked boy playing!

The many faces of Tucker....

Jace's new obsession with putting his fingers up his nose

Enjoying all the outdoor beautiful weather!

So this quickly became one of Tucker's favorite things to do this summer. He would drag this car up to the front porch and then ride the hill all the way down the driveway and into the grass. He did is several days in a row for HOURS on end. It's the small things in life!

We seem to make a lot of trips to pick up fresh produce in the summer months. At this particular time we were waiting on the strawberries to get out of the field and were playing while we waited. This is at Falcon Ridge Farms in Toone. They have wonderful produce that we put up and enjoy all season long.

Tucker helped paint the closets at David and Bethany's before they moved in.

Sweet boys at lunch one Sunday after church.

Getting our walks in...

The dishwasher is one of Jace's favorite "toys." He LOVES getting out the silverware. I have to watch him closely and I always try to unload and load the dishwasher when he is napping or already down for the night because he pulls out the knives first thing!

 We met my cousin and her kids, Sidney, Landon, and Maddie, at Chick-fil-a while they were in town this summer. So glad we got to see them!

Avery had puppies and the boys were showing them off. Tucker had to rescue them because Avery kept moving them under the lean-to down the hill and they kept rolling down the hill. This was her first litter and she wasn't quite sure what to do with them. Unfortunately Jonathan couldn't fit under where she had delivered the pups, so Tucker had to get in and take care of them. He did a great job and was so proud he got to help her!

Sweet friends watching a movie at the Rays. We just love this sweet family and have really formed a friendship that will last a lifetime. These two are such great friends. Thankful for their family!

 The boys were worn out and Jeri and I were still working on our vinyl business - so they all went to sleep in the kitchen until we were finished. Sweet boys just go with the flow!

 This boy cracks me up. Pretty sure his FAVORITE thing in the world is watermelon. What's better than watermelon and running around the house naked? I'm pretty sure he was thrilled :)

 Jonathan got this unit to strip out and we went to watch the crew take it off the building. My boys LOVE watching crane jobs, so anytime we know there is going to be something of this amount of fun we ALWAYS make sure we are making an effort to get there and see everything coming off the buildings.

At Home Photos

We took photos a few weeks back and they weren't exactly "happy" photos. Tucker was happy and really trying to make Jace smile, but Jace wasn't having it. He was not happy at all. He cried almost the entire time we were trying to take photos...so we went back and I tried to do a few photos with our new chicks...Here's the results. These are from April 9, 2014.

Swim Lessons!

Tucker and Emmaline (Ray) took swim lessons from Aunt Bethany this summer in July. She was so sweet to take time to work with our kiddos - they had 6 lessons and they learned SO much in those few weeks. The first day they used their swimmies, but from then on out they were on their own. Bethany really worked with them and I'm so proud of how well they did! They were pretty proud of themselves too. They are like little fish now!!

I have to admit that I was worried about how Tucker would handle both his "loves" at the same time, but I guess since Bethany has been taken and is officially married, he has moved on to focusing on Emma. She isn't so convinced, but they are the best of friends and I'm so glad they get along so well!

And the cuties that waited on them during lessons: 

 Jace - 16 months here.

Elliette - 15 months here. Sweet friends!

Jumping off the diving board and swimming to Bethany and then to the side. This was their last day. We figured out after two days of lessons that Tucker REFUSED to go under water, so we decided to try swim goggles. Normally at this age this wouldn't be something you would try, but Tucker has some sensory things that really bother him so we decided to give it a try. Bethany said she couldn't keep his head above water! It made a drastic change in his enjoyment as well as his learning.

Showing us how they kick...

Swimming off the steps to the deep end all by himself!

Love these pictures: Tucker was so animated and Emma was so cute in her tutu swimsuit.

Swimming on their boards...they are the best of friends and had the best time!

Moving On...

Well I guess it's official - We have moved our blog to www.thegoldinglife.wordpress.com.  Hope you come visit us at the new one :)

Fall Festivals

Saturday night before Halloween a friend called and said their church was having their annual trunk or treat on Sunday afternoon.  We went last year and it was a lot of fun, so we thought we would go again.  The guys were working on the duck blind during the afternoon, but came after they were finished...unfortunately I was not good about taking photos and the only one I have is one of him in the kitchen before we left.  Aunt Kat bought Tucker scrubs the other day and I thought it was fitting for him to go as a doctor.  He was so cute and he really likes wearing them!  Here's the only photo from the night - kind of blurry because I couldn't get him to sit still.

This year Halloween fell on a Wednesday, so it was a perfect time to go to the fall festival at our church!  They had a ton of blow up jumpers, games, a petting zoo, horse back rides, and other fun activities for the kids.  Tucker dressed up as a cowboy like his daddy.  He was the cutest little cowboy!

Jonathan had a meeting for his mission trip, so he went on to that and met up with us later in the night.    Thankfully I had some help on hand - Mrs. Pam and Sarah came right at 5 when it started and my mom came a few minutes after that.  Who knew how much stuff there was to carry around and keep up with.  Sarah became my official photographer for the night - I'm SO thankful because honestly I probably would have forgotten to take pictures if not.  Also, I wish I had thought about bringing the stroller just to carry all the stuff we had and tried to carry all night - purses, candy bag, water, hat, shoes, etc.

So here are a few photos from the night.  We had a great time!  It got really crowded around 6:30 so we scooted out and had Chick-fil-a for dinner and then headed home.  It was a fun time had by all and I'm thankful Jonathan was able to be there as well...normally he is in class for school while we are at church so we rarely get the treat of having him with us on Wednesday night church.

My sweet cowboy!

Both my Cowboys!

Aunt Sarah and Tucker sliding - He LOVED this - went down it several times before it got too busy

I joined in on the fun as well

Tucker trying to convince Mimi to go with him back up to slide

Giving grammy a high five through the jumper!

He was squeezing me to death - love him!

Another jumper - he was scared of them at first but then loved them.

Fishing for candy!

We tried to let him ride the horse but he was not having it - I was a bit surprised to be honest, but there was a little boy behind him that was dressed as the hulk and I think it might have frightened him a little.

He LOVED riding in this.  It was driven by a lawn mower

We checked out the fire trucks that were there as well.

Daddy came after his meeting - that's all he wanted!

Little family photo

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween as well!  We had a great time!