Bob

In case you were wondering, Bob the Builder (aka:  Daddy the Decker) has been hard at work despite the fact that we have been out of town for four weekends in a row (and several weekdays too).  Not being home on the weekend does not derail Bob.  He is a hard worker and quite determined.  He works by both spotlight and moon-light and is accompanied by his ferocious beast, Dog Dog.  I’m not sure who will be happier when the deck is finished . . . us or our neighbors!  (I mean, don’t we all love sawing and banging at 9:30pm?  Yes, Yes we do!)

Here Bob cuts the boards by spotlight . . .

He then relocates the spotlight to lay the boards and screw them in!  (Please note that in this picture he is finishing laying the decking boards!  Awesome job, Bob!)

Both Bob and Dog Dog are hard at work . . .

I took these pictures on Monday night, and as of tonight, Bob and Bumpa the Builder had cut the perimeter of the deck.  It looks so great!  They have a little more work left to do, but we are thrilled to be able to use it.  Hatch’s, I mean Bob’s, hard work on this project is really admirable . . . we are all very excited about the deck (the boys scream DECK DECK DECK! when they see it) . . . Hatch and I had a little dinner on the deck on night last weekend (hence the two random chairs on the wood) . . . we love it already!

Independence Day in Birmingham!

{anna, harper, hudson, and william, after dinner on the town!}

That’s right, we packed up our family for a big ole adventure down South to visit our good friends, the Kings, in Birmingham.  We had SUCH a wonderful time—we were sad to leave!  Hold on to your sparklers, people, there are many pictures to share!

I know this picture isn’t great, but these boys were all quite excited to go on the “air-pane” once again!

Guess who I got to sit beside?

While my little traveler was busy pushing the button to move his seat forward and back, the other traveler discovered the flight attendant call button . . . whoopsie!  Turns out, Hatch spent most of the flight holding Hudson down so he didn’t  push the neat button that dings and lights up every other minute!

They LOVED looking out of the window at the clouds and the trees . . .

 

On our short flight (a little over an hour) we had many different snack times!  William and I lucked out, too, because the girl sitting next to us asked to be moved (ha!), so we ended up with a spare seat!

Once we arrived in Birmingham, we played and played with our friends the Petersons and the Kings.  The boys brought Anna these stylish shades!  Just as a note, Anna and William are hilariously similar . . . we’re pretty sure that I could pass them off as my twins and people wouldn’t notice one bit!  They would steal toys from each other and have yelling matches . . . what a pair!

I thought this was hilarious—William loves riding on his Daddy’s shoulders and rubbing his head!

W also had some time to practice for the future with Harper’s baby doll.  He did “feed” the baby a bottle several times, but when I took this picture, I asked him to feed the baby, and he threw her across the room . . . at least three times.  Whoopsie.  I guess we still have some work to do!

We spent Saturday with our sweet friend Mary Andrews, and it was such a treat!  

Drew, MA with Hudson, me, and Hatch with William after dinner—it was so much fun!

To celebrate the 4th of July, we went to the Birmingham zoo!  Everyone had a great time!  Here our monkeys are determined to see the birdies . . .    

We even saw live “mingos” which was quite neat!

Hudson really loved all of the birds . . . 

The giraffes were also a big hit!  Here Harper checks them out!

Then, we hit up the splash pad!

After naps, we got ready for our big celebration . . . so, naturally, we started off the evening with some raisins!

Our sweet boys!

We went to a festival and it was such fun for everyone.  Here the boys and Anna are in the “Bounce Bounce,” as Anna calls it!

They also went up a GIANT slide . . . 

Guess who loved it?

And, Daley wins Friend of the Year for going down with William since pregnant mamas in skirts are not so welcome on the blow up slide!

We are so grateful for our friends and really loved our time together.  It is amazing to see how our lives have changed in the last four years!  We hope to visit again . . . with baby sister in tow! 

           

Happy Day, Nana!

The Friday before last, we celebrated Nana’s birthday!  Happy {Birth} Day, Nana!  For her birthday, Nana had lunch with her littlest rascals.  Before we left for lunch, I ran upstairs to grab something and came down to find this:

Double Trouble??

Silly boys!

We dined in style to celebrate Nan’s big day!

Mr. William got to sit next to Nana {as he is less likely to smear his food on her than his brother!}

We really love our Nana!

Mr. Precious joined us for lunch as well!  He is so fun!

 

Hudson helped Nana eat her birthday cake . . .

 

 

While William helped Nan read her cards . . . 

 

We love you, Nana!  We hope that you had a wonderful day and that you have great joy in the upcoming year!  Oh, how we are thankful for you!