July in Pictures

Here are some pictures that show what we were up to during the month of July:

Papaw came over to re-hang our gate at the top of the stairs.

A new locally-owned ice cream shop "Crank and Boom" opened up in the shopping center that is within walking distance of our house. Now we've got it all, folks: ice cream, donuts, snow cones, Chinese, Domino's, Bargain Hunt, Goodwill, and Dollar Tree. We took a family walk to get ice cream and this is how Lucas outfitted himself to pick up our ice cream.

He looks like a different kid with his hair slicked down.

Within about 20 minutes, his hair was already starting to creep back up.

The boys and I go on walks at parks all over town. We haven't been to a playground since before COVID, but we've been to some great parks!

Snuggle time with Daddy on the back deck

My beloved slide phone finally bit the dust, so I'm officially a (reluctant) iPhone owner. Actually, there are a lot of things I love about it. Audiobooks from the library are my favorite!

We usually try to make breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This was our first attempt at monkey bread. We had one plate in the middle, and devoured the whole thing!

Happy birthday, Papaw! We've had some visits with Mamaw and Papaw, mostly in the backyard.

I love watching brother interactions! Carter and Calvin are great big brothers.

Another of our favorite parks -- Veterans

This was a long, sweaty hike. We're thankful for shade and that we managed to find our way back to civilization!

Brothers!

Carter did a rock treasure hunt for us. He left signs in every room of how many were "remaining"

Since Scripture Memory Camp was canceled, I attempted to have our own at-home camp week. I started with a nature scavenger hunt. Let's just say it didn't go well.

I try to document all our experiences, not just the happy ones.

Much more smiley for s'mores!

Colson got the parts of the s'more separately

We attempted to sleep in the backyard in our tent. It might have worked, but Cooper refused to calm down at 10:00, so we headed inside early.

I love this pictures with their stuffed animals -- Carter with Rosco, Cooper with his lion and cow, and Calvin with Tigey

Colson is officially on the move, and the books on the shelf are no longer safe!

Cooper loves picking out books from our Little Free Library. This was his selection one day.

Colson's new game is kicking or rolling the ball out into the street. Thankfully, our street is not very busy, and he knows (for now) not to go in the street. He laughs as I run out to get the ball.

This is life these days. A bunch of boys!

Here are the boys with their prizes for memorizing SwordGrip OT Vol 1. They earned a full scholarship to camp in Louisiana, but camp was canceled. Still, these are some pretty sweet rewards -- a "trophy" with their names engraved on the back, nice study Bible with their names on the cover, the new SwordGrip to memorize for next year, and $20 gift card (each) to Chick-Fil-A. It was so fun for them to open the prize box! Memorizing Scripture is more about the eternal benefits, but prizes are nice, too!