When it was warm out for a week...

When it was warm out for a week this summer we had a blast! The kids played outside every.single.day. After work, I would put them in their swimsuits and fill the little pool with water, stick a slide in it and we would just lounge around on the new deck. It was fantastic.

I could make dinner while they played and hangout after supper with them. We frequently eat outside on the patio furniture and there is next to no clean up!

I love the swim shirts they both have, Parker is still managing to get some color and Emmitt's hair turns blonder by the minute, but they have both been able to enjoy the sun and water. And me? I just grab a cold one and sit in my lounge chair built by Milo and hangout with my camera and a book. The kids have taken a liking to the buckets we have, all of various sizes and colors. Unfortunately my planter buckets also fall into that category-with or without dirt.

(no idea what that paragraph is underlined and I can't get it off and am too lazy to re-type it)

Take cover Emmitt!Cone Head! I am not sure who started the whole bucket on the head thing, but I think it was this one and then Emmitt just followed along.

See what I mean?

The slide in the pool is about the coolest thing there is. They go up, they come down, they splash. What's better? Parker learned real fast to dump some water on the slide so it's not so hot! Emmitt and I took a break to eat some cherries. I wish there was a better way to feed him cherries...I mean, other than me half eating them to get the pit out and then feeding a regurgitated cherry to my baby?!

Emmitt absolutely loves to be splashed. Whether it's in the pool, the tub, or running through the yard while his brother sprays him with the hose...he loves it! He doesn't mind when you dump water on his head in the tub or if his brother throws water on him from the pool (and it's freezing cold).

More buckets on the heads...

Having fun in the sun, floating on his belly in the little pool.

Showing off his bear tattoo from the sanctuary.

Oh, summer, summer? Please come back to us...I hope this weekend is at least nice for the Fourth. We have our 6th Annual BBQ and 5 years ago it was 45 degrees out and I handed out every sweatshirt in the house to our family as we all sat around and froze our butts off!

Just tonight, we decorated the kids' bikes for the parade. They will be riding in the kiddie parade. I would hate to see my kid half to wear snow pants at the parade! People have said they've seen it snow on the Fourth of July, I for one, do not want to see that. Ever.

Father's Day

Father's Day was very simple this year. Bear lounged around for the better part of the day, I took the boys to church, we all took naps in the afternoon. When the boys got up from their naps we headed out to Tilson to meet Milo and Peg for a Father's Day boat ride to Sha-Sha.

Parker absolutely loved the boat ride. Emmitt wasn't so sure about it. He definitely did not like being in his life jacket and worse yet, being held the whole time...he really wanted to walk around in the boat. While it was moving. I am not sure just where he thought he was going to go. Grandma Peggy was there to lend a helping hand. Shelby came along for the ride too. The boys would walk from person to person and look around. Emmitt spotted every bird on the lake. He frantically signs bird and says caw caw no matter if it's a sea gull or a crow.Emmitt seemed to do the best when daddy was holding him...not sure if he did that just because it was Father's Day or if he felt extra safe in those big arms.

Shelbs hung out towards the back of the boat and enjoyed the sun and the ride. She had been at a cabin all weekend but was ready to come along for more sun, lake, and fun.

Oh...I was there too! I rarely end up on the other side of the camera. Even though we both look like we aren't enjoying ourselves, we were. It felt great to get out on the water with a wonderful destination up ahead.We arrived at Sha-Sha just in time. Emmitt was ready to get out of the boat and we were all ready to eat some great food. I hadn't seen the Sha-Sha makeover until that day and was very pleased to see it. I do really like that place...lots of great memories.What's Sha-Sha without a picture of some chippies. Emmitt especially like the big carved chippie. I am not sure if he really saw any of the real ones. There were not many live chippies to feed and the ones we did see seemed too full to want to our peanuts.

Shelbs stopped for a goofy picture with the Adirondack mermaid chair. Yee-haw EmmittShelbs took a turn on the big chipmunk

Shelby showed Parker how to be nice and quiet so that the chipmunks wouldn't be scared to take a peanut from him. Then she found a little hole under the decks walkway where the chipmunks come out of. He just crept up there next to her and waited so quietly for a chippie to appear and then he would drop a peanut for it. He would not let it take one from his hand. Which I am just fine with...

This Father's Day was just perfect. Simple. They way we like things these days. We spent it together with some of our family. It is nearly impossible to spend it with all of our dads but they did not go unforgotten. We wished them all a Happy Father's Day and got them some great cards. We were really into the singing cards...mine for Bear was actually a New Kids on the Block card that sang "oh, oh, ohhhho, oh, oh ohhhhho, oh, oh, ohhhho" then on the inside it said "you've got the right stuff"! Classic.

