Never to old for peek-a-boo!

After our walk today Devin disappeared. I walked past him a few times, calling him, before I heard the giggles. He said that he liked his place and stayed in there for about an hour just watching life go by!

Now this is a real puzzle!

Our neighbors, Ammon and Tara, got a new porach swing today. I snuck pictures of them trying to put it together! They did do a good job, and kept the usual husband vs. wife bickering of "read the directions" to a minimum. Don finally decided to go over and put in his opinion, as if it was really needed!
In the end, it looks great, and it didn't collapse when they sat on it. I think that Tara's excited squeal of "Yeah!!! We built something!!!" says it all.

Wonderous Worlds!

Devin and I went for a walk this afternoon and these are a few of the things we saw. Devin's favorite were the many ant hills we saw. He declared this national ant month! My favorite was spending time with Devin, but he said that doesn't count and that I HAD to pick something I saw during our walk. So I picked the bird oasis. Devin informed me that it was the perfect place for birds to hang out because it had water and shade from the "palm weeds"! They have such wonderful imaginations.
We stopped by a friend's house on the way home to pet their bunny. Devin loves giving the bunny pets every chance he gets.

Weiser Winners!!

Kristina's softball team has now played four games. The first two were learning games. The scores were 0-12 and 4-24, not in our favor. The girls have been practicing very hard and it's really showing. They are working together so well now. The last two games have been 15-3 and 13-5, in our favor!! Kristina played 1st base at the last game and made some catches resulting in outs for the other team. She also got a few good hits in at bat and scored some runs!
The last game we went to there was deffinately some drama involved. I didn't really think that there could be comotions made at a child's game, but I was proved wrong! It was all in fun and really exciting!
We are thankful for their great coach, Dan, and assistant coaches, Matt and Kailyn. Matt and Kailyn are Dan's children and he also has a child on the team. Softball runs in their blood! Kailyn just had sugery on her shoulder for a softball injury, so we are prying for a fast recovery for her. We missed her at the last game!

Picnic Preparations

The other day the kids helped me make a wOnDeRfUlLy YuMmY picnic dinner.
We took our picnic to Kris' softball game. It was nice hanging out with the kids in the kitchen. We listened to music and had lots of fun being silly!





We had quite the spread of tantalizing concoctions. I was sure we would be the envy of all! But of course, the weather turned sour and we had to huddle under our blanket to eat and watch the game!!

Fun with our neighbors

Kristina and Aaron playing on the computer after a fun water fight.
They were so zoned out on their game that I had to call their names at least three times before they even heard me! I guess water fights and computer games can be exhausting work!












Aaron's sister, Sara, is caught red handed looting the house next door to us! Oh that's right, it's their house that they are moving OUT of!!! We are NOT happy with them, but we are excited for them at having finally made the jump from being city folks to becoming country bumpkins! It's one of those mixed emotion things. We will miss having them next door though, they were GREAT neighbors!

Typical Weekend Day

This is a typical weekend day at our house. Lots of work, and lots of play!

Summer Storm

Last night the heavens decided to open up and let loose! It was quite the storm. The kids and I sat out on the front porch and watched that lake in the road rise and run wild. It was quite the site!

rAISEd gARDEn bEDs

Don worked hard building me 2 raised garden beds. He did a great job. They look great and will hopefully save us a bit of money on veggies this summer. Oh! Check out the fence behind the garden beds. Don put up the fence all by him self! I helped just a bit, but it was a BIG job!! I think it makes our back yard look smaller, but it is done very professionally. We are very proud of him!

Don turns 34!!!

WoW!

We sure are getting old and the kids sure are growing fast! Don's receding hair line and my gray hairs say it all!

Devin tells dad, "NO PEEKING! I wrapped it all by my self!"

It's a shiny new grill set. Don was very excited, especially since we finally threw his old one out a few weeks ago and kept "forgetting" to get a new one! I think he was starting to get a bit frustrated with me every time I would come home from Wal-Mart with out one.

Kristina and her friend Tanya baked the cake and decorated it. Looks great girls! It was yummy too!

Today we went to a bar-b-q for a friend of ours that recently got married. It was a nice time. The food was very yummy! Thanks Darel and Amy. The kids and I went for a walk and found some interesting places to snap a few pictures.

That is one big weed!!!

Even the weeds that God creates are beautiful

How could you not love this?!

cAt FrOm AnOtHeR pLaNeT

Love is stronger than head lines and gossip!

These are the headlines around our house.

Ok..........
So this is the finished product of our pottery after it is baked. It sure looks a lot better this way! Kristina's blue frog turned out so cute and Devin's tank is really cool. I like my plate too. I was very proud of the kids and especially of myself for making something that looked nice!!
It was fun doing some thing new. Thanks mom!!!
Mammy also took us to see Spiderwick Chronicles in the theater that day and out to eat too! It was definitely a great day with grandma!!

Looks can be deceiving!!

My crazy daughter decided that since it was soooooo cold outside that she would create her own tropical paradise!

The kids and I take a weekend trip to Mammy's house.

We love going to Mammy's. We get to visit with Bev and Lori, my sisters, and go out to dinner!

There is always something new and exciting to find in the city.

Mom found this cool pottery barn where the kids and I got to paint our own pottery. Can't wait to see what they look like when they are all done. I hope the girl who works there is right. She said that they would look really different after they are cooked. Guess we will have to wait and see!

These are pictures from Devin's 2nd grade class trip to the cultural museum and park. It was tons of fun to see how different people lived at different times through out history. It was a very fun day and I was glad to have been lucky enough to share in this experience with Devin and his class!

At Kristina's first game. This is the only time her uniform will be this white!

Slugger gets a hit! You go girl!!!
Devin is his sister's #1 fan.

So this is Devin after getting his hair buzzed. He looks much younger, but don't tell him that or I will never get him back to the barber shop!















My neighbor and good friend Tara came over the other day and brought her beautiful son, Braden for a visit. It was fun watching the two boys play. Braden is 8 months and Devin sure thought he was a funny little thing! Guess he forgets what it was like being that little and curious!

This is Devin showing off one of his many drawings. He loves to draw and make things out of paper. He is very detailed orientated. Legos, Lincoln logs, dominoes.....making up very long stories. He has a great imagination!

This is the longest his hair has ever been. He wouldn't let me cut it this last winter. He said that he needed it to keep his head warm! Every few weeks I will ask if it's time to get it buzzed off yet. He looks cute this way, but I like it buzzed because it makes him look younger!!

This is Kristina in her softball uniform. I think she looks so cute! (Is 12 too old to be called cute?!) This is her first year in softball. She likes it, but I think it is more work that she anticipated.
They have only played 2 games and haven't won one yet. But that's OK. This is the first year for most of the girls on the team. They improve every time I see them play! They have a wonderful coach and great enthuasium.