Life Lately

I’m dropping in today for a little Life Lately post (Which is nothing more than an iPhone photo dump because I get that pesky “your storage is almost full” message every few weeks.)

So last week, it rained and stormed every single day. Our back yard backs up to a large creek, and one side of our property runs down a ditch line that feeds into the creek. I’ve mentioned this creek a few times on here. It’s a love hate relationship. Anyways. We had a really bad storm early Thursday morning that did significant damage around our neighborhood. With all the ground saturation from the week and then the strong wings, trees were uprooted all over the place. Our house and the house to the right of us were probably the hardest hit with multiple fallen trees. Fortunately though, all the trees fell just right to avoid any structural damage to anyone. It  could have been SO much worse than it was. 

If that wasn’t enough, Friday afternoon, it happened again. Needless to say, the weekend was spent listening to chainsaws all over the neighborhood and neighbors cleaning up their yards. One tree from our neighbor behind us, is actually about 3-4 trees twisted together and for the most part landed IN the creek, and then some in our yard. It’s a huge mess with no definite game plan yet on how we’re all going to get it all out. 

I was able to sneak in a couple of painting projects a few weeks ago. I had a wedding shower and baby shower to attend on the same day at the same time, so I opted to just send a gift to the wedding shower. There’s a soft spot in my heart for September weddings. #septemberbride

My cousin Blake and his girlfriend, Dana, are expecting their little girl to arrive next month. Their shower date had been in the works and plans in place for several weeks, and it just so ended up falling during my uncle Bill (Blake’s grandpa’s death). Their baby shower was scheduled for 2pm and our family was supposed to gather at the funeral home just an hour later prior to public  visitation starting. It had been a very difficult week for our family, so celebrating their sweet baby girl was a bit of joy we all looked forward to and needed that day. 

Right as Dana began opening gifts, Blake walked right in, walked right up to her, dropped to his knee, pulled out a ring and said the SWEETEST word to her before asking her to marry him. There was not a dry eye in the room. For all of the tears of sadness that had been shed that week, these were all tears of joy. Blake and Dana are the most precious couple together and we are all so happy to watch their new little family start their journey together. 

Unless you’re new around here, you know that Thursday nights are “family nights”. I had to snap two pics from a recent Thursday night to remember moments with our nephews. Stephen thought he might have a nail in his tire, so he had my brother in law rolling the car up and down the driveway while he looked for it. Riley felt the need to direct his dad in the front while Colin helped Stephen look for the nail in the back. (P.S. perks of working for Redbox, there’s always a trunk load of movies available to watch.)

That same night, Colin had been complaining about a loose tooth. When it comes to pulling teeth, we’re all a bunch of wusses. Loose teeth are just gross. There I said it. We started telling him, he needed to call Ma (Ma is our grandmother, Colin’s great grandma). Ma is the master tooth puller. She’s quick, efficient and painless. She might be 85, but she can still pull a kid’s tooth like it was her job. He hesitated back and forth for a long time and then finally he came to my sister and asked “Can I have your phone so I can call Ma?” Bless his heart. We found him on the front porch talking to her and making plans to come over. Less than 30 minutes later, they had made it to Ma’s, the tooth was gone, and toothfairy plans were in the making. 

I don’t know what it is about weekends lately. Maybe it’s just recovering from the crazy week at work, or the horribly hot and humid weather…or all of the above combining with carrying twins…but the last few Saturdays I have been absolutely useless. I have no shame in admitting the girls and I have spent many hours the past couple of Saturdays just resting in bed and watching “Four Weddings” marathons. 

A couple of days before the 4^th, my mom’s side of the family got together at my aunt’s house for one of our famous dinners together. Everybody brings food…and I mean we BRING the food. After dinner, the little kids headed outside to play and before we knew it a water gun fight had broken out and my aunt kept refilling a bucket of water for their “safe zone refill station”. HA. I love watching these kiddos grow up together like their moms and I did. 

Once it was declared to dark for water guns, they all came inside to play games and somehow the request was made to watch mine and Stephen’s wedding video. So there’s that. We’re so random, but I love it. 

Speaking of the kiddos, our nephews are enjoying some fun at Holiday World this week (with my sis and BIL of course). I just love getting pictures of these two! I know they’ll have the best time, but gosh, I miss them so much when they’re gone!

Here’s to Life Lately…and now more storage space on my phone!