19 years

19 years ago tonight, Matt and I were dancing our hearts out with friends and family at our wedding reception.
19 years.
Wow.
I'm proud of that. I'm proud that we believe in each other, in our marriage, in our love and friendship, in our family, in our commitment to God.
Just proud of us.
Happy anniversary Matt. Love you more today than ever!

Absence

I know, I know, I've been absent. I've got no excuses.
Here are a few recent pictures.



Prep work for preschool


Cherished playtime


Homecoming game


Power rangers have homework too


Sky after baseball game


Shaving cream word work


Exhausted ball player


Making band it bracelets



Moving my sister


Dream kitchen



Jogging fundraiser


Grant's class walking first lap


Spinning cousins


Favorite quote.
Hope to be back soon....

Happy 14th birthday

Dylan is 14 today, how can that be?


5 pounds 13 ounces and 19" long to 106 pounds and 5'4".





Unbelievable!

No more themed parties for this teen. He and a couple friends went for pizza and a movie and then back to our house for cake and kickball.





Here he is in all his 14-year-old-coolness on his new bike (thank you Grammy farmer and Grandpa!) Grammy Farmer told me that it will last him through college, he could ride it to classes....wahhhhhh!


He did say it would be cool if I brought his lunch to school today so I will do that, but I'm not allowed to stay ;-) Grant and I thought it would be funny to buy a bunch of balloons and wear birthday hats and sing to him as I delivered his lunch, but I'd better take the safe route and drop it off in the office.

Happy Birthday Dylan! Love you-mom.

Morning picking

My garden did great this year, a little overwhelming right now in fact. It's the best year I've had for green beans and my tomatoes are huge and red and no bugs or cracks or black spots. My boys take credit for the bugs because they released a preying mantis in the garden a few weeks ago, they may be onto something...



To give you a perspective of the size of the bowl, I set my coffee mug beside it. It's a big bowl.



Last week, I froze six quarts of beans and I'm guessing I'll be doing the same today.


Jack and I did refrigerator pickles last week too and I'm happy to report that the jar is almost empty ;-) They were perfect, crisp, crunchy and dill-y.


I'm just freezing most of my tomatoes and some I'll make into salsa. I'd love to can some salsa and tomato sauce or juice, but those hot water baths intimidate me a little...I shouldn't be scared, I spent many a summer growing up in my mom's kitchen or my grandma's basement kitchen watching them can everything and sweating up a storm over those steaming pots! We'll see...

Stop on over for lunch if you're closeby, sliced tomatoes are on the menu, oh, and I could really use some help snapping beans!

School days

Camera clean out

Here are some random pictures from my camera and some commentary...

First off- it seems as if some little person with the initials GW got ahold of my camera one morning :-)








Mom was here for some school shopping (just what every boy dreams of). With my mom and sister's help, we tag teamed the shopping duties and traded turns in dressing rooms, pushing kids jammed in strollers, sitting in cars waiting, distracting kids with toy aisles, looking for sizes, making bathroom runs and keeping the peace. I'm happy to report that no child was harmed and all children walked out with some snappy 'back to school outfits'.





I always love finding pictures on my camera from someone else.

Before braces


And after


Jack is adjusting pretty well (we only spend 15 minutes putting on wax now compared to a grueling 30).

Next up, a trip to the farm and the Indians game for Grandpa's birthday...



Grant picked out his birthday hat ;-)








The fireworks were out of this world!





Don't be fooled by those cute kittens, they were the meanest little kitties ever!





Dusty and Nibbles had a little photo shoot, I love the blowing mane!















We took a ride through the corn fields, Buddy led the way and everyone took turns driving except for the dog.





We headed to Charles Mill Lake for a little picnic, throwing rocks, a new game involving catching a bottle cap or can with nets (first to 50 points wins), playing make shift frisbee with a paper plate, and just to make it extra special, we threw in a few temper tantrums.















I can't even describe the next photo...it is what it is...


Two minutes into the trip on the way home from the farm, an exhausted 6 year old with taped up headphones on playing absolutely nothing.



And finally, yesterday Sam called and invited us over for lunch :-) It's the last time we'll get to do that for awhile with school starting for Sam today and my boys on Monday and Lena next month. Pretty good looking group :-)
P.S. Dylan is not smoking a cigarette, he's got a sucker in his mouth, lol!


Hope you enjoyed that glimpse into our CRAZY, MIXED UP, everyday life!