Catching Up - July

My blog is lacking in updates lately, but many posts coming! Beach, Five year old Sam, First day of Kindergarten, and First day of 2 year old Preschool posts coming in the next few weeks. Here are some pictures/updates to get caught up a little… 

Fourth of July weekend was fun to spend extra time with Papa. We went to a local bar for family night (and free kid food) to kick things off on the 3rd. Emma loves to dance there. Sam likes to take it all in from the sidelines and pretend he's too cool for it. 

The fourth, we celebrated with Gigi and Dodo... a home cooked meal from people who know how to cook (mom and Bud) and then we drove about a mile down the road to see the Nashville fireworks from the side of the road while Gigi stayed home with the sleeping kids. It was a great view of a great show and we didn't have to fight the crowds or traffic. I love where we live! The evening ended with chasing a mouse in the house… not so fun, but definitely entertaining. A few nights later we got around to trying the sparklers (and the slow shutter speed on the camera)… 

 Neither kid was too into it. Samuel refused to hold them and Emma was very cautious, but interested.

Just a random picture of Emma being a good mama to her baby doll… 

Bud and I celebrated our 9th anniversary by going to a cooking class. We really enjoyed doing this together and learned a lot too. However, I've yet to try any of it at home and am convinced I need to replace all my pots and pans to get the same results. We both would like to do it again sometime.

Aunt Alyssa made it home from France and is spending the next few weeks with us, mostly. It's been great to have her here and I'm glad she gets to be here for Sam's birthday and first day of school. 

We've spent a lot of cooler moments at the greenway for brief walks, which always end with a trip down the slide and some music at the natural play area.

 Cooking with Gigi…

We got to spend last weekend with the Penturf family. Loved having them here and getting to spend some time with just the adults thanks to Mom and Dad! We enjoyed some pool time, movies, and just hanging out at the house.

We left the kids at Gigi and Dodo's for a slumber party… 

 … so we could go to an amazing concert. It was at a beautiful outdoor venue, with our favorite performers, and we watched most of it from the front row!
Guster at sunset… with surprise guest Ben Kweller.

 Ben Folds…

… and Bare Naked Ladies. Yes, we felt like we had stepped back into a concert from the 90s and it was so cool.