School starts Monday. We are so ready for our homeschool routine. Here’s some simple sweet memories.

Swimming with our cousins celebrating Jacksons 1st birthday.

Timmy says he’s big enough to put his own sunscreen on.

I really can’t deal with how cute these divas are.

Um Timmy lost his first tooth. Really took my breath away when he told me his tooth was loose. 

He wrote the tooth fairy a sweet little note.

Lydia had a breakfast date and was clearly famished.

Timmy gave Grace a manicure. He’s such a good brother. Treats her like a princess.

Lydia’s very first hair clip!

Lydia’s first pedicure. I love these little toes.

Teaching Aunt Toria how to win Candyland.

Lots of Barbie playing.

Beach Days!

& Nights!

They did some baking. We went bowling with friends, we went to the science museum and worked the day at Home Depot.

& SeaWorld with my favorite BIG kids. Sam is a senior this year. I can’t believe it.
But that’s a wrap kids. Time to get back to work! On Monday I officially have a Kindergartner!

I am the luckiest mama because I really do have the best baby. She’s so happy and easy going. 

Here’s my little DIY first birthday photo shoot. And for $0.00 I totally love them.

This month has been full of fun new things. She’s giving high fives, playing peek-a-boo, saying hi & bye. 

Lydia is still in my bed. Spoiled. & she is still nursing. I tried a milk bottle, she laughed.

She is not quite walking. She stand up without holding on but that’s as far as she’ll take it. She’s in no rush.

She’s an eating machine and the grocery bill feels the burn. I’ve graduated to Sams Club for fruit and snacks. It’s the only way to keep food in the house for more than 2 days.

She got her first set of wheels.

She’s ready to be one of the big kids. She just loves when they are running around and she tries so hard keep up.

I love this picture of her.

Gracie’s birthday had a part 2. Memaw suggested this awesome PonTiki place and I thought it was a gra at way to give Grace her own little celebration since this was the first year she had to share her birthday with Lydia. 

Si we took the kids on their first boat ride. And what a blast. It felt like actual vacation and it was only a hour ride. 
A little sunset cruise with Bob Marley music and endless beer and wine. Dreamy.

The kids loved it. Just living the life sippy their mini water bottles.

The boat captain even let them drive.

Then he took us to a sand bar and we went swimming and both my crazy kids went down the slide off the back of the boat. I was a nervous wreck. I love the look and feel of the ocean but mmm scares me to death. Grace learned to swim like a week ago and with no life jacket she’s jumping off the boat telling me she doesn’t need me. Poor kids are gonna realize very soon that their mother is a neurotic crazy person. I mean my 5.5 year old is still in a 5 point harness car seat and I can tell if that’s normal 😂 Safety first kidsssss 

Here’s the adults soaking it in.

Happy Birthday to my sweet everyday tiara wearing ballerina princess. I hope all your birthday dreams came true.

My princesses are ONE and FOUR! We really had the best day ever celebrating these little girls.

I picked You are my Sunshine for the theme and I worked so hard on all the little crafts to make it extra special.

I made this Sunshine wreath for the front door. 

I made this sign with the girl foot prints and it’s so sweet I’m gonna move it to their room after the party.

The Sunshine cups I ordered from oriental trading and I put all the little guests names on the back.

For party favors I ordered these Star sunglasses also from oriental trading and tied a thank you note to them.

I painted the these wood letters from Timmy’s first birthday {😭} and added glitter and a bow. It basically felt like kindergarten in this house with all the arts & crafts.

My mom made flower letters of the girls first initials. I’m going to put these above their beds.

I painted this photo booth on a cardboard box. So easy.

Even the fireplace got decorated. I stuffed the pinata with ring pops and balls.

 
I attempted to recreate Gracies first birthday picture with Lydia. Pretty close!

The smash cake for Lydia I made myself clearly. My sister made Graces cake and it’s like a delicious piece of art. Someone needs to give this girl a dose of confidence to open her own cake bakery business.

We had some extra desserts for really no good reason other then they were pink and yellow so I had to have them. The birthday hats were so adorable. Of course a crown for Grace.

We had an endless amount of food and I did not take any pictures other than the cereal display. My little sister made this, so sweet. We had fancy donuts, all kinds of bagels, egg cups filled with bacon or sausage with crescents or tatertots as the bottom, all the fruit, & muffins. 

My mom made this “horseshoe” flower game played with glow in the dark necklaces instead of horseshoes. The winners got butterfly marshmallow snack bags.

We had a little coloring station for any artists that came to the party.

And the best part, the water slide present from Memaw. Only the best.

And a mini pool for the littles birthday girl and her crew.

The kids had so much fun. Nothing beats an old fashion pinata. I feel like these are such classic birthday memories.

Even a water balloon fight broke out!

Gracie and her best friend! I can’t tell you what a joy it is to raise my kids with my best friend and her girls. It’s a gift. 

CAKE TIME!

& alllllll the presents. Seriously Christmas morning type madness.

I hosted a summer play date for my homeschool group this week & well I’m pretty sure the kids will be talking about it for a longggg time.

I filled our sand box and our baby pool with organic kid safe soil from Home Depot. I bought 2 bags but 1 would have been enough. Then I filled a huge tub with water. 

