181 - Goodbye June

It is a bittersweet farewell I say to you. On one hand, I do love July, but I will remember you as the month I finally got it together with my summer schedule. We did a whole lotta baseball this month...A.WHOLE.LOT!!! Good thing I love the baseball diamond and a good ballpark hotdog. We also celebrated the many dad's in my life and most specially my Grampa's 90th birthday. Last, but certainly not least we aquired the newest family member...Cooper James...I think we have all fallen head over heels in love with him.

I did take pics today, but none were very inspiring, so instead, I am posting some of my faves that didn't make it the first time around this month.

Cooper James

Daisy Dew

Sweet Baby Girl - Shadow

180 - YUM.MY

Remember this...

NOW we have this...

it was yummy :0)

179 - I Promise

I will quit with the furbaby pics...I just couldn't help myself. I have never owned two cats at the same time and they are just adorable together...although I have to remind myself of how cute they are at night when they are bounding up and down the hall playing!

178 - Furbabies

When we came home from the store this evening, this is what we found on our couch....well, everyone but Lucy-Fur and we put her on there just to make the picture complete. All my furbabies together...my heart is happy.

177 - SHHHHH

Be vewy qwiet mommy. I'm hiding from them.

AHHH yes, THEM...however you are usually part of the "THEM" I try to hide from.

176 - His Name Is...

Cooper

2lbs of smile inducing

Play until he flops over

Grey fluff.

175 - Green

Look what I have growing on my deck.

It's true
The dogs have not tipped it over, dug it up, or eaten it.
The storms have not torn it up.
I have managed to not kill it.
I might really get a few tomatos this year!

174 - Guess What We Did Last Night?

I know, surprising.

173 - Because....

we've gone COMPLETELY insane....

Let me introduce...

Baby Kitty With No Name

Don't get me started on how we ended up with this. Let's just say it involved big brown eyes and a soft hearted daddy.

So how is this going over in the animal kingdom?

Shadow could care less

Lucy-Fur is spastic

Smokey Joe Cool is a wee bit on the jealous side.

We are accepting name suggestions.

(it is a boy)

172 - Daddy

This is the daddy I celebrated yesterday. I waited until today to post him because he is also going into surgery this morning to repair a broken wrist. He has been an amazing father. Here is just one of thousands of examples I could give you to illustrate his awesomeness.



For my 16th birthday he was out of town on very important business. I was so upset because I had looked forward to this birthday for so long for so many reasons. The only thing I wanted for my sweet sixteen was to go to a fancy restaurant with my daddy, but he was not going to be there. Much to my surprise, when I got home that day from school, my mom had a new dress laid out and told me to get dressed. My Daddy had rearranged his meetings and was on a plane so he could take me out. We went to a fancy restaurant, a movie, and then he dropped me off at home so he could get back on a plane to make his early morning meeting.


This is my Daddy. He showed me everything I wanted in a husband. He is everything I want my boys to be.

171 - Mr. Incredible

I am pretty sure I have made it clear as to how I feel about Mr. Incredible. I could list 937 things that make my heart skip when it comes to this man. But today, TODAY, I celebrate the fact that I get to parent with him. He is such a great dad and I cannot think of anyone else I would want to raise these three boys with. I love that we are learning the ropes together, that we succeed together and sometimes fail together. I love that he understands the best gift we can give our sons is a strong marriage. Thank you, Goodlookin, for letting me be a part of this crazy ride they call parenthood with you.

170 - Grampa

This is turning to be one of the hardest posts I have written. I want to honor this man in a way that is worth of him and his life, but find I just don’t have the words for it. Sometimes when this happens I find it is best to just list out some of the reasons he means so much to me and what makes him such an amazing man.



He has always been there for me. When I was little, we moved a lot, and while that was fun, it was good to know that there was always a home base. Grampa’s house was my Home Base. Even when they moved out of the “city”, they moved their house to the new lot. One of the hardest days for me was when they sold his house. I couldn’t even be there for it.


Grampa always made Gramma’s Grape-nut ice cream for the 4th of July. I can still clearly see him mixing ice and rock salt, tending the ice cream maker the whole time to make sure it came out just right. Then, he would let me lick the paddle…sweet nectar of the gods!


Grampa could fix ANYTHING! From broken bicycles, to broken hearts.


Grampa taught me to garden and understood when I had to not just plant the potatoes, but also sing to them and dance barefoot over the mounds. He told me it was the best crop of potatoes he ever had.


My grampa is someone who you can sit for hours with, not saying a word and just hold hands.


His steps were long, yet he was always willing to slowdown and let a little hand hold his to walk. One of the greatest moments I have is when I watched him hold my boys hands the same way he held mine.


Grampa is still snarky, guess I know where I got it from.


My grampa loved my gramma with all his heart. They were still so very much in love, even after 50yrs when she passed away. He taught me how to give my whole heart to someone.


Today we loaded the kids in the van, drove 5 hours to see him and have a 90th birthday party. We then turned around and came back home. Was it tiring? Yes. Was it hard? Yes. Was it a long day? Yes. Would I do it again? A thousand times yes.


