I have been the worst blogger in the history of bloggers.  So much has happened that I can hardly keep up with everything, let alone sit down and write it all out.  But….alas….here I am writing for the sake of writing and the memories we made.  I remember the days I used to blog every single day, but a lot’s change in 10 years, so these days you’ll mostly find me over on Instagram.

So, for the sake of memories here I am with a crap load of saved photos from this crazy long summer (aka the longest spring break ever).

We spent a lot of time in the pool and barbequing burgers.  Heidi took her first official dips in the pool this summer too and she loved the water.  

We got out to eat at an actual restaurant on the 4th of July and even burned a few sparklers 🙂

Connor and I had the best time at the Gaylord Hotel over the summer for their Summerfest.  It’s definitely something we’ll plan to do again.  Everything was so nice and the rooms were super clean.  The hotel took every precaution to remain clean and sanitary and we felt very safe while staying there.  It’s been awhile since I’ve spent some one on one time with Connor since Heidi was born, so he spent the night with Mama and we ordered room service.  He was so excited to order room service and felt incredibly important and “fancy” in doing so.  It’s the little things in life y’all.

Heidi came for the day to swim in the water park.  We had the best time and love that the Gaylord Hotel is right in our own city.  The Christmas ICE festivities will be a bit different this year, but you can read more about that on their website too!

The most ginormous cookies EVER!!!

Thank you Gaylord Texas for the BEST STAY EVER!!!  The memories we made are priceless.

Next recap is our trip to Arkansas to see family.  We were blessed to drive this 2020 Toyota Highlander for our trip and it was a dream.  Did I mention we actually got a new car too???  Terence got a 2020 RAV 4 Hybrid, and so far is loving it!

With two kids now the more room the merrier.  I love the cream interior and the third row seating option as well.
Heads up display

A backup camera that is waaaay more than just a back up cam.  It’s like a drone hovering over your car.  Super cool!

REAR AIR.  Need I say more…this is summer in Texas.  This is my absolute dream to have one day!

Pull down sun shades for the kiddos.  I love this car, maybe someday I can upgrade to this because the Highlander is exactly the kind of SUV I’d want.

When we reached Arkansas we had a great time visiting family.  The boys favorite thing was visiting the creek and going swimming.  I grew up swimming in the creeks every summer, so it was awesome to be able to take my kids and let them experience that too.

Connor and Jarrett jumping off the rocks

Beautiful waterfall The boys eating their smore’s on the farm.

We had a birthday cake for Heidi too in Arkansas and it was so delicious!

Lunch at our favorite place YaYa’s in Little Rock.

Farm tomatoes the BEST ever….

Heading back home to Texas

I also recently left my job of 5 1/2 years to go back into banking.  It was a bittersweet day, but I will always have the best memories from Oliver Dental.  They are like family and mean the world to me!  I love my new job and it’s nice to be back to work full time and I’ve met so many wonderful people in the process.  God is always watching over me and I’m excited for what the future holds.

Of course it’s hard to leave my kiddos every day and I’m not as involved at Connor’s school, but hey it’s 2020…so who is 100% these days?  I’m just thankful for God’s provision and and a great new opportunity.

 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11Well, that is our summer in a big old nutshell.  I’m sure I’m missing a bunch of stuff…but I’ll try to be more diligent with this whole blogging thing.

xo, Becky

Connor James it seems like I have documented every milestone of your life on this blog.  Although I haven’t been as frequent at blogging as of late, I sure am glad you have all these memories stored somewhere.  I need to make it a point to post more like I used to for both you and Heidi.  Someday when I’m old and gray you both can read what Mama wrote and laugh about it all!

I’ll recap our summer (or the longest spring break ever) in another post…but I wanted to post your first day of 5th grade picture.  You look like a grown man!  TIME= THIEF!!!

Flashback to your first day of Kindergarten.  Seems like yesterday.

