Our little puppy... and moving on

Do you ever have one of those days where all you want to do is floss your teeth but you can never quite get to it.... No? Well, humor me because that was totally me today. Our Hopie girl who is teething (when are babies not teething??) puts every.single.particle big or small in her mouth and it literally scares me to death. She is like this little puppy dog, nose and mouth to the ground, finding all that she shouldn't or that I swore I swept up an hour earlier and putting it as fast as you can say: "Really Miley bird!"in her little pie hole. My brother, Father Zyg, was in town this last week and I had him pray over her for sheer protection from small objects that some how (even with my needle eye going through ever-y-thing time and time again) find there way onto our floors and into Hope's mouth. Asking for your prayers too. Thanks a million, I owe you big time! 

Don't let her sweet innocent face fool you.

On an entirely different note, life is settling in for us Boda clan here on Davis Island. I think I am finally waking up from my dream of this being a really, really nice vacation to -- this is actually our home and where we live. A friend asked me the other night if I mind having no friends, you know since I am new to the area and have yet to totally spread my wings and fly. (Granted my friend asking is one of my best friends and lives 15 minutes away, but I knew what she meant, haha!) The question brought a lot to the surface because I do miss all of my beautiful friends that I was/am so, SO close to who live in Naples. And I know that yes we will remain friends, but the daily life we had together will never be the same. When I let myself really go there to "it never being the same" I get super teary eyed and have to pull myself up from dwelling on what I am missing to instead what I have been given here Tampa. But darn, it can be hard to let go... let go of play dates at the park and beach, countless dinners out and in our home, parties with multiple families that had kids all around the same ages as ours and where we could just kick back and let loose, our church, my women's prayer group and girls nights out, etc, etc. But, at the same time, I trust in God and know that He has me and our family exactly where He wants us and where we need to be.  So to my Naples peeps, know that you are never far from my heart and I can't wait to visit your paradise and land where there are no mesquitoes super soon. And please come visit us!! Just bring lots of mesquito repelent, because these little bastards up here are out for blood and I am mean every drop they can get.  

Davis Island living. 

Onward... and Happy Independence Day!

Well, we are here on Davis Island. After working day and night we are finally all moved in.

We have a new ride in our backyard. 

And Grace has her own playhouse. 

I am actually typing from our new couch in our new living room. However, I'm still looking at the same cracked screen on my apple computer - some things will never change.

Life is good.

Have I mentioned that we now live like 30 seconds (driving) from my parents house and since we moved 6 days ago we have been back and forth from their home like 200 times-- like no exaggeration. It is a dream to be able to stop in for a minute, or drop the kids off for an hour (or 3), or just run over for some almond milk, eggs, water, dinner, snacks, coffee, trash bags- pretty much anything and everything. It feels somehow just right living by family and having them in walking distance from our day to day life. Even today, I loved being able to drive .5 miles to put Hope down for a nap during our 4th of July party and then running home 5 different times because I forgot everything from sunscreen to an avocado. It's just so easy and I like easy.

On a different note, one of my bestest friends and matron of honor in my wedding is visiting with her 4 kiddos (no pressure there to get the house set up, Haha!).

She is the tall, beautious one to the left of me.

Theresa is the kind of friend where I can simply be myself all. of. the. time, no questions asked.  And we always, always have fun together no matter what life may be throwing at us at that particular moment.

She is a true gem of a friend.

Happy go lucky Steubenville days!

During my college years Theresa, Ali (another gem), and I were roomies and lived in the projects (yes, literally in the projects, which were right next to campus). Those 2 years of living together were some of the best of my life. The 3 of us were the type of friends who would want to go "out" at night to a party, bar, or whatev' was going with lots of people only to stand in a circle of the three of us talking, laughing, and dancing all night. Oh the fun we had!

Back in the day with Ali and Theresa! Excuse the blinding ball of light, I had to take a picture of a picture. Yes, I know we are high tech over here. 

Theresa married her college sweetheart Pete, who is currently deployed in Afghanistan serving our country in the special forces. The only way T's visit here could be more perfect is if he was with us.

Thinking of Pete thousands of miles away fighting to keep our country free and safe tore at my heart tonight and left a lump in my throat as we celebrated the 4th with BBQ and fireworks. What gratitude I have for him and all of our armed forces. I see first hand the gigantic sacrifice he makes, as well as, supermom Theresa and her sweet kids. I can't even begin to imagine what life is like for them when they are apart for over 8 months at a time. Keep this beautiful family in your prayers and may we all be grateful for each and every person in service to our country!

Theresa with her oldest Gabe and youngest Fiona.

Theresa's #3, Eamon, is at the end and I just love how he is winking.

