This is our once a month series on what’s happening in our lives currently. Life Currently 3: Summer fun- beach, pool, fountains, and fishing days, July 4th celebration, kids galore at my casa, new babies, and nailing Snapchat.
Get ready for pictures galore this month! I have a lot to share with you. :)
Ready? Let’s do this!
Here we go! First up in life currently (#3)…
Summer Fun
Fountains
We have these awesome fountains (Royal Palm Pointe Fountains) here in Vero Beach that are FREE for everyone and they are right on the river- across from the beach. I was watching 2 little ladies one week, in addition to 2 of my 3, and figured- what’s the fountains without 5 kids all by yourself (see why below- new babies/kids galore), so I borrowed my neighbor’s kid, 2 year old Mason, and headed to the fountains. Alone. With 5 kids. Ages: 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. We met one of my besties there with her son, Grayson. All the kids had a blast!
Fountains. Nanette (mine) and Mason.
Mason (my neighbors kiddo) is having a blast!
Pools
We’ve been to a couple of pools around town. Ha! Really, we went to my sisters pool and one of my besties houses to swim in her pool. She was nice enough to give us her old pool, so now our kiddos have something to do besides “just” playing outside this summer! Score for anything free, amirght?
Hangin’ with Mingo the flamingo in my sister Mary’s pool.
Hangin’ at Catie’s house in her awesome pool. The kids LOVE it!
Beach/Fishing
We’ve been to the beach quite a few times, but I only snapped photos once. ;)
I gotta at least sometimes not be snapping photos. ;). This particular weekend (in the photos) I had my niece (Tia Grace), 2 of my kiddos (Jaxson and Nanette Lorraine), so Beau and I headed to the beach with the munchkins to do a little diggin’, swimmin’, and fishin’.
Selfies on the way to the beach, yo!
Selfies on the way to the beach!
Nanette and Jaxson
Tia Grace (my niece)
Sea Turtles Nest. Can’t touch ’em! It’s illegal.
See! So illegal and they take it VERY seriously.
We arrived really early at the beach (about 9:15am) to beat the heat and kids are just better at the beach in the AM. Because we got there before everyone else and their brother, we were able to see untouched Momma sea turtle tracks leading from a nest to the ocean.
Sea turtle tracks!
We set up the canopy so we would have some type of shade at the beach and the kiddos got to playing right away.
Then, we decided to take the plunge into the water and go fishing and the rest is history!
Tia and Uncle “Buddy” (AKA- Beau-but she’s always called him buddy). See, you can clearly see we adore her!
Kiddos waiting for the water to come back up!
Splash!
Cousin and sibling love. They are so protective of their cousin!
Pure fun and joy.
Grocery Shopping
Grocery shopping is always fun with kiddos, amiright? Ha!
I tend to do most of my shopping while they are in school so I can leisurely browse ingredients to make recipes. Browsing just isn’t that enjoyable when the kiddos are with me…just being honest. ;). But, alas, it’s summer and school is out, so taking the kids with me is the only option.
This shopping trip was special though, because well, it went something like this:
Me: Kids! Go get ready and put some clothes on (my kids prefer their undies around the house- who am I to judge?) ;).
Kids: Okay…(and they come out in this)…
So, I went to the grocery store with an awesome ninja and a cute little lady bug. Be jealous.
July 4th
Our neighbors, Melissa and Zach, came over with their 2 kiddos for 4th of July. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and had tons of sides to go with them. The kids played in the pool while the adults hung out outside in the awesome Florida heat (sorry but I LOVE the FL heat!).
We lit off our own fireworks, and, of course had sparklers and poppers for the kids. Around 8:30pm we loaded the Swaggin’ Wagon (I’ll explain later) up to go watch the local fireworks show over the river. July 4th was so much fun for the adults AND the kids, so much so, that I forgot to snap hardly any pics. #winningatlife
Jaxson (ours)
Nanette Lorraine (ours)
Abby (neighbor)
Eli (neighbor)
Nanette watching fireworks with daddy (AKA my handsome hubster).
New Babies/Kids Galore
We are THAT house that ALWAYS has kids at/in it. Not lying. It’s pretty much why I drive our Swaggin’ Wagon (what we call our awesome Toyota Sienna minivan- be jelly ;)).
