I cannot believe tomorrow is the beginning of August. The last half of July was hot, humid, hazy, long and busy, yet it flew by, leaving me in a daze.

On July 17, we day-tripped to Charlotte to celebrate the birthday of Jack and Lettie, who are twin 4 year olds of good friends of ours. The party was at Reedy Creek Nature Center, so the boys got to check out lots of cool critters and science stuff. Jack and Houston — both of whom are huge fans of Spidey and toddler wrestling — really hit it off, and there was plenty of activity for Gabe and Zeke to get into. Uncle Adam also made a surprise show for the occasion. What a great day!

Houston’s big grin indicates that a Spider-Man cake was a good choice for his 3rd birthday.

The next evening was Houston’s VBS commencement at church. Houston sat with his Hero Headquarters class up front, while the twins played, clapped, danced and ran around in the back of the sanctuary during the big celebration. It was a wonderful night of fun, food and fellowship for the entire family.

Since then, we’ve all been dealing with nasty summer colds, except Daddy. The kids have experienced low-grade fevers, but the boys and I have all been snotty, croupy, sneezy, easily fatigued and generally grumpy.

Shooting water @ passersby & playing w/ cousin Kara helped make HL’s birthday a happy one.

Despite sickness working its way through the family, I finally joined the YMCA. July 23 was my first day; I swam for an hour, while the kids played in the Child Watch facility.

My goal in this beginning stage of exercise is to do laps at least one afternoon a week. Being that it’s exhausting rushing around and loading the kids up just to get to the Y during Child Watch hours and well before dinner time, I think that’s a reasonable goal. My hour swim last week was even better than the week before, so I’m optimistic that I’ll be exceeding my goal fairly soon. Baby steps.

Gabriel works off his sugar buzz from eating super-hero popsicles (he fittingly consumed a Hulk).

Houston spent the weekend of July 23-25 at Granny and Grumps’ house. He had a blast in the mountains, getting spoiled rotten like a grandkid is supposed to, while Gabriel and Zeke got some uninterrupted Mommy and Daddy time.

“Bro-Bros” (instead of “Bo-Bos,” the trouble-making monkeys from “Go Diego Go!”) liked shopping at Costco on Saturday. Gabriel “the Chatterbox,” as Gramsey calls him, talked to everyone within earshot … and beyond. And despite the fact that Zeke was feeling kind of yucky, he toughed it out and enjoyed riding in Daddy’s cart and soaking in the busy surroundings. And then Daddy rounded out the weekend by taking the twins to church on Sunday, so Mommy could battle her cold symptoms at home.

Having fun getting wet & playing w/ balls, Zeke is totally in his element @ Houston’s party.

Besides making friends at church and the Y, the twins are into the following things these days: puzzles; Legos; super heroes; cars; turning pages in real books, not just board books; climbing anything; sitting solo on the couch and in chairs; eating independently with metal utensils; drinking from a regular cup, not a sippy cup; and copying everything big bro does. (Can’t believe the next party we’ll be having will be for their 2nd birthday this fall. Yep, parenthood is certainly a daze.)

Click the top photo to check out all the pics from Houston’s 3rd birthday. Also, click here to see additional shots from Dina and Kara’s visit, as well as here to view a few older photos from Great Aunt Hessie’s 100th birthday party back in March.

P.S. July 24 marked the two-anniversary of my TTTS surgery that saved Gabe and Zeke’s lives. Thank you, God, for my sweet miracle boys!