Heidi is almost walking.  You saw her stand this weekend and were so excited!  We had fun in the pool this past weekend.  It’s so incredibly hot here in August.  It’s been over 100 degrees outside, it sure is nice to have a pool to dunk into….especially in times like these.

Love you sweet boy.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33 

I can’t believe a year has flown by so fast and yet so slow at the same time!  Heidi…my sweet angel girl you turned ONE on July 1st and of course Mama is behind on everything these days.  This has been the craziest year, so we weren’t able to throw you and big party like your brother’s HERE.  Poor baby you kind of got the second child shaft….not to mention the dang Covid!

So it was just me, your Daddy, Connor, and Auntie Ellen.  We sure did celebrate you though and you enjoyed your cake unlike Connor who screamed and wouldn’t touch it.  Ha ha!

You are my little ray of sunshine.  My rainbow baby after a heartbreaking loss.  I love you more than you’ll ever know!

Some things you love:

• Baby Shark
• Dancing to any kind of upbeat music
• crawling and climbing on ANYTHING!
• You can say “Mama” and “Dada”
• You love your bottle and are little Miss Independent
• Yogi Melts are your favorite
• You are pretty much eating table food, but love noodles and pasta
• You have two teeth, but are cutting so many others right now.  They need to come in already!!!
• You are sleeping in your crib through the night and doing a great job!
• Your curly hair and raised eyebrow are my favorite things
• You LOVE to cuddle and give hugs

Here are some pictures of our little celebration.  I know this year hasn’t been the best, but you are certainly a blessing and a gift from God.  I thank God every day for you and your precious life.  I never dreamed I’d have another baby, let alone a sweet precious girl.  I love you my forever best friend.

Happy Birthday “Heidi Bug” you are the sweetest girl ever.

Well, geesh could this year get any more CRAY CRAY!!!???

I’m so ready for life to get back to normal and no matter what it has to because we can’t stay locked up forever and live off the government.  The economy is already in the toilet and I don’t know how much further we can fall?  There has been so much division and animosity with everything going on in the world.  All I can do is pray.  Pray that God will watch over all of us…no matter what your view on things is or what color your skin is.  I pray for the world and the people in it.  For peace, agreement, friendship, and love.

I turned 39 a couple of weekends ago.  I shall now forever more be 39 because I’m never turning 40.

I refuse.

I had a great day celebrating with my family and celebrating another year of life.  I’m so incredibly blessed by all my family and friends.  This has probably been the hardest year I’ve ever had emotionally and mentally.  I’m thankful for the continued prayers and love from family and friends.  I always have the best intentions of blogging about everything, but then I get overwhelmed and it seems much easier to post on Instagram these days.  Bless Heidi’s heart.  With Connor I documented EVERY.SINGLE.THING.  Ha ha!

We’ve been watching a lot of TV.  Like everyone else waiting for new shows to hit each week to fill our time.  I found a fun new site called WikiBuy and they have a great deal on HULU right now if you want to check it out.  It’s great for saving money on a lot of items right now too.  Just click and earn credit for your purchases on popular sites like Walmart or eBay. Then use your Wikibuy credit to buy gift cards or make future purchases with Wikibuy.  Get paid to shop for things I already need is A+ for me!

All I wanted for my birthday was a family photo with the 4 of us because we haven’t gotten one since Heidi was born in the hospital.  AND- I’m a photographer….what in the world???  Love this little family of mine so much!  God has blessed my life indeed.

My Mom finally retired this year after over 30 years of teaching and she’s been a sewing “machine” basically and sewing outfits for Heidi and my niece Ella.  We now call her “Nana Boutique” and we’ll cherish the outfits she makes for the girls forever.  This little dress is so cute and it has buttons on the back from my Great Grandmother’s button stash.

We’ve been spending our evenings grilling and swimming in the pool.  I’ve never been so thankful for a swimming pool.  We never wanted one, but when we found this house it came with it.  It’s a nice escape after a long day and a good way to spend time together.

