WHEW!!

Finally, all caught up!!!

Touch A Truck

Today we went to the Carmel Touch A Truck @ the high school, and it was really cool! I had no idea what to expect, but nearly every stay @ home mom and kids in Carmel were there, and we had a great time!! We were joined by the Neales, Cooney's x2, Bracha's and all of the kids had fun learning about all of the firetrucks, army vehicles, school bus, John Deere digger and Indy Car! Too cute!!

We are blessed to have such a large group of old and new ( Hi Bracha's!!!) friends that share the same values, and experiences as us. The kids get along great and it is really fun to create great memories for them and with such great people on a daily basis.

July BBQ

We had some friends over on Saturday nite for a spur of the moment BBQ. We haven't done that for a while and it was very fun, relaxing and a great way to catch up! The kids had a ball too!

Babies Galore

There have been an awful lot of babies born among our friends lately, and I just wanted to update those of you who know them.

Brandi and Brad Neale had another girl, Estella Rose, on May 20th. Big sis Mallory is very proud!



Evan and Amy Hiple had another girl (their third) Parker Lynne July15th. Ella and Finley are keeping each other busy with dress up while mom is tending to the baby


Kristen and Steve Cooney had Kaitlyn Ashley on July 18th. Big brother Carter is as cute as ever and having a great time with all of the visitors coming to see them! I don't have a picture of them yet!
Jim and Julie Norman had their 1st baby last Friday nite Kendall Cassidy. I hear she is beautiful!
Finally, our friend Tammy Dock who lives in Atlanta, had her son today Eli. I hear he was 9 lbs! Go Tammy!!

Lots of happy families right now!! Congrats Everyone!!!

While we were gone!

As I mentioned, the kids and I were gone for 7 long days, and while Mike had a great time the first couple of days, (think poker, golf and more golf) after a while he started missing us and decided to redo the kids rooms! He painted Avery's and bought Jake a big boy bed and bedding! I had no idea that this was in the works! What a SURPRISE! Thankfully, my husband is talented and we have very similar tastes in decorating! Most women would shudder at the thought of their husband decorating with NO input from themselves, but I am lucky!

Pretty impressive huh?

Our trip to North Carolina

My mom, Aunt Edie, Aunt Agnes, the kids, the dog and I packed up my van and ventured out on a 12 hour drive to Raleigh, NC to visit my sister and her husband, Matthew. Crazy, you say? Probably! But we had a surprisingly low stress and smooth trip filled with lots of giggles and memories made! Mom, Agnes and I had done trips like this in the past, but it was the first time that Aunt Edie had joined us. She is my dad's sister, and the only girl in her family so a "girls trip" (sorry Jake and Matthew) is something she doesn't have much experience in. We did great!!

Julie and Matthew have a great house that was set up perfectly for us and we were all very comfortable. Avery and Jake surprisingly loved all 3 of their dogs, and Gizmo tortured them most of the time.

We went horseback riding and shopping. We did garage sales and landscaping. We checked ALL of Duke's campus (thank you Julz! haha), and went to consignment shoppes. The kids went to the Science Museum with Matthew and Julie, they had a BALL!! It was nice for me to be able to have some grown up time too!

We really missed Mike though and he missed us, as I will show in my next post!

Way Behind!!!

I have no idea for the fact that I haven't been blogging lately, so I will spare you any lame excuses. I guess I have just been uninspired!!

So, let's start with July 4th...

We started the day with what has begun a tradition among our friends, the parade. This year it was raining, so it really put a damper on things. (I am so clever aren't I? ;) We introduced some new friends to the group and had a great time nonetheless. Later in the day we went to the Cooney's for a cookout and fun. I mentioned that it had been raining so it was pretty much a muddy mess, but all the better for the kiddos! They had a GREAT time. Then Mike (Cooney), Mike (Good) and Steve put on the best home firework show ever! A great time was had by all!!

School!

When does pre-school start again?

Not soon enough! Haha! We need a distraction!!!!