Catching Up - Summertime!

This summer has flown by! I can't believe that is already coming to an end. This summer, in particular, has been so incredibly fun. It is so amazing to watch Hanky become a little man and exploring the world around him. Ella Kate has totally blossomed this summer and her personality shows more and more everyday. She has made the transition from sitting up at the beginning of the summer, to scooting around, to now she is full blown crawling everywhere (I'll post a picture of that later) and is in to everything! You just forget how quickly they grow.............Life is good:)

We decided to join the swim and tennis club in our neighborhood this year, and it has been so much fun going swimming in the pool, playing on the playground, and fishing in the lake. Hank and I have been amazed at how much Hanky loves to fish. He will stay out in the boat for hours before he is ready to come in. Hank went down and brought the John boat back from Lake Burton and it has found it's home in the garage. I don't know if Hanky likes going on the lake in the boat better or he would rather hang out in the boat in the garage with his best friend and cousin, McCord. They will spend hours in the boat in the garage pretending that it is their pirate ship. Imagination is just the neatest thing and it is so much fun having full conversations with Hanky. He has truly become such a little boy!

Hanky with McCord (his cousin, neighbor, and best friend)

Here are some pictures of hanging out the pool and Trey and Katie's going away party (we already miss you guys) with our friends Caroline and Hannah!

While I go to work on two days a week, Hanky and Ella Kate have gotten to hang out with my mom (SuSu), my aunt Lisa and cousins Elizabeth and Mary Kate, Pop and Mimi, and Kriner helped out some too! During the year, Pappy and CeCe are awesome taking over the Tuesday duties while Susu covers the Thursdays. The kids have a blast and I can't begin to tell each of you how thankful I am to have you to help out while I go to work! Leaving knowing your children are in great hands is such a wonderful feeling! Plus, it's fun having family dinners (Nana, Charlie, Kirk (Charlie's roommate), and the Grices get to come over) on both nights to get to see and catch up with everyone! And we all know Susu makes the best dinners ever!

We have gotten to go down to my Dad (Pop) and Susan's (Mimi) (my step-mother) house some this summer. The kids even stayed there one night while Hank and I went to my high school reunion (I can't believe we graduated ten years ago!) Hanky and Ella Kate have loved hanging out in the pool, riding around on the four-wheeler, feeding the horses, and just playing in the mud. Pop's house is a child's heaven (especially little boys, but I have to say Ella Kate was holding her own). It is also so nice to be able to see and spend time with Susan and her daughters and granchildren.

Here Pop is with Ella Kate, while Hanky has no fear jumping in the pool! He's a little fish in the pool!

Will and Summer were so sweet to invite the whole fam up to the lake for a weekend. We had the MOST fun and can't wait for their wedding this fall!

We were so fortunate and got to take two wonderful trips to the beach (thanks to CeCe and Pappy). We went over the Fourth of July with the McCord clan and had such an amazing time. Hanky loved getting to spend all day everyday hanging out with his cousin, McCord. During this trip, Hanky was much more into the pool than the ocean. So, we spent so much time just hanging with the fam at the pool. It was also so much fun because we got to celebrate Uncle Michael and Aunt Jami's (yea - we can finally call her this) engagement!

Uncle Mikey and Aunt Jami shooting engagement pics! So exciting:)

Then we got to have more fun and go back to the beach with Rebekah, Peter, and Maddie Sanford! Bekah and I went to high school together and have remained extremely close since then and I am very proud to say that Maddie is Hank and I's goddaughter (we love her so much!). Everyone had such a blast and amazingly Hanky and Maddie slept in the same room the whole week. Hanky's first spend the night party!!!!! Peter has the best camera, so we have lots of great shots of the week!

Our crazy little fam!

Well, that gives a brief overview of our fun summer so onto more updated events! I don't think that my future blogs will be quite this long (it's way harder to do than I thought), but it is really fun:) Hope everyone is doing good and look forward to hearing from each of you soon! And no worries, Will and other singletons, I won't expose any bad stuff (well maybe):)

Love,

Kristen