Cookout

We went to a friend's 41st birthday cookout on Saturday evening. They have a small pond with a paddle boat and trails through a woods with a 4-wheeler. We had a wonderful time. The boys especially loved the 4-wheeler and Gem enjoyed the freedom of going out in the paddle boat with her 8 year old friend--but that is me with her in the picture.



Here's Sinatra waiting for his turn on the 4-wheeler. Sorry, no pictures of that. I forgot to grab the camera from Jon until too late.

A Better 12th Anniversary Picture

Happy Anniversary to Us

We've been married twelve years today!!! Look how silly my Hubby is. This is certainly an everyday type of shot, but we're going out to dinner tonight so maybe we'll take a picture of us all dolled up to post later--especially since I have a great new outfit. Happy Anniversary, Love of my Life! I'm blessed.

Things That are Alive

We've had a lot of run-ins with critters lately. First there was this that we found nesting in the garden beside some herbs. Cute--very cute, but in the garden?!


Come, Peter. Get away from Mr. McGregor's cabbages.

Then there was this that Gem caught with her bare hands and brought into the house, asking for a jar. I prayed that she wouldn't drop it before we could contain the thing.



It's a skink, a lizard thing. It had a cool blue tail and it didn't bite, but reptile and rodent are not welcome in my house--especially rodents.

On top of all those critters, I whacked down thirty-six flies this morning before breakfast. I swatted away for five minutes and made them all dive bomb to the floor. I felt like the brave little tailor. I was also a bit grossed out. I feel like I'm in a cow barn and need to hang fly tape from the door frames. Seriously, we have a very sudden fly problem. I pray it goes away as quickly as it came.

Climbin' Critters

The kids only have one more week of rock climbing classes. Here is a shot of Shakespeare climbing in the bouldering room.

Woo Too

My sister's nickname is Woo. She just started a blog. Check out I Have a Hat --very fresh and fun.

Stained

Another picture of the deck? Yep. Hopefully my last. Notice that I stained the support boards to match the surface--looks so much more finished. Now I have to plant flowers in the bed to fill in the gap between the ground and the deck. In a few years it will be perfect, but for right now it's done.

Hawaiian Children's Church

The kids did "Outrigger Island" this summer for children's church. It's actually a VBS program, but since our church is so small the two ladies who run the department spread the five days of activity over five Sundays--something different over the summer.



The kids had a wonderful time and even Sinatra got in on the action. He stood up front during the final presentation and played his blow-up ukulele the whole time. Popcorn didn't run for mommy and daddy. Though he didn't do anything but stand there, it was a great improvement over last year. Gem and Shakespeare did all the motions and sang their hearts out. So fun to be the parent who gets to gawk and smile.

Gorgeous Garden

Our yellow sunflowers are lending a dash of contrast to the mass of green in our little garden. And now the tomatoes are dotting the landscape too.




Our watermelon has just started to grow and could easily fit in the palm of my hand.


Our giant pumpkin, however, is already this big.

Four Beautiful Eyes