Silly boys

Could someone please get these kids in school??? Teenagers making preschool crafts while I'm gone grocery shopping... unbelievable. Jill

Croquet

Now that the rain has stopped we can actually play outside again..yippee!! John decided to get the kids outside and we all played a "friendly" game of croquet. Anna was new to the game but found an interesting mallet holder.


Mom let go of the camera long enough to hit a few too.



Luke thought it was funny to "send" John's ball.


John DIDN'T think it was fun to "play it where it lies."

Winner!!

Wordless Wednesday (neighbor's doggies)

The parade

As a part of our annual town celebration, our town holds it's parade at noon on Sunday. It's always very entertaining and you see LOTS of friends and neighbors at this fun event..we wouldn't miss it! We even went to early church in order to make sure we had time to eat lunch and position ourselves before the parade.

You see, this is one of those old fashioned parades that anyone can be a part of if you dress up your dog, or decorate your bike or put enough flags on this....you're in!!


As anyone who knows fashion, it's important to bring a purse that sparkles to the parade so that "one certain girl" can fit boat loads of candy into it, until it's nearly bursting!


But, a purse that sparkles suddenly gets in the way if it gets too loud.

This was the first year that a "certain girl" wasn't afraid of this corny character. How cheesy!!


Oh, the Klement sausage guy gave us a high five too.


See, wasn't that fun?? We all went home with lots of smiles and a sugar buzz. Jill

Our town celebration

This is the time of year when our town celebrates it's birthday. We usually have a carnival, bingo and entertainment all weekend long in a park close to our home. Some friends invited us over to their house to celebrate so we spent time in here..

and this landed nearby...


and when it got dark, we watched these...


But Andrew called me from the park celebration and ended up here with a fever and sore throat...

What a fun weekend!! More celebration pictures tomorrow!! Jill

The bad and the good

First, the bad....

It's not a good idea to stand behind Luke (at the driving range)to clean his golf clubs while he is practicing. Yes, she got clobbered by Luke's back swing with his golf club....with Daddy, up north, without Mommy--my poor baby!!!


Now the good...

Look at the beautiful rainbow we saw last night. Beautiful! Jill

Driving.......me crazy!!!

Guess who just got his driver's permit??? Look out!! Jill

Works for me.....

In the summertime, we don't usually take a big vacation, we just spend time each month at our house up north...we call it the "Chalet." We usually take two cars when we go and I come back home a few days earlier than the rest of the family( my oldest child comes with me.) This gives me a chance to recharge a little bit and have some time for myself. John thoroughly enjoys the time, too, because he gets to spend LOTS of time with the kids. It works for us!!! Here are a few pictures from our trip earlier this week...

First of all, let me tell you that IT RAINED EVERY DAY!!!! We usually have our hearts set on swimming and golfing and playing tennis and riding bikes...well none of that happened! We tried to make the best of it though...
We read a lot of these...


and played lots of quadruple solitaire!


and look who watched High School Musical 2--and the girl that didn't(she watched it the day before)


we went for a "girlie lunch" while the boys and Dad spent the day at the BIG waterpark nearby...




and here's the REAL reason we go to the chalet.... the chicken from a local bar!!! Look at it...look how HUGE it is!!!! It's so yummy.



and the kids did a little, OK, A LOT of this...

and this too...


So--that's what you do on a rainy vacation with 6 people and an old dog!! Come on sunny weather!!!! Jill

Desperation & Humiliation

It's really hard when you find the exact Webkin that you want, but it's inside a VERY girlie store called "Libby Lu." Then you have to walk around the mall with a very girlie bag. Not a good thing for Luker! At least the ladies in Libby Lu didn't sprinkle him with "Fairie Dust Glitter!" Jill

Tomatoes

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an obscene amount of these....



So, my friend came from Chicago... (no, she's NOT asleep)


and we made this.... SALSA!!!!


We worked so hard all afternoon "working up" over 40 tomatoes..plus all of the ingredients....3 different types of peppers, 6 onions, etc. and we only got a FEW jars of salsa!! But it will be WONDERFUL!!!! Jill

YUM!!

Wouldn't YOU make this cutie a chocolate chip Minnie Mouse pancake???? Jill

Works for Me!!!

Well, it's Wednesday and I'm going to share with you a secret that we've used for nearly 15 years... Our bedtime routine (for the kids)

School-time routine:

8:00 pm get jammies on, then wander to the kitchen

8:10 bedtime snack, usually involving this....


8:25 Brush teeth, potty

8:30 In bed, reading

9:00 prayers, then lights out!!

In fact, last night at 9:00, we noticed that Anna wasn't hanging around. We checked her bedroom and there she was, sound asleep, with jammies on, teeth brushed, etc. Once they learn the routine, it sticks and it's a breeze to get them to bed. Jill

Staying Cool

There is nothing like a good ice cream sundae bar, on a hot day, with great friends!! Jill

A Wild Weekend

Our weekend adventures started a little early last week. John's Aunt and Cousin flew here from Texas on Thursday and his parents drove up from Iowa that day too. We had some sightseeing to do on Friday!!! Here's where we went....
A little lunch at the ballpark.


then on to the Art Museum... (can you see his Aunt in the picture??)



Saturday was a visit to the Zoo, where we saw this......


John's other Aunt and Uncle (from California) came to join the party too, so we had a big cookout BEFORE the rain hit.....


Everyone left on Sunday... what a great weekend!! But I've decided, senior citizens wear me out!! hee, hee! Jill

Dr. Appointment

In December, Anna had some surgery on her neck (long story.) Sorry to say that one of the incisions did not heal correctly so we headed back to Children's hospital to talk to the surgeon. Here she is waiting for the doctor....


and here's the other guy(s) that came with us....



The kids learned something new on this trip...they learned about "VALET PARKING."
Here they are after the appointment, just waiting for our car to pull up!!!



Unfortunately, Anna will be having surgery again to correct the incision...but not until Fall. The doctor asked her when she wanted to have the surgery and she said " Well, Fall is good, but Mom, can I get some new turtlenecks???" Oh, the sweet thing.
Have a great weekend! Jill

Garden adventures

Look at these...a new crop that's ready in our garden! John, Luke & Anna dug these up last night. I might add they ran into a toad while digging the potatoes and it just about scared the "bejeebers" out of Anna. Every time the wind would blow and the green leaves would rustle, Anna would take two steps back and scream "something's moving!"

Here's Luke "fishing for the toad" with his Ipod earbuds... silly boy


Now here's a cheap shot that I took.....I just HAD to. Nice buns, Mr. P.



And, excuse me...what happened to this???? yes, it's a potato.


Never a dull moment around here. Jill

Works for me......

Because we have a lot of the male species living in our house,and they all wear socks, I buy everyone a different brand of socks. When there are stray socks just laying around the house, I know the name of the culprit. I know that John wears Hanes, Andrew wears Nike, Ben has Adidas with stripes on the bottom and Luke has Adidas with no stripes. It's very easy to sort socks that way too. I also do the same with underwear...it's made my life a little easier!! Jill

My little business owners

Luke and Anna have sure gotten the message (from Andrew) that you have to work to get money. They decided to open their own shop in my family room. As you can see it doesn't have a fancy name...Just "Luke and Anna's booth."

It's here where you can choose either a back scratch OR foot massage OR both.


Here's the menu of options....


and Check this out--they're really workin' it!


So, if you're not busy today, and your back needs a little scratchin' or feet need a little rubbin', just stop by. I hope YOU can fit between the couch and the coffee table. (wink) Jill

Important advice from Andrew....

After working at the Dairy Queen over the past few months, my son has really matured and has learned some important lessons from the real world...here they are...

1. I am definitely going to college!!
2. Home cooking is MUCH better than fast food!
3. When leaving a store, open the door with OUT putting your hands on the glass (somebody has to clean up your finger smears!)
4. Know who is "working the grill" before you eat there!
5. When the ice cream machine stops working at the DQ, it's a BAD thing.
6. Always wear your OLD shoes to work.
and lastly...
7. Be NICE to the drive thru guy!!!

Hope you enjoyed these!! Jill

Fishing Expedition

Yes, this was the weekend that my Mom and Dad usually come to our house and take the boys chartered fishing. Well, due to circumstances beyond our control, my Dad, the lean, mean, spoiling machine couldn't make it here, but he wanted his "boys" to still go...so they did! They rolled outta here at 4 am, with Mom and Anna still in their cozy beds.

Here are a few pictures from their adventure...







and YES, the girls had a good time too...don't worry about us!!!