10 Reasons I Love Summer: Day 10 (Finally)

4th of July Festivities on the TN River at Trey's parents house.
You catch up with friends, play, eat fabulous food and watch a great fireworks show put on by my pyromaniac husband.  This year since the 4th was on a Wednesday, everyone opted for the Saturday after.  It worked out great and they even got a super deal on big fireworks (which I failed to get a picture of this year. dang.)

Here are a few pic's of the day:

(Big kids and little kids enjoyed an intense wiffle-ball game.)

(My little festive girl that ran wild with all the boys.)

10 Reasons I Love Summer: Days 8 & 9

Reason #8- Nap-time.  Thankfully, Claire is an excellent napper.  She tells you when she wants to lay down by going in her room to find ducky and paci.  I will say, "Are you ready to go night night?"  and she will sign "More."  I lay her down and then she goes right to sleep.  Seriously.  It's that simple.  It's the same at bedtime too.  The best kid ever, I know.  How blessed.  Today's nap is going on 2 1/2 hours as we speak.

(Precious baby girl!)

Reason #9- Time to read.... during nap time.

(Don't you love the plethora of crap on my table?  Makes for a nice photo-op.) 

10 Reasons I Love Summer: Day 7

Fresh fruits and veggies.

I would love to have a garden of my own, except my laziness and my one year old get in the way of that dream.  So I tend to rely on the hard work of my generous friends and family.

(In the midst of vegetable spaghetti... yummy!)

10 Reasons I Love Summer: Day 6

Early morning devotional, prayer time with the Lord and a good cup of coffee.

The perfect way to start the day.  I attempt this during the school year and I usually have a few days a week where this actually happens, but majority of the time, I am rushing to get ready, catching up on news or trash tv from the night before (please don't judge).

I have found that when I do make spending time with our Heavenly Father a priority first thing, my day just ends up better.   *I am better.*  It is worth getting up early for.  My prayer is that I can continue this even after the lazy days of summer have ended.  Amen.

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went to a solitary place, where he prayed."     

 Mark 1:35

10 Reasons I Love Summer: Day 5

Water babies.  Enough said.

(Take a moment and notice this wild, unruly red hair.  It absolutely has a mind of its own 99% of the time.)

("Mama, you have this crotch strap toooo tight.")

Yes, I'm just now noticing that there seems to be a reoccurring pattern that Trey is always having fun with the cute water baby and I'm always taking pictures.  Most mothers would agree, I think, that in bathing suit situations this is all for the best. < Insert cute, winking smiley>

10 Reasons I Love Summer: Day 4

I love walking/running with my mom and Claire at the lake.  We usually go 3-4 days a week.  I run a few miles and mom walks and pushes Claire in the stroller.  That is no easy task... pushing 50 pds. up those steep hills.  We have nicknames- I am "Little Bull" and Lib is "Big Bull" and I do believe Claire is "Tiny Bull".  She is proving that she can live up to the long line of hard-working women. We all prefer hard, manual labor and a challenge.  We like to sweat it out.

I usually get to walk the last lap with them and that's when mom and I catch up on all the daily non-sense of our lives.  "What color are you painting the door?",  "What are you cooking for dinner?", "Did you hear about...?" or "I'm thinking about rearranging..."  That's my favorite part-the last lap.  I pray everyday that Claire and I will have the kind of relationship that I have with mom.  We laugh, we love, we help and we're brutally honest.  Simple, but it works.

10 Reasons I Love Summer: Day 3

I love any and all things patriotic, but especially the American Flag.  I love to see the flags hanging from street lights as I drive home.  I love to pull in my driveway and see our flag swaying in the breeze.  I love to ride down the river and see flags hanging from docks or see a HUGE flag flying over a business, like the one at Dairy Queen.  It never ceases to make me smile. 

Thank you to all of the men and women that have fought for this great country for the last 200+ years.  We should all be proud Americans!