Daddy

Happy Father's Day Daddy!  Stephen had to work on Father's Day but the second he walked in from working the kids dragged him over for his surprises.  

Amelia made Stephen a bracelet (turquoise, pink and yellow).  Good daddy wore it to work the whole week since it was from his Amelia.

Opening the favorite gift from me and the kids...  It was an art piece with the words to "You are My Sunshine" painted on it.  Starting with Amelia as an infant, Stephen has probably spent hundreds of hours singing this song to the kids to get them to sleep.  He walked them in circles while they were fussy infants singing it, rocked them as babies while singing it and rubbing their backs as big kids singing it.  It will forever be intertwined in my brain with my sweet husband and beautiful babies.

The kids and Daddy all singing the song together.  When Addison is really tired she will say, "Daddy, sing sunsine."  

Amelia, Luke and Addison, I hope you always know and appreciate and cherish what an amazing daddy you have.  He loves each of you so much and is so daily invested in each of your lives.  

We headed over to Grandpa's for a yummy Father's Day steak dinner.  

Happy Father's Day Grandpa Steve!  Or as Addison teasingly calls you, "Grampy."

Tennis Fun

Our tennis club had a fun draw down called Island Time the other night and we had a great night with tennis friends.  Here is my tennis partner, Mary Claudia, and me; although it would look more like us if we had on tennis skirts, visors and sunscreen.

Kevin, MC, me and Stephen-none of us won the $2000 :(  Although I did win a haircut at Todd Boswells!  But looking at these pictures clearly I needed to win a highlight instead.

Loving on my new tennis star.   

Celebrations

We celebrated Cynthia's birthday at Darwell's.  It is this great little place near us that was featured on Guy Fieri's show Diners, Drive ins and Dives.  Great atmosphere, great food, great friends-what more do you need?

Tommy and Cynthia-Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday Cynthia!

Best buddies.

The kids loved the band and were dancing up a storm the whole night.  Look at Addi try to mimic the big girls.

Love watching these kiddos grow up together.

The Rochelle Harper band was amazing.  They loved the girls dancing and brought them up on stage!  The girls even made it on the band's website!  What a fun night we all had.

Saying hello and goodbye to old friends

All of Ocean Springs was excited to welcome back our old friends the Dolans.  They had been our neighbors the first few years we lived in Ocean Springs but then moved away to Oregon.  It was just like old times on the beach with Marian back in the crew (she is to the right of me).

The boys were glad to have Jim back in the mix too.  (Jim is on the far left.)

The Boskovich kids and the Dolan boys back together again.  What a bunch!  We both added one more since they moved away!

So fun having them all back together again.

We also got together to say goodbye to our friend Beth; she and her family are moving to Anchorage.  We will miss Beth and her sweet family but what adventures they are going to have in Alaska :)

Vacation Bible School

Our little Olympians!  Our church had Vacation Bible School last week and the theme was the Olympics.  And look who was old enough to join in this year!!!  The kids learned all about Joshua through songs and skits and earned medals by memorizing their bible verses.  VBS has sure come a long way since I was little.  I remember playing on the playground, being really hot all the time (no air conditioning) and butter cookies.  Now it is a full church event with tons of volunteers, events, craft rooms, decorations, sporting events, bible character visits, whew.  No wonder it takes every church member to make it happen:)  We had over 100 kids in the community participate and hopefully we reached a few little hearts who hadn't yet heard about Jesus and his saving power.  What a huge blessing our church has been in our lives.  

Twin Lakes

Big girl Amelia could hardly wait to go to sleep away camp this year.  She was counting the days and when it finally arrived she was beyond excited! Amelia's bunk buddy was Lizzie.   Amelia had seven girls in her cabin and her counselor.  We choose Twin Lakes camp in Jackson, MS because it has a great long-standing reputation and a beautiful Christian focus.  The theme this year was Jonah and the campers learned all about God's faithfulness through songs, devotions, prayers and skits.  

Amelia's sweet counselor, Allison.  

Ocean Springs friends off to camp!

These are all pictures from Amelia's camera now.  This is the waterfront.  There is a big waterslide, a tube slide you can see through the trees, a giant water trampoline, a blob (a big air bag that flings a child out into the water when another child jumps on the other end) and the iceberg, which they climb and conquer.  The camp also had a pool that the kids did water activities.

Amelia horseback riding her horse Sebastian. 

Caroline, Amelia and Lizzie.

Amelia's cabin!  Activities for the week also included Princess Warrior, archery, treehouse time, shooting rifles, zipline, ropes course, Sundae night and so much more. 

The treehouse is a big hit.

To get to the treehouse you have to pull yourself using these ropes while you sit on a raft!

Well deserved hammock time at the treehouse.

Wilderness Adventure.

Great picture Mimi!  This was on top of the lookout tower!

Pick up day!  I was so excited to see these sweet faces!

My mimi!

Driving home the three hours with these two, what a treat!  They talked they entire way about all of their adventures and fun.  They adored every second (zip line was both of their favorites).  We'll be back Twin Lakes!  

Jackson

Last weekend the whole family spent the weekend in Jackson, MS on the way to taking Amelia to camp.  We visited the Children's Museum and had so much fun.

Couldn't find Daddy for awhile but he had a cute surprise for me when we did find him.  Awwww.  Isn't he the cutest?

This was a section based on popular books, "Snowy Day", "If you give a Mouse a Cookie" etc.  (yes Sonya, sponsored by Target)  Addison was in book heaven and you can see her in the background reading.  We had to drag her out of there.  She is such a little bookworm.

Learning about bones and how they support our movement.  We had a great afternoon filled with learning and fun.  We enjoyed some shopping and good eats and swimming at the hotel.  The next day we dropped Amelia off at camp.  Cute pictures to follow soon!

Summer Trim

Amelia, Sadie and Wrigley all got big time haircuts for the summer.  Amelia cut off 8 inches!  She and the dogs look super cute.

Nothing says summer like blueberries

Look at Little Bit all diva'd out to go blueberry picking.

The kids start asking in the beginning of May, "When is blueberry picking?"  We have picked blueberries at this same farm since we have lived in Mississippi.  The elderly couple that lives there is darling and are so sweet to the kids.  The gentleman always gives the kids golf cart rides around the property.  We first went blueberry picking as a novelty but we all enjoyed the delicious berries so much; it has now became a yearly event.  I love when things turn into a family tradition.  On the drive to the farm, the kids were full of "Remember when..." stories related to our fun at the blueberry farm.  And truly, every year, the kids are better and better little pickers.

Look how I found Addison.  Parked out in the shade eating her tummy full of blueberries.  Addison's bucket never got more full than 10 berries.  She would pick about 30, eat 20 and then start over again.  

Busted.  Who can blame her with blueberries as big as nickels?

Our bounty.