You Never Know
In an effort to keep things honest around here, I should start by saying that I have a thousand things that I "should" be doing besides updating this blog. Like unpacking a few boxes so we can at least walk into our bedroom without playing jenga. Or tackling the laundry mountain that has piled up on our one piece of furniture that has so far been delivered downstairs. But, the boys are napping and I'm feeling anxiety about how long it has been since I blogged last and how far I am getting behind!
I have said since I started staying at home in many different posts that I truly felt that I had to take advantage and savor every moment of this sweet season at home. I knew that I was blessed to have the opportunity to enjoy each and every day of my boys and focus on our home. You never know when life can change right? I certainly did not think when I we kicked off this summer that it would be the "last" summer at home.. well maybe! But for sure by the end of the summer I returned to work full time. God brought huge amounts of change in our life in such a short time. I am grateful for the endless amounts of fun we had in the last few months and the special times I shared with the boys enjoying the sweet, long summer days. What a blessing to get to go home to Alabama twice for a total of almost 4 weeks. That was definitely a blessing that we enjoyed this summer too.
We didn't let many hot days pass us by that we didn't find ourselves in the water somewhere. One of our favorite past times was visiting Noah's Ark in Westchase area of Houston. They have the best kiddo pool and we even brought our best friends along one time.
And we enjoyed the pool at our YMCA too. Bonus they also have sno cones :-)
School is back in. Football has kicked off. Time to store away another summer of memories. We had our toes in the sand, brown legs by the pool, sticky kisses, and time with friends. We lived our summer time to the fullest because you never know what tomorrow might bring although we are trusting God's beautiful plan for our lives.
Love,
The Riley's
I have said since I started staying at home in many different posts that I truly felt that I had to take advantage and savor every moment of this sweet season at home. I knew that I was blessed to have the opportunity to enjoy each and every day of my boys and focus on our home. You never know when life can change right? I certainly did not think when I we kicked off this summer that it would be the "last" summer at home.. well maybe! But for sure by the end of the summer I returned to work full time. God brought huge amounts of change in our life in such a short time. I am grateful for the endless amounts of fun we had in the last few months and the special times I shared with the boys enjoying the sweet, long summer days. What a blessing to get to go home to Alabama twice for a total of almost 4 weeks. That was definitely a blessing that we enjoyed this summer too.
We didn't let many hot days pass us by that we didn't find ourselves in the water somewhere. One of our favorite past times was visiting Noah's Ark in Westchase area of Houston. They have the best kiddo pool and we even brought our best friends along one time.
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| Ready for his first trip of the year to Noah's Ark |
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| Our fun new bathing suits |
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| Loving the animals squirting him with water |
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| Sno cones! |
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| The slide |
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| pizza pool side with our best buds |
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| And even baby Ryan |
With all of this water play, we worked really hard on learning to swim. We took 2 sets of swim lessons over the summer. With all the work, Eli has learned to swim across the pool (width) and with a little help can manage without his swimmies (although it scares this momma to death). Beckett can do it, but is still a little afraid of sinking and is not very confident. We worked hard on independent swimming but not quite there yet. Hopefully with our new pool, we can get lots more practice and be ready for the summer next year.
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| our favorite place to practice |
Of course we had lots of fun at home too!
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| playing on the back porch with our dragon pool |
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| water gun fights |
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| super hero fun |
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| dressing up |
And a little super hero/ninja move training classes!
The boys spent about two half days a week at summer gymnastics camp that they loved! I think their favorite day was the airbrush tattoo day. They each chose their own design. Look at those brown legs. You can tell we loved the pool this summer.
The boys also fell in love with "lake life" this summer. Our best friends were generous and took us several times on their boat. The last "free" weekend before starting back to work we spent the night at a condo at Lake Conroe and did two awesome days of boating. Eli even skied on his daddy's feet!
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| fishing with his daddy |
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| relaxing at the island |
Mommy and Daddy even found time to sneak in a summer concert on the lawn with our friends.
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| adult fun at Tommy Bahamas |
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| girls at the concert |
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| enjoying the last of summer with my man |
Love,
The Riley's