Just because it's funny...

And I know my sister will get a laugh... here are some pictures of our parents - aka Nana and Grandpa -- actually swimming with my boys. I honestly think the last time I saw my Dad in a swimsuit was before I could drive... it doesn't look like he's gotten much sun since then.

The boys had a fantastic time with them! Isn't Grandpa just like a Rockette in the water?

And this is where it starts.....

This may be your very first glimpse of the epicenter of a Texas Male's lifelong obsession with football. I will admit that I have lots of reservations about this whole thing. He's only 7. The coaches are way too serious about it. The mom's are a little too rabid... and they want to have practice 3 times a week for 2 hours!!! THEY ARE ONLY SEVEN. If any of those folks get ahold of this I will be shunned, I'm sure. Everyone knows that any Texas woman worth a can of Aquanet wants her boys to play football as soon as they can walk. It's no secret that football in Texas outranks nearly everything else on the scale of vitalness to life. We HAVE to play football here - it's what we do. There are movies and tv shows about it just to prove the point.

There is a part of me that is a little proud and excited that one of my boys is trying football on for the first time, but the bigger part of me is concerned that it is going to be too much too soon and that it will not be a positive experience for my guy. Big Daddy even signed on to be an asst. coach in order to keep some kind of lid on the mania. It's a big commitment for the whole family but commit we did so we will ride it out and see where we end up. So far he loves it and can't wait to get to practice but we'll see how this all works out when school starts.

FYI his team is the Bobcats Black (there is also a Bobcats Blue) and he is being trained to be a wide receiver. We explained that wide receivers get a lot of glory and they also get to run a LOT which is something our little Forrest Gump just loves to do. When we told him that if he ran fast enough he wouldn't spend so much time eating the turf, he was all over it. No matter how he actually plays I'm proud of him for just trying it... and I WILL be getting a Bobcats shirt with "bling" on it and my baby's number on the back -- if I'm going to do it, I"m going to do it right!

He does look awfully cute in his uniform!!!

I think Ben Franklin had it wrong

Supposedly, Ben Franklin once wrote "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." While that may be true to some degree, I think he missed the mark. In my opinion, fried squash on a summer day edges out beer under any circumstance. Maybe that's just the Southern girl in me talkin' but give me a big plate of fried squash (with just a cornmeal coating and plenty of salt) over a beer any day. I actually personally know people who have never had fried squash and I feel plenty sorry for those folks. Now that I have my super fryer -- maybe I will make this my personal philanthropic mission for the world -- to introduce the fried squash ignorant to the joys of this delicious summer treat. If you happen to be one of those poor souls - stop by any time and I'll fry up a mess for you....you'll thank me for it.

And if you want to bring cold beer to go with my squash, I won't say no. :)

What a GLORIOUS day!

I know I am two days late on this but I wanted to share anyway -- you all know about Griffin's food allergies and how we have always had to be so careful to avoid anything that he was allergic to. For the past 5 years this has meant that he had to be "different" from other kids at mealtime. I've done my best to make sure that he never felt overly segregated but it has always bothered me -- much more than him -- that he has never been able to eat a birthday cake at a party or have pizza with everyone else. I have always provided "Griffin's version" of every special event food under the sun. Well Tuesday we got the tremendous news that he has finally OUTGROWN HIS MILK ALLERGY!!!! Yay! He was so excited and the first thing he asked for was ice cream like Carson's... which is just regular old Blue Bell but something that has always been off limits to him. We raced right home from the doctors office and I made him a huge ice cream sundae, complete with chocolate, WHIPPED CREAM and his favorite cherry on top. I even videotaped the first bite --which earned two thumbs up from Griffin! I realize that in the grand scheme of things, we have been so blessed to only have a few food allergies to deal with -- there are certainly many more sinister things that we could have been handed and I have always been very thankful that God gave us something that was manageable. Still...as a Mommy, It has always broken my heart a little to watch my sweet baby eat different things from the other kids and ask his brother what cheese tastes like and wonder if he would ever get to eat what the other kids eat. He is still allergic to eggs but we can certainly work around that for another year. Tonight I am just so very greatful that my baby boy has taken a giant step toward being able to be just like everyone else. And I am enjoying watching him try new foods as much as he is enjoying having his culinary world opened up to him. My heart is just bursting with joy that he will be able to start kindergarten this fall and be able to eat pizza with all the other kids. God is good and this is just a small bit of proof.

I can't keep up!

there is too much going on to blog every day. Yesterday was my birthday - complete with a delicious cake made by Timothy. I dont have time right now to do a proper post but enjoy these pics of my pretty princess and a few other items!

I DO know how to add pictures!!

The internet connection here is not strong so I could not get the pics to load last night. Here are the pics for the previous post:

Day 2 and 3 in Pensacola!

Whew! we have been busy! Doing a lot of nothing really takes it out of you!
The boys are having a fabulous time and so are the adults.... we've eaten so much seafood we may sprout claws ourselves! Yesterday was my Mom's birthday so shout out to Barbara.... we went on a cruise that was supposed to take us to see dolphins... what it actually did was give us 2 hours to corral the boys on a hot boat while we "looked" for dolphins. We did end up seeing a few fins in the water but it was NOT what we were expecting. We also took a drive over to Pensacola Beach to check that out in the afternoon. Wouldn't you know it? as soon as we got over there, the sky opened up and it just poured for a couple of hours. Luckily we were able to find refuge in a really cool restaurant with all kinds of fun things for the boys to look at and fun things for Krystal and I to drink. Griffin had his first popcorn shrimp and loved it. Today the Daddys played golf and the Mommies and boys went to the beach. We saw Dolphins today and we didnt have to pay a dime to do it so that was cool. Carson found half a crab in the surf and the boys all enjoyed dissecting it and grossing each other out. We found lots of shells and brought back lots of sand in our swimsuits and other areas that were not intended to haul sand. In the afternoon we went back over to Pensacola Beach where the Dads went into the fairly large surf in search of the big shells and sand dollars. So far we are having a wonderful time. Here are a few more pics from the last 2 days!

xoxoxoxoxoxo