Who's been sitting in my chair?

We have, We have!

Sorry 'bout it daddy.

Pulling Weeds

Last Saturday, the day had come.

The day when these flowers, although beautiful

were surrounded by this.

And so I headed out early to beat the heat.

And much to my surprise, enjoy pulling weeds.

It his hard not to enjoy yourself when out in nature

and  have view of your kids playing together

And of course my sweet helpers.

who were amazed at piles of weeds

and brought me the occasional treat

and congratulated me at the size of some of the weeds.
Sam was really proud of this one.

I mean, if I can grow some awesome sweet potato vine,

thought I might show you this gem of a weed...

and at the end of the morning when I had filled this cart for the 3rd time...

and the results were better than before

it was much easier to see the beauty and cheris the reward of pulling weeds.

Snap

Snap

It is the name of the game.

Sam has a facination with the cartoon/ book series Charlie and Lola.

It is a cute series, two little English cartoon characters.

He learned {and taught} Joe and I how to play.

It goes like this.

San: When you have 2 cards that are alike, you know the same, you say Snap!

Ok, sounds simple, and it is

and the boys in their dogs shorts

looked so cute

playing it

Sunday after church!

So, SNAP.

Swim Lessons

It's a good idea to begin at the bottom in everything except in learning to swim. ~Author Unknown

Last week was swim lessons all week for the boys.

And aside from the fact that I picked up 2 extra 12 hours shifts last week and worked every day and couldn't take my boys to one stinking lesson, they did great. 

 Grandma Jean and Cousin Blake took them each day and reported that they listened to Mrs. Hannah. 

That is on their own terms. 

Despite the fact that we are in the pool daily or every other day,

neither of my boys like their head under water. 

They love the water, but not that much...

I am happy to report that Sam is much braver.  He enjoys the water with out floaties.

And showed off his swim skills today.

One skill they are encouraged to do is pick up a ring off the bottom of the pool.

Yeah, they found a way around dunking their head...

I will keep encouraging, that is how we learn, right?

Sweet Sunday Swim

Chlorine is my perfume. ~Author Unknown

Sites in Jasper

We spent the morning in Jasper.

We go to Jasper a lot, mostly for Walmart or the pediatrician.

Today we went to take is some of the sites.

We stopped to see the Spirit of Jasper, hoped to find out that we could ride it sometime.

But, I am not sure, need to do a little more research.

Sam loved lookig at the arrival board. But everything else was closed up

so

we went to visit our family at the Farmer's Market

We scored some much needed water

some cucumbers, green peppers and onions

Everything they had looked yummy.

And it was fun to see my Aunt Lucille's scale

working hard

It is one of my SIL Shannon's prized possessions and I am sure

Lucille would be glad!!

We crossed the bridge to play at a park, wasting time until the demonstation a the Grist Mill

I love these things, so large and useful.

And this was great today, it sprinkled us with a cool shower!

The boys favorite part of this was the penny candy.

Well, a nickel.  But it was heaven for them

20 pieces for $1.  They loved it.

We settled for lunch at Subway.

Home to mow, swim in a bit!

Putter's Bay

We had a great time at Putter's Bay last night.

The boys ask about eat each time we go to Walmart.

We are lucky to have a great course so close...

but it has been very hot of an evening so we have been putting it off.

DH suggested last night was the night.

We let them chose our dinner spot and they wanted to see the fishes {Chinese-aquarium}

On the way into chinese, my flipper broke, so DH had to get my food.

Then I got a new pair of flippers next door at the shoe store!

And we made it to the putt putt course.

Lots of laughs and lots of fun, they played fast...and wanted to do it again.

We landed in the water hazards quite often,

much to the boys delight.

And neither boy was into pictures, I mean there were more holes ahead!

And we topped the night off with Scoops ice cream right at the course.

Our good friends the Hedricks {who were golfing a few holes behind us}

joined us for ice cream and we had a great visit!

FFF-Park

There is nothing better than being proud of your child.

I remember this trip to the park when I got to take my own child and listen to his squeals.

I had been to the park many times and enjoyed children's squeals, but none compared to this day.

Sam -Odon Park -Sept 2006

Unplanned perfect evening.

Monday night.

Our hair appointments got cancelled.

Perfect. {Hope Amanda is better...}

A night of relaxation.

I in my striped auction bought chair

-thanks to Lissa F. for telling me to put in this space untouched...I love it!

I was searching for ideas for the perfect 3rd birthday for baby Joe.

And DH in his comfy brown leather recliner watching the St. Louis Cardinals.

And of course our children would play quietly,

puzzles and such

until wandering off to bed on their own

 and then calling us to tuck them in and do devotions together...

Until Joe called out...Ballgame.

Which in Joe lingo means any type of sport.

Did I mention is was raining outside?

So, we proceeded to play every sport possible from inside.

Including bowling and birdwatching.

And our evening was full of laughter and smiles

It was  far from quiet.

Really it was kind of a blur

That is until I remembered these in the freezer.

Dairy Queen Starkiss

And then

our evening turned into this

straight to the bath tub

and bed!  Perfect evening I tell ya.

Albeit, far from what I had planned.

Yet, way better!

"Proverbs 17:22 - A merry heart doeth good like a medicine

One Bannana-problem solved!

It was a stressful situation at our house the other day.

We only had one bannana left.

One Bannana

Two Boys

Who didn't want to share one bannana.

So we made a pie.

What a perfect receipe for their help.

I love this concentration while he crunches the vanilla wafers for crust.

Measuring and pouring is perfect at this age.

Mixing is for everyone! {So is taste testing}

And so proud of their creation that we shared with daddy when he was done mowing.

Yummy summer treat!