Flashback Friday- a tribute to Dad

Happy Friday, friends! I've been a bit MIA from the blog this week while enjoying the sunshine and whatnot with my kiddos. Swimming, chalkin' up the driveway, swinging, and water gun fighting were all on the itenerary this week. The water gun fight was even impromptu, which is the best kind, and all 5 Mathews were drenched before a truce was called. We're soaking up every second of our summer, but today is Friday, and you know what that means...

Since Sunday marked a special holiday that honors our Dads, today's Flashback Friday is all about my Dad. To the father who's always called himself my #1 fan, here are some of my fave shots of the two of us. And a couple with that other sibling of mine... ;o)

***
My very first Easter.
I'm pretty sure my thoughts at the moment were, "I'm gonna lay here all still and pretend to sleep, but when they leave the room I'm totally eating that bunny".

Love the Converse shirt, Dad.
And the stache.



 Pretty sure mum had just told us to look directly into the sun and smile.



 First beach trip as a fam of 4.
Here's proof that E got more than just her daddy's genes.
Nice legs, Dad.

 One of my all-time fave things to do when I was 5/6.
As you can see, I'm contributing a WHOLE lot.
Once again, nice legs Dad.

 Sixth grade trip to Washington, D.C.
We paid a visit to the FBI, but as you can clearly see, the real crime is what's happening above my neck.

 First Oscar party in 1997.
Thanks mum and dad for letting me turn your house into an awards show slash banquet hall. And for loving the Oscars because I love the Oscars. And thanks, Dad, for holding a fake Oscar and taking a picture with me. Also...thanks for letting me get contacts. Good GRAVY, thanks for that.

I must also give a shout-out to my baby daddy, because the kiddos and I...well we loves him a lot.

Thanks for being such a fine baby daddy, hubs.

I'm extremely blessed to have these two men in my life, as well as the sweetest Grandaddy and Father-in-law on the planet.

God is so good.

Happy weekend to ya!

Happy Father's Day and a weekly recap

Happy Monday friends!

Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend celebrating the Dads in your life!

First off- I must give a big welcome to my newest followers-

TipJunkie featured my wallflower project and my blog shot through the roof last night, so thank you TipJunkie, and thank you to those of you who took the time to look at my project!

I took a little break from blogging over the weekend (sorry Christa) and played and swam and surprised my hubs and worked on my tan (safely) and basically just spent an entire weekend thanking God for his blessings. We had amazing weather here in AL, albeit HOT, but still....quite beautiful.

 Since all of my posts last week were craft related and contained zero pics of my kids, I will now catch my family and friends (and whoever else cares to know) up on what we've been up to-

Finally took MM's 12-month pics with Bear. (I've taken a shot of all of my kiddos next to Mr. Bear on their birthday for each of their first 12 months.) I had this dress made for her party since her theme is Very Hungry Caterpillar. More info on the etsy shop and the lovely lady who made the dress HERE.

such a cute pose, but I'm not quite sure how she ended up with a drum stick in her hand. Ah well....

And- there's a peek at the new wallflowers in the nursery behind her.

My handsome hubs.

Not really a story here, just like to look at him.

And yes, that's an old school mower he's using.

The pool at the bottom of the slide was hubs idea.

Genius.

There's two of my three cuties.

Pretty sure number three was napping...

Star Wars legos.

All. the. time.

Her name is Eliza and this is where she likes to drink her fake orange juice.

She and her sis were also channeling Audrey on this day with their

"Little Black Onesies" that I picked up at Wal-mart when I was buying myself a tank for THIS project.

Her name is Eliza and sometimes she likes to brush her teeth for 30 minutes.

In a see-through tutu and princess top.

Thank goodness she put the tiara on the sink so it wouldn't topple off onto the floor.

Went to a cookout at the parent's house last week-

this is my seester's friend cookin up some grub.

As Wonka would say, "It's scrumdillyumptious"!

MM with the one person whose name she says the MOST-

"Pop Pop"

My mum (L) with my Mannie and Aunt.

My sweet Mannie and Grandaddy

And here's what I surprised the hubs with on Saturday. Since he'd be working all day Sunday, I enlisted my Dad's help to pick it up and have it waiting for hubs at the back door when he got home from a kayaking trip.

(Yes, I even made a bow. Because that's how I roll)

Oliver also surprised him with a Clone Wars lego that he picked out himself.

(O is requesting that I type its official name- the Cad Bane Speeder, for those who might like to know...)

Happy Father's Day to one amazing baby daddy!

We love you!

The one and only pic I took on Father's Day of us in the pool waiting for Daddy to get off work. We had a wonderful morning at church, lunch with my parents and grandparents, and then spent the afternoon swimming. Fabulous day!

Which brings us to TODAY-

it was O's first day of swimming lessons for the summer and he had a blast.

Here's to many more weeks of blazinghot days at the pool with my kiddos.

And- one last thing.

I'll leave you with a preview of what I gave MY Pops for Father's Day.

I'll share the details and more pics in a post later this week, but for now, here's a hint-

Can't wait to show you more!