I’m like the neighborhood mom (as I’m writing this I currently have 7 kids here playing, two of which are mine) and my sisters have coined me #grannyaunt, since our mom passed away, at the age of 50, in 2012 from cancer. It’s because I treat my neices/nephews like I’m a grandparent…but I’m an aunt. My sister Grace even had an awesomely awesomesauce tank made for me that says #grannyaunt, and I heart it so much! See! ↓
People always ask me how I do it with so many kids in my house at once, but I’m one of those people that cannot function in peace and quiet. I. just. can’t. I like to think it’s because I am one of 6 kids (yep my momma had 5 girls and a boy) so growing up there was always a ton of kids in our house. 6 kids + 6 kids’ friends = tons of kids in my house while I was growing up, and that is exactly how my house is! I just prefer it that way. ;) Maybe that’s why some people call me crazy. Buhahaha.
June welcomed two new babies into this world in my family! My cousin, Bryson, had a son.
My sister, Sarah, and her husband Dan welcomed their little boy, named Connor James, on June 12th. Isn’t he (and his big sister Haylee) cutie patooties? Love them!
OMGOSH! Haylee’s pigtails though! She’s so pretty and here she is bringing her little brother home!
Little Man Connor. I can’t get over how adorably cute he is!
Over the last few weeks I’ve been a busy Aunt!
I had my nephew Caden over for a couple of nights. Molli and him had a great time playing guitar, swimming, playing at the park, and making slime!
Caden and Molli. #filters is what you get when you’re 12 yr old daughter takes the phone!
I watched my niece Davis for a couple of days (because her home daycare was on vacay). Isn’t she a beauty? She’s also the sweetest lil thing and I love her to pieces!
This is Davis and her mommy (my sister), Grace. Grace is a beauty too. Amiright? Yes.
Davis when she was at my house. She was responding to my question “Aunt Jen is the best, right?” She obviously agreed. ;)
I also had my niece, Tia Grace, a couple of times overnight. Her and I have a super special bond because I was lucky enough to watch her every single day (until she started school) from 4 weeks old to 18 months old. Apple of my eye and she’s at my favorite age (will be 2 in 3 weeks). She’s also a leo like her Aunt Jen, so we totally get each other. ;) Isn’t she gorgeous?
My pumpkin. :) Okay, she’s not mine, and my sister/brother-in-law won’t give her to me (sigh), but she’s still my lil sweet cheeks. ;)
Riding in Aunt Jen’s Swaggin’ Wagon!
That’s not all my niece and nephews. ;). Just a glimpse.
If my mamma was alive, she would be 55 at the moment with 11 grandchildren. Pretty groovy, huh?
She would have 4 grandsons and 7 granddaughters, so I have tons of nieces and nephews that live within 30 minutes from me (except my nephew Thomas whom lives in Indiana-which I still need to meet but I sure do eat up his photos!). So, if I do the math correct…
11 grandchildren – My 3 kids = I have 8 nieces/nephews.
LOVE LOVE LOVE coming from a big family. :)
I’m so blessed that all these babies love me and know me. It’s also a given that I am, and will be, all of their favoritist (made that up ?) Aunt, throughout each of their lives ;). I just know it! And it’s a compliment to me, that they will all feel this way because they have lots of aunts to choose from… considering I do have 4 sisters (and one brother- can’t forget about him!). ?
Snapchat Game Strong!
If you remember last time I was learning Snapchat. Now, I’m killin’ it. ?
And that’s all I have to say about that. ;) Judge (or dont judge ;)) for yourself! Ha.
Beau (my main squeeze/love/husband/bearded man) ;)
Multi-tasking- I mean Snap chatting at the beach.
A lady has to take a break from cooking to selfie Snap the husband. ;)
When your favorite person in the world (Beau- the husband)- Snaps you his bitmoji from work. Makes a wife feel comfy- hey? That scaffolding has me nervous. ;) He says he doesn’t have to use it, but makes me wonder if he did for this Snap. Things that make you go hhhmmm. ;)
Then…there’s this one. Pop quiz, my friends. What movie is the line below from?!?!?
You guessed it! Zoolander.
Me and Molli! My oldest (almost 13!). Way to make me really feel like I’m pushing 40 years old over here (ok. ok. I’ll be 36 next month but that’s more than half way. ;)
#nailedit #right? #gottalovethosefilters
Well, my friends, that’s it for Life Currently 3. Stay tuned for our exciting new recipes coming up!
Until next time…
Jen
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