John Cole 20 months

How the time flies with a sweet boy like you, John Cole!  I just can't believe you are 20 months old.  You can swim.  You are talking up a storm.  (NO! has entered your vocabulary:)  You adore your Daddy.  You idolize your big brother, "Pa-by." You still only want your Mom when the chips are down.  You have shown early signs of being ready to potty train.  You are STILL waiting on your incisors to come in.  You LOVE a turkey hot dog.  You have the most beautiful tan skin.  I have always thought Preston was my jokester--but you are a funny kid!  Your favorite books right now are the Eric Carle first shape/color books.  You still go to sleep with your sleepy sheep.  We love you John Cole!

Beach Boys

This is my favorite from our EARLY morning beach session.  Love these two "beach boys!"

Family Beach Trip 2013

It's no secret I LOVE the beach! I love the sun (too much!), I love the laid back vibe and I love the idea of being together with NO PRESSURE to go do or see anything!  Just having your coffee or eating your lunch by the pool or laying in the sun IS your activity for the day :)

We had a blast on our week long trip to Orange Beach.  We ran into lots of friends.  We enjoyed our third ride on the Cold Mill Fleet Dolphin Cruise.  I went to the Florabama --YIKES!  We took family beach pics that I can't wait to order.  We went to the outlets. We went to The Track.  Preston went on his maiden crab hunt and came home with 6 crabs! We saw Despicable Me 2.  We went The Hangout for the 4th....and had a prime table to watch the fireworks...which did not happen because of the wind-oh well.  We enjoyed all of the activities there.  Jeff and I got to exercise together which we NEVER get to do and truly love. We loved having Miss Kelli with us.  Preston was a BREEZE--truly he did great and was really easy.  John Cole did pretty well himself.  He can sit/dive off the side of the pool now and swim across..all the way across...you have to see it!  We had a great time.

Hope you had a Happy 4th!

Greetings from Ch-Yo-Ca

     I had never heard of this AMAZING place in Calhoun until this Spring.  A sweet Pharmacist I work with mentioned she was sending her daughter to Camp Ch-Yo-Ca, a Christian camp,and that she had been going since she was Preston's age.  I called the lady in charge and was super impressed by what she had to say and decided to sign Preston up.  The more I learn the more I like.  Google it if you have the time and see how much FUN these kids are having...all the while learning and growing in their Lord and Savior.  My favorite thing is they announce when youth/young adults come to know Christ on their FACEBOOK page!  (Most of the campers are older and spend the night and have Worship in the evening.) Now if that isn't using social media positively I don't know WHAT is!!!  I am so grateful for all the precious people who are making this place possible. Can't wait for closing ceremonies :)

Summer Happenings

Another busy week here at the Parker household!  We had a great Father's Day as Pop (and Nana too!) came up for Worship , lunch at The Orchards and a quick visit.  The boys were supposed to play golf but that didn't happen in the rain...raincheck Pop!

VBS started up Monday and I loved teaching the music to the little kids.  They sang two songs in church this morning and I was truly impressed with all they have learned.  Can't wait to do it again next year!

Of course, we have been doing other Summer things too like hanging at the pool and catching frogs?  Yep, the green tree frog pictured here Preston caught Thursday afternoon.  Whew--little boys are something else :)

And Saturday was SUPER busy as Jeff and Preston rode in the Peach parade and I judged the Dixie Gem Peach pageant.  So proud of the CTB girls who brought home the first place prize for the 50's diner theme!   Wish I had the paper to scan the pic of Jeff and P on the front page of the Leader this am...aren't they cute!  Don't worry I will get it on here :)

Hope your Summer Happenings are in full swing as well!  Until next time.....

Camp Creek 2013

I copied Squire Creek's pics off of FB so please excuse the quality but I wanted to document Preston's first "Camp Creek" experience.  The staff at SQ did a GREAT job with the kids and these are just a small sampling of the activities they did during their short camp.  Preston even came home with a cute little 4th of July door hanger...pretty sure that one was for the Mamas :)  Glad Preston got to participate and he can't wait for next year!

We're Building (June 2013 Edition)

It has been said that you live and you learn.  Happens to me on just about a daily basis.  This house building process has surely been a learning experience thus far, and I know I have WAY more to learn.  You see, the picture of the house plan I posted  a few months ago WAS the house we thought we were going to build when we sold our house, packed up all of our earthly possessions, put a large portion of them in storage, and moved to one of the beautiful spec houses at The Orchards at Squire Creek.  It was a beautiful plan--that we found out was just going to be too expensive to build.  There were many factors that lead to our first plan being too pricey for us--we have Soham plans for sale for any of you that would like to look, lol!--but the biggest was the necessity for a retaining wall that was going to really increase costs.  Sooooooo, after much thought and prayer, and trying to make small changes to make it doable, Jeff and I decided it was best for our family to go back to the drawing board.  So that is what we did. AND....VOILA!  Clayfield Place!  The plan we have loved for years that just needed a little tweaking.  We moved a couple of things around downstairs--namely putting in a "catchall" space and adding a gorgeous outdoor room that will accomodate the water view--and added a playroom upstairs and now this house is AWESOME!  They are framing it now and have plywood up so you can walk through the rooms downstairs and I am officially getting excited!  I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to build a home AND for the precious men in my life that will fill the rooms.  I will be keeping you posted about the process...but for now...off to browse online fabric stores!