JULY in a Nutshell

We kicked off July with a day at the lake! My entire family was able to get together and we had the BEST day swimming, tubing, skiing, and grilling. The day was complete with fireworks at dark!

 Beau was throwing kids all day long and must've been exhausted!

 Bree loves the water just as much as anyone!

 Taking a turn on the tube...

 Heading back out for one more run :)

 When the sun went down, we parked in the main water with every other boat on the lake for the fireworks show.

 Bree was exhausted, but hung in there...

 Meet Trent....my sister's boyfriend. Welcome to the blog Trent :)

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We celebrated a new baby! Marshall Garrett Gray was born on July 1st (while I was frolicking at the lake) at 1:27pm, weighing 8lb 2oz, and 20.5 inches long. Brian, Kim, and big sister Millie Kate are the very busy spoiling this little man :)

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We took Bree for her first manicure and pedicure, courtesy of her cousin Lauren.

 Of course they had to wear their matching dresses. Another gift from Lauren.

 They both had matching "don't bother me while I'm at the spa" looks too...

 I love this chubby little baby hand....getting nails painted.

 Learning to blow on it....

 Bree fell in love with the pretty bottles of polish. The management had to kindly ask us to remove the many bottles from her death grip...

 Showing off the finished product!

 Mamas and their big girls

 And finishing the pampering with a ladies lunch...

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We celebrated America's Independence!!! After a great running (or jogging/walking for me) of the Peachtree Road Race in the morning, and playing at the pool for the afternoon, we enjoyed the fireworks at Lenox with Beau's parents (Poppa & Dede). The Crawford family came, the kids were thoroughly entertained, and Beau made some great mojitos. Needless to say, it was a great night :)

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We did enjoyed even MORE swimming with friends...

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We played in the rain...

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We snuck away to Charleston for a few days...

We stayed with Finn out at Sullivan's Island and enjoyed a little island living...

 Robin and I even snuck out for a girls' night...

 We cheered on Rowan at his City Swim Meet....

 He got 5th place in the butterfly!

 We went to a Riverdogs baseball game...

We had the army men defend the princesses in the castle...

 I wish I could express to you how funny this was. The kids were fighting over who gets to play with which guns, etc. So we separated them by setting up the castle for the girls and having the boy protect the castle. When the boys were "shot" they collapsed on each other and laid like this for AT LEAST 5 minutes. They did not move or break character. I'm sure Rowan would have appreciated a break, but Wade held true to the battle.

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I had a retreat with my MOPS group (Mother's of Preschoolers) from Mt. Bethel. These 14 women were so much fun. It was nice to get away and do some planning for our upcoming year of MOPS. 

We had a great July and even fit in one more beach trip to Amelia Island with my family. I will do a separate post for that...someday soon!