Shelby Lynn

My niece Shelby Lynn (named after yours truly) is up visiting for part of the summer. She is a huge help! Everybody needs a 10 year old to help with 2 busy boys...it's amazing what an extra set of hands can do for you.

We got her hair thinned out a bit and a few "safe" layers in it so she can wear it down.

It's fun to see Shelby with my boys at this age when I was living so close to her and such a big part of her life when she was this same age. It takes me back...

and...here is Shelby and I 10 years ago...

Grandma's Great Run

I went Friday/Saturday to watch the girls run the Half Marathon in Duluth. It was a great time! Very inspiring. I may be crazy enough to do one in October!!

5 am came really early the morning of the race. We had pulled into town the night before, shopped, ate, got race packets and finally went to bed around 11 pm. I was exhausted, but nothing compared to what these would feel like in just under 10 hours.Their goal was to finish the race and run it the whole way. We walked down around 8 am and just after 8:30 am we see the girls coming down the road. They finished in just over 2 hours. What a great event to witness. It was emotional just watching from the sidelines. We saw older people running, people sprinting, people walking, people holding hands, one girl turned around to walk back and get her friend who was throwing up in the middle of the road...big people, tiny people, all different kinds of people. It doesn't really matter what your body type is, if you train for it (even a little) you can run it. Which brings me to Jamie...she admitted the most she had ran was 5 miles and she finished the race is 2:45 (that's still a 12:37 minute mile)! I was so proud of her for still doing it!

Their time was actually 2:05:13, but we weren't right up next to see them finish and cross the line... And just because I like Target...it was pushing 80 and humid at the end of the race and this person has to walk around in a dog suit.

Critter and Noah growling at each other.

Regan with her second medal...she ran the race in 03, prior to two babies. What an accomplishment!Erin and Reg after the race...started together-finished together.Chad and Erin. Erin had her whole family down there cheering her on. Reg and I figured our hubbies would never go into a crowd like that with a double stroller and be comfortable...that's why it just made sense that I cheer Regan on...I even made a poster!

The girls and their medals.

Holy Tee Ball!

Coach Stephie teaching 'em how to bat.

My cousin's boy Jake hitting away

Nikki's Jaxon doesn't seem to want to keep the helmet on that gorgeous hair

Bailey gets a hug from mom Jodi (it was her birthday!) for catching the ball

The kids had a hard time figuring out where to run. This one made it to first!

Bradyn taught Parker how to play catcher...maybe Joe Mauer is rubbing off on him after all this time of mommy having a crush on him.

Steph and I had half of the kids (20+) and Paul had the other half. Which somehow managed to be all of our kids on the other team. So, as if, Summer (my cousin) didn't have enough to do with a 5 year old playing, a 3 year old not playing and a new baby, I gave her my camera to get some shots of Parker playing his first tee-ball game with neither of his parents there to watch! Thanks Summer!

Parker stops on second to give a high five to Cooper and Gracie. 3 year olds don't have much of an attention span, but sure know how to have fun!Hang on to your helmet Parker!
Running fast into home...

It was certainly hot and hectic last Monday night. The temperature was pushing 85 and it was humid! The kids got the whole gist of playing tee-ball but it was definitely chaotic. Some kids had played before, some had never held a bat. Some wouldn't bat at all and clung to their parents legs, some wanted to bat over and over again and had a hard time waiting for their turn. We will get all the kinks worked out and next week we may have up to 50 kids if they all show, so wish us luck as we teach 50 (3,4, & 5) year olds the skills of the great All-American pass time.

The Golf Pics

I had a blast on Wednesday golfing! It was the 8th Annual Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Tournament...and my 3rd time golfing in it. 2 years ago my Mother-in-Law was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time that I just got back into golfing. So I played the tourney for her. That year I won "best dressed in pink". I know I am not going to win for best golf played, although my team shot a low 78 this year! Last year I took second for best dressed...this year I was back with a vengeance.

I cut the crotch off of some little girls tights and wore them as leggings. Found a shirt to match and bought some pink hair-dye spray, said a prayer that it would come out and hit the course. Some people were surprised by my look, but not many were all that shocked that I would do something like this. We ended up having over 50 golfers and raised over $2,000. Not bad hey?

My teammates were: Bea, Wanda and Carol. We hit the front nine hard and shot a 38. We were hot and tired so we grabbed a drink and hit the back nine and fell apart! Shot a 40. And if you are not familiar with our course, the back nine is easier and has a lower par. But when we teed off on the first hole we said we weren't here to win, we were here to have a great time, laugh and raise money. And we accomplished all of the above.

Another team: Marcia, Punky, Sharon, (Survivors) Terri and Marlene. Punky and Martha do a great job organizing this event and it gets bigger and better every year.

Anybody got any ideas for next year? I need to hang on to my title :)