This is the day, the Lord has made!

 I just typed up this whole long post about my 'spiritual walk' recently, and when I was finished I just saved it on my computer, maybe for another time or maybe just for my records, but for now I'm just going to say that I have felt very distant from the Lord the past couple months/years even. I can say, with a very humble and thankful heart, that just a few weeks have made a huge difference. The Lord is working in me and it is a WONDERFUL feeling!!

 One of the verses in my devotion this morning was, "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable--if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise--dwell on these things. Phil 4:8" Here's me dwelling on the GOOD things in my life :)

 This shot of Emit above is his little "Did it!" motion he does when he figures something out. This particular one...putting his foot in the flipper. Our mornings and/or afternoons at the beach have returned. I'm pretty sure this time the weather will be here to stay. The boys are going to be so much fun this summer in the water. Joss will be swimming completely on his own, I'm very confident, by the end of the summer. And Emit is already thinking he can "Fwim" on his own...but only if he's close to Mommy :)

 It is so cute whenever we look out over the water now and see a boat (of any kind) Emit starts saying, "Daddy, BACK!" Even when we just left Daddy back at the house working. The water + a boat (or sometimes just looking out at the water)= DADDY!!!

 As I've mentioned before, Emit is very clingy still. If we're walking down the beach and I'm not carrying him, he often gets mad at me and starts crying. Without making myself sound like a mean mommy that won't pick her sweet boy up, keep in mind, I've probably been toting him around for a half hour or more by then... Momma gets tired! Joss has figured out a good little way to get Emit to cooperate and stop crying (most of the time). He'll run to him and say "I'll get him, mommy, Come here, let me show you!" Emit loves to hold Joss' hand and walk beside him. I guess it makes him feel like a big boy, like Joss, or something... but 8 out of 10 times it works like a charm. Mommy's back is very pleased!

I just love this shot of Emit below. I looked over and saw him sitting there like this and it just touched my heart. My sweet, curious little man!

 Emit is so chatty when we read books to him. If he's really tired he'll sit there quietly for story time, but more times than not he's talking the whole time making some kind of noise. He's listening though because the slightest mention of a word he likes to say and he'll say that word over and over and over until he hears the next word he likes.

 If there is a 'ribbit' (frog), 'tuh-tuh' (turtle), ball, moon, balloon, wagon, bike, Lightning McQueen, Thomas, Percy or James on a page you are reading to him you might as well throw in the towel.... he gets very excited over these items (and many more).

 He loves the books from CC & Poppy that they read to him. He'll sit on top of the book just to feel closer to them :)

 Or try to chew on them (below)!

 Just playing around with some of the pretty flowers in our yard in a couple of these shots here... I just love these Hibiscus flowers... so many colors!

 Joss was trying to pose for me :)

 Joss always jokes (but sometimes is actually scared) about there being monsters in our house or his room. He really has quite the imagination. But he has said it so many times lately, in a joking way, that we made up a little thing to do/say when the monsters come around. We cover our eyes with our hands and say "1..2...3...Monsters Go Away From Meeee!" and when we say Me we throw our hands out in front of us. It's nothing fancy, but he likes to have something to say each time that will make the monsters go away :)

 Emit can't pedal his bike yet... but he sure can make it go when he pushes it from behind. His little legs get to moving so fast that I'm just waiting for the wipe-out moment. He has skills though :)

 Joss is doing really well using the big boy potty. Still working on when he sleeps, but that's something I can live with right now. Every time he goes..#2, he'll yell, "Big Poopy!!!" as my signal to come and wipe him. The other day he was taking care of business as usual, but this time he yelled, "Yittle Poopy!" (meaning little). LOL, that's the first time he's said anything other than BIG...I thought it was pretty cute.

 Dallas has been working hard getting ready for this month's big trips! The boats are almost all finished and ready. We get the rest of our logos on the mail boat Tuesday morning. For the big boat and all the sailboats...we're pretty excited about that :)

 I've been brainstorming and getting ready for the menu for the trips. I want to try some new things since we have some returning guests, but also because I always feel like each trip we can improve a little at a time. This is a new dessert I experimented with today, Chocolate Macaroon Pizza...Dallas was very pleased!

 I still can't get over how sweet Joss was today! Don't get me wrong... he's not a terror, but like the rest of us, some days are better than others. Today was a phenomenal day with Joss! He was so polite and so good with Emit and their toys. He was happy with whatever we were doing at the time. He was super lovey and giving us lots of hugs and kisses and telling us he was so happy. How can you not go nuts over a day like this :)

 I told the boys I was making something for each of them and Joss asked me, "Do you need my help?" Well, he could have asked me for about anything today and I would have said yes, but I thought they might like to paint on some wood too. I just love how he has his hand on my leg here... means he is really happy!!

 Emit was having a blast making a mess with the paint too!

What a sweet, sweet day that I will take great joy in dwelling on!