Little Bitty had a Party

So - our precious young one is about to turn four years old. We had a party for her at home this year - because we are always out of town for the 4th of July. We kept it pretty small with just family. Here are some highlights...

Little Bitty and her two girl cousins. These three are all within a year and a half of each other in age. I see TROUBLE in a few years. But how stinkin' cute are they right now?!!

We had a pony come to our house for the party. Little Bitty got to ride first (which, at this age, being first is apparently about as great as a pony ride).

About to dig in to the gifts.

Opening one of her gifts. I think she liked it.

Brother and one of my nephews. They are great buddies. Oh - and Brother doesn't really have a mustache already. It's juice.

Look! Baby Gus is on the pony!

This is my grandmother with her youngest great-grandchild. She's nearly 95. Isn't she sweet?

A Month in Photos

We've had a busy month. I decided the best way to catch up here is to post a few photos (blogger does well with just five). First of all - our handsome son graduated from Kindergarten! Seems like just last year he was graduating from Pre-K. Oh - it was just last year. Brother had a wonderful first year of big-boy school and I am thankful that he started out at such a great school with a teacher that he loved. I'm also thankful he agreed to a hair cut shortly after this picture.

We left from his school parking lot on the last day of school and headed to Florida for a WONDERFUL vacation. We got to see my brother for a few days at his new house in Naples and then drove across the state and spent the week at a condo on the beach. Blake's family lives nearby so we got to spend time with Zia, Uncle Awesome and Grammy and Nonno. It was the perfect combination of a Team T vacation and visit with the family. The only downside was it took me a good 10 days upon return to get back into a normal groove. Normal being disorganized, absent-minded, one-step-behind... but happy.

Little Bitty loved the beach as much as the rest of us. It occurred to us shortly before the trip that she hadn't been to the beach since she was 2 1/2 and likely didn't remember it well. She didn't miss a beat though. She and Brother spent hours boogey boarding (each in their own way), digging, running, exploring and jumping in the sand. Being on the beach with them gave me moments of pure joy where it feels like everything is completely right in the world and always will be.

More recently, my adorable little nephew turned one year old. As an aunt of three boys and two girls - I definitely LOVE them all. And I don't have a favorite. BUT - this little dude is the only one I've gotten to live by and get to know on a daily basis as a baby. Let me tell you - YUM. I could just eat him up. I want to put him in my pocket and keep him with me all the time. I can't say the same (right now) for all the other nephews and nieces - because - for example, Ethan is almost 12 years old - and that would be weird. But, I've definitely been blessed with an AWESOME group of kids in my life.

A couple weeks ago we went with some good friends to a park between here and Chattanooga to hike, swim and picnic. The hike was long but worth it.

When Blake and I first started dating he had a hobby (?) of having himself photographed naked in front of waterfalls (I know - that's good stuff for early dating). As you can see - he has apparently matured and this time just jumped off the waterfall. Our loss.

So, that's our late May to late June in a nutshell. We have a very important birthday coming up. So - more pictures to come soon I'm sure.