Beginnings, endings and A LOT of in-between! (Otherwise known as the REALLY BIG post!)

Busy, busy, busy! That's us. As always. No time to stop and jot down our daily happenings. That's what life has been for us. We are living life to the fullest and getting quite a lot done, I might add! :)

As the school year came to a close I watched things like pre-school programs approaching, Kindergarten graduation sneaking in and everything seemed so final. It was a little gut-wrenching. Then I realized that as the school year was ending a FABULOUS summer was beginning.

But before I go into all the awesomeness of the summer I must first mention that Jag had the most adorable "end-of-the-year" pre-school program. He was one of the older kids in his class and sang all the songs and did all of the motions. His two brothers beamed from the audience with pride. You could see it all over their faces. Seeing him up there was special for them. And that was special to me. And, of course, the entire audience knew it too by the way little britches kept calling, "Jag! Jag! Jaaaaaaag!" and then waving. Sweet Jag got the "best helper" award. Well deserved, if you ask me. But I am just the mama.

nice, Rhett. Good shot with your finger up your nose. Classic. :)


And this was my happy boy at his "end-of-the-school-year" party. They had such a fun day and he was on cloud 9.

Next was Lawson's Kindergarten graduation. I'll admit it. I cried. Something so very bitter sweet about seeing him walk across that stage. I can't believe that his very first year of school is over. They had such a sweet program for all of the kids. Each one received a special award, trophy and "diploma". They did a slide show of all the kids in their caps and gowns telling what they wanted to be when they grow up. Lawson: a pilot (which he later told me he got confused about. He REALLY wants to be a spy...just so there's no confusion.)



And these two? They've been together since the beginning. Since they were two and three months old, actually.

And me and this girl? We've been through it with them. Although we're (obviously) sad that they are now moving on to 1st grade (ouch! I had to type 1st grade!) we know that more wonderful things are in store for them.


For the last day of school I made these little teacher's gifts. They were fast, inexpensive, and easy, but still made a great little gift. The teachers all seemed to like them. We made one for each teacher and helper for both Jagger's and Lawson's classes.

I can't remember where exactly online I found this idea. But it turned out super-cute.

And that's where it happened. Summer began. Exactly two days after the last day of school we were in the car and headed to the beach. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to the beach. But with talk of the oil from the BP oil spill, many vacationers were canceling reservations and rates were CHEAP. Brandon was not able to go because of work but the rest of us headed south with his blessing. We had a great condo, clean beach, no wait-time at restaurants and in one word I would say PERFECTION!

The boys absolutely LOVED the beach this time around. Little britches was a little hesitant at first but warmed up to the water and sand by the second day. As soon as he learned that the water from the waves would wash the sand off of his feet and "toes" as he would say, all was well with the world. :) Here are some of my most favorite pics from our trip and I'll warn you, there are a LOT!

























As you can see it was an amazing trip with amazing memories. Memories for me but especially my boys. Memories of crab-legs, sand, ocean air, shopping, train-rides, and who could forget their first experience at the 3D movie. Hilarious. Thank you so much mom and dad for making it possible to go!








Since making our way back to the real world we've been doing a lot of home improvement projects--the biggest of which was constructing our privacy fence. 483 feet of fence is nothing to sneeze at! It's been hours--LONG hours of labor but it is about 3/4 completed. And it looks amazing, I might add. Along with putting the fence up we've pulled up bushes, trimmed trees, actually cut a tree down, cleaned flower beds and just generally have the yard in tip-top shape. It's beginning to look very good. And it's about time! We've neglected it for far too long. Still have a way to go but it's refreshing to see such progress! My family is 100% responsible for it all, too. Great husband, parents, grand-parents, brother, cousins, etc. that I have!

And it seems like the appropriate time to mention that about one whole section and a half of another of the fence are there due to the hard work and determination of two strong-willed (and very capable, I might add) women. Holly and I took it upon ourselves when everyone else wanted to take a Sunday nap to work on the fence. And, just for the record, it is probably the prettiest part of the entire fence. ;) Thanks, Holly for your help too! I only wish we had a photo of us with power tools in hand to document our awesome carpentry skills...

I'll also mention our little garden. I'm hopeful that I'm drinking in all of this knowledge about gardening and will be able to build on what I learn each year. The little garden is doing well in some spots and not so well in others. Still it is my baby in terms of projects go. I'm laughed at almost daily for going out to check to see how big the peppers are or if the tomatoes are turning colors. I was almost laughed out of the house when they saw me out there taking pictures of my first produce. Hey, I'm a proud mama, ok??


Call me crazy, but I don't believe that the plants are the only things growing in this garden! Little britches has been there every step of the way. He LOVES to be in the garden.


My tomatoes and peppers are probably doing the best. The corn started tasseling too early, my beans came up in small patches, the broccoli just looks bad in general and only half my row of okra came up. Looks like we may have some watermelon and pumpkins, though. All in all, I'd say we're doing ok for our first try at it.


And here's the biggies' new summer do. They BEGGED for Mohawks. With it being summer and all I decided this was one battle not worth fighting. I figured they'd get the haircut of their dreams and be done with it in a week. I was wrong. They were done with it within 2 or 3 days. But I sure had some happy little boys!

Why yes, since you asked...that is the fence in the background of their picture. And since I'm sure everyone's so curious, here's a better picture. It's ok to stare. It is beautiful! ;)


And here are pictures of a recent whirl-wind of a trip to KY. The boys always love to go see Mammy and Pappy. They had a lot of family in from far off who we'd never met. It was nice to visit with everyone. There was a lot of laughter on this trip and it was sooooo good.






These two? They'd be T-R-O-U-B-L-E if they lived near each other. If you've never heard cousins squeal and laugh you've never lived. It was the sweetest sounds on earth even when it got a few thousand decibels too loud! :)

And finally, just a few random pictures of the squirt. He's so fun to photograph. He's in to everything. Easy and difficult to capture in photographs all at the same time. Oh how I love him, though! I know that I was put on this earth to mother these three boys. Knowing I could always be better, it's probably the one thing that I think I'm best at--if I had to pick one thing. ;)





Gotta get out of here now. There are more squeals and laughter awaiting me--along with ice-cream! :)