Happy Birthday Julie

Yesterday was Julie's Birthday! Bennett and Pres were very excited to wish their mommy a big happy birthday but they may have been slightly more excited about the potential for birthday cake. Both were so excited about singing and blowing out the candles that dinner was quite the struggle.

We celebrated the big occassion with a strawberry cake from Edgar's. For those of you who haven't had this cake, the cake and icing are both made with real strawberries (the icing has actual strawberry chunks and is pretty darn good). Following dinner we put 5 candles on Julie's cake (for some reason 5 is Bennett's favorite number) and we all sang happy birthday.

Prior to slicing into the cake the kids got to lick the icing off of the candles. As you can see by the last picture below (see the candle on the right) one of our kids (who shall remain un-named) got a little carried away... All-in-all we had a great time.

Julie does such a great job with this blog but rarely takes the time to brag on herself...so on behalf of Bennett and Pres, I wanted to wish mommy a very happy birthday and let her know how much we love her. Love, Steve

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the special daddys out there, but especially to Steve, my father, Lynn, and Steve's father, Louis. These three men are such wonderful, giving people and do so much for me and the children and I love you for that!



This year, the children both made special gifts for their daddy. In fact, I wanted to share a quick story. After school on Wednesday, Preston had his Father's Day gift for Steve (since he doesn't attend school on Fridays during the summer), and Bennett was upset that she didn't have her gift too. I asked her if she had already made it, and she said "Yeah, I made him a tie." I was slightly confused, but didn't press the issue. Friday Steve picked her up from school, and she was so excited to share her gifts with him early. Aren't they cute? The key chain is from Preston (a thumb print football).

My Little Fish

Yesterday we went to the pool for the first time since the kids finished swim lessons, and we were both so surprised at how well they are doing. Within an hour at the pool, Bennett was jumping off the side of the pool and swimming to us. Even Preston was doing well, swimming back and forth from the side of the pool to us.

We were so pleasantly surprised that we went to the pool again this morning and brought our recorder so we could document their progress from 3 weeks ago (which I think is amazing, if I may say so). After watching Bennett jump in countless times, Pres even began doing it on his own today. All I can say is those swim lessons were the best money I spent this month!

Now all we need to do is work on their form!

Fun in the Sun with Friends

This weekend I was lucky enough to escape to the beach for a long weekend with my girlfriends. It was a special treat to enjoy the beautiful area before the oil really destroys the white beaches, the crystal clear water and all of the wildlife that lives in and on the water. Thanks to my friend Mary Michael for extending the invitation to a group of us!

We started our adventure early Friday morning, so we could pack as much sun and fun into the weekend as possible. After hitting the grocery and liquor store, we were ready! We were staying in Mary Michael's sister's home on the bay near Orange Beach. Due to the oil, they have closed many of the passes from the ocean so we were able to swim and enjoy the warm water. It is sad though, because fewer boats are out and everyone is canceling their trips to our gorgeous beaches because of oil that hasn't even hit most of it yet. This disaster is costing the gulf shore billions of dollars, not including the lasting damage it will have over the next several years cleaning it up and building it back to the beautiful place it is.

With that said, we did go out on a boat Saturday (within the bay) to a little sandbar and to eat lunch. While we were there, we saw a boat of a local worker that had oil all over the boat, and a huge tarp inside that was also covered in oil. I think the reality of this mess really sunk in when we saw that....very sad.

Friday night, we went out for a couple of cocktails and dinner. A couple of us (clear your throat...me...) enjoyed the day a little too much and didn't recall the whole evening due to a failure in memory. It started off fun, with our group going to a little dive bar named Pirate's Cove. It was all outside overlooking the water, and it had about 10 dogs that were running wild throughout the place. Being the dog lover I am, I was petting them all, and even picked up the one-eyed Chihuahua, Paco and was carrying him around.....UNTIL one of waitresses told me he had fleas. I dropped him like a sack of potatoes and was like "thanks a lot." I immediately freaked out, and we left. Who wants to eat at a place that has dirty dogs with fleas running in and out of the kitchen??

So we drove to Orange Beach and went to Lulu's (thanks to our designated drive, Mary Michael). This is where it started to get a little fuzzy for me. Evidently the electricity was out and the place was running on generators. On top of that, it was a Friday night and it was PACKED! We waited for a long time for a table, and didn't end up eating until 9:30! For us moms who are now accustomed to feeding our kids early dinners, we were ready to gnaw our arms off! As soon as we ate, we left and headed home.

The following morning we enjoyed breakfast and mimosas at home, and then packed a cooler for our boat ride. Lucky for us, the neighbor was eager to drive us around for a few hours, so we took in the scenery and relaxed. Saturday night, we enjoyed a delicious dinner (shrimp and grits and a yummy salad) at home. We stayed up late sharing stories and laughing....too much fun!

Sunday, we had another great breakfast and then enjoyed the sun and peaceful bay with a book before heading back to Birmingham mid afternoon. Staying those extra hours really made the weekend feel longer, and when I got back I actually felt RELAXED! Thanks girls for a great weekend!

And thank you Steve for taking great care of our kids, our dog and our house, and for telling me that you appreciate how I do it everyday....it meant the world to me!

Swim Lessons Day 2

No comments necessary, just one short video of each child this morning displaying their swimming skills (or lack thereof).

Summer is Here!

Now that school is out and the warm weather is here, I need to make sure that I can be comfortable at the pool alone with two small children. So once again, we have enrolled our kids in swim lessons. We decided to use the same lady as last summer, so we will go everyday for the next 11 days (taking off only Sunday).

Yesterday was our first class, and Bennett was excited! She had jumped off the side of the pool in Georgia to Steve and attempted to swim while holding her breath. There were no tears with her and she looked like she did at the end of last summer (which isn't great, but at least she didn't regress).

Preston, on the other hand, was NOT a fan. When she dunked him the first time, he started crying and didn't stop until he was in my arms....outside of the water. Each child had several turns, but at the end of the hour, she got each kid in one more time for a quick turn. Preston pretended to be sleeping on my shoulder and ignored her, so he missed it (the little stinker). Hopefully he will do better today. Right now, he has no inherent skills.

As you can see in the last photo, he doesn't have the instinct to kick or move his arms. He just does the "dead man's float."

I hope to be better prepared later today with some videos (the recorder was dead yesterday). So stay tuned for progress reports.