June in a Nutshell

It's rather sad to look over in the blog archives and see a pitiful "1" beside June.  One post all month?!  That must either mean I'm a major slacker or we had lots going on.  Or maybe a little bit of both if I'm being honest with myself!  We just got back from spending a week at the beach.  Back to life, back to reality.  Isn't that how the song goes?  That's a post for another day seeing as how I'm completely overwhelmed at the amount of catching up I need to do here!

June is always one of my favorite months.  Why, you ask?  Because we get to celebrate J in two big ways, of course!  His birthday always falls right around Father's Day.  How fun is that?!

Once again, all these pictures are not-so-great iPhone quality.  But that has nothing to do with how much I love them.  And him...

That one was taken on the way to church on Father's Day.  You'd likely fall out of your chair if you knew what I said to make them all laugh at the same time so I'll spare you.  Bless him, he's so out numbered.  I keep reminding him that those three girls will spoil him rotten when he's old!

After church, we hit a Mexican restaurant in Huntsville where these two were really excited about the balloons they got to take home...

And I was really excited about those cool doors behind them!

This next part is where I get a little sad because every picture I took on J's birthday was on my phone.  The phone that crashed on the way to the beach last week.  Not a problem for someone who backs up their phone regularly, but that someone isn't me!  We decorated like crazy and cooked him all of his favorite things for dinner.  And naturally, these two pictures I happened to put on Facebook are all I have from his big day...

That was on his way out the door to work.  He'd just had a talk with those two chicks telling them that all he wanted for his birthday was for them to get along all day! Yeah.  Right.

I think he's pretty special...

 

Aside from all the birthday/Father's Day fun, we've tried to find indoor entertainment as much as possible.

It's been h-o-t here, y'all.  

Bethany has served as make over extraordinaire...

 

 

She's so sweet to let her little sisters be her shadow.  They think she hung the moon!  She took them to the animal shelter the other day just to pet the kitties.  They found a kitten that they all said they couldn't live without.  So the next day, they took me back in hopes of me not being able to live without it either.  Turns out the sweet kitty they liked that was a perfect angel the day before also liked to sink her claws into your skin.  She must have been having a really good day the day before.  We held all 47 cats before we found this one that could not have been any sweeter...

 

She let Towns hold her like that for ten minutes without moving.  She's probably the sweetest kitty I've ever seen.  And the fact that she's a fur ball really does me in!  Cate held her like a baby for the longest time and she purred away in her arms...

 

All they want is an animal they can hold and love on...and this is definitely the one!  We left without her that day, but I have a feeling she might be ours before long.

There's only so much you can do inside before cabin fever sets in, and we've spent our fair share of time outside sweating it out.  We've logged lots of miles on wheels around the neighborhood, some of which have ended with sweet little Blondie skidding across the pavement...
She gives that a thumb's up and thinks her battle wounds are pretty cool.  You should see her other knee.  You're hard pressed to get your daddy off your electric scooter around here, so we gave J an electric scooter of his own for his birthday.  That was all Bethany's idea and he loved it!  Thankfully, all bones in the McClendon fam are still in tact.  For now.

The other day the girls wanted to have a lemonade stand.  We improvised and went with something more appropriate for 100+ degree weather.  They sold popsicles at the park and made a killing...

 

J thought 50 cents was steep, but the high temps had gone to their customers' heads and they forked over big bucks for some ice cold refreshment.  Those two were in heaven!

We've spent lots of time at Pt. Mallard the last few weeks...

Towns let her daddy talk her into jumping off the incredibly high diving platform and my heart hasn't been the same since.  She's definitely part dare devil, just like he is.  Cate and I watched from the nice, firm ground and that's exactly where we like to be.

Earlier this week, the girls declared they had the best day ever.

A bike ride with Bebs...

 

Two trips to the park, one of which included J trying out a crazy trick...

He told Towns to stand still and let him try to jump out of the swing over her.  I'd say he nailed it?!

Buggy and I raced to the top of the chain wall where she won because she totally pushed me off making me have to start all over...

The park trip was followed by a matinee of Brave where it was determined that the writers had to have based that Merida character on Cate.  (J took the girls and they loved it so much, they took me back the next day.  And I liked it so much I took B on a date to see it last night.  Crazy?  Probably!)  That wild red hair, her free spirit, and stubborn determination had me almost believing my Buggy was on the screen.  We've called her Merida ever since.  We ended "the best day ever" with an evening swim with sweet friends...

They swam 'til 9:00 and we had to drag them home kicking and screaming.

I think that's a sign they had just a smidge of fun, don't you think?

One more for the road, just because I really love these three...

Here's to a July filled with more than just this one post!!