Fun with Friends and Kingston Snuggles

It's been a couple weeks now, but when Chad and Lindsay were in town the last time they had us over for a little 6th birthday party for Gemma. I love how the boys bowed to her in her Princess Elena costume.

Snack before the party

Crew was excited!

Sweet Gemma

Bow to your princess

Gemma, King and Crew the next day

Afternoon on the beach with Tanner, his sister and friends

Kingston loves to snuggle when he first wakes up from his naps and right before bed. He says, "I sit mama. Hi mama," followed by a kiss. Or "I sit dada". Bless.

Loves his back rubbed. Who doesn't?

And I had to go over to the new house (or the house we're going to renovate until it's good as new) the other day for the insurance people and it was fun to show the boys their big backyard. It was in desperate need of mowing, but they could see the potential!

Fun with Cousins: Etta Addition

Ali and Dieter also came to town this month to stay with my mom, so I got a lot of baby Etta snuggles! My boys had never met her, so there were some pretty precious introductions. I also got a pretty decent reminder about what it's like to have a newborn again. I tried to work my magic and put her down for naps and just when I thought, "I still have the touch," she'd wake up screaming. Ahh! She's so darn sweet and beautiful though!

Pretty much my happy place

Poolside

Naps with Nana

Hugs from Kingston

Can I keep her?

Love lock with Danny

The always excited, Crew

And just some random cute pics:

Such a sweet sleeper

Danny getting Crew in on a selfie

Morning selfie with mommy

Kingston looking up to his daddy

Danny reading to Kingston about frogs

Fun with Cousins: O'Connor Clan

Also over the Fourth of July week, Dan and Marisol had family in town including Aileen and Pat from Illinois, Debbi and Rob from Virginia and Ryan, Jessica and their four kiddos from Myrtle Beach. We had a great time meeting up with them at the beach and doing dinner. Lucky for me, Macie, Ryan and Jessica's second oldest (8 years old I think) is like a little mom and loved taking care of my boys for me! Always a good time when the O'Connor clan gets together!

About to meet up with everyone

Macie the mom

Rob, Jimmy and Ryan

Keller and Crew

Aunt Aileen and Kingston

Keller, Danny, Kingston, Macie and Crew

And then just a couple weeks ago, Kelly, Spencer, Connor and Shane were in town and it was more fun cousin time!

Legos

Angry Birds

Rainy day tour of the CB Fire Station

Cookies and army guys

All the boy cousins on the beach

Shane loved being buried!

Sand Monsters! Danny says, "what are you going to do?"

A quick, much needed girls' happy hour

Fourth of July, Farm Camp and Family Night

The pics hardly do it justice, but we walked from our duplex at the lake towards the beach to watch the Fourth of July fireworks. We ended up stopping a little early in an empty lot and our view was EPIC! Memories were definitely made!

And then it was a week at Ashton Farm Camp for Danny and Tanner. I had to drop him off in Wilmington early in the AM and then he took a bus out to Burgaw where we spent the day swimming in a pond, feeding animals, riding horses, hiking and more. It was an incredible experience - we'll definitely send him (and the other boys) there every summer!

You can't take the farm out of the kid...

While Jimmy was out of town for work the other week I recruited my mom to attend Family Night at the Boardwalk with me! This was the first year that Crew was into the rides and face painting - last year he was super timid. Cracks me up that Danny asked the poor volunteer face painter to paint "Michael Jackson" for him, but I'm impressed with her creation!

Other recent random pics...

DQ Blizzards!

Tacos at Chipotle

Feeding geese and turtles

Loves Daddy's big beach pools