Adventures · Emptying the nest

Why July is my favorite month

July is birthday month in our household.  Both of our daughters were born in July.  And my mom’s birthday was in July, too.  Not only did we have parties, but we also had fireworks.  And cake.  And Vacations.  Basically, we had a lot of fun over the years.

It’s quiet here this year.  No birthday parties.  No fireworks.  Except for the loud and crazy neighbors.  I love thinking back to the busy summers.  And all the mountains of gifts they may not have needed.

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My mission this year is to send my daughters hand-written cards.  At random times, nothing planned, just when I feel like sharing a thought with them.

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More fun photos of our family here.

Yesterday, I sat down to re-write the card to my oldest.

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I wrote it for her in February and mailed it the week we had terrible snow storms, and mail service was affected, and the card was lost.  I luckily had taken a photo of what I wrote, but still feel sad it was lost.  So I decided that on her birthday would be a nice time to make sure she did get that card.  When I was sorting through photos, I found one to include in the card.

This was taken on the week she was born.  Just look at the love on our faces.  We were in awe of the tiny little hooman we created together.

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Becoming a mom for the first time is a favorite memory of mine.  Nothing compares to that moment.  Well, maybe every other proud momma moment from that point forward – I have a lifetime of happy memories.

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Warm summer days – watching them sit on the swings while eating ice cream cones.

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Sisters helping each other.

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Mother and daughter moments with my oldest.

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It’s her birthday this week – she’ll be 27!  Wow, I was that young when she was just a twinkle in our eyes.  We’re grateful for the gift of becoming parents to some pretty awesome young ladies.  Both are creative and we appreciate how much they know how to enjoy life.

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And our oldest is a pretty darn great photographer too!

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Happy Birthday, Ms. Rachel, it’s your week to celebrate!  You’ll always be Daddy’s little girl.

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We love you to the moon and back!  Oh, my, yes, July is my favorite month.

Post Inspiration – Becky’s #JulySquares and #Blue; Sunday StillsBlue and Lens-Artist #53 – Your Choice.  Special congratulations to Patti, Tina, Amy and Anne Christine for hosting the Lens-Artist challenge for a full year!

PS – What are your favorite memories of being a parent?  Did you plan it well as us, have two girls, born years apart in the same month, so you could wear the same maternity clothes and reuse the kid clothes?!  LOL!  Do you like to fish too!?  

52 thoughts on “Why July is my favorite month

  1. Very sweet photos and memories. These early days stories are so precious. Staying connected can be challenging – the cards are a wonderful way to do that. I have many favorite memories, it would be hard to choose. But I guess the laughing memories – when we were just silly together doing whatever – would be at the top of the list.

    1. Thank you! Yes, laughing memories are so fun – they are the ones when you don’t have the camera, but you can picture the whole scene without a need to look at a photo. 🙂

  2. Where do the years go? Seems they just fly by, and it’s so good to have photos of the early days with our babies. Lovely photos! <3

    1. The years fly by! I seem to have stood still, and then I realize that’s not the case at all! It is nice to have photos to look back on.

  3. We’ve had our share of July birthdays with my ex husband’s family. My dad’s is the 15th! Love all your pics and the featured image of the blue card is so pretty, Shelley. I think we had that same plaid sofa you all are sitting on back in the day! Happy birthday to your daughters!!

    1. Thank you, Terri – My youngest painted the cards and made them for me to give as gifts. She now sells them on her Etsy store.
      LOL, yeah, that couch. It ended up with my daughter in her first apartment, then we parted with it after that. It was a sofa sleeper – weighed a ton. But it got the raising up of our kids job done!

        1. Noted – I may be a day late or early to wish you HB – with the time zones I get confused. I’m guessing I’ll be a day late?! 😉 Maybe I should wish you Happy Birthday early, now and then again closer to the day?!

          1. That sounds like a fine plan Shelley 🙂 If you can work out when, here’s my date and time now 9:49pm 9 July

          2. LOL! It’s only 6:50 am here on July 9th! Your birthday will be almost over by the time I remember! 🙂

  4. What great pictures and memories. And what a great idea to send cards randomly to the kids. Think I will try that as well.