Felicity (her #2) and Isaiah

Happy Independence Day everyone! 

7 quick takes, late style

Per usual linking up with 7 quick takes late, late, late. 

What can I say,  I am a procrastinator at heart. 

Really can't help it I was born this way, which is my excuse and I am sticking to it.

A lot has been going on this week, so I decided to use my iphone pics to dictate how my quick takes will go.

~1~ 

One of the best things about livin' in Paradise is that far away friends are always taking vacations right in our backyard. This week one of my good, dear, sweet high school friends Courtney was here with her adorable little girly Molly and stud husband Ben. Is there anything better than being with friends who have known you since high school. I think not. I feel so, so, SO blessed to still be in touch with so many of my besties from High School, even if it is mostly via email. 

They all have such a big ol' spot in this heart of mine and they think I am funny to boot,

which is a huge plus for this boring mom of four.  

Anyways, we met up for dinner with all the kids and mine surprisingly were very well behaved for the first 45 minutes. Of course, I made the mistake of pointing this out to everyone saying: "Wow the kids are being great." Within minutes of my uttering those words, they turned into jumping beans/crazy monkeys. And poor, sweet, unassuming Molly was surrounded as all 3 of my biggers were totally up in her grill, giving her no personal space and treating her like the new shiny toy/friend that was the best thing next to the ice cream that they had just slurped down. I kept squeezing Isaac's arm trying to make him behave, which later I caught him doing to Hope's arm. When I told him he couldn't do that to his sister he said: "Then why were you doing it to me." Touche, my son. 

~2~

Midweek we made a quick visit to Tampa with the girls and saw my parents. Hopie girl loved sitting with her Jaja.

~3~

Next in our busy week, Uncle Mark and his son Mario came into town!!!!!!! I can't put enough exclamation points behind that sentence to show you how much we loved having them.  My boys have literally been counting down the days til they came to visit. 

A little back story on Mario and his amazing family. Aunt Lauren and Uncle Mark (Matt's brother) are amazing parents and amazing people. They have 2 little ones and then adopted Mario just last year and now they are pregnant with twin girls! Their story of bringing him into their family is really amazing. Maybe Lauren will be a guest writer at Team Boda and share it with all of you. But long story short, Mario has been destined to be in the Loboda family. He is amazing and so is their family. I wish we lived closer so that we could see each other on the daily, but I'll take what I can get and this week was Awesome. 

~4~

Since Uncle Mark and Mario were in town, we also got to see Uncle Tommy and Aunt Jess and their crew! 

~5~
Aunt Jess just graduated from nursing school, talk about dedication going to school with three kiddos and a husband to take care of as well. She is amazing. We are so proud of her and seriously whoever gets her as a nurse is blessed by God. 

~6~ 

What's a blog post without a picture of Daddy and Gracie girl.

~7~

 Finally, nothing better than beaching it with all the kids.

That's all she wrote for tonight.

Love you all!! 

goodbyes

Goodbyes are so hard and we had a doozy the other day. My dear, dear, best friend here in Naples moved with her sweet family to Jacksonville and boy was it hard to say Goodbye. Ann and her kiddos have been our companions up to 4 times a week for the last 2 years (give or take :), and now they are over 6 hours away. This is going to take some getting use to for me and especially little Gracie Girl, who talks about Avila an average of 20 times a day.

Avila and Grace showing off their painted nails.

Since being married, I have realized that making friends, close friends at that, can be a hard task. You would think 2 hours at the park, no prob -- we will have time to at least exchanged our life stories. But moms, and this one in particular, spend 1 hour and 56 1/2 minutes of that time juggling snacks and drinks, changing diapers, fixing boo-boos, getting more snacks, nursing, pushing one child on the swing, while yelling over to the others to stop fighting, and then mores snacks (just hoping to eliminate any form of melt down). So... my conversations are sometimes limited to 10 words and 3 sentences interspersed throughout and often times yelled over crying kids.  It takes time, many play dates, dinners at the house, date night with couples, etc to build friendship when your married with kids.

Could a sweet face like this ever be caught whining?

Or this?

Man, those college days of roomies, talking through the night, partaking in adult beverages, all while not being interrupted by crying, whining, or weird smelling odors--- I definitely took those days for granted, but how did I know what was to come... and really I wouldn't change it for the world (wink, wink).

I have been blessed, abundantly blessed, with my HS friends, college friends, and now Mommy friends who have taken the time to get to know me and my kiddos... but Ann, my friend who "just get's it" and gets me and my family, we will miss sharing daily life with you!! Tonight I am cheers-ing you with my glass of San's Sabastian and can't wait until we see you in Orlando :).