Preacher Avery and his brother

Avery's new favorite game is preacher.  I know that the cool kids these days say pastor, but trust me this is not shepherd leading pastor this is hell fire and brimstone preaching. 
It all started last week when we went to see Michael's grandparents for a little post-Father's day visit.  I have to say they have the great grandparent thing down. 

 Hank and grandad reading!

Avery and grandma racing cars!

Avery and Hank have figured out they can get grandma and grandad to do ANYthing.  So after some playing Avery decided to have "church" with grandma and grandad.  He lined them up on a pew made of kitchen chairs stood on a stool and told them "Jesus loves you" and "be nice" afterwards we derailed he told them to sing while he danced (probably not what grandma and grandad do at their church.)  I didn't know how to tell them that after watching So You Think You Can Dance he has me sing Jesus Loves Me while he break dances.  Afterwards he also took them to a restaurant where they ate enchiladas.  Guess what we like to eat after church most Sundays???

Church has become such a hit it is now a daily occurrence.  Poor Jeff and Linde got nice, sweet reading time last week when they came to visit.

This week it was a fierce sermon about being nice to Avery's daddy!  I also let them know about the fit Avery threw yesterday when I took his stool away because he was standing on it on my bed "preaching" to his brother in another fiery sermon that ended with some stool throwing.  As he cried his way to his room he said "that hurts my feelings now I can't preach to my brother."  I bet Hank was torn up about that.

Today Hank decided a nap wasn't in the cards for him and he told me the Bible says he doesn't need one!

I really hope our preacher has on pants this Sunday.  

What Doin?

I love when Avery walks up and says "What doin Mamma?"  He says it less and less often these days as he gets older and has better grammar, but it is one of those little boy phrases I will miss. 
I know I haven't blogged lately, so here's what we've been doin!
We've been splashin!
We kicked off summer with a splash day with friends from church!  It was so easy and so fun.

 I put out a few snacks, a sign and the fabulous outside water toys they boys collected for their birthdays. 

We've been lakin!

We celebrated Memorial Day at the LAKE!















We've been hangin!
We have had so much fun in our backyard just hanging out!  We love summertime playing and fun! 

I've been readin
I have also read several good books, check it out on my book blog or be my friend on goodreads!
I've been watchin
I have wasted what feels like years of my life watching the crappiest bachelor/bachelorette ever.  I can barely stand to have it on, I have to just barely watch it.  I can't imagine how bad it is for her to know what Bentley really said. 
I have been thrilled to spend time watching So You Think You Can Dance, love that show so glad it's back!
I've been eatin
I have had too many baked cheetos and not enough grilled veggies.
I have had lots of yummy fresh fruit! 
I have had too many Diet Dr Peppers and not enough H2O.
I've been observin
I have had big fun watching my Hanky Panky learn to WALK! 
I have had big fun watching Avery boy learn to swim (however, I am not sure any actual learning is taking place.)
I've been sick
I have summer-itis.  I always wish I was a stay at home mom in the summer, there are too many fun things to do to waste time at work. 
I have lake trip-itis.  Our annual trip to the lake with some church friends sans kids is days away, I am giddy!
I have North Carolina-itis.  Avery leaves for almost a week in North Carolina just after the 4th of July.  He will have so much fun, but we will miss him so much.  I get to go for a night to escort the little prince back to reality.  It will be a sad, sad flight. 
I have beach house-itis.  We get to go to some friends' beach house the end of July.  I am so excited to relax with new friends & old for a few days (again sans kids, does that make me a bad mom?)
I have Florida-itis.  We are driving to Florida in August.  It is going to be so much fun.  I can't wait for our first family beach trip with our favorite travel buddies!

Father's Day!

i am so thankful for the dads in my life!
mine is pretty much the greatest.  i have never doubted for one second that i am loved.  i know because when i was little he would pin linde and me down and tickle our guts out while reading 101 ways to praise a child, and because he hugs us so long everytime we see him, and because he painted 20 little toe nails on many a Saturday night before church, and because he shares his chips with me, and because he was okay with saying no you can't wear that dress it's too short, and because he kindly said abbe jo you really need to think about things when i thought i was too holy for my prince after a summer away at camp, and because he now does all the same things (in the male form of course) for 2 little boys who mean the whole world to me. 

my papa was the greatest.  he taught my dad and michael so much about being a great dad and was the BEST grandfather!  i still miss him every day.  i love when avery talks about riding papa's speed boat in heaven some day!
michael's dad is pretty special, too.  avery got to spend the day with him a few weeks ago.  he tells me all about seeing the buzzard bird with pop, riding pop's tractor, driving pop's truck and felt especially loved that pop shared his sweet tea with him.  and we will probably never stop talking about the day spent at the nfl sperience (aka NFL experience) with pop!  we pretty much wouldn't have the amazing home we have without him either.  i can't even begin to calculate the hours he spent lovingly turning our house from a literally roach infested shell into the amazing home it is! 

michael's grandad falls in that same category as papa!  amazing!  i love to listen to michael talk about going to his grandparents house every friday night and how his grandad made him a new gun every friday night.  avery and hank now love to go hang out with grandma and grandad, too.  thankfully the gun making hasn't started, i don't know if hank would survive.  :)  but grandad sure did bring back to life the bouncy horse michael and blake rode back in the day and avery does his best to buck right off of it every time we are in tyler!

and wow, michael!  i never doubted that michael would be a great dad.  he loves babies and babies love him.  i absolutely love that he is the hand's down favorite at our house.  i had hank for awhile, be he left me for daddy long ago.  it makes me smile every day to hear michael's key turn in the door followed by avery's gasp of delight and hank's furiously fast crawl for the front door.   michael is always up for fun, never forgets to say i love you and is always trying to find ways to be a better dad.  i couldn't have imagined what an amazing dad he would be!  but i guess i can't really be surprised with all the great dad's in our life!

we love you guys!

Our Graduate

Well, Hank and I waved bye-bye to our friends at water babies for the last time this week.  We had a lot of fun even though we didn't get to go to class as much as we would have liked. 

Hank was super excited that Daddy got to come see his mad water baby skills on his last day of class. 

He is also super proud to display that he can finally stand!  I mean 14 months isn't too young to go ahead and give it a whirl. 

It has been so much fun for Hank and I to have some quality time!  He was the cutest water baby in class that is for sure.  It was also really fun that we got to have the same teacher that Avery did, Ms Amber is GREAT!  We are so thankful we got to have round 2 of water babies.