JAW-GIA

My little buddies and I took a drive over to Atlanta back in late June/early July to see the Hogan/Henson clan. We had an absolute blast - I was only going to stay thru July 4th (when Paul got back from working a camp in Alabama) but we were having so much fun and Declan was just loving life with his best buddy Matthew that we stayed thru the end of the week and left on Sunday. They don't get to see their cousins very often so it was just a really nice week spent together, the four little boys.................being four little boys :)

We pooled it the first two days and then it monsooned the next five days which meant we had to get creative. We spent mornings at two different bounce houses (we need one in MB asap), Nancy had us over to do crafts and make cookies for the local firehouse, we went and visited said firehouse, there was an enormous amount of truck playing/fighting, rode bikes in the rain, watched movies, Nancy and I had a girls afternoon away from the kids, we cooked a lot of good food, had popsicles every night on the back porch together and just loved every minute.

 These two are absolute best friends. Ask Declan who his best friend is. He will say "Maphew" :) They are ridiculous....

Decky and Nana stayed up late on the 4th to watch fireworks. He (doesn't look it in this picture) but loved it so so much

 It was Pop's bday while we were there so he had some extra candle blower outers! Lucky Pop!

Driving home to daddy! It was a solid 2 weeks that we were on the road away from him between the beach and GA and EVERYONE was excited to see him :)

He will murder for this later in life......but seriously. Declan. The peeing and pooping on the side of the highway is literally ridiculous. Always 5 minutes after we leave a gas station or restaurant and I've asked him 439 times before we leave to go........

 Carrig, my little reader......

Thanks to Nana and Pop for always housing us and Aunt Nancy and Uncle Scotty for making really cool little dudes for my little dudes to hang with. Nothing like good family.......

Everybody came back up here a couple weekends ago for Paul's birthday and as usual, we had a blast........as the boys are getting older it is just more and more fun having them together. They are clearly family. The boys are so so so similar (yet different) but its awesome because they all love trucks and jumping and riding bikes and cars etc etc etc so they just play play play playyyyy forever with each other and nobody is the odd man out. Declan was super pouty face when they left on Sunday and we have already gotten videos from the boys asking for "Ducky" :) Love these little men so much. And I was thinking last night - how lucky am I that I married into such a wonderful family. Sometimes I feel like I spend more time with them than I do Paul, and I'm so lucky that they are amazing and loving and supportive of us and the boys....lucky lucky lucky.

Disclaimer. We live at the "no clothes" house so the following pictures contain....very few clothes.

 Mean face......

Nighttime Ipad time with Aunt Nancy.....

Phew. The end.

Post shower pre bed

They totally look like they're exhausted and ready for sleep huh???

Or not.

I love how they are totally starting to really play together. Makes my mom heart happy.

Excuse the toot here......come to find I think it was actually Carrig (he is foul) which would explain why when I asked Declan what u say he said, "trick or treat!!" And not "excuuuuuuuuuse me!"

Maybe?? We discuss Halloween a lot around here.....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My beautiful baby

I just can't get over this little beautiful baby. Maybe it's because I know he is my last (boo) but I am soaking up every second with him. This was our first morning together without decky who started school.
I'm pumped for some qt with this stud:



Love you bug.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ridiculousness

Have you ever seen this show on MTV??? It's Paul's favorite. And he/we watch it every night....it's basically a compilation of YouTube videos of people (boys) doing really really really stupid things. And usually getting hurt. I feel like its kind of my future.
Or my present as this is what Declan did a few weeks ago. Or almost. He got up there, thought about it then looked at me and said, "mommy my glide bike is scared."
Riiiiiiight.

In other news in conjunction with the glide bike:



When did he become 12 years old???

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Standard afternoon looks like this:

Paul came home specifically this day and was like alli.......wtf.

Hahahahah oops what can I say??? They are BOYS!!!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kaylie's bday!

Declan's girlfriend had her 3rd birthday party a few weeks back and per usual, Kim did a phenomenal job with it. Kaylie is slightly obsessed with scooby doo so she had everything scooby you could think of.
She even made the bus and had little photo booth props......such an overachiever ;)








They also had this huge jumpy house water slide that Declan and kaylie spent the majority of their time on...








It was no joke.
May or may not have injured himself severely on this move:








Oh and they had blown up an entire bag of water balloons to play with that they went thru in a good two minutes:




Declan LOVES a good water balloon fight so as soon as Robin said it was time, he went right out there with him...












Side note: you know you have good friends when they have a whole separate table of goodies for your son. Kim specially ordered mellow mushroom for the party because they have gluten free pizza and she had gotten special gluten free/peanut free/egg free treats for Declan in his labeled party favor box. She is so sweet and we are lucky to have such thoughtful friends that love our allergy boy...







And then maybe my favorite video yet:

Declan is so sorry Kaylie!!! He loves you!!!!
Happy Birthday sweet baby girl. Can't wait to have you as a daughter in law :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Howwwww did this happen??????

Declan has his orientation tomorrow for school and Wednesday, he starts five, count them, five days a week there. Whaaaaaaaatttttt :( it's just the mornings but still. MY BABY! And OUR SUMMER!

We had the best summer yet. Easy. So much family time, so much friend time, so much pool and beach time, so much staying up late/sleeping in late/no schedule time, just the best. I can't believe it's over but Declan was literally jumping up and down tonight because he was so excited to go to school again. Safe to say he loves it and will remain happy away from mommy :( cue lots of ugly crying......

The little dudes and I pulled into our driveway at about 12:30 last night, ending our summer with a pretty fantastic quick trip to Charlotte and Wake. We saw some really awesome college friends, coaches and their children and got to see both Gammy and Grandy and Mamaw and Aunt Kathy. The boys LOVED every second of being with lots of kids and cool adults. Can't say how awesome it was.

I put this pic up on insta



On our way up on Friday with that song "Carolina" by parmalee's lyrics. And I mean it :) home is where my heart is still beating........trip totally did not disappoint.




Morning bike ride to a park near my parents condo.




Love this view..........taking a pic while driving maybe not the best idea....

Saturday afternoon/night we went to see my good friend Sarah and her badass baby Ben who I've been waiting to meet since April of 2012. She stayed with a former baseball player and volleyball player from wake who are married and have two baller children. Another former baseball player was there too with his wife and twins. Lots of wakies and it was a really fun reunion of sorts with some serious craziness.....







Surprisingly the big group pics turned out infinitely better than the pics I tried to get of the boys and Ben :(





Ben and Carrig have the shaggy look down. Future wake girls better watch out.

Sunday sarah and i drove up to wake in the am to see our former coach, Suddesy, and her hubby and kids. Who I love. A lot. Another great day minus the monsoon that came the second we drove up to the soccer game.......hence stalling it 2 hours and eventually canceling it. The boys I waited it out only to watch 7 mins before calling it good. So that was cool. But the rest of the day was filled with tons of good times.

Including this gem:


Justin should be so proud, sar......



This is schmoops, suddesy's husband, and one of the greatest men alive:

The memories I have from my time at wake are absolutely untouchable, and to now be making new memories with my kids there...............not much cooler than that.

Thanks Suddesy for being such a great hostess and Sarah for spurring this trip on. Great weekend! Great way to end the summer.......

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone