Life with boys

Jim has started something new with the boys, bicycle racing. Here are some photos of tonight's racing event:








Here are some photos we took last week of our "wildlife adventures". We had a squirrel who was really enjoying the suet I put out for the birds. I believe the boys enjoyed watching him as much as he was enjoying eating his treat!



I was also called outside to see this "huge" frog. Who knew frogs would be such a part of my life. I can say I like them much better OUTSIDE than inside as they are brought in so that I can see them "up close and personal" ;)


Here are some other photo odds and ends:

This is what a manicure by a 4 year old looks like

Today's fashion tip: Always wear cowboy boots with your swim gear
Too cute!


We bought the boys some more swim shorts for our beach trip. Don't they look beach bound?

Double trouble

The boys love the moon, so I had to get a picture for them

Happy Father's Day!

Our family is very blessed. Jim is such an incredible dad. He loves spending time with the kids. Our children will surely look back when they are adults and understand how fortunate they were to have such a good dad. My own memories of my father came back to me today. I thought of how proud he would have been to see how our family had grown. To see how happy we are, I know would have made him happy.

Today was Jim's first Father's day without his dad. I know how hard that first one is. Through the years the great memories replace your sorrow and you hold onto those memories and try to make certain your children learn as much as they can about their grandpa. If you are fortunate enough to have your Daddy in your life, give him a big hug and tell him every day how much you love him. There are some like Jim and I who are missing their dads and would give anything to have the opportunity you have today to love him and make more memories with him.

Our family made some great memories of our own this weekend. We had a great weekend just playing and spending time together as a family. It was very hot so we spent some time in the pool. Here are some photos of my "little fish":


Notice the squirt guns, they are "armed and dangerous" :)





We ended our evening by fishing and feeding the horses. Everyone should sleep good tonight!

Lightning Bugs/Fireflies

This post is for you Aunt Ty. The west coast doesn't have lightning bugs/fireflies and Aunt Ty has always wanted to visit when they are out so that she could see them. Well, because you couldn't be here tonight, we tried to take some pictures for you. The first is of a lightning bug that Collin caught:

(No lightning bugs were harmed during filming :))

The next two are of the bug lighting up:



I took some other pictures of the sunset and some of our flowers (complete with lots of weeds).

Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina :)






Coming back into the house, I had to take a picture of our lights shining through the windows. Seeing this reminded me of one of my favorite childhood books "Hush, Hush, It's Sleepytime" A great children's book!



Here's a couple of photos I forgot to post earlier in the week. The first is of our butterfly hatch. We had raised 5 caterpillars to be butterflies and this is one of the first ones leaving:


Isn't he a cute"little explorer":

How do you work these things?

I see people

Good Advice

I just read one of my favorite blogs that I had not read in a while. She did a great post on focusing on what is most important in life. I want to link to it here to share with others. I struggle in life with focusing on what is good. It is easy when things are not going well to focus on what is wrong, not on all the good things that may be happening, or on any of the blessings that you have. I love this post and hope you do as well. I hope I can take her advice and change my focus daily.

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2009/06/focus.html

Sickness

Call us the house of sickness...again. I am thankful though that these are just minor illnesses in the scheme of things. The babies have ear infections, Collin has a cold, and I have an ear infection and a sinus infection. Cousins came for a visit on Friday. Carolyn was sick too so we stuck at the house for the weekend since no one felt well. They left this morning and of course we are missing them. We head to the beach in three weeks and we cannot wait. I'm praying that we all stay well for our family vacation and have as much fun as we did last year. It will be nice to get away again and have a solid week of family time. All the children are tired and grumpy today so we are trying to have an early bed time. Hoping for a better week and a return to "normal."

We are happy that school is out for summer. It will be nice to have some more time together in the evenings and to plan some special small trips/events to do this summer.

Take me out to the ball game....

This is the first year with two boys playing a sport at the same time and whew, do we feel like the sports bus :) I do love watching them play though. It is hard to describe the feeling you get watching your child play a sport. It is rewarding in so many ways. I love to watch them give their all and to catch them checking to see our reaction when they make it to base. Each game feels like the world series. I don't care if they win or lose. In fact, Tristan's team is last in the league. But to watch them put so much of themself in something and to see the pure joy it gives them is beyond measure. Here are some photos of my "little sluggers"









Can't include a post without showing the 2 little munchins. The first picture is them snuggling up together on the couch. I love it when they are like this!



The next picture is what I found when I walked out into the kitchen one morning. Nathan had found a Pepsi I bought for Jim and managed to open it himself (and he sure was enjoying it until he got busted!):