Shopping List 

• Organic soil
• Pie tins
• Plastic spoons
• Shovels
• Measuring cups/spoons
• Funnels
• Pitcher
• Mini cups
• Fake flowers
• Glitter for sprinkles
• Shaving cream for whip cream

The key ingredient: WORMS! Yes the real kind. I bought night crawlers from the fishing department at BassPro. 
Everything you see I bought from Dollar Tree other than the soil and worms.

My girl can make even a mudpie pretty 🌸
After I blew up our pool and filled it with water and baby wash so that I could send them home all clean!

And no summer day is complete without popsicles! Popsicle in one hand, worm in the other. My sweet gross boy ❤️

I just had her I swear and just like that it’s almost her first birthday. Every day with her is sweeter than the next. She is the happiest little girl.

Ooooo I could just squish her!

She is officially standing with no hands!

I really could photograph her all day.

And boy does she love her Daddy. Every time he walks in the room she yells Hi Dada! It is so sweet. 

At her check up she weighed 21 pounds and 29.5 inches. She has 6 teeth and is wearing size 4 diapers and 12 month clothes. Still not enough hair for a bow but we are working on it! Mickey Mouse is her main man and it’s bitsy her favorite song. 

She loves the water. This month we took her swimming at Aunt Erica’s and to the beach.

We finally ditched the bath seat and she’s so happy about it.

I’m loving watching her start to play with Timmy and Grace. She just wants to be part of the party now.

The invitation were sent out this week, decorations started, outfits ordered.. We are so excited to celebrate this little blessing. A whole year of all the happiness. We give Him all the glory for entrusting us with this sweet little angel.

Fourth of July was extra sweet this year.

The day before we went and visited a local nursing home with our homeschool group and passed out some of our art, festive necklaces and mini flags to the residents. My kids worked very hard on their little crafts.

And who’s day wouldn’t be made brighter by these cute faces!

Our dogs are terrified of fireworks and not like regular scared dogs more like the eat through your walls type. I wish I was exaggerating but my dogs did literally eat through a door AND a wall one July 4th. This forces us to stay home every year.

We brought all red white and blue to church on Sunday 🇺🇸

We had a really simple day. We visited one of the ladies from church who is in rehab for back surgery. Then we came home and went swimming in our blow up pool and that turned into a family water gun fight. If I could have I would have froze that moment in time. All of laughing and playing made me so happy. When Daddy gets in on the fun it just lights these kids up.

Then we grilled hot dogs, hamburgers and corn. Daddy did a little teaching by talking about all the states that make up our country and telling the kids about which places he’s visited. Then he read them a book about the USA. The kids were so eager for it to get dark so that we could shoot off our very first ever fireworks. This was a big deal for me. I’m paranoid of fireworks. But I admit that it was thrilling and worth all my anxiety because my kids thought it was amazing. 

After our own show we went for a drive to see some more.

The best part of the whole thing… Hearing my kids go on and on about how this was the best day EVER! 

More pictures…

We are not gardening pros at all. But for the last few years we’ve been swimming in eggplant. We started a small garden 3 years ago and our tiny eggplant turned into a tree. For real. I had to give so many away we couldn’t eat anymore. And this “tree” lived for all THREE years. 

Well this summer I teared it all out to make room for The Dube Pumpkin Patch! Now I’m not entirely sure it’s gonna actually work but so far so good.

Easiest Garden Ever:

• 12 cinder blocks 
• Large cardboard box
• Dirt

All you do is lay flat the cardboard box wherever you want your garden to grow. There’s no need to dig up the grass or anything. Just lay it out. Place the cinder blocks on top of the cardboard to make a rectangle. Soak the cardboard with your hose. Pour in dirt. That’s it folks! 

Mine is old so grass has grown thru the block holes but if you’re really awesome you would plant marigolds and herbs in those boxes to encourage pollinators. 

Use more or less blocks to make your perfect size garden. This size fits about 4-6 plants. 

Two weeks later from that above photo…

That’s only 5 Pumpkin plants. Underneath all those vines is romaine too but I don’t know that it will survive this Pumpkin invasion.

The most exciting thing was this morning when I went out to pick off all the caterpillars that snack on my garden I couldn’t find any. I knew they were there because their poop was all over the leaves. I was so surprised to find 6 cocoons!!! Turns out we are also growing butterflies 🦋 I’m just glad that these vines grew faster than the caterpillars could chew. And now these little green monsters that I thought were destroying my garden, now might actually be the ones to pollinate these Pumpkin flowers. 

Just another amazing way that God has shown me that what he has designed is perfect. I have only watered this garden twice in 4 weeks, there’s no pesticides being sprayed to keep the bugs away and there’s no magic fertilizer in the soil. God doesn’t need our help, we only need His.

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Playing peek-a-boo in the mirror with Lydia. She cannot believe that there’s two of me. She keeps looking around and touching my face.

Gracie brushing and braiding my hair.

Timmy asking me what’s over there just so he can surprise kiss my cheek.

Grace and Lydia crawling around the house together like friends.

Hearing Lydia say Da-da everytime he walks in the room. Hearing her say Gracieeee, basically hearing her say anything in that sweet voice.

Being snuggled up in bed with all the kids and Daddy just reading.

Grace says she’s marrying Max.

Timmy is saving all his dollars to build a new house with stairs.​​​ 

My Saturday night plans..

Happy Father’s Day sweetheart. Nothing makes you look more handsome than than three littles dangling from your arms. We love you so much!

We had brunch with our families and it turned into dinner too. It was a beautiful day.