June so far....

We love summer time.  With Steven's shortened hours and no tutoring for me, the pace of our summer is so much more enjoyable for our family.  We go on family runs at the park, with Steven Edward biking, Scout and I running, and Daddy pushing the stroller.  We eat greens, squash and zucchini,  and other veggies out of our garden every night, and the pace of life slows down tremendously.  It has been an amazing blessing for us to have this time as a family to recover from an incredibly busy year.  We have also been able to invite people over and go on fun adventures.  Below are a few of the adventures we've been on so far in June.

We went to the Greenville Zoo with a group of our friends.

 

  

We took the boys fishing in a local creek, where we spent most of our time untangling lines and re-baiting hooks.  

 ....we did have a little success, though.  Quite literally.  Steven was not so convinced that we couldn't cook it and create enough fish just for him for dinner.

 Uncle Thomas and Aunt Kate came for the weekend, and we went hiking out at Turkey Pen Creek in Mills River.  It was lots of fun.  This is Thomas making his strong man pose, which Steven copied every picture after.....

 here....

 .... and here

 We have discovered that Eliza is a water baby.  She will literally throw herself out of your arms to get to water (which is a little scary, honestly).  We discovered this at a pool with some of our friends where she spent the entire time horizontal, gliding in the water (in our arms).  If we put her in a float or held her body out of the water at all, she would squirm and grunt until we returned her to a position of complete submersion.  We have seen it repeated ever since EVERYWHERE!

 Here she is literally thrashing in her father's arms until he bends her close to the water, where she plays in it with her hands and eventually dunks her head repeatedly!

So far, June has been a blast.  Here's hoping the end of it and July will be the same!

Summer has begun!!!

But before it officially began.... we had a whirlwind trip with the Breedlove side of the family.  Steven's sister got married and all the kiddos got decked out in Montgomery wedding attire to walk down the aisle with their fathers before the bride.  It was quite cute. I have no idea what was said in the actual sermon, as I was shoving graham crackers into my daughters mouth, but all things considered, the kids did great.

 This is the first unsuccessful group photo of many.

 This was my attempt at a family picture.  Like I said.....

 This was our attempt at an entire family photo.... notice Sam on the front row yelling....

 Then evidently in this picture.... we notice too.  Daddy is bribing, no...wait.... that is what mommy would have done... Daddy is logically discussing.

 First attempt at family photo....

 Sam again.....and once again below.... it appears history does repeat itself.

What cute Breedlove girls!  The only 2 of the 8 grandchildren that are such!

Then my mother in-law was nice enough to rent a beach house for the mothers and cousins to "vaca" at the week after the wedding.  For all the chaos (which was less than expected, to be honest), we had a great time!  There were 8 children 6 and under.... but they all did remarkably well and there were very few confrontations!  My, how the sand, the waves, and a big bucket of play-mobiles will do the trick!

 We tried in several venues to get cousin group pics... you will notice similar success as the wedding.  It also appears that in history....mothers never learn.

 Sigh.....

 ....almost

 ...nope...

We had some fun outings in the afternoons for the non-nappers.  We explored Calabash, went mini-golfing... and obviously had some ice cream!

 

Maggie and Sam were great buddies.  It was really quite cute.

Auntie Millie and Nana spent some long hours on their drip castles.  They really were masterpieces.

And we finally get the group shot....sans babies... but notice they all have candy in their hands.  Is that really what this world is coming too?  

I could have put a million more.  But you get the picture!  And now that we are home.... summer really has begun.  Both Steven and I are home at nights and our family has a long needed rest TOGETHER.  Thanks for reading!