The Girl Behind the Blog {Encouragement}

 Over a year ago, I did my first girl behind the blog post.

And...I haven't done one since.

So, here I am again.

It's naptime and maybe I should be doing something productive like mopping my {really dirty} floors or folding some {really wrinkly} laundry, but here I am posting another video.  

Last time I blamed it on Carina.  

This time its Kerrie's fault.

Ashley and Nadine wanted us to talk about encouragement...

                           

Sammy wanted to weigh-in on the topic of encouragement...

We Went to the Fair

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I learned something new at our county fair.
Max is a horrible driver.
Here he is being "instructed" by some poor souls who were stuck monitoring the motorized kiddie jeeps.
There was a round track, but all Max wanted to do was barrel through the bales of hay.
{By the way, I can't ever say that.  I want to say hales of bay, bales of hale, etc}

  

Look at their faces...pure delight and mischief.
I'm in trouble.

Thankfully, Quinn took over driving and it was a much smoother ride.

Then there are these two.
I just love them together. Their birthdays are only a couple of weeks apart and they are pretty similar in their personalities.

 Oh, Emme and Max.

Even their names sound cute together.

Wes had a meeting that evening, so I decided to head back to the fair that night with the boys.

We got to see 5 hot air balloons take off. 

  

And dressed up little people and dressed up little horses.

And we had free ice cream and a $5 funnel cake.

Next year, Sam, I promise I will document that you went too.

Our Trip to the Pond

The boys and I spent the beginning of last week with my I-met-her-online-but-she's-not-creepy-friend, Stephanie at her husband's family lake house.

It was perfect timing since Wes was going to be away on a golf trip.

We had such a great time. 

We have the bond of Michigan, adoption, being mothers of little ones and Jesus, so hanging out was easy.

The kids hit it off almost immediately.  

There were about 5-10 minutes of shyness before the playfulness and craziness started.

Here we are all sweaty, but I had to get one picture of us together.

Sam was feeling left out that he didn't get a ring pop, so he settled for some sunscreen...

These two were a hilarious pair.  You definitely wouldn't want to leave them alone together for an extended period of time.  Who knows what would happen...

Max loved the lake. {He referred to it as the pond}

The spiderwebs...not so much.

And go-with-the-flow-Sam had this facial expression the entire time he was in the water.
I feel like he was saying, "Mom, I really know that you want me to do this, so I will just endure it because I love you."
Thanks, buddy.

So thankful for new friendships and sweet, sweet memories.

Our Fourth

Sam decided he wanted to practice his freedom by learning to crawl on the eve of our country's birth.
So we enjoyed the fourth watching him feebly move around the house and outside.
As much as I have said, "I'm in trouble" about Sammy crawling, it really is so much fun to watch your kids learn new things.
Way to go, Sammy-boy!

We went and saw our friends' new baby girl.  She's adorable...and tiny.

We had a mini photoshoot with the boys wearing matching shirts {That you can barely see}.
It's not easy to get a picture of these two together.

  

And this here picture just cracks me up.

I don't even care that it's blurry.  

I love it.

Max had his first experience taking a picture with my camera.
Don't let my smile fool you...It's a bit forced.
This was after about 5 minutes of him not getting it and me saying, "Not that button, that button" and "You have to make sure that we are in the camera" and "You have to hold the button down".
I will say that the boy has some perseverance in his blood.

Max and Sam swam in the pool.  

Max calls it a cat pool because I call it a kiddie {kitty} pool.  

Pretty cute and funny if you ask me.

We did a little grilling, walking, feeding the fish at the pond and swinging.

Once we put Sammy to bed, we broke out the sparklers.

The been-in-the-garage-for-a-long-time-and-hard-to-light-sparklers.

And we ended our day with homemade ice cream, brownies and fireworks on TV.  

Boom.  Perfect day.

Max's 20 Questions {3 year old edition}

I wasn't sure how Max would do answering these questions, but he had an answer right away.

1. What is your favorite color? Orange

2. What is your favorite toy? My basketball and football

3. What is your favorite fruit? I like balanas.  That's actually his least favorite fruit...

4. What is your favorite tv show? Doc McStuffins

5. What is your favorite movie? Backyardigans

6. What is your favorite thing to wear? Pajamas

7. What is your favorite animal? Giraffe

8. What is your favorite song? God is so Good

9. What is your favorite book? I know an Old Lady

10. Who is your best friend? Quinn

11. What is your favorite snack? gold crackers {goldfish}  We hardly ever have goldfish...his real answer should be fruit snacks...

12. What is your favorite drink? chocolate milk

13. What is your favorite breakfast? Toast

14. What is your favorite lunch? He insisted on saying "I like eggs."  That's not true.

15. What is your favorite dinner? Peanut Butter and Jelly

16. What is your favorite game? Crazy Eights

17. What is your favorite thing to play outside? Kickball

18. What is your favorite Bible story?  Adam and Eve

19. What do you sleep with at night? Bobby, Sandy...and Papa and Grandma {?}

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Help Daddy

Picture Post {Max's Birthday}

Max woke up with gummy lifesaver rings by his door and a donut from daddy.

We went to the splash park.

  

Max experienced Putt-Putt golf for the first time.

He got a hole-in-one on 18, but he was more concerned that his ball disappeared.

We had cake.

   

Max got to open presents from us and Papa and Gramma Myers.

On Saturday, Papa and Grandma Akers came to celebrate, so we got the cake {looking a little rough, but still tasting delicious} out of the freezer for candles and singing.

He got a scooter...and kneepads and elbow pads.  Max says that they make him stronger.

  

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