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!

Choices

So, Tuesday I was presented with a choice...stay home and get lots of 'things' done or take Grant to a Clippers game with my girlfriend and her three boys...I chose the baseball game :-) It was not easy because I had lots of 'stuff' to get done at home, but I knew the right thing to do: Be Present. I need to learn to do this more often!

Bickering kids

Do your kids bicker? Or fight? Or 'look' at each other? Or touch, pinch, tap or hit each other? Do they get up in the morning and argue about the number of chocolate chips on their pancakes? Do they argue about how big of a bite the other is taking of his sausage? Do they stretch out in the most awkward positions on the couch just so and then complain because somebody else wants to sit down? Do they blame each other for lost items? Do they yell at each other for making noises or singing or coughing? Do they argue about how the other brother clears his plate and puts it in the sink and which side of the sink and how much milk they may or may not have left in the glass? Do they punch each other in the arm 'on accident'?

No?

Oh good, mine don't either ;- )

Garden tour

Welcome to my


When we got home from vacation, my garden had a few surprises for me.

















We had stuffed peppers one night and green beans and ham two days later. I'm still waiting on those tomatoes to turn red though...
Every year the gardening process is just as exciting to me as it was the last. It really is just amazing.


And this sky was pretty amazing last weekend too! I was walking around all day saying," Could it be more beautiful?!" And "Look at that sky!" The boys thought I had gone crazy.