Days of summer....

We hope that this finds everyone well. We also hope that everyone is having a great summer so far! It is a HOT one so far where we are in Florida and it's just going to be July tomorrow. This summer will probably get to record highs I'm sure. So we are spending a lot of time in the pool and at the beach! We are a little late getting our boat in the water, but hoping that we will be able to get that out in another week or so. We love going out to disappearing Island. Olivia hasn't been out on it yet, so we are looking forward to that experience with her!
Nicholas started taking swim lesson this month. It was a two week class....the first week he cried out for mommy and daddy every time he had to go in the pool. By the 1st day of wk 2 he was actually kicking his legs and hands, going under and jumping in. All while not crying out for us! He made such great progress!! On his last class they let them go down the big tube slide there. We were surprised he would go down it, b/c he usually doesn't like slides. He did and had a blast, but said "no" when asked if he wanted to go again! The girl in his class went down it a total of three times. It was cute. We went out for Pizza at my sis in laws family's restaurant after to celebrate his success and his Uncle Jerry Lee's birthday! We are planning on taking him for swim lessons again in August so he will refresh his memory and I will also do a mommy and me class with Olivia. She already goes in the pool with us when we go at Nana's or the neighbors, but we think it will help her in the long run.
We had their cousin Briana's 1st birthday party at Nana's this month and they had a big blowup water slide. Nicholas went down a few times, but wasn't quite sure if he liked it much or not :o) I think the adults enjoyed the slide more than the kids though....we all had a BLAST, even Nana!! She kept going down it as much as the rest of us! For Fathers day Nicholas and Ray made Cinnamon buns for breakfast for us and we hung out in the morning and gave Ray his photo apron. Then we took the kids to Nana's after lunch and put them down for naps while Ray and I relaxed in the pool. When they got up we took them in the pool with us. Later for dinner we went with Papa and Granny to Crabby Joes and then Ritters for frozen custard! We also celebrated my birthday this month and hung out together as a family. The kids and Ray got me my fave bottle of wine, Oatmeal creme pies(my fave) and a pink MP3 player so I can have music to work out with. They also got me a yummy chocolate cake which Nicholas helped me blow out my candle! We then went to Nana's pool to practice swimming with Nicholas and to get Olivia in the water. Nicholas helped us make pizza for my birthday dinner this year. It was fun and turned out so Yummy!! It was a nice calm, quiet birthday with my family!
Olivia is trying to crawl so much. She gets one knee up and is almost there. She watches Nicholas all the time and wants to be where he is and wants what he has. She can almost pull herself up and sit up from laying down too. When on her belly she moves all around the room with out crawling. Should be any day now though, really! We are so excited for it to happen :o) She is a mover and a shaker for sure. She doesn't like to help you get her dressed. It takes a while and a lot of patience. :o) She can wave, but she waves with her hand facing her instead of out. She clicks her tongue making a little clicking noise all the time too....it's too cute! She is continuing to breast feed and is eating a lot of her baby food. She eats 2 jars at each meal, but you wouldn't know it by looking at her. She is going to be small framed like her mother I guess.
Nicholas isn't going on the potty all that much now. He's in pull ups. He will go sometimes, but it's going to be rough training him. I'm going to try harder once he gets 2 1/2 though. I've cut back a little, b/c we didn't feel he is ready. So in another few months I will push it a little more. He loves to be outside even in the heat. We were out this past weekend planting some trees that we got. While we were out shopping for them Nicholas stopped at every flower and smelled them. He put out his hand, bent down and lifted it a bit as his nose went down to it and he smelled. You could hear him sniffing too. It was so cute to see him exploring them! He is a good helper. He has a toy mower and wanted to help mow the grass after we planted the trees! It was a great weekend outdoors even though it was so hot. Just means lots of sunscreen and water!
As a family we are still trying to be more "green" everyday. We use our reusable bags at the store. Organic/all natural products for cleaning and health and beauty aids and food. Do what we can to conserve everything, planning to start composting, an organic garden in the back yard, a rain barrel etc. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. We are trying to do our part to protect this earth for our kids and their kids. We are trying to teach our children to do what we are doing. With them helping us do these things and seeing us do these things, they learn by example. We will continue to keep doing more as we can and as things go, replacing them with "greener" products until we are as green as we can get.

Well, please check out the new pics from June and the video that is posted below. Everyone please have a great summer....stay safe and cool and have a happy 4th of July too! Enjoy those fireworks, but be safe :o) Enjoy your family, for they are what is most important in this world and life is too short not to stop and smell the daisies(like Nicholas does)! :o)