The Graduate

We celebrated another graduation on Saturday. Our nephew Austin is graduating from high school. It has been such a pleasure watching this young man grow up. When we got married, he was only 6.


Now he's about to enter the real world.

One of his graduation gifts was a handmade quilt. Granny carefully chose the fabric and hand pieced it just for Austin.

It was fun to celebrate with family. Austin is the oldest of all the cousins, and the little ones love him!

The anticipation of cake...

"I want the hair!"

"I want the eyeballs!"

Congratulations Austin! We love you!

Gig 'Em Aggies!

On Friday, we watched my youngest cousin graduate from college. It's amazing how time flies. On my mom's side of the family there are 5 cousins, and he was the last of us to graduate from A&M. When my brother graduated, he was 5 (the same age as Jake). It was so fun to be able to see him graduate. The only thing that would have made it better is if Nonnie would have been able to be there, but I know she was thinking about him all day. In fact, I got periodic texts from my sister saying, "Nonnie would like an update" or "Nonnie wants to know if Brant graduated with honors." Next we get to watch Brant and his sweet Ashly get married.

Congratulations Brant!

The Short-Lived Slip'N'Slide

We used to have a slip-n-slide, last week. Apparently they don't make slip-n-slides like the used to.

Come to think of it, I really don't know how they used to be made. Our slip-n-slide was irrigation pipe that we split open and set up a sprinkler beside.

It didn't have a special way to sprinkle the water just so along the edge, like our slide from last week did. It wasn't based on a cartoon character or movie (Toy Story 3). It was just plain old plastic pipe.

Our farm-rigged slip-n-slide didn't rip apart the third time we used it either. That's why we no longer have a slip-n-slide. At least we got 3 uses out of. At $10, that's $3.33 for each time we rolled it out and hooked it up. We tried using Jake's camo duck tape to fix the leak, but it just wouldn't hold--and I thought duck tape or bailing wire would fix anything.

P.E. according to Josie

Me: "Did you have to run in PE today?"
Josie: "No."
Me: "What are you guys doing then?"
Josie: "Playing softball."
Me: "Oh, do you like softball?"
Josie: "Yes, but I don't want to play it."
Me: "Why not?"
Josie: "It's too much outsideness."

More Fishing Pictures

Earbook Needed

Jake: "Mom, can you buy me an earbook?"
Me: "What?"
Jake: "You know, an earbook."
Me: "Where do you get it?"
Jake: "At school. It has pictures of everyone in it. I really want one. Everyone else got one."

Oh, a YEARBOOK. :)

How to Carry a Catfish

Holding a catfish is tricky.

You have to be very careful to avoid the parts that could cut your skin. Thankfully, Josie had PaPa to give her a lesson on how to do it.

Just look at the concentration on her face.

I'm not sure if she liked it, but she did it!

Jake, on the other hand, was a little more reluctant.

He came up with an innovative solution. Use a towel to keep from touching it! I think he learned this from Granny.

He still doesn't look all that sure about the task.

But he did it!