hanging out with Mac

Yaya (Aunt Carla) and Mac came to visit.

Can you tell the boy loves the water...
Mac with his country cousins in Simpson County!

We had to get a picture of all of us...everyone was game but Carson...oh well!

We had a fun visit and the boys are interacting much more now that Mac is getting bigger. We can't wait to do it again soon...I want them to be soooo close. I want my boys to teach Mac how to pee off the porch and embarress his parents when he does it back in the city! ha :)

Gotta love living out in the country...you do country things!

Gage..."it's board time"

Gage has surpassed all the expectations that I had given him this summer! He is now going off the board all by himself sometimes and swimming to the steps unassisted...but he prefers it if someone is in the water for him to swim to, let him catch a breath, then send him on his way to the steps. We will be playing in the water and I will say "ok, Gage, it's board time!" and he will run to the board to go off and he is super proud of himself!

Oh and GG (aka my mom) came to visit for 3 nights and she had Gage had a great time in the pool together. One day they went all by themselves and had a grand time. Gage is so worried the whole time GG is here as to where GG is...I had to convince him that she was staying for a while and not just for a few hours...he LOVED her stay...and so did I! loveyou, mom

This next clip is one of the fun things that Gage and GG do in the pool. She lays on her back and Gage lays on her tummy and kicks hard and GG steers them in the right direction. Can't you tell they had a fun time!?!

Yummy Watermelon

Today my awesome friend Amy T gave Toby this little watermelon. He is the only one of mine that LOVE watermelon like Brad and I do and since Amy T's family has an awesome fruit/vege stand and the BEST watermelons around...she loves to do sweet things for my boys ALL the time and today it was Toby's day to be on the receiving end of my dear friend! Ummmm...can't you see the excitement on his face of the anticipation of getting into this yummy melon...

Hmmmm...where should I start...
He is loving every little bite of this watermelon. I eat this little guy up!

Wow Wee...I'm so glad that you are my Mama's friend!

Thanks so much Amy for being such a great friend to me and for loving my 3 little boys so much. I have missed spending time together due to your summer hours at the fruit stand...so that is one good thing about having to start back to school...I get to see you!

1 fish, 2 fish...

All 3 of my boys love the pool, and I'm so glad that we have one on our farm that we can use daily. It pays off being able to use it so frequently because at the beginning of the summer Gage would not come off the top step of the pool and now you will be able to see what he can do now. I have not put either of mine in swimming lessons because I have not found anyone around my area that people rave over. I taught swimming lessons all through high school and some in college. I'm one of those anal people that figured if I did pay for lessons they would not do it they way I wanted and it would be a waste of my time and money...so I just have done it myself and saved a bunch of cash. I have to say that Carson and Gage have swam at the age of 3 and that is good enough for me. I do not need an Olympic swimmer...just one that loves the water and can swim confidently in the water.

Toby found a noodle that he wanted to take down to the pool and Gage was doing silly things with his noodle that was making Toby just crack up...
This is Gage swimming to the steps. Today though he swam across the smaller length of the pool (from side to side). Woohoo Gage-Man!

Carson is trying to learn freestyle and it is funny and awkward to him. Oh and the "jump" off the diving board is a new Power Rangers move that he learned from a movie that GG bought him.

dress up and pool fun

My boys love to play dress up. We have a huge bin of costumes from Halloween and hand-me-downs from friends. When friends come over they loved to play dress up too. Today Carson and Gage play "baseball cowboys"...don't you love their imagination!

Then we went for a swim at Nana and Slicks! Carson loves doing tricks off the board.

Gage is actually swimming now...can't believe how far he has come in only 1/2 the summer.

Carson, Heaven, and Gage. Heaven is an only child that lives across the street (if that what you call it out in the county where we live). She calls my 3 boys her "brothers"...I think it is very sweet.

Toby still in his diaper and shirt before he got into his suit for a little swimming too!