I think Heidi really enjoys the water 🙂

I can’t believe my baby girl will be ONE in less than 2 weeks.  This year has gone by so slow, yet so fast.  I know time goes fast in hindsight.  I love her so much….and Connor James will be a 5th grader next year.  It’s crazy!  He’s not so much into taking photos anymore unless he has something silly to show off…but I’m thankful I took so many when he was a baby because I look back at them fondly.

How are you spending your quarantine time?  I’m pretty much back to work now.  Heidi is still in daycare.  Connor started summer camp.  It feels pretty normal again.  I like normal.  I like routine.  We will overcome all of this…because that’s what you do in life.  You wake up and make a choice on how to face each day.  And I choose to live and not be fearful of tomorrow.  God will provide (we never went without toilet paper!).  God always does.

This post is brought to you by our sponsor, “Always Eat After 7 PM”. The opinions expressed below are my own.

Okay, so now that I have the knowledge about how to implement all the ideas in Always Eat After 7PM…how am I going to keep these up?  A lot of it is self talk and self discipline.  I’ll continue to utilize healthy eating and a lot of the recipes provided.  I’ll be more aware of the healthy fats and carbohydrates that I put in my body.  I know now that dieting isn’t how much less you can eat, it’s the quality of food and time you eat. You can also check out posts ONE, TWO, & THREE for more information and my thoughts on this program.

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“This has been the longest summer ever!!!”  Said every parent in the world.  That’s because our summer unintentionally started after spring break in March this year.  Dear God I sure do hope school resumes in the fall because this season of life has been all kinds of chaos.  I miss walking around the mall and let’s face it…buying mostly snacks and food.  I miss seeing my friends and family without feeling like I am going to infect them with something.  I miss normal schedules and daily routines.  Movie theaters, restaurants, birthday parties, sports, and so much more!

That’s the thing about change, no matter what you just keep on going.  So that’s what we’ve been doing and I know I haven’t been great at blogging…but here’s a little recap on our lives lately in this strange and crazy time.  I’m still working and trying to home-school (sort of) and maintain everything else that goes on in our lives.

Heidi turned 10 months old and is crawling and pulling up on everything.  She does the cutest little noises and rolls her tongue.  I’ve never seen a baby do that and it’s hilarious!

The ice cream truck visits our neighborhood once a week and it’s the highlight of Connor’s day.  The second that music is heard through his window he comes shooting out the door. “Mom the ice cream truck is here!”  My best friend Ellen and I had an idea to start a coffee truck.  We’d roll it around town and make lattes and have every suburban mother chasing after us in pajamas without a bra on.  People…especially hot mess Moms are that desperate.  So I know this is a genius idea.  Ed Sheeran on the loud speaker and coffee will have them runnnnnning!!! Ha ha ha!!!

Terence turned 39.  I know he’ll thoroughly enjoy the last year of his 30’s and if he’s not fully gray headed by the end of this year I’ll call it a win!  Hey at least he still has a good head of hair right?  I think working from home and having a baby in the house along with a tweenager who thinks he knows more than you do adds to the chaos.  But I love our life and our craziness too. Happy Birthday Ter-Bear!

Speaking of working at home.  Here is Heidi helping Dad work 🙂

Thankfully we’ve had the pool to jump into for an escape.  Heidi loves watching her brother play in the pool.  Everything he does is hilarious to her.

We made a trip home to Arkansas a couple weekends ago and had a wonderful time seeing Nana and Poppy.  We even made a trip to the farm to see Nannie Sue and it was so fun!  We stayed with my sister and her family and all the kids had a great time seeing each other.  Connor and Jarrett love each other and fight a bunch over games and the girls are BFFs and don’t know it yet.  Ella is so cute with Heidi and rubs her head and said “baby”!

Our sweet Nannie Sue

Me and Bon Bon The best food EVER! The boys eating their Nannie’s goodness And this is how we feel about our LAST ortho appointment for Heidi’s ankle.  Everything looks really good and is healing perfect!  Summer 2020 here we come like it or not!