I just finished making our dining reservations for Disney World and I can't even begin to describe how excited I am about this trip.  Pretty much every time I tell someone I've never (in my life) been to Disney World, they all look at me with their mouth open and a little "gasp!"   I know it may be difficult with a 13 month old child, but who cares?!  We will make such amazing memories that I wish we were leaving tomorrow.

Back to blog-worthy updates, Audrey celebrated her 4th birthday on July 16th.  The kids usually get a short 30 minutes of Nick a day when he gets home in the evenings, so on her birthday he made some exceptions.  He left later in the morning so we could all have a family breakfast of birthday pancakes:

And he even came home early so we could have what Audrey requested for dinner on her birthday:  hot dogs.  No surprise there.  We also received this cool edible arrangement that was quickly devoured.   

We celebrated her birthday with friends the following Sunday, the 20th, at the beach (of course!)  We rented a gazebo, Nick grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and we rented out a water bounce house.  Everyone showed up and had a blast.  I didn't snap a single picture.  Between hosting and holding Ethan, I didn't even know where my camera was the whole time.  A good friend did take 91 pictures of the party, as soon as I get them on a flash drive I'll work my way back over here for an update.

Audrey, my sweet sweet girl.  Four years.  What a spunky little girl you are.  You are so determined.  Soooo OCD.  A smear of your nail polish can send you to tears.  A bump in your hair?  A stain on your dress?  A WRINKLE on your dress?  She is a girly girl who wants to be at her 100% best all the time.  She is like me, in a lot of ways (not my appearance lets get that straight; I think I'm wearing a clean shirt today).  She gets frustrated very easily.  Pouts (ha).  But has a soft soul that is so incredibly nurturing.  She cares so much about other people and their feelings.  She is very observant and asks a million questions a day.  A few days ago when I hurt my finger she sat with me and rubbed my back and just laid her head on my shoulder.  In that moment, I felt like maybe, just maybe, I'm doing this mommy thing right.

Speaking of, I had a hard parent moment a few days ago.  Audrey asked me a tough question that I stumbled with the answer.  Our new neighbors were moving in and the wife caught one of the movers literally stealing out of her wallet.  Lots of MP (military police) cars showed up and this peaked an interest in Audrey.  So we talked about why the police had to come, what would happen to those "bad" people, what their punishment might be.  And after all this, her question was "if someone does something really, really bad mommy, and they are in jail...if they pray to God does he answer their prayers?  Because they are bad.  Does he answer bad people's prayers?"  Or along those lines.  I didn't know what to say.  Yes, he does answer all prayers....ugh...you are FOUR!  Let's go play!

Audrey finished two weeks of swim lessons and is obsessed with going to the pool and jumping in and swimming to me.  Finally!  An activity that really burns off her energy.

I could stare at this profile all day long.

A run to a nearby park in 80! degree weather made me snap this cute picture.  They are perfect in my eyes.

Only 5ish more weeks of summer...and still SO much to do!!  Yikes!  We are going to run out of time I fear.  So check back soon...Nick gets back from the field on Friday and I'm determined to jump right into go mode.