Happy Birthday Grampa…I love you with all my heart.

169 - When Did This Happen?

This one is growing up overnight. I knew it was coming, a few months ago he started eating even more than usual (Lord help our grocery bill!) and sleeping. But even though I saw the signs, I was not prepared for the reality. Sometimes I catch a glimps of him and it takes my breath away. I love the man he is becoming, but mourn the loss of my little boy.

168 - Buds

Wanna know what makes my heart melt?

(I know there are about 952 things that make my heart melt, AT LEAST 549 involve Mr. Incredible, but this one is truly special...really...no seriously...I mean it)

These two guys.

#3 is a bit on the shy side. Last year we made a schooling change that was over-all good for the family, but very hard on him. He spent the year trying to learn how to make friends and adjust to a new school. Through the whole ordeal, this guy, stuck with him. Even though they go to different schools now, this friendship has stayed as strong as ever. I am so thankful for him and his parents who would drop what they were doing when I would make the desperate mommy call of "he really just needs some friend time right now".

167 - Another day

Another night at the ballpark!

166 - Sunset

We have had ugly heat this week. That is when it's not just hot, not just humid, not just still, but all three put together to make a stifling, grimy, sauna. BUT we have had the most AMAZING sunsets. So that put together with the fact that I am still not over our dreadful winter, I am not quite ready to complain about the heat yet!

165 - Second Skin

These boys use their glove so much that they become like an extension of their bodies. Every glove, over time, forms and fits itself to its owner's hand so much so that anyone else using it would find it just not quite comfortable. This glove will do so much more than catch balls in the course of its life. It will sit on a shelf in the winter with the promise that spring is right around the corner. It will hide a face when a play has been bobbled. It will wipe sweat of the brow of a sun-beaten player. Its leather will be rubbed and worried when the team is down and the game is on the line. It will stand as a flag on the end of an arm in a salute of victory.

164 - Constant

The one constant in our summer is baseball. Even though we only have one playing this year, he is on two leagues so between those, camps, and showcases we are at a ball diamond most nights of the week.

163 - His Hands

That ring is on a hand that is as strong as steel but can be as soft as silk. That hand can tear something up in nothing flat, but build it back better than I ever dreamed. That is the hand I get to place mine in every night and fall asleep.

162 - Oasis

Welcome to your new oasis dear friends. I hope it blesses you as much as you bless us.

(I think they liked it!)

161 - Finishing Touch

This project went so well, the only things really to do today was to finish the electric, place the furniture, and clean-up.

160 - Flower Time

FINALLY, we got to a part that I can help with! FLOWERS! We brought in topsoil, mulch and tons of plants to turn the backyard into a getaway.

The boys help unload dirt

These cuties unloading flowers

Teamwork

(no, my son is not being a peeping tom, he is harassing the dog inside!)

This girl is a flower genius! She started talking "focal point" and soil pH and completely lost me...the bottom line...the bed looked A.MAZ.ING when she was finished!

One last thing, when she was driving home from work the day before they went out of town, the van broke down. So Mr. Incredible and one of his guys fixed that also!

159 - Laying It Down

Today was sod day. We have been fighting the rain the past few days, and so the weather as preatty much cooperated. One of the landscape companys that MI works with offered us sod at a great price. We were going to use the "backend" of a load that they were pretty sure they wouldn't need all of. As it turns out, they did. So this morning, the owner called MI and told him that he was going to send his guys out for a special load just for us, but they could not cut in the rain. We were so blessed in that the storms went to the North and South of the field and we got our grass! A little bit of rain fell on us as we laid it (and when I say we, I mean MI and a bunch of guys, while I watched!) and that was not a bad thing.

We also expanded the patio today. We found stones to match their old ones and it is a good thing #3 was there to help us with the puzzle!

158 - The Tearing Up

One of the things I love about Mr. Incredible is that he can operate equipment LIKE.NOBODYS.BUSINESS. He not only can tear it up, he can put it back together more wonderful than one can imagine. I wish I had gotten pics about thirty min. before this so you could see the HUGE piles of dirt he rearranged.

157 - Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance - a preliminary survey to gain information; especially : an exploratory military survey of enemy territory.

This week some very good friends of ours are leaving town to take their son on a college tour up north. While they were gone, we decided to surprise them with a little backyard makeover. Today we snuck over there while they were at lunch after church to get the lay of the land. It is hard to tell by the pictures, but the ground is very uneven, doesn't drain, and every time it rains, the patio floods. They are getting ready to have an empty nest and one of the things they like to do is to sit on the patio, talk and enjoy a glass of wine, so we thought it would be nice to make them a little oasis to enjoy.

156 - Great Hunt

The great and fearless protector takes off, prepared to put her life on the line for her family. She knows that the beast is great, the hunt is hard, and the odds are stacked against her, but she will stand strong, for only she will stand between the monster and life.

Oh great one, we thank you for keeping the lawnmower away!

155 - What?!?

Someone needs to tell my tree it is not supposed to bloom again untill next spring!