Conversation With a 9-Year-Old

Josie: "Hey, Mom. You know Sally's* mom?"

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Me: "Yes."

Josie: "When she wears make-up, she looks like totally young."

Me: "Oh really?"

Josie: "But when she comes to school and doesn't wear any makeup, she looks like your age..." pause "...old."

Me: No response. I think my daughter said it all.

Remember this?

I was organizing my picture files tonight and saw this picture from when Jake was a year old.

Time really does fly!

Looking Out My Backdoor...

One of my favorite things about summer is gardening. Unfortunately I have learned that my small flowerbeds are not great for vegetable gardening. Jake talked me into planting corn in our biggest, but not necessarily big enough for corn, bed. Between the weather and the dog that keeps digging stuff up, we managed to grow 3 corn stalks. I figured that they wouldn't actually ever make corn since I've always heard you need several rows for it to pollinate.

Well apparently I was wrong. If this silk is any indication, we might actually get a few ears of corn.

Zinnias are one of my favorite flowers, probably because they are easy to grow. The kids and I grew these from seeds.

The fact that butterflies are attracted to them is just an added bonus. Maybe the butterflies helped our corn along.

I'm trying to learn to use the manual controls on my camera, so I've been taking pictures of all sorts of things trying out different settings.

Overheard

Jake had a friend over today, and I smiled when I happened to hear this comment.

"You know, I can use a butter knife now."

Apparently this is a milestone when you are six.

A Picture of My Dad

I found this picture of my Daddy and me from a LONG time ago. I'm not sure how old I was, but I remember this day vividly. It was the 3rd Saturday in August...I know this because the Happy Days Celebration still takes place on the same weekend. They still have a parade and barbecue in the park. This particular year, my dad agreed to let me walk this "hay ring" down Main Street for the parade. I believe we were the official advertisement for R&S Drills and Equipment that day.

I had practiced lots of different tricks in the grass in our yard, but I remember being too chicken to do any of them on the actual road. I think that one of my Mama's trees lost its life to the practice sessions. Sorry Mama! I'm thinking that if my dad were still here, my kids would love to have some hay ring adventures!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the whole world! Our kids are blessed to call you their Daddy!

Happy Father's Day to the best PaPa in the whole world!

God has truly blessed us!

Great Wolf

We took a quick trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine last week.

I didn't get very many pictures, and none of them turned out too good.

Josie ended up with a bit of a shiner when her tube turned over when she and Daddy were coming down a slide.

We had lots of fun getting to spend some playtime as a family.

Summer Instagram

We spent a few days this week at Granny's and PaPa's house. Cody had to work in the area, and the kids and I went along for the ride.

The kids had a ball playing in the water,

and I had a ball watching Cody catch fish when he wasn't working.

With the help of this stinky stuff, he pulled in a mess of catfish.

And even though his hands will probably stink through the weekend, it will be worth it when we eat them.