just because

i miss this little face

Favorites from the 4th

Tina's Cucumber Salad

• 3-4 cucumbers, peeled and sliced
• 1 C. mayo
• 1/4 C. sugar
• 4 T. vinegar
• 1/4-1/2 t. dill (to taste)
• 1/4-1/2 salt (to taste)

Place sliced cucumbers in a bowl.  Mix up remaining ingredients and pour over cucumbers. Refrigerate until ready to serve,

It was simple and delish!

Leg Wrestling

( or whatever it is called) 

( i don't really care what it is called because I stink at it.)

(but whatever it is called, it was highly entertaining)

Beautiful Cake

(to my chagrin, it looked better than it tasted.  darn, maybe next year i'll get it all right.)

Quote

"Oh, beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,                      

Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life! "

orthodontia round #3

whenever i notice how quickly our money floats away from us, i do one of two things:

1. i think to myself the line from Hello Dolly, "Money is like manure.  It ain't worth a thing unless it's spread around encouraging young things to grow."

(in this case, my orthodontist is probably a much bigger tree than we are, so i pull out my second feel-better tactic)

2. find brian, wherever he is, and sing to him in my best twang,"even though we ain't got money, I'm so in love with you honey..."

works every time.

andy grows up

  we saw this movie last night:

i cried.

just a little. 

i kept thinking about him.

 

and this little guy.

they are not packing their bags for college or missions yet, but I know about growing up and it comes all too fast.

(Keaton and "Buddy")

who's your daddy?

(keaton's acrostic poem he made at cub scouts.  Go Cubbies!)

(i spy a random peanut in the picture)

(he is a kid at heart)

 

(our sons and daughters adore him...and so do I)

scalped

crawling around the pool with your eyes closed can be hazardous to your head (& hair).

hello summer

I can't believe we are already three weeks in.

I can't believe that it's been three weeks since we've said goodbye to our great teachers and goodbye to 1st, 2nd, 5th and 7th grades.

And yet, we've had 2 dentist (six cavities--one mouth!), 6 orthodontist, and 2 eye appointments. 

Keaton's little league team finished up their season in the #1 bracket.  So fun!

 

Kate has been to girls camp and back.

The boys have been going to a summer sports camp and loving it.

Brian and I snuck away to a hotel for a night and had a yummy breakfast in the morning.  Fresh squeezed OJ to die for.

Kate and Shelby have cleaned out and wiped down and organized my kitchen cabinets, my pantry, and my inside & out refrigerators.

I've washed never-ending loads of towels and bathing suits.

Cups and more cups fill up my dishwasher everyday.

And we are only three weeks in.

Hello summer.

*unrelated p.s.*

This was on the wall in Keaton's classroom and I loved it:

"Discipline is a form of love and you will be loved."

Thousand(s) (of) Dollar(s) Smile

double-whammy

                                                                            (cry)

                                                                          (sob)

losing it

Weston's front tooth has been wiggly for weeks now.  It is barely hanging on but Weston refuses to pull it out (or let it be pulled) because I told him I would probably cry when it came out.

He says, in response to Brian's requests to yank it out," You don't want to make Mom cry, do you?!"

It makes me secretly happy when I hear that because I love those little teeth and it will be hard to say goodbye to them.