Lately With The Lu Crew

Shooooey! Life has been busy lately!  I think that's a fair statement for pretty much all human beings, though, right? We are all busy in different ways at different times. Nonetheless, it's important to me to use this little space to document the comings and goings of my little family, among other things. 

So. Here's a bit of what's been going on with the Lu Crew lately:

• We've been checking things off our Summer Bucket List and having a lot of fun doing it. From splash pads to kite flying, from homemade pizzas to Carowinds, we've been makin' memories and makin' the most of our summer days.

• My hub and I may be seven years late to the party, but we are obsessed with Breaking Bad. It is such a suspenseful, morally complicated, complex show and we have been binge-watching the whole series this summer. We are finishing the last two episodes tonight, and I can't wait to see how it ends! We are also Big Brother fans and have been following along with all the house guests this summer as well. Can you say junk tv? Love it.

• During a trip to Target with my trio last week, Banks and I decided to do some spontaneous school supply shopping. How is my little boy so big? I am going to miss him so much during his long school days, which start August 17th  and go from 7:40 am to 2:25 pm. Siiiigh. 

• Speaking of Banks, he has been lovin' the pool this summer and definitely wants to try out for swim team next year. Neither my hub nor I were ever swim teamers; so, this will be a new experience for us all. Meanwhile, he absolutely wants to play football this Fall, too, which does not bode well for my (former) pediatric neuropsychologist, concussion-evaluation-providing self. Yet another siiiiigh.

• Then, there's Raleigh, who is the pure definition of sugar and spice. The child love, love, LOVES wearing dresses (actually, her "currency," we have discovered, is dresses, which means she is not permitted to wear dresses when she makes bad choices and is allowed to wear them when she makes good ones-ha!). She also loves to tell those she loves, "You are beautiful." She does this daily, totally unprompted, and totally genuinely, many times. She also calls her baby dolls "honeys" (as in, "Look, Mom, my honey is going to jump in the pool"). I finally realized she does this because I often refer to her as "honey" (as in, "Come on, honey! Let's go!"). Sweet lil' momma! At the same time, the girl struggles hard core with her "listening ears." Definitely a goal for us to tackle the rest of the summer.

• Meanwhile, Harrison's vocabulary is growing by the minute. Even though he STILL only has his two bottom teeth at the ripe ol' age of 14 months, he loves to talk and tries to imitate pretty much everything we say. Some of the words he says these days include: mama, dada, Raleigh, Coop ("Boop"), bubble, ball ("doll"), hot dog, light, nigh-night, milk, bottle, bath, ducky, up, Elmo ("Melmo"), banana, cake, eat, no, yellow, purple, Nana, Pop, and pool.

• Not going as well...weaning him from a bottle to a sippy. I know, I know. I take FULL responsibility for this. It is TOTALLY my fault because I have been so lazy with it. He just loves his bottle and does such a great job gulping down his whole milk all by himself that I have yet to truly attempt to take it away, especially as we are trying to put a little more meat on his bones. I'm thinking after our next beach trip...

• Last weekend, we traveled to Aiken, South Carolina, for the day to celebrate the 90th birthday of my hub's grandmom. It was definitely a special afternoon, as she was surrounded by her five children and her many grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

• Speaking of, we're headed back to the beach next week, this time with my "side" of the family. We are headed to the North Myrtle/Cherry Grove area. There will be 14 adults and 7 kiddos in ONE HOUSE. That's right. TWENTY-ONE PEOPLE. ONE HOUSE. Luckily, it's an 8-bedroom, 7-bathroom house right on the beach; so, while it will be chaos, it will be my favorite kind of chaos. And I am so excited to have another week of watching my babies play with cousins and soak up all things beach...and me, too!

• I am loving my new women's Bible study group. While my hub and I continue to meet with our couple's LifeGroup (going on two years this Fall...wow!!! So crazy it's already been that long!), one of my best friends started a women's group a few weeks ago. So, every Wednesday night, 15 other awesome neighborhood friends and I meet up and dive in--asking real, raw, tough questions all while studying Jennie Allen's Anything. I look forward to it every week and can't wait to see how it continues to shape and transform us.

• This week is a fun one for Banks and Rals, who are attending Science and Dance camps, respectively. Meanwhile, I've been beach preppin' and hanging with my littlest dude, who unfortunately, came down with a high fever a couple days ago and is trying to battle it off before we hit the beach: 

And that's about it for now! Have a great week/end, and be sure to check back on Monday for the next Mom-ing Through Faith post...it's gonna be a GOOD one, I promise!