    1. Aw, thank you, Anita, glad you enjoyed it. Yes, it is fun to send a random card, it’s also fun to see if I can still write legibly. 😉

        1. LOL – it’s the typing that keeps us from honing the craft. I’ve been doing hand-written morning pages for a couple of months now. I’m shocked at how my handwriting changes from day to day. It used to be so beautiful. Sigh…!

  5. Thank you for sharing your memories, Shelley! You have a lovely family. Happy Birthday to your beautiful daughter.

  6. I often say that the camera was one of the best inventions – ever! Otherwise all the memories would be playing in our heads like looping a video over and over. Those are great photos showing the girls together and with you as well. The handwritten card is a nice touch. I’ve never been a parent so I can’t respond to that question, but I have gone fishing. My parents rented a cottage for two weeks back in 1968 and I was 12 years old. My father went and got a fishing rod, tackle box and some fancy lures. On a lark, he decided I could go fishing with him, so he bought me a kid’s bamboo rod, with some red/white bobs and a lure without any sharp barbs on it. The cottage came with a boat and their own dock. So, we went out, him with his fancy-schmancy fishing gear, me with my kid’s pole and we took some leftover Jiffy Pop popcorn, my mom had made on the stove the night before. I stuck some popcorn on my lure and within minutes caught a huge pike. My father put it in the boat so I could show my mom (who had no intention of gutting it, fileting it or whatever you want to call it, let alone cooking it. He got no fish the entire afternoon and had somewhat of an attitude – we never went out fishing again. Too bad – I may have been on a roll.

    1. Yes, thank goodness for cameras! Aw, that’s an interesting fishing story. I love it when the kids outfish the parents – it makes for fun memories to recall later in life. I know my two girls have plenty of stories to tell about their grandpa, that makes me happy. And him too!

      1. That’s good – fishing is fun and I was having a good time so glad you liked my story! My father was a spoilsport which was not as fun. My mom took a pic of the fish but said “don’t bring that smelly fish into the cottage!”

          1. Oh she didn’t like fish at all and used to make fish more for the Lenten season so we’d have salmon patties and tuna salad and she’d make fish sticks for the kid and say “eat them fast Linda before they smell up the house!”

          2. LOL. I love fish, my dad caught fresh fish for us a lot, so I grew up eating it all the time. It can stink up the house though!

          3. We are different in that regard but too bad I did not have that exposure to fish as I do like to try new things (most things anyway). I do like fish and always had it when I went out. Yes, it’ll really smell for sure!

    1. Thank you, Amy! Thank you, too, for your devotion to the LensArtist challenge. Congrats on 1 year celebration!!

  7. What a lovely and heart-felt post, Shelley. The love between a mother and her child is a constant, enduring, and fierce. You express that love in your images and words. And thank you too for the kind words about our challenge. We’re so glad you join us!

    1. Aw, Patti, thank you! It’s been an honor to be able to join in on your challenge. Thank you to all four of you for taking it on and carrying it through – your dedication is commendable!

  8. A wonderful post, Shelley! You have such lovely ideas and your children surely have a great family! My children are my everything, so I can fell the warmth. Thank you for supporting us as well ;-D

    1. Thank you, Anne Christine, I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Thank you for all your devotion to hosting the challenges. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this next year!

  9. Shelley, how nice to discover your lovely blog. I also have 2 young adult daughters and a son. No summer birthdays, though summer is my favorite time of the year–so much that I sometimes contemplate moving from New England to a warmer climate. Being a Mom is the best part of my life, though I do miss when all the kids lived at home. I’ve had many adventures and accomplishments, but I think motherhood was the one I did best.

    1. Aw, thank you for stopping by my blog. I appreciate you sharing your hello and for sharing your thoughts about empty nest parenting. I do miss those days when the kids were around. I agree with you, motherhood is something we can treasure ourselves doing a great job at. 🙂

  10. 50 comments! You’re rich! No need to reply to this one, S. Just to say: in my family, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and sister all born in July. We have the 8th, 9th, 11th, 21st, 22nd. Then there’ me,
    December. Your most recent family photo at the beach was delightful!

    1. Aw, thank you, Ellen! Wow your family had a busy month, and then was blessed with you at the end of the year to balance it out! Way to shine in December. Thank you – we had a wonderful time at the beach.

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