2015 August phone pictures

One day I ventured to an area I had never been to in Charlotte and brought the kids to this tiny little splash pad and playground.  It turned out pretty fun and was a beautiful area of Charlotte. 

Chandler selfie I found on my phone.  Love it!

A watermelon we grew in our garden.  Unfortunately it was gross and kind of hallow and had TONS of black seeds.  The seeds we planted said it was supposed to be seedless.  Oh well, it was fun trying.

Most of my August pictures are from Maine.  Here's the view from the plane as we were landing in Portland.  It was so gorgeous.  I went by myself with the kids for I think 2 weeks.  I can't remember now. 

Beckett enjoying the tire swing and rocking the blond locks and swimsuit all day look.

There were cousins galore while in Maine.  We all happened to overlap a little bit so it was super fun for the kids we see their cousins and have friends to play with.

These 3 boys were adorable in their diapers and blond hair jumping.  Too bad Atticus didn't want to cooperate for a picture.

Beckett just chilling in the pool with the fun floats we brought.

Blackberries were in full force while we were there and the kids had a lot of fun picking them and eating them.  One day we picked a whole bunch and my mom made juice out of them and Chandler was so cute being her helper while Emery looked on.

It was a sad year for my parents blueberries bushes and they hardly produced enough to eat off the bush.  So we visited Bill and Dot's berry farm and picked lots of yummy blueberries in the drizzly rain. 

Beckett had a little too much fun putting sand down his pants at the beach.  He's always one to make us laugh.

For someone who avoids writing whenever possible and hates it so much I was super impressed to find him writing his name in the sand.

This is why our children need a seat between them in the car.  Oh man, thank heavens for our van!!

Taking a walk to the side garden to pick some flowers.

My parents sell gladiolas by the side of the road a people stop and buy them all the time!!  It amazes me.  They put tons out everyday and they will all get bought usually.  They just leave a little money box out and trust people to be honest.  One of the favorite jobs for the big kids is going to check the money box and bring in the cash.

Atticus just getting some dirt out of his boot.

I loved this beach day.  The kids were all so good and played and played and it was so beautiful out.  So fun!

It took a few days of swimming before convincing the kids to jump off the diving board.  Once they did they loved it!

Chandler makes awesome jumps and splashes.

As close as Atticus would get to the tractor.  If Grandpa had been sitting in the seat he wouldn't have gone near it.  He was so terrified of the tractor when it was running. 

Grammie Ruth really took to Atticus.  They loved each other and it was so sweet to see. 

Time to say goodbye.  It was nice that we didn't have an early morning flight so they could do a few things before leaving. 

At the airport waiting for our first flight.  There's a reason I like to get direct flights.....

On our second flight that was a huge plane- 4 rows in middle with isles on each side.  The kids were so excited because they had never been on such a big plane.  We got to sit on it and play around with the tv screens only to be told that we were not going to be able to take off because of thunder storms in Charlotte.

Eventually they made us get off the plane and said our flight was cancelled.  This was at 9 at night!  Worst nightmare ever.  I was stranded in Philadelphia with 4 kids by myself- I wanted to cry.  But Steve was amazing and made phone calls for me while we waited in the rebooking line at the airport.  He tried getting through by choosing Spanish but I think I eventually got rebooked at the airport before he could get through on the phone.  Then there was the problem of what to do for the night.  Steve nicely found a hotel with airport shuttle and booked it for me so I could concentrate on not loosing my kids and somehow walk extremely far in the airport without any meltdowns.  We finally managed to get to the hotel and get everyone settled down into bed.  My tender mercy of the day was I had packed in our carryon a change of clothes for everyone and for some reason threw in nighttime pull-ups for the boys.  I don't know what we would have done had I not done that.  I guess the hotel would have had some pee sheets to deal with.
 

We had to get up at like 5 or something in the morning to get the shuttle back to the airport for our flight which didn't even bring us home!  They had nothing to Charlotte so they found us one to Raligh with a super long layover that then got us home.

Meltdowns in the airport were abundant.  I think everyone had one at some point. 

Finally on our last flight home.  Two sleeping children was a miracle. 

One of the last days of summer.  The neighbor kids went through a time last summer where they would just all crowd together and play monopoly.  Usually they had more than one game going.  It was pretty funny to see them all. 

We went to a Charlotte Knights game in their new stadium last year.  It is such a nice setting uptown with pretty views.  The kids didn't last long watching baseball though so I had to take them on lots of walks to see different things.  One was this lovely grass hill that they had fun rolling down. 

After the game we walked over to Romare Bearden Park and Beckett couldn't resist getting wet even though we warned him we had nothing to change into.  It was so hot and the game was the middle of the day so I don't blame him. 

And the end of August suddenly brought us back to school.  I swear as a kid summer was so long but now I think summer is super short.  I feel like it goes by so quickly and we have no time to do all our trips.

2015 July phone pictures

I hardly have any July phone pictures because we spent 2 weeks traveling and those pictures already made it into those posts.  When we came back from our travels I really wanted to try to bring the kids blueberry picking and peach picking.  This year non of the farms were allowing pick your own peaches!!!  I guess it was a bad crop so they weren't letting people in to pick.  This place happened to have the tail end of blueberries to pick so we did get a bucket of blueberries.   It was a horrible day though and not one I really want to remember.  We were having difficulties with Chandler and he refused to get out of car, it was the most muggy day ever and we were dying hot, things just didn't add up to being very good.  I wish I could find the place we went to pick blueberries the year before but I can't remember the name and it was just this old couple that had bushes on their property so it's not some huge farm or anything.  Maybe this year I'll be able to find them. 

A little sun bathing to warm up for this cutie:)

The kids dipping their feet waiting for "adult swim" to be over.  10 of the hour the lifeguards blow the whistle and take a break for 10 minutes and the kids can't go in the pool.  I kind of like it because it's how I get the kids to leave or say we can stay for 2 adult swims or whatever.  They are pretty good at going along with rules like that instead of just making them get out of water and saying it's time to go.  I wonder what bringing 5 kids to the pool this summer will be like? Hopefully the baby will just sleep the whole time.  If not it's going to be awfully hard keeping track of Atticus.  The other 3 should be fine. 

This child- first I love his little tan line:)  Chalk and water makes some great body paint!

Ready for war?? Oompa loompa???

Who knew Beckett had curly-ish hair??? Last summer we let it get long and it was the cutest curls.  He's kept it long since then but over the winter he's looked kind of just shaggy and unkempt.  This past week has been hot and his curls are coming back.  It's so awesome to see. 

It was a sad day when Atticus's cute boots got holes.  His, Beckett's, and my boots all got holes this winter.  I guess wearing rain boots daily puts wear and tear on them.  It was a muddy muddy wet winter walking to school and the woods never seemed to have a chance to dry out.  This past week we haven't had to wear boots and it's been so nice.  Though I'm sure I've just jinxed us and we'll get rain again and mud.  My boots hardly lasted a year which is annoying.  I still haven't bought new ones because I've been squeezing into Chandler's old ones.  If I didn't have a huge stomach we could probably share shirts:) 

That's all there was from July I guess!

2015 June phone pictures

I really really want to get caught up on my blog before this baby comes.  I have about 4-5 weeks to do so.  I'm not sure it will happen but hopefully I can at least finish 2015.  I'm loading pictures getting them ready to write and post so I can possibly work a little while sitting in the hospital.  High hopes here people:)  Anyway, on to some pictures from last June that I took on my phone:

Cute Atticus doing his tricks.

These kids love to climb on the counter tops and table.  Steve's mom commented about them being perchers or something like that.  I never really noticed how much they do it until she pointed it out.

Atticus is always cute.  I feel a little bad because there are so many pictures of him on my phone but that's because he's always willing for a picture and he's usually looking awfully adorable.

Lots of turtles are found in the woods with all our walking.  It will be fun to have them come out again this spring.

Walking to school one day.  I can't believe how green it is compared to now.  What a difference!

On our morning run we found a snapping turtle!  I picked it up and put it in the bottom of the stroller to take home and when we got home it wasn't there.  Somehow it must of climbed out and toppled to the ground.  I felt kind of bad the rest of the day and was hoping it made it out of the road to safety.

Last day of school for these two!

My garden was amazing looking!!  I love how green it was.  I always have this happen and then it turns yellow and gets bugs and gross.  I actually hate gardening and taking care of plants.  I figure I'm working hard enough keeping a family alive and running I don't have time for plants.  But I do like the harvest of a garden so I try a little.

Taking selfies at the pool.

Hey my kids actually like each other sometimes!  This was when we went to visit KayAnna and swam in her pool.  It was so nice and clean feeling compared to ours.

Atticus and Norah napped while we all swam.  We had started the day at a lake but it turned out pretty disgusting and so we didn't last long before coming back to her pool.  Much more enjoyable!

Then the middle kids fell asleep on the way home.  It's a long day driving 2 hours both ways but worth it every time.  Unfortunately we haven't made it her direction for a really long time.  And now I'm not sure I should drive that far being a month away from having a baby.

I got a little crazy at World Market and the color turquoise one day.  I still love all those items and use them almost daily.

Steve had a birthday in June.

And then he had Father's Day the next day I think??  The kids thought the card was hilarious as did I since I am the one who typed it up and printed it.

Atticus used to be really good about folding his arms for prayers.  Not so much anymore- he's a little wild.

He dressed himself in Chandlers scout thingy he made at scout camp to wear around your neck or head or wherever.  Pretty cute kid:)

So this shirt has some good memories.  It was a gag gift to Steve while we were in the outerbanks with his family for vacation.  He did some pretty funny poses while wearing it.  Chandler somehow found it and started wearing it to bed as a nightgown shirt last summer.  He doesn't wear it anymore but it always made me laugh when I saw him strutting around in it.  Somehow the kids managed to fit 3 of them in the shirt and it was so funny and they were laughing so hard they all fell over into a clump.  Poor Atticus was too short to fit in so Chandler knelt down and let him have a turn.