Rain, Rain, Go Away!

We have had an abnormal amount of rain over the last two months. It rained on Mother's Day, Memorial Weekend and Father's Day! The good thing about it is that our lakes are full and our grass is greener than it has ever been!

The kids have been playing in the garage just to get out of the house!

This has become the new normal for daily rainfall.

We were outback watching TV while it rained. Presley had the right idea.

And Bentley joined her.

Mikey took Presley and Bentley for a drive one day to get out of the house. This is the cove where we used to have the boat club. The camp sites are even under water.

They stopped for ice cream on the way home!

As you know, we love being outside and the rain has kept us in through May and part of June. We have finally been able to start using the pool over the last few weeks!!

Cedar Creek Lake

A few weekends ago, our very sweet friends, The Rhine's invited us to go to the lake with them. Mikey and I used to go all the time with Brandon and Sara before we had kids. And Mikey still goes out once a summer for a guy's weekend. I hadn't been in years. We decided to take the kids out together. It was definitely a different experience than in the past, but still so much fun. We love their family so much!!

We drove down first thing on Saturday morning. We figured one night would be good for the first time. We got settled in and then went for a boat ride. All of the kids did so well on the boat.

We jumped in for a swim. Presley was a little hesitant about the "dirty" water, but warmed up to it.

Bentley loved helping Daddie drive.

We came back in for lunch.

Daddie thought he needed to do a few pushups...

The big girls lounging...

While the little ones were napping, we went for a swim out by the dock.

We took these pictures before bed. So cute!!

This picture is priceless....

It was such a great trip. We spent all day Sunday there too. The kids were so good and loved it. Bentley was totally in his element. He loves being outside and he loves boats that go fast! I have to document this story....Since Bentley has been going potty in the toilet on occasion, we let him go without a diaper. Which is why he was naked in the last picture. At the lake, Mikey taught him to pee on a tree. On Sunday morning after he woke up he asked to go to the bathroom so Mikey told him to go on his tree. He went down and not only peed on the tree, but also pooped. It was so funny. Like I said, he was in his element.

A Few Things Bentley.....

Mr. Smarty Pants has decided to start potty training himself. Mommy is not ready because this would mean putting him in a big boy bed and he is just too little!! He sure looks cute in the undies though.

Mikey took this picture. Not sure what he was up to...just being silly.

Helping Mommy with the blog in his big boy undies.

So, this is an every day occurrence and it donned on me one day that I have very few pictures. Bentley absolutely loves his lawn mower. He plays with it every day and it is a bonus when Daddie mows too. Bentley observes every little thing Mikey does when working on the yard and imitates it. Bentley even pretends to pull the cord to start his mower. He mows in straight lines and along the edges just like Daddie. He also uses his golf bag to trim the tops of the bushes. So cute.

This was Daddie's doing one night after bath. I have no words.

Bentley's asthma struck again. It was a small little cold virus but attacked his lungs as it always does. This time the doctor heard the beginning of pneumonia in one of his lungs so she put him on an antibiotic.

It gave him quite the mustache.

He has also been practicing his golf skills.

This shirt has gone through all 3 kids...

He loves to wear Daddie's shoes.

So much fun to do a blog just on Bentley. He is such a sweet, happy, smart, agile little boy. Yes, I said it....little boy. He is growing up too fast and he will tell you he isn't a baby.

A Nice Change!!

I mentioned a Mother's Day gift in my previous post. Well, this is probably a Mother's Day and Father's Day gift, but well worth it!! Mikey had been asking for a few months if we should paint our kitchen cabinets. I have always loved our kitchen and had never thought about it. I told him it is fine the way it is. Well, once I got the vision in my head, I couldn't get it out. After talking with a painter, I realized we had brown floors, brown baseboards, brown cabinets, brown counter tops, brown back splash, more brown cabinets, brown walls and brown crown molding. Lightening up the cabinets would be the perfect contrast! These are some of the before pictures.

I didn't think about having to remove EVERYTHING from my kitchen. That was quite a project! The good thing was that I was able to get rid of stuff that we hadn't used in the last three and a half years. They painted the inside of the cabinets too so they are all brand new and then I was able to reorganize everything! I lot of work, but productive!

The painter did different samples of the colors and the antiquing to help us decide what we wanted. These were the first two samples. The white was a little too bright and not enough antiquing and the green color for the island was a little light.

So he did a darker version of the white with more antiquing.

He showed me how the darker side wouldn't pop as much against the back splash and stone.

Then he did an "in between" color and antiquing on the lower right corner of the sample.

Then he worked on the green color. He went off of a little glass decoration from the kitchen and the painting in our living room. He used the sage color from our dining room and the turquoise color from our living room and blended them into the perfect color for our island. He also tied in the reds and oranges from our dishes. We officially had the colors picked!

They sealed off our entire kitchen. We didn't have access for 5 days! I had the coffee maker in the laundry room and the toaster oven in the garage. Thank goodness for our outdoor kitchen!

The final product was well worth the inconvenience. I didn't think I could love my kitchen more than I already did and it is so bright and beautiful!! We also had the baseboards and crown molding painted. Here are the after pictures!!

I tried to get some close up pictures of the colors. The pictures just don't do it justice. You will just have to come see for yourself!

One last after picture after it was all put back together.

Thanks honey for a very special Mother's Day gift that we can all enjoy for years to come!! Oh, and Happy early Father's Day too!