Down here, where we're at...

...Everyone is equally poor

Down here, we don't care

We don't care what happens outside the screen door

-Uncle Tupelo, "Screen Door"

(Derek is QUITE proud of me for pulling out the Uncle Tupelo!)

Long time no post, I know. At least 2 people at church on Sunday said something to the effect of, "Y'all must have a lot going on - you haven't updated in forever!" It's not for lack of interesting things to talk about, but there is definitely a lack of time to sit down at the computer and type it out.

So, we have been on 3 different mini-vacations - long weekends at the beach with family. They were exciting and exhausting at the same time. We enjoyed the fun, kid-friendly chaos of Myrtle Beach, complete with 3 pools & a lazy river, a ride down the strip, my inaugural visit to the Gay Dolphin, Jay's biggest temper tantrum EVER, a visit to the bowling alley, and plenty of sand in our britches. We even saw a place where you can rent rims so that your trip down the strip shows off your happenin' ride. We seriously contemplated putting them on my sister-in-law's minivan. Next time, Mandy. Next time.

Some cousin-ly love, just moments before Jay put Luke in a head lock.

See? I don't make this stuff up!

Then we had a quiet relaxing beach trip to Holden Beach with my extended fam as we celebrated my uncle's birthday and my folks 35th wedding anniversary. (Thanks for gettin' hitched, Mom & Dad - sure changed my life!) The most excitement we saw there was walking down the street to visit our dear friends and check out their pool.

Brotherly love for real, riding "double decker" in the stroller.

A few July 4 fireworks. More watermelon than two boys should consume. And a lot of sitting on the back porch and watching the world pass by. I think the 7:2 grownup-kid ratio was a big factor in the more quiet weekend.

We have a new watermelon king

But the most exciting thing going on in our world lately is that our new screened porch is almost finished! What? I haven't mentioned that we're building a screened porch?

Our chief inspector, who just happens to work best in his PJ's.

More working, different PJ's

Deciding to jump in & build it was a pretty quick decision. I got a serious case of porch envy from our neighbors, and it coincidentally came along right about the time that our mosquitoes began to outnumber the oak leaves we get in the fall. (If you've ever seen our oak trees in early November, you know that means a lot.) We've taken to calling Luke "Mosquito Bait." I kid you not, the child had TWELVE bites in less than 5 minutes one night. He's got so little surface area, it looked like he had chicken pox. So, we're pretty pumped about being able to spend sometime outside without worrying that our youngest child will be carried off by giant mutant 'skeeters.

The screen went up today, and there's just a couple more stages and it will be DONE. Y'all come on over, ya hear? We gonna sip sweet tea under the ceiling fan and celebrate summer.