Fields of flowers..

The kids (Morgan especially) love to pick the "flowers" that are growing in the front yard. So I have fistfuls of these lovelies in cups of water all over the house. Rylan brings them to me one at a time and Morgan brings me handfuls of them. Very sweet! They are so proud to them to me and I have to be careful not to discard them or they get very upset.

Aint he cute!!!?

Snappers game and Father's Day

We decided to take Rob's dad to a Snappers game for Father's Day. It was actually pretty fun for the kids though they did kind of melt-down by the 7th inning. Morgan surprised me by consenting to sit on the mascot Snappy's lap for a picture. Rylan was having none of that, so no pirctures of him.

They do some fun things at the game to keep people entertained, including games for the kids and a raffle. Here is Robert (his brother in the red shirt) explaining the raffle tickets to Morgan.

Gotta have popcorn at the game! Popcorn was about the only thing Rylan could eat there and he was pretty enthusiastic about it.

All in all it was a pretty fun day...we left before the game was over but I guess the Snappers lost. Oh well. Happy Father's Day to grandpa (and Rob too) anyway!!

Mama found the camera, see what we've been doing....

I finally located my camera (acutally Robert found it, thanks honey!). We have been busy with outdoor projects, indoor painting, part-time jobs (mine) vegetable plantings, jet-skiing (Robert)yard work and so on. The kids are loving the yard here and Robert's idea to put the playset out in the "woods" at the back of the yard was a good one. It is always shady and cool back there so no one minds being outside for lone periods of time. I bought the swingset on Craigslist for $250 and the playhouse for $50. Good buys, both of them. The swingset just needed some stain and some sand and we were good to go. Daddy has to put the slide up still but other than that, it is pretty much done back there. We have also put stairs off the back deck, a retaining wall off the back sliding doors and "grow" boxes along the side of the house. Whew! We have lots of other projects in the works, including a rummage sale in two weeks but we are taking a break for a while to enjoy. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

Awanas ceremony

Morgan finished out her awanas year last Monday and daddy was there to get some video of her singing andl of her and Ry in the parking lot afterwards. Enjoy!

Note: Morgan is the one with the light pink long sleeves in the 2nd row, it was kinda hard to tell so I thought I should point her out!

Beads and princesses and random pictures

Any temperature over 50 degrees is reason to party outisde with water and sand!

Morgan planting her tomatoes.

Here is what happens......

when small boys play with sister's beads!

Ry has been sick a lot lately. Snoozing in the high chair, he could not even make it through lunch!

Aren't these the three cutest dressed up kids?! Morgan and Lainy are forever playing dress-up together and this time they insisted that Ry get to play too. Hee Hee, isn't he cute!?

Guardian angels and the grace of God

Ever have one of those incidents with your kids that could have been a bad situation and somehow by the skin of your teeth you escaped disaster?! Rylan James is going to be my child that requires the assistance of multiple guardian angels. We were downstairs today in the basement and Morgan and Lainy were jumping on the Jump N Slide and Ry was wandering around. We have sections of the basement gated off so I wasn't too worried that he could hurt himself on anything. I was attempting to work on some financial stuff but was watching him at the same time. He wandered just out of my view and I called at him to come back. I heard him laugh and keep going so I got up and went around the corner just in time for me to see him step on the sump pump cover. It was loose....it tips ...and in slow motion I watch him fall in. Now I have no idea how deep the hole goes but he ended up straddling a pipe that was about 6 inches in. I had him by the arm in about two seconds so he just got his shoes and socks all wet. But I shudder to think about the result had I not been that close. Oh the years that came off my life!!! God sometimes gives you a "free one". Just a little reminder that these little lives are so precious and so in need of supervision. No more inattention for mama!!!

Crazy kids, crazy mama...

Okay is it just me or is winter lasting an extrordinarily long time....ok so it hasn't been that bad. I guess it's just that this is the first year I have had TWO very busy, very active kids to occupy. They are sick of being inside. Thank goodness for the one day this week when the temp was close to 60! We spent all of that day outside, didn't get one single thing done except for cleaning up the yard. Ah the bliss of being outside with no coats on!! We are back to playdo and coloring and painting and playing in boxes left over from Christmas presents. I even set up the Jump N Slide in the middle of the living room last week. Anything to keep them busy. Here are a few pictures of that and also a few of them playing in my Rubbermaid containers....