So here is regular ole life!
Ow!
These two are thick as thieves. You never know what they'll be doing next. Or what John will be wearing.
Preschool concert in Port Orange. It was a super fun time. And John had to bring his own mic. Naturally.
Some people love Christmas and I definitely do too, but my heart stops when the fall decor goes out. God love a pumpkin. Fall is commmmiiinnnggg.
Someone is thinking about crawling, but will not really commit to it yet. Both of my kids have been slow with their motor skills so I've learned they'll do it when they feel like it. No pushing them.
It's a pirates life for me. I have no clue how this picture ended up with this filter though.
I did do this one on purpose though. Now that is a cute face.
Watched this little doll a couple weeks ago. She's a week younger than Sam and is so gentle and sweet. <3 p="">
That is a pacifier in Sam's mouth. Arielle loves her pacifier so Sam cried for hers the whole time she was here. The only one I could find for my paci-rejecting fool was one with a mustache on it. He held onto it the entire time she was here but never actually sucked it. Just chewed on it.
We met Aiden at Pirate Park to play and they have opened a little splash pad area since the last time we were there. John decided he had to go in in his real clothes. YOLO right?
What I allowed my child to wear in public. I've officially stopped fighting battles over his clothes at this point. Thermal shirt with a heat index of 100 degrees? Have it kiddo.
Reading to this guy who was running his very first fever.
Everyone in our family caught some kind of summer cold thing and poor Sam ended up with croup. It was pitiful. Being locked in our house however motivated me to finally add a little more toy storage to the living room.
Put these guys to work.
Sam too!
John did a lot of the hammering himself (for real)! I was so proud. Once again...you never know what he'll be wearing though.
There you have it. I officially live in a daycare center. I felt like putting this toy shelf front and center in our "living room" was the last step in fully surrendering to the fact that this was a play room and not a living room, BUT it is so nice for everything to have a place again. One day soon enough we'll live in our forever house and have a specific play space for the kids, but until then...this is what we're working with.
One of our bathroom steam dates for Sam's croup. Sheesh. It was hot in that bathroom.
And daddy's turn in the steam room! Darling Sam just smiled through the whole endeavor.
My big boy packing bags for the homeless.
Sam doesn't love camping as much as John.
Pulled out some of John's old stuff and put these Toms on Sam. So cute!
Stopped by the statue of Mary at our church to pick a red rose. I was such a proud mom when he bowed his head all by himself and prayed a Glory Be. Made me tear up a little.
Riding the mall train! (I think he is wearing this same shirt in all of these pictures...I swear he does have more clothes. Guess this one is just a favorite.)
Riding the train selfie.
Quick trip to "river park." John has a name for every park in town. This one is...you guessed it...on the river.
Swinging is a new thing for John. He has just decided that he likes it this summer.
Family trip to "waterfall park" on Sunday so we could play Tarzan in the jungle.
Met some pals at the Children's Museum. It was a chaos to say the least so I didn't get many pics. There were kids everywhere and wings of it closed. Chaos I tell you.
Something Ollie and Sam could enjoy!
John is getting so big that he is getting into things like this microscope. It's so fun to watch that mind start picking up new things and making connections.
Throwing the baseball. Check out that stance.
And these pics are from today on a little walk over to a pond near our house. We love to go and watch the mullet jump and today we were on a hunt for a flower to discuss the flower parts. John is all into that right now so it was fun to find one and learn all about what the roots, stem, leaves, and flower do. I wasn't sure we were quite ready for stamen and pistols yet. Maybe we'll conquer that later.
This one just goes with the flow.
Never know where you'll find him!
I cannot believe how big he is these days. He is definitely a full blown kid now.
This pond that we walk to is really part of an apartment complex down the road from us called Willow Pond. It's a nice complex with mostly older folks living there. They had a huge pond with tons of ducks and turtles and the occasional alligator. :/
Florida has the best walkways and trails. They are everywhere and make walks so nice. It is one thing that I cannot imagine living without now that we've been here. As our time here draws to a possible end, I find myself realizing how hard it would be/will be to leave a place that is set up so perfectly for being outside.
Made it to the pond.
Here is our flower that found to diagram and study.
And Sam found grass. ;)
Lots of it!
We also found our very own Very Hungry Caterpillars on the walk home. We were of course stoked.
I found this shirt the other day and it said John Murray all over it.
Wake up.
Explore.
Repeat.
I think that is his life motto.
We were trying to get one of those cute jumping in the air pictures, but I learned it is harder than it looks. These outtakes are a little funny though.
9 month post to come very soon for Sam and in a week and half my first born turns 4! Cannot comprehend how quickly this is going, but God knows I'm so happy